Chapter 401 - 401: The Reasons Behind Everything (2)

Radiant Sun Arena, Box 17.

When the private box's door swung open, the Qian Feifu pacing around anxiously froze and looked over.

At the sight of Qian Fusha getting safely escorted in by Bubai and his female bodyguard, Qian Feifu's shoulders visibly relaxed.

"Ay, I saw you all gone and almost thought we'd ended up in the worse situation. Guess we're still holding up after all—"

It wasn't known if it was his crow's mouth or not, but right on cue, the Qian Fusha, who acted like nothing was wrong the entire way here, finally collapsed!

"Lao Er!!!"

"!" Bubai reacted fast and quickly supported the man. He immediately felt the weight, as if the man lost all strength in his legs!

Seeing this, Qian Feifu hurriedly hobbled over in alarm and stuffed a pill into his older brother's mouth with a face tightened with worry.

Qian Fusha's face immediately regained some color, but he was still gasping like he was in pain. "Xiao Bai… the window… trouble you to help me over."

Right! Why are they still standing?! Qian Feifu reacted. "Brother Bai, quick, over here!"

He urgently guided them over to a seat and helped sit his brother down. Once the man steadied himself, Qian Feifu worriedly asked, "Lao Er, you… how bad is it?"

The stern-faced brother forced out a smile. "See… for yourself."

Closing his eyes, Qian Feifu immediately channeled his spiritual sense and probed his brother's defenseless body.

"This… except for the common signs of Qi exhaustion and some shallow internal injuries, it doesn't look like there's anything wrong? Then why? Unless..."

A frown appeared on his face. "Could it be… damage to the spirit?"

Qian Fusha nodded weakly. "I don't know what... curse that blood freak used, but… the damage done by the high-grade lightning talismans I used... somehow directly reflected on my spirit."

"Now, the connection between my body... and spirit has been damaged. Not only am I having trouble mobilizing my Qi... but even my mobility… cough, cough!"

There's actually such a bloody curse?! Qian Feifu soothed his brother's back with an ugly face. "Curse…? An array of star…? Could it be the strange witchcraft of those tribes we've heard about in the secret realm?"

"I dunno." Qian Fusha wearily sighed. "This is the first time I've seen… something like this."

And that's why he fell for it. Honestly, who could've expected his long-term nemesis to suddenly pull out such a powerful trump card?

Even Bubai, with foreknowledge of anime powers, didn't see this coming!

After all, nobody expected that in a low-level battle, where everybody's been slapping each other with fists and flashy spells, to suddenly involve some mysterious damage reflection power!

But now they know and can come up with ways to counter it.

Qian Feifu thought even more and immediately grasped the main point. "This... isn't looking good for us. Lao Er, are we still going to…?"

"We can't… back down." Qian Fusha willed his face to stay strong. "That vow we brothers swore… we must hold on… even if must pay a heavy price!"

Qian Feifu chewed his lips. "But it's not a solution to go on like this! If they still have others lined up after this Tiemo, then... Wait—how about we go…"

Qian Fusha's face turned thoughtful. "You mean…"

Qian Feifu nodded. "Though they usually stay neutral in these contests, that doesn't mean they won't interfere when it involves their own."

The brows of Qian Fusha knitted together. That was a very tempting proposal, but in the end, he firmly shook his head.

"Whether they get involved is their business. Until then... it's best to rely on ourselves. Remember. We didn't come... to be a burden. This is our duty... our responsibility."

"Hey…" Qian Feifu's shoulder slumped, but he didn't argue back.

He threw a sideways glance at the silent Bubai that was eavesdropping openly, then looked back at his elder brother. "Then, Lao Er, we… how should we proceed? Should I…?"

Qian Fusha's gaze dropped to his brother's limp foot. "Wudi... how is your injury?"

Qian Feifu plastered on a cheeky grin. "Not an issue! I've suppressed the poison for the most part, and going for another round or two should be no problem!"

Too bad, anybody can tell that's false bravado.

How can Qi poison be so easy to deal with?

Outside battle, it might be suppressible, but during combat... anything can happen and the situation might turn fatal in an instant!

That's why Qian Fusha shook his head. "Some things can't be forced. It's best you focus on purging it. We'll try to buy you as much time as the heavens allow."

"Huh?" Qian Feifu looked at his brother with surprise. "But Lao Er, your injuries—aren't you going to rest?!"

Qian Fusha gave his brother a stubborn smile.

"Wudi, you know... any damage to the spirit isn't that easy to heal. It won't change much if I start a bit later. All the more reason... to put it off until after everything is over."

"But—!"

"No buts. We must consider… the overall situation. This is… the best way."

Qian Feifu's grin slowly slipped away and his face turned serious. "How long do I have?"

Qian Fusha looked out the window at his foe who has finished recovering his blood. Even the holes supposedly seared in his body didn't look that serious anymore.

"That blood freak looks fine, but... his condition shouldn't be that much better. Xiao Ba is at the peak of early-stage…"

"As long as they don't clash head-on… he should be able to hold out for a while... at least for a few incense's stick of time... or longer."

"Xiao Ba?" Qian Feifu face-palmed. "Lao Er, you know that rascal... if you tell him to run and hide in the sect, I'm sure nobody knows the way around better than him, but here in this cage…"

"I know." Qian Fusha sighed. "Still... just trust me and... just focus on recovering your combat power as much as possible. The rest... I'll find a way. Go."

"...Alright." Qian Feifu nodded seriously. He then cast one last glance at Bubai, cupped his hands to give him a formal salute, then hurriedly hobbled back to his corner to drive the poison from his body.

That left two men and a woman. But nobody said anything.

Everybody obviously understood what was coming, but it was like they were all waiting for something.

What the other was waiting for, Bubai wasn't clear. But he knew time waits for nobody.

He could see his short buddy dilly-dallying right inside the gate just to delay the inevitable, but that didn't change his fate.

Right at the last minute, the shorty dragged his feet through the gate as though he were walking to the gallows.

Poor Qian Bage looked nothing like his earlier self. Confidence was thrown out the window and he didn't even dare to speak up.

"Begin!"

The instant the battle broke out, the short legs turned tail and fled away from the menacing enemy!

Fight? Even if that Jin Tiemo isn't in peak condition, a paper tiger cultivator's little life isn't enough to hold a candle to a single of the other's bloody attacks!

Qian Bage certainly wasn't foolish enough to stand still and try stopping those powerful energy slashes using sound…

Of course, the echo bugs' sound interference game was a must, and it still played some role at keeping the enemy at bay, albeit not much.

It was quite difficult to guard against sound-based attacks, but... that is only if they could land.

A mid-stage foundation realm cultivator wasn't one to stand still and worse yet, Jin Tiemo didn't need to get close to sound the counterattack!

While the sound waves lost most of their effectiveness once they traveled past the half-court mark, the reaper's blood-red killer energy slashes easily exceeded that range by far!

This was simply the chasm in power between an early-stage and a mid-stage foundation realm cultivator!

A gulf in every aspect—sustainability, power, reach...

If it goes on like this, Qian Bage's fate will be the same as his second brother sooner or later.

Alas, it was doubtful whether he would have the capability to survive the same!

But the world is a "fair" place, and the weak always have their ways to survive!

Can't beat the other in hard power? Then rely on external means!

That's exactly what Qian Bage did.

Not enough space to evade those killer slashes that crisscrossed all over? Then just borrow the wall to break the situation!

Introducing: Cloud Ascending Boots!

A common magic boot mainly used for sticking to flight magic tools to avoid accidentally falling off.

Though not as versatile as the actual skill it is mimicking, borrowing its mediocre sticky-power to run up a meter or two on the walls poses zero issues!

Fine print: effectiveness varies depending on the supported user's weight. Ahem.

Though the shorty wouldn't pass as the thin type, his boots certainly helped him out big time and he managed to leap out from tight spots that a grounded cultivator would otherwise not survive!

Coupled with the sneaky attacks from his sound cannons, it was enough to buy more time for... deploying his other means.

From his pouch, the shorty pulled out all sorts of pill bottles and talismans.

Surprisingly, instead of directly using them, he actually stuffed them into the ball of echo bugs that detached from the main swarm.

Then, these writhing bug orbs flew out and set themselves up in the path between both sides.

Unfortunately, little bug balls like these really can't do much to wall off the advance of a Qi Refiner, let alone a foundation realm powerhouse that could just speed past it…

That was obvious to all. Then… what is this Qian Bage up to?