To live. Isn’t that what he’s been doing all along?

  No, that’s just to survive. Surviving and living is different. Living means surviving, but mere survival doesn’t mean living.

  On the odyssey of survival, it’s inevitable that some burdens would be shed, but once some things are lost, surviving alone loses its luster compared to true living and was no better than not living.

  Bubai... didn’t want to be a living dead. So some fights must be seen through to the very end.

  Seeing Bubai invoking technique seals with his fingers, Long Batian’s face twisted into one of schadenfreude and drawled, “Keke! I gave you a chance, but it seems you want to refuse my toast and drink the west wind! Suits me fine!”

  Whoosh! In a fsh, the other's gleaming dagger zeroed in on Bubai! With a flick, dagger met dagger once more- Deng!

  Sparks flew! Metal pushed aside metal!

  But this time, just as Long Batian’s dagger grazed past his, Bubai’s hand shot out to seize its hilt!

  His muscles strained. His veins bulging. But his grip was akin to an eagle’s talon, trembling under the dagger’s resistance yet unyielding!

  Then, something Long Batian didn’t expect happened!

  While straining against the backpedaling force of the dagger, the pawn actually advanced forward!

  Step. Another step. Step! Then another!

  This time, Bubai didn’t slide back under the pressure! Unlike before, his foot gripped the ground like he did against the wall.

  It was the wall-walking technique, Cloud Ascending Steps!

  Seeing Bubai inching closer step by step despite the resistance, Long Batian’s smug expression twisted into a grimace.

  "You're stronger than I thought, but it's a meaningless struggle. Do you really think this is my full strength?"

  Sneering, Long Batian raised his hand and invoked the common seal known for controlling magic tools.

  With that, Bubai instantly felt a surging force explode from the imprisoned dagger and it lurched forward, nearly penetrating his chest!

  Bubai’s quick reaction kicked in, letting him keep the dagger at bay at the st moment, only to have it instantly lurch the other way, causing him to nearly lose his bance!

  Just when Bubai regained his footing, a shallow cut had already bloomed across his palm due to the dagger slipping from his grip, now hovering mockingly out of his arm’s reach...

  Before Bubai could calibrate his next course of action, with a flick of Long Batian’s finger, the dagger snapped back as if drawn by an invisible tether, hurtling towards him again!

  Like a predator, the dagger zeroed in on its prey – this time its aim being Bubai’s leg!

  Bubai moved to set up a blockade with his injured hands, only to witness the dagger swerve around his defense, cleanly severing the strings of the storage pouch on his waist!

  Instinctively, Bubai reached to catch his falling pouch, but in that moment of distraction-

  The dagger was upon him again, this time taking a dangerous dive and aiming unerringly between his thighs!

  The target was the most vulnerable part of a man! Ahhhh! Merlin’s beard! His little brother!

  Deng! The sound of metal meeting metal smited Bubai’s fears like a sudden thundercp, yet the experience still left his brows damp with cold sweat.

  Close. So close! Had he not set up the yers of protective pte beneath his robe before battle, today would have been his little brother’s death anniversary!

  Then again, unless they cultivated some immortal rod, only an idiot wouldn’t protect their main cultivation tool in this dual cultivation sect.

  No one wants to be like the male servants funting their status!

  Needless to say, Bubai followed the creed of wearing armor to battle.

  As, even if he had a diamond pte to shield his little brother, it can’t negate all the damage, let alone his current equipment.

  Feeling the echoing impact that made his little brother go “shiver me timbers”, Bubai winced and silently cursed the Ba ducking heavens for having no martial ethics!

  Knowing how close he was from suffering a catastrophic loss of an essential cultivation tool, Bubai could care less about his pouch on the ground.

  Gritting his teeth, he put in ten times the effort to desperately grasp onto the troublesome dagger with both hands, locking both bde and hilt in pce!

  This time, Bubai held on for dear life, even ignoring the stinging pain of having his blood being sucked by the bde!

  On the bed, Long Batian wagged his finger to summon back his dagger, yet this time, his recall failed!

  Trying again to no avail, a flicker of annoyance oozed from Long Batian’s eyes.

  "Do you really think just holding onto the dagger means I can't do anything?"

  Freeing his other occupied hand from its massage duty, Long Batian aimed it at Bubai. Without warning, a small bolt shot out from the sleeve of his white robe!

  Unexpectedly, there was a weapon hidden up Long Batian’s sleeves! It was a mini crossbow tied to his wrist!

  Sensing the bolt with a strangely-colored tip whizzing toward him with deadly accuracy, Bubai’s eyes coldly fshed, but...

  He was still doing his best to control the dagger and had no chance to dodge the viper aimed squarely at his exposed thigh- Puff!

  The bolt nailed onto its mark and Bubai winced in pain. Blood trickled down his leg, staining the fabric of his trousers, but...

  Thankfully, the bolt hadn't pierced too deeply into his tough flesh and his bones remained unharmed.

  So, this seemed more of a superficial wound… at first.

  It didn’t take ten seconds for the familiar searing pain to erupt like fire through his thighs, numbing his leg as it seeped outwards from the point of impact. Poison!

  Feeling the poison coursed through his veins like creeping shadows, Bubai's leg did the only natural thing… buckling beneath him.

  Colpsing onto one knee accordingly, Bubai heavily gasped for breath, yet his hands clenched tighter around the dagger as if he wouldn’t let it go even if he died.

  But anyone can see his skin visibly darkening and the ominous bck patch spreading like malevolent roots throughout his veins,

  Observing this, Long Batian finally wore a satisfied grin and offhandedly remarked, "Yes, your resilience surprises me… A body cultivator, perhaps?”

  “Keke. It matters not. Under my hundred poisons mixture, even an early-stage Foundation Establishment disciple will have trouble forcing it out, let alone a Qi-refiner like yourself."

  Long Batian focused his spiritual sense on Bubai, probing for any other tricks hidden up his sleeves.

  Finding none, Long Batian waved his hand once more to summon his dagger back to him.

  This time, the kneeling Bubai cked the strength to resist and tumbled forward, yet he clung stubbornly to the dagger.

  As a result, it dragged him across the chamber floor like a rag doll, inch by painful inch, back towards the bedside where Long Batian lounged while watching the dying man hugging his blood-drinking dagger with interest.

  The man’s unpatable face was contorted in pain, his limp body succumbing to the encroaching poison and blood drainage.

  Yet his iridescent green eyes still sent a silent deathbed challenge despite the odds stacked against him.

  “Keke, stubborn, stubborn. Too bad for you, my feidao isn’t picky when it comes to whether the blood is fresh or not.”

  Long Batian sneered and proudly urged his dagger to drag the man onto the bed. “Come, come. Take one st look at your little lover giving me a blow…”

  Seeing his death blow finally changing the man’s stoic face, Long Batian cackled because he really… liked that agonizing face.

  So, he encased his palm with Qi and finally decided to pardon the peasant.

  "Keke. Nameless peasant, to survive, sometimes you have to learn to bend and stretch. Remember not to be so stubborn in your next life."

  Just when Long Batian’s palm smmed down toward the peasant’s head, a hand shot out and gripped his wrist, a surge of pure Qi completely counteracting the energy radiating from his palm!

  At the same time, slivers of pink energy burrowed into the skin and snaked up the stream...

  But Long Batian had no time to pay heed to the circumstances of his hand because he was hit by a wave of pure shock!

  His spiritual connection with his flying dagger was suddenly severed!

  A surge of blood welled up in Long Batian's throat from the backsh.

  His wide-eyes gred down at the formerly dying man now fshing him a wide, creepy grin, "You—"

  Before he could finish, the echos of an icky giggle turned Long Batian’s mind into mush, his vision swimming and distorting...

  The subject of his shock warped into an unfamiliar enchantress – lustrous bck hair that framed a youthful heart-shaped face and a slender yet perky figure that didn’t exactly speak to his heart...

  Yet, this charming little devil immediately let him taste an abnormal pleasure that didn’t lose out to the euphoria he felt when he engaged in his favorite hobby - pnting seeds in the flower pots raised by other men!

  She was simply… irresistible.

  He can’t help but want to let his dragon sink deeper and deeper into the maws of the abyss, but just when he arrived at the edge of the cliff-

  “Hehehe~ Can’t resist anymore? Then, just let it all out all over WeiWei, Brother Bubai~”

  Brother Bubai? Who’s that? That’s not him because he is-

  Long Batian jolted awake. No! This wasn’t real! Illusion!

  His stagnant Qi riled up and the world around him shattered!

  The rusty metallic taste of blood welcomed him back to reality, but just when Long Batian came back to his senses, he found a hand rubbing something in his face.

  A rune sparking with lightning, floating out from its talisman that was already crumbling into cinders…

  An utterly baffling disbelief dawned in Long Batian’s mind. He checked! He had nothing! Where in Yama’s name did he pull that talisman from?!

  His answer... was the chilling sentence of the grim reaper.

  “Dodge this, mofo.”