Bubai was too lazy to talk at start, but now? He wanted to talk more, waste more time.

  How sweet would it be if they could just have an idle chat and then part on friendly terms?

  Honestly, Bubai just can’t work up much motivation to fight a hard battle against this cheater.

  It’s not because a toad entered sage mode after eating swan meat.

  No, the real reason was far less poetic: this average Joe was poor. Like dirt poor.

  When there’s no golden standard for comparison, Bubai was excited for every leek harvest.

  But after last round? Sigh... these poor grassroots disciples really weren’t that fragrant anymore.

  Worse still, this poor desperate underdog got a power-up. What a headache!

  To hold this cheater back without leaking too much... it won’t be easy.

  This round… no matter how he played it, whether he is serious or not, he will still be making a loss!

  Ahhh, Merlin’s beard! Just thinking about it made him annoyed!

  If possible, he just wanted to quickly get this fight over with.

  But facing this sudden power spike, old plans were thrown out the window.

  To make matters worse, he was given no time to draft comprehensive new plans.

  In less than a few breaths, the human missile already crossed half the arena!

  For battles at the foundation realm level, this large arena really wasn’t big at all!

  If Bubai does nothing, he’ll be forced into a melee clash soon!

  But go head-on against this druggy on steroids? Not uh.

  Better to let this wind-beggar blow off some steam first!

  Not dilly dallying any longer, Bubai dashed off along the arena’s perimeter while his hand dipped into his pouch. “Let’s go for a warm welcome.”

  A few paper slips were peeled off from the thin stack of mid-grade talisman sponsored by the kind water boy from the last battle.

  Pinching a talisman between his fingers, he channeled Qi into it.

  The paper came alive, its rune blazing to life like a spark meeting oil!

  Fwoom! The fiery sigil erupted, spewing out flames that grew into a blazing, elephant-sized comet that roared towards the incoming human missile!

  But Qiu Feng was already a step ahead.

  A light tap of his foot sent him darting to the side, and the quick blazing fireball met nothing but air and water!

  Boom! Hissss! Waves of heat and rising steam were left far behind by the nimble Qiu Feng…

  "Jaja, is this all you’ve got?!"

  But Qiu Feng barely skipped a few more steps forward when he was forced to flash back to the other side to evade another fireball screaming toward him!

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  Boom! Flames licked the air and plumes of steam vaporized into nothingness while another talisman burned to ashes like waste paper.

  Bubai felt the pain of burning money that he worked “hard” for, but his hands never stopped.

  One hand slipped out another talisman, the other fished out his new surfboard, ready for what comes next.

  His feet similarly never stopped sprinting along the arena outer edges.

  But deep down, he knew no matter how fast he ran, there was no way to outrun this cheater unless he’s willing to get his own feet wet!

  As someone in the foundation realm, how can Bubai not understand there’s an unbridgeable gap between mortal Qi Refiners and foundation builders?

  Foundation stage physical prowess wasn’t something he can just brush aside while restricting his own power to his current status!

  If it weren’t for his tactic of burning money to buy time, he’ll have to choice but to flip over the trump card he’s been keeping up his sleeves!

  Still, this solution can’t stop the other’s advance for long!

  Though walls of fire lit up the open routes leading straight to himself, Bubai could see those roadblocks barely slowed the oncoming freight down.

  Dear Merlin, these mid-grade fireball talismans almost did nothing except for evaporating water!

  This left the buffed cheater barreling towards him with no signs of slowing, getting closer and closer...

  Bubai’s eyes narrowed, judging the distance. “Close enough...”

  Taking a sharp turn, he dived toward the untouched patch of shallow water and kicked off while riding the surfboard!

  Qi channeled to his feet and into the ignition key nestled in the rune rings of the board...

  The rune engine immediately hummed to life, sending him skating forward to the opposite bank! "And we’re off!"

  With no more balls of fire hindering him, Qiu Feng surged forward like a predator closing in on a fleeing prey and barked like a hunter’s hound.

  “Want to run? Jaja, not a chance!”

  Swish! Swish! Swish! Shurikens whistled over at Qiu Feng, but he simply flashed back and forth, so fast that it seemed the metal stars simply passed right through his body!

  “Useless!”

  Nothing seemed to be able to stop the gap from closing!

  But just when Qiu Feng chased right up to the tail of the surfer, there was a faint “click” and Bubai spun around with a metal sphere in hand.

  Pshhh!

  A hundred sharp needles fanned out, filling the air with a deadly storm that left Qiu Feng nowhere to dodge!

  Qiu Feng crossed his arms and skidded to a stop, but he showed no fear.

  “Cheap tricks! Useless!” Qi flared and the crossed arms aggressively swung outwards! “JAH!”

  A shockwave of raw Qi exploded out from Qiu Feng, blasting all the needles away in every direction!

  Even the water around him was pushed back, opening a circle of dry land at his feet!

  The surfing Bubai almost lost his grip on his surfboard in shock!

  But he still reacted in time, propping up the board to shield against all the rebounding needles while skidding backward.

  Water sprayed like a fan around him, raining harmlessly like the needles that failed to hit any targets.

  Did that killer move fail just like that? No, it did its job!

  A Qi explosion like that was flashy, but also a wanton waste of energy!

  Trading a mortal killer to waste this cheater’s energy counts as a win!

  After all, the power buff from the forbidden pill is temporary! Burn out the timer and the match is his!

  So, drag it out! Let the drugs burn out! Eventually, that will tilt the scales in his favor!

  But this alone wasn’t enough. His bag of tricks was far from empty. He wasn’t done just yet!

  When the surfboard dropped back down, the eyes of the two predators met.

  Seeing his prey so close that he could almost touch him in the next step, Qiu Feng almost couldn’t hold back a howl of excitement!

  But then, an igniting talisman popped up in between their vision.

  Bubai grinned. "Let there be light."

  Qiu Feng’s vision then exploded into a blinding world of light!

  “Jahhh!” Qiu Feng instinctively raised his hand to shield his stinging eyes and snarled, “Copying that whiny braggart’s cheap tricks! Trash, fight me like a man, ja!”

  But his angry provocation did nothing to delay the follow-up attack.

  Even when blind, Qiu Feng still vaguely sensed the nearby situation and clearly felt the oppressive heat roaring toward his location.

  His feet instinctively moved, skipping to the side to steer clear of the area.

  Fwoom!

  The sizzling sound of steam reached his ears. Simultaneously, the blazing heat of another fireball touched his nerves!

  Since his weak senses can’t find his target, his feet can only keep him on the move, frantically zigzagging around to buy time for his vision to recover...

  It didn’t take long for shapes to reemerge, blurry at first, until the world snapped into focus.

  When Qiu Feng finally got a look around, what greeted him was lots of steam and a slippery prey that was already far on the opposite side of the arena.

  Back to square one!

  The annoyed Qiu Feng growled.

  “Do you really think you can escape forever like this?! Face it, you can’t run forever, ja! Once you fall into my hands, I will tear you apart! Your fate is inevitable, ja!”

  Inevitable? Bubai held up a talisman like a card waiting to be played. “Oh really?”