Did Long Batian dodge?

  Well, the headless body now limply spyed on the bed was the answer.

  Honestly, it would have been a miracle if he had managed to escape, not after all the traps Bubai had id out just to steer the battle into this favorable endgame.

  Don’t think getting to this point was easy. A clean kill like this involved a whole lot of pnning and it was anything but simple.

  In a head-on battle, Bubai couldn’t boldly cim he would absolutely win.

  But with an abnormal physique that could put him among the ranks of body cultivators and his pseudo-divine sense that surpassed his opponent’s spiritual sense, it was unquestionable who had the advantage.

  Thanks to his cheat-like advantages, even if his foe possessed a decent magic tool, Bubai was confident he wouldn’t suffer more than a scratch if he ever so desires.

  But the goal was never just to win the battle.

  Bubai hadn’t forgotten: the opponent had a hostage!

  No matter how fast Bubai could move, it could never be faster than the reaction speed of a foundation establishment cultivator.

  Even if Long Batian’s reflexes weren’t as sharp as his own, the instinct was still there, and it would take little effort for the man to slit the hostage’s throat at a moment’s notice or even use her as a shield!

  Unless he could completely control his opponent’s every move, one mistake on his part will be a haunting lifelong regret.

  Worse still, if he revealed too much of his cards and piqued the opponent’s interest, who was to say the vile man wouldn’t use the hostage to coerce him into spilling his secrets?

  At that time, he would end up at the gates of a difficult choice: die now or die ter...

  Viewing this battle from another angle, it was another deadly game of chess, and brute force alone can’t turn the tide in his favor.

  That’s why his battle pn was never to outmaneuver the opponent with sheer speed and strength alone.

  Instead, he opted for something more along his own line of work: acting.

  Yes. This battle was just another act of bancing on the edge of a dagger.

  A thousand ways, a hundred pns, but this performance hinged on a pivotal pyer—the hostage.

  Indeed, the hostage could be used against him, but who was to say the hostage wasn’t also a bondage for the enemy?

  It might sound heartless, but she was an integral part of the trap to pin the man in pce!

  Without her presence to anchor Long Batian to the bed, what he had to deal with would be a far more dangerous fight!

  Long Batian was a newly promoted to the foundation realm, but he was a foundation establishment cultivator nevertheless.

  No foundation establishment cultivator is easy to deal with, and a mobile foundation establishment fighter who could kite him with a flying dagger was a recipe for disaster!

  Fortunately, even Merlin himself will agree: devastating beauties were the deadliest trap for men.

  Xiao Lan lost her combat power, but she still served as the strongest chain in his scheme. Well, her credit was undeniable.

  But this was just one key to the pn. The most important objective was getting close to the opponent.

  The true start of his own cultivation odyssey hadn’t been long. His foundation was still cking, and there weren’t many killer techniques under his belt.

  To make matters worse, he knew all of them could be easily thwarted if the opponent pulls out a defensive tool or talisman.

  As a disciple taken under a golden core elder, it was almost certain Long Batian possessed life-saving treasures.

  Even if he doesn’t, with the reflexes and speed of the foundation realm, Long Batian could choose to stop being a sitting duck at any given moment.

  Thus, if Bubai wanted any of his attacks to nd, he had to get up close and personal, or at least close enough that the bloke had no chance to react!

  As, getting close was a challenge. Any fighter with a range superiority knows to prevent threats from getting too near.

  His first probe at the start of the battle already hinted that this Long Batian was not a rice bucket and poking a dagger at his throat was as simple as driving his other dagger into a woman.

  Without overwhelming speed that could bypass the detection of the opponent’s spiritual sense, it was nearly impossible to avoid a reaction and counterattack.

  In other words, if Long Batian stayed vigint, there was almost zero chance for Bubai to py any type of assassination game when the man literally has a radar.

  So, if Bubai wanted to close the distance, he had to py it out, using some tricks to induce the man into dropping his guard.

  As a man, he understood men.

  At what point would a man drop his vigince and become the most vulnerable?

  When the man indulges, thinking he has total control over the situation, drowning in his own pleasure, arrogance, and dominance.

  On the other hand, as an assassin, he knew full well it all came down to an instantaneous burst—a killer that could shock the soul out of enemies, leaving them no chance for a comeback.

  Putting two and two together, he devised the pn of pying the pig to eat the tiger!

  That’s why there were many strange moments throughout the battle where he didn’t take the optimal action.

  For instance, he could have gotten rid of the annoying flying dagger at any time during the heat of battle, but to avoid arousing Long Batian’s suspicion, he tolerated the nuisance and saved this card till the end.

  Another noteworthy point was the abandonment of his storage pouch.

  Naturally, losing this seemingly vital storage bag meant nothing, for his true weapons were stored elsewhere.

  But he still gave up defense to reach for the bag as if it matter, just to blindside his opponent and add another smokescreen to its worth.

  This way, the effect of losing the pouch will loosen the man’s vigince even further!

  The final touch was the poisonous bolt he could have evaded, but he instead took the hit like a man, even going as far as letting the venom spread and colpsing in a heap just to feign a “dying” state…

  This was all just to lull Long Batian into a false sense of security!

  Of course, there was a risk in this strategy, but…

  “To win, sometimes you have to lose.”

  Bubai gnced down at the sizzling bck venom oozing out from his toes, dripping into the ceramic bowl on the floor.

  Not any poisonous substances can be mixed together because sometimes poisons can fight poison.

  However, once there was a correct complementary formu, one plus one doesn’t simply give equal two!

  So, a blend of countless poisons wasn’t something to scoff at!

  Aching pain. Possible hidden injuries. But Bubai still willingly ate this loss because he understood a gring truth.

  The deadliest aspect of poison wasn't its immediate fatality but its ability to hamper its victim during battle.

  As a portion of the victim’s efforts have to be focused on dealing with the poison, their combat ability will inevitably be affected.

  Worse still, once the toxin gets in after its victim gets nicked, it was most likely going to stay for the entirety of the battle.

  After all, who would ever give the enemy time to expel the poison during combat? No one.

  So, Long Batian’s assertion that it was difficult for even an early-stage foundation realm cultivator to force out the poison wasn't a lie, but... that was only under the condition of being engaged in battle.

  Once the battle is over, for foundation establishment cultivators, purging normal poison was not an issue.

  Heck, suppressing normal poison was manageable even during battle!

  As long as the poison was kept out of vital organs, even if the entire body was corroded, they were essentially superficial injuries.

  Conventional poisons were no longer effective against cultivators in the foundation realm or higher!

  Unless the blend contained toxins capable of infecting Qi itself, it posed no immediate threat to the life of a foundation establishment cultivator!

  Sadly, many poisons that could take root in Qi often originated from cultivation techniques, and those that take a tangible form were exceedingly rare and immensely valuable treasures—often worth as much as the life of a foundation establishment cultivator!

  Needless to say, such toxins were too precious to waste on anything less than a significant target, and even pill refiners weren’t so extravagant to use such a valuable weapon to kill a Qi-refiner.

  So, the chances of such toxins appearing here to deal with a nobody like him was almost nil.

  The benefits of keeping his cultivation hidden.

  Of course, there was always a risk that a real deal was mixed in.

  But even if such a deadly toxin was present, his physique's regenerative capabilities was not just for show, and the green dew he could spam minimized the threat even further.

  As something that could even keep him alive after being toasted by tribution lightning, the healing properties of his green dew had always been the life-saving card at the bottom of his box.

  He didn’t worry about it failing him because if one drop wasn’t enough, then two… ten, a hundred.

  In a worse case scenario, he can even test if his gluttonous seed can gobble up the Qi toxin.

  Unless it was an instantaneous death that targeted his vitals, it was essentially the same as not hurting him… well, except for the pain.

  He wasn’t going to whine about a little pain. No pain, no gain.

  Since he was a cheat incarnated, if he can’t even bear this little pain, how dare he even think about dealing with the real protagonist!

  So, when he determined the trajectory of the poisonous bolt to be his leg, he took the gambit, knowing it was the linchpin that would tip the scales decisively in his favor.

  Feigning that he was at the end of his rope was the ticket he had high hopes for, hoping it’ll let him get a personal handshake with this Long Batian who had a wanna-be-celebrity attitude.

  Of course, Bubai didn’t just leave this meet-and-greet to chance alone. There was still one very important, final key to his pn...