Shing!

The qi beam pierced through Sha Chen"s arm, leaving a cauterized wound . The Dark Sage whirled around to retaliate, but yet another mobile turret fired, its qi beam lancing through his back and punching another cauterized crater .

"Ugh!"

His eyes wide, Sha Chen glowered at the hovering mobile turrets, as if unable to believe that he was being hurt by such little…insignificant things . His whips lashed out, snaking and writhing in response to his rage, but as long as they were, they were unable to reach the soaring mobile turrets, which remained out of his attack range .

Not only were they out of his reach, they were still launching volley after volley of qi beams at the frustrated Sha Chen, scoring several more wounds .

"!"

Sha Chen stared at his wounds in disbelief before slowly raising his head to glare at the floating mobile turrets .

"Ha ha ha ha!" I burst out laughing at his stunned expression . "You didn"t think these flying "toys" could hurt you, did you? Even though they"ve been punching holes through you this entire time…why did you wait only until now to be surprised?"

The Heavenly Venom King continued to place his hand on his wounds, silent and grim . I could guess why . At first he had dismissed the injuries that my Snow Aegis"s mobile turrets caused as him getting caught off guard and him underestimating their firepower, thus not raising the appropriate level of defense .

But now, even though he had hardened his protective qi aura, my qi beams still had the intensity and firepower to penetrate it and punch through bone and flesh . He slowly lowered his hand from his wounds – despite my success in injuring them, they didn"t seem to be fatal .

No, I only succeeded in p.i.s.sing him off, not hurting him .

"Annoying little…"

Sha Chen was grounding his teeth so audibly that I could hear his molars crack even from such a long distance away . He was so filled with rage that his face had blackened and the ground around him was shaking with tremendous tremors .

Hoowoo!

Then the ground caved in under his feet, giving way to the immense qi pressure that Sha Chen emanated in his h.e.l.lish fury . Glaring at me, he snarled out a single, barely coherent declaration that sent chills down my spine .

"I will grind you to dust . "

" . . . !"

Tightening my grip on my swords, I readied myself for the next a.s.sault .

This is it, I realized, perspiration pouring profusely down my face . The match would be decided in the next few minutes, unless I pulled off a miracle . I couldn"t count on Deus ex Machina or random powerups to get me out of this . My so-called plot armor was not on the same level as every other f.u.c.king xianxia protagonist out there . I had to work to survive, not get rely on getting saved nor would I conveniently receive a random powerup or treasure weapon out of nowhere to suddenly defeat my almighty enemy .

This was real life . Such bulls.h.i.t developments don"t just happen . The world wouldn"t bend backward and break its own rules just to save me over a dumb reason such as plot armor or because I was the protagonist . I was not Zhu Jiao, Li Fu Chen, Lin Feng, w.a.n.g Dong, Xiao Yan, Chu Feng or any of the other millions of xianxia protagonists who were loved to death by their authors . If I were any judge, I would say my author hated me (just kidding, I love you, Fei Wu, but I"m a fair and impartial "G.o.d" who won"t just give you convenient and unrealistic handouts for no reason) .

In any event, I could only depend on myself .

Drawing a deep breath, I began absorbing the natural qi from my surroundings, then began to purify them in my dantian . For some reason, Sha Chen hadn"t struck yet . He was also gathering his own qi, turning into a monster . I wouldn"t be surprised if he sought to merely crush me with his immense qi pressure alone .

His enormous amount of qi felt like an ocean weighing down on me .

On the other hand, my mobile turrets were dancing around and distracting him with qi-fire . Even though the intense qi beams couldn"t deal fatal damage, they still packed quite a punch and was enough to cause a significant amount of pain . Even though it was just a sting, it was enough to disrupt his concentration and prevent him from completing his technique .

Now it was my mobile turrets" turn to buy me some time, distracting him while I resorted to another technique of my own . As long as I could acc.u.mulate and purify a small amount of qi, I should be able to make up for the huge difference between us!

Or so I hoped…

"…?"
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Something wasn"t right . Even though my mobile turrets were certainly doing their job and distracting him, they weren"t inflicting enough damage to disrupt him to that extent . Even though I was seizing the opportunity to purify as much qi as possible, I was half-aware that something was amiss . Given his experience and skill, even with my mobile turrets stinging him with his qi beams, he shouldn"t need this much time to unleash whatever technique he wanted . Already the buildup of his enormous qi aura had seemed to reach its max and plateaued – a sign that he was done . So why hadn"t he attacked yet?

I studied him, confused . What the h.e.l.l? What was he waiting for? Just try and kill me already . Okay, I would honestly prefer if he didn"t, but in a way the waiting was killing me more effectively than his attacks were . My heart was thumping extremely quickly in my chest while I found it hard to breathe, as if a single breath would provoke my opponent to attack .

Sha Chen had frozen for some reason . He was staring at me, utterly stupefied . I frowned when I noticed his bewildered expression, just as baffled as he was .

"What"s the matter?" I asked .

"You…aren"t you going to use Heaven and Earth Resonance or something? Some energy boosting skill where you release all your limiters…release your eight energy points, and power up to fight against me?"

I gaped at him, not comprehending his rambling . "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You know! Energy boost! Powerup! You were refusing to go all out against me this entire time, hiding your true strength, and now that I"ve beaten you up pretty badly, you"ve realized that you"ve no choice but to release all your limiters and fight me with all your strength!"

"…"

Shaking my head, I felt like burying my face in my palm . Except that I was holding two swords, so that would not be a good idea, not unless I wanted to cut my face . Trying to suppress my irritation, I glared at Sha Chen .

"Are you mistaking me for Gangryong? You do realize I"m not a Gosu, right? I"m not stupid enough to hold back like half my strength when fighting against a top martial artist like you . Even if you"re way past your prime, I"m not idiotic to underestimate you and fight half-heartedly . Dude, I"m not going to resort to such stupid clichés . Already there"s no Deus ex Machina to save me, and I certainly am not going to pull some dumb twist like "I was hiding my true strength all along!" or "I was only using 1% of my power!" You think this is Dragonball or something?"

Throwing my hands up into the air wearily, I snapped at the delusional old man .

"This is not a Korean webtoon, so quit your chuunibyou imagination! I"m already maxed out! I"m not going to suddenly and conveniently power up in the middle of a desperate battle!"

"…I see . "

Sha Chen burst out laughing .

"Seems like I was worried over nothing . "

Then he suddenly turned into a monster . That heavy, oppressive cloud of dark qi that hung over him seemed to take on an enormous demonic visage, leering mockingly at me, its jaws wide open as if to swallow me .

Oh boy . This was not good . I should have bought more time with this stupid dialogue .

"But…I still do have a few tricks up my sleeve…so if you don"t mind waiting, I can show them to you, and you can try to crush them if you"re not afraid of them . "

"Sorry, brat . The joke"s on you . " Sha Chen was grinning . "I knew all along that you didn"t have a trump card or energy boost skill, or that you had limiters placed on you . I was just yanking your chain this entire time . "

I gaped at him . "Huh? Why?"

"Haven"t you noticed?" Sha Chen chortled . "I"m using your own psychological tactcs against you! I"m distracting you from purifying your qi, and in case you haven"t noticed, you haven"t been firing on me with your annoying flying things since I started talking!"

To my horror, I realized that the Dark Sage was partially right . While I had been hastily using the time to purify more qi, I had completely forgotten to fire on Sha Chen with my mobile turrets . They were still hovering around, but because I was too busily retorting with tsukkomi, it didn"t occur to me that they would stop shooting .

Yeah, I just had my fourth wall breaking turned upon me . The Heavenly Venom King was truly a formidable opponent indeed .

At that moment, Sha Chen completed whatever technique he planned to execute and sprang forward .

"!"

He smashed his arm against me, sending me flying across the barren wasteland of what remained of the Toxic Marshes . Even though I crossed my swords and parried the blow, I was still sent hurtling across the desolate landscape and slammed into a cliff, disappearing underneath an avalanche of rock .

The entire cliff itself was razed in an instant, raining debris down on the softened ground . Amidst the devastating shower of debris, the swift figure of Sha Chen landed, completely unaffected by the huge, sharp rocks falling all around him .

His feet crunched against the ground and he dropped to a crouch, a little taken aback by the opposing force that had thrown him back . The guy clearly was unaware of Newton"s third law . Though, to be fair, the laws of physics were mostly ignored by martial artists anyway .

His expression grim, Sha Chen glowered at the crumbling cliff, his eyes filled to the brim with hatred .

Yeah? You"re not the only one who can hate, you f.u.c.ker .

Heedless of my own safety, I dashed through the shower of rocks using Jin, and somehow managed to avoid getting hit by any of them . Apparently I was moving so fast that none of them could hit me, with my body being gone before the rocks could touch it .

" . . . "

Even Sha Chen was caught off guard by my sudden acceleration . His whips unfurled as he readied them for defense . I ignored the terrifying sight of his unrestrained whips and continued barreling toward my enemy, with the single-minded determination to slay him .

The Dark Sage didn"t skip a beat, unleashing his whips instantly . They flew toward me like venomous serpents, threatening to coil around me . The whips actually sliced through intervening rocks that were still falling all around us, their lengths dicing the solid stone like hot knives through b.u.t.ter . The rock might as well be made from paper .

Even so, I continued to advance inexorably, not caring about the approaching whips . Perhaps I was being a tad reckless, but I knew I would only get a single chance at this .

Boom!

The whips pulverized the ground below me as I jumped upward to avoid them, but they suddenly twisted around to lurch at me once again . Spinning around, I slashed at them with both my swords in hopes of severing them .

However, as flexible and supple as they were, these whips were made from iron . My blades merely left a scratch on them, sparks screeching as metal collided against metal . With lives on their own, the whips snaked and coiled around my swords, ensnaring their blades tightly .

"Heh!"

Sha Chen smirked triumphantly, and then he yanked his whips upward to hoist me above him, thinking that I wouldn"t relinquish my swords like last time .

But I had enough of being dragged around by him .

Letting go of both my swords, I dove at the stunned Sha Chen . Caught off guard, he threw out a hand to parry my strike, but I wasn"t punching him . Flipping my body over, I slammed my foot onto his head, but being a seasoned combat veteran Sha Chen succeeded in blocking my kick with a desperately raised arm .

Not that it mattered .

Seismic Step .

"!"

Boom!

"Ugh!"

Sha Chen was blown back when I unleashed the purified qi I had gathered all at once, sparking what resembled a nuclear explosion . All the debris around us disintegrated from the sheer force, and the ground cracked under Sha Chen"s feet, turning into a crater . The Dark Sage himself was sent hurtling helplessly backward, his arm slightly twisted and bleeding, and his face distorted in an agonizing grimace . Then he struck the ground with a thunderous boom, somehow managing to land on both feet as he dropped into a crouch .

"f.u.c.k! What was that attack?!"

The Heavenly Venom King straightened and was shaking his arm in pain and fury, blood spurting from the damaged limb . He gritted his teeth and glared at me, some semblance of reocognition touching his eyes when something in his memory blossomed .

"Seismic Step?!"

I didn"t reply and instead focused on arresting my skid backward as my feet dug deeply into the ground, leaving twin furrows in the dirt .

As soon as I stopped, I immediately kicked off and lunged at the stunned Dark Sage again . Pausing only to grab both my swords from the ground – my weapons having been released when Sha Chen got hit my by Seismic Step, and his whips had loosened and dropped them as a result, I infused both of them with qi and got ready to strike .

"This brat…!"

Growling in fury, Sha Chen glowered at me, but did not falter even when he caught sight of my furious charge . His veins were bulging in his temple, as if he couldn"t conceive the fact that I was actually pushing him back .

"That purified qi from your Heaven and Earth Formula…it"s so annoying!"

"Not as irritating as you," I retorted as I continued my dash toward him . Sha Chen remained calm and continued to manipulate his whips .

"!!"

I was aware of his weapons, and I tried to use Duo to evade, but even as my figure disappeared into a blur, the wires wrapped around my arms and legs, their barbs digging cruelly into my flesh and stopping me cold .

"Argh!"

Sha Chen was smart this time . Having seen what I did when he captured my swords the previous time, he decided to just go straight for my limbs to incapacitate me now . I was forced into an abrupt halt, my four limbs and body bound tightly by the poisonous iron whips .

"!"

Try as I might, I was unable to break free .

Spurt!

The Dark Sage"s venomous talons pierced through my midriff, at the exact same spot where his whips had stabbed me earlier . Magma seemed to flow through my veins, my mind almost blacking out from the excruciating agony . Blood dripped from my mouth as I coughed and writhed about helpessly .

"Ugh!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Sha Chen was laughing in savage delight, even as he twisted his knife-like fingers in my gut and curled them, as if to hook onto my innards and tear them out .

"Nothing is more painful than being stabbed in the same spot twice, right?"

He leered at me with a cruel expression and chuckled . He dug his fingers into my gut deeper, gripping my insides and staining his hand crimson .

Despite the excruciating pain, I refused to black out . Perspiration poured down my paling face even as my vision swam . Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to retain my consciousness, forced my body to move .

No way I was going to lose here, no way I was going to let a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like him prevail over me! Even if he killed me, I was bringing him down with me!

"Focus now," Sha Chen advised maliciously . "Don"t let the pain consume you, or your qi flow will be disrupted . "
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Throwing his head back, he cackled in cruel delight . The f.u.c.king old b.a.s.t.a.r.d evidently thought he had already won .

Absolute Zero .

"Hm?!"

Sha Chen"s face twisted in surprise when the entire s.p.a.ce around us was enveloped in ice . His body was entombed in ice, as were his whips . Encrusted by ice, they began breaking away, while the Dark Sage found himself locked in place .

"Hah! Still struggling even at this stage?!" Sha Chen taunted, obviously thinking there was no way I could turn the tables . Not after being so severely hurt . He believed that any struggles at this stage on my part were useless .

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was going to regret his mistake .

"You can"t trap me with your pathetic ice! You really think you can end my life together with yours?! Naïve!"

With a roar, Sha Chen destroyed the ice that encased him . Frosty fragments exploded outward, cutting both me and the old man .

"You"re just wasting your qi! Now die obediently!"

I smiled .

"?!"

Sha Chen didn"t know what to make of my expression, but he somehow found it unnerving . Not that I was going to gloat like him or explain what I was about to do .

The moment Sha Chen destroyed the ice, he inadvertently loosened the cracking, breaking, frozen whips that he used to restrain me . As the whips slackened, I seized the chance to swing both my swords downward .

Sha Chen saw the Azure Lotus Sword coming, and he easily fended it off with his left hand, gathering protective qi into his palm and catching the shimmering blade . The keen edge of the blade bit deeply, but didn"t penetrate his bone . Even though Sha Chen parried the strike, ice began to blossom and rapidly expand over his left arm .

Momentarily distracted, Sha Chen didn"t see my real attack, wasn"t even aware of it until it was far too late .

To be fair, even if he was aware, there was nothing he could do . His hand was still embedded deeply in my gut, and I was using an improvised form of Heaven and Earth Absorption to ensure his fingers were stuck there . It was too difficult to absorb his qi, and it would only keep his hand there for a few seconds .

But a few seconds were all I needed .

I swung Shadow Fox with my left hand, the black blade shrieking with ominous dark qi as it slashed toward Sha Chen"s right arm .

"Ugh!"

Blood spurted and sprayed across both our faces . Furious, Sha Chen tried to retaliate with his other arm, pushing my sword away and slashing at me, but my Azure Lotus Sword was in the way . Knowing that it wouldn"t hold him off for long, I countered with a preemptive kick, my foot slamming into his gut .

"!"

Shadow Kick .

I delivered a kick that would have made Huang Fei Hong proud, causing Sha Chen to fly (fei) away .

The poor old man tumbled helplessly across the air, leaving another deep furrow in the dirt before he collided against a grove of trees, his momentum uprooting them and reducing the poor trees into splinters and falling leaves .

Throwing his left arm out, he gripped the ground with his hand, arresting his backward slide and pulling himself to a stop amidst a shower of gravel and splinters .

"Argh! d.a.m.n it! You f.u.c.king brat!"

Sha Chen swore furiously as he heaved, his veins bulging in his temple from the sheer rage that filled him . He twitched, one of his eyes half-closed as stone and splinters somehow penetrated his rapidly diminishing protective qi (which had been blasted apart by my Shadow Kick) and got into it . His face was distorted into an ugly visage, but it looked less monstrous than before .

Now…it just looked like a pathetic old man throwing a tantrum .

Then both his eyes widened in tremendous shock and disbelief when he caught sight of my standing figure behind the dust and smoke .

"You…" he snarled .

I was clutching his right arm…or to be more precise, I was raising his dismembered right arm with my sword . Shadow Fox"s black blade was skewering Sha Chen"s amputated right arm, almost like a grilled chicken limb, and I was holding it up for him to see .

Slowly, Sha Chen turned his head to stare at his right arm . As expected, it was missing from above the elbow, replaced by an erupting fountain of blood that gushed out of his stump uncontrollably .

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

With a cry of pain, the Dark Sage fell to his knees, clutching his ruined stump and wailing deafeningly .

I stood coldly opposite him, impa.s.sionately listening as his shrieks echoed throughout the devastated Toxic Marshes for what seemed like eternity .

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH… . AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Don"t chicken out on me now," I told him frostily as I swung my Shadow Fox casually, callously discarding his dismembered arm to the side . "Your right arm is only the beginning . "