The reflection on the crystal blade grew larger and larger in Bubai’s eyes...

  Step. His anchored foot pivoted and he leaned back, letting the icy kiss graze right pass, just like its owner…

  The free hand went to his storage pouch, grabbing the thick, dented blade...

  Borrowing the momentum, Bubai twirled around and hurled the heavy sword out towards the caster idly channeling Qi!

  Swoosh! Seeing the spinning discus whistling towards him, Tai Yingui hurriedly pulled out a tortoise shell half his size and redirected his flow of Qi to it…

  The spirit stone slotted within the shell glowed and the energy flowed out into the scales plating the shell.

  Runes lit up with a golden glow...

  Oom! A golden projection of the tortoise shell expanded outwards like a bubble, just in time to meet the thrown blade head-on!

  Against the thick blade, the golden barrier looked like an eggshell waiting to be cracked, but…

  Surprisingly, the blade bounced off, causing nothing but a ripple!

  Happy that he was safe and sound, Tai Yingui proudly patted the shell. “Nice try! But want to take me out first? Gehehe! I’ve long prepared for amateur tricks like that!”

  Bubai sighed inside. It was just a little probe, but his hopes of a quick fight were dashed.

  There’s nothing to complain about though.

  Can’t expect the puppet controller to stand there defenseless, right?

  That wouldn’t do his rank nor nickname justice.

  Some were infamous for being a roadblock to the top, and this Tai Yingui is known to be the wallflower that everybody simply leaves alone due to his very simple playstyle.

  Summon minions, set up defenses, then let the dolls drag it out.

  It’s boring, but this is indeed a correct way to play the summoner class.

  Alas… it’s really annoying once he became the one playing against these royal eggheads who love turtling up, especially since the shielding power was so strong.

  The sheer brute force behind his throw was enough to pulverize bones and shatter stone, but against that glowing barrier, it hadn’t even left a crack!

  If he wanted to crack that shell, it’ll probably require a war of attrition, a show of absolute force or a precision strike with enough penetrative power to pierce a single point…

  Lightning crusher technique? What about other ways?

  Will poisonous fumes get through? What about incense fragrance?

  A few tricks already popped up in Bubai’s mind, but… there was no chance to test any of those right now!

  Why? Because there was a sword goddess hounding him like a dog!

  Swish! Hum. Swoosh!

  The thin, crystal blade guided the goddess’s path forward, around, and backwards…

  The sword didn’t manage to land a hit, but it was almost impossible to miss those soulless, empty eyes.

  It was like staring into an endless, frozen abyss… devoid of warmth, devoid of life.

  There didn’t seem to be an inkling of intelligence left in them, yet this did little to ruin the swordplay that seemed to be ingrained into her instincts.

  Thrust, slash, swing. There wasn’t anything fancy.

  Each strike wasn’t even as fast as the bullet knives he faced in the previous round.

  Nevertheless, it was a whole lot more oppressive and much, much trickier to evade than all those previous low-level fellas!

  This sword goddess’s every stance flowed into the next, chaining each sword strike to come one right after another like an uninterruptible combo.

  To make matters worse, there was no chance for him to pull away, even with his speed!

  Her physique definitely can’t match his, but her lightness skill gave her fleeting bursts of speed that let her stick to him like glue!

  Every sweep boxed him in, every miss intercepted his escape…

  She was like a seamstress, using her sword like a needle to weave a net all around him… an inescapable net that was really hard to break free from!

  This net formed a kill zone where the temperature dropped every breath…

  It wasn’t just figuratively. It really felt cold, for real… almost like fighting in an air conditioned room.

  Just when the temperature fell another notch…

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  Leng Meng’s stance broke the pattern!

  Her crystal sword drew an arc gleaming like a crescent moon…

  Bloody Merlin, it’s an ult!

  Bubai barely pulled out the scimitar and machete sponsored by his kind opponents when the cold radiance bloomed in his face!

  A flurry of mirrored stabs rained upon him like icy hail! It was almost like facing off against two swords!

  Peng! Ding! Peng! Deng! Ding! Deng!

  Quick reflexes let Bubai evade most by backpedaling while the weapons tanked the rest.

  But this left both metal blades peppered with gaping holes.

  Poor thing. They were basically out of commission after a single round!

  Tossing aside the scrapped metal, a nifty bit of sleight of hand pulled out a handy knife from the new belt he recently acquired, just in time to parry the follow-up slash!

  This time, no sound came from the contact...

  Yet a phantom chill ran up Bubai’s spine.

  He instinctively let go of his knife and jerked his hand back just in time to watch the crystal blade slice right through the knife like butter!

  Bloody Merlin’s beard! Too sharp! If he didn’t react fast enough, his fingers would’ve been chopped off!

  But even though his reflexes saved his hand, he could feel the searing sting of cold that seemed to burrow into the bones of his fingers.

  Bubai flexed his fingers that were grazed by the tip of the crystal sword.

  Blood welled from the paper-thin cut.

  He could sense his regenerative passive kicking in, but the stitching of the flesh was definitely much slower than normal.

  What’s this? Grievous wound? From the cold?

  Was it the sword? The goddess’s cultivation art? Or some combination of both?

  Alas, his opponent didn’t give him time to puzzle it out.

  The relentless sword goddess glided over, and so did her owner’s taunt.

  “Gehehe! Hurts, right? Even though her companion sword has dulled, when they are paired together, it’s sharp enough to cut through white jade! How can it be stopped by those scrap metal of yours, let alone your bare flesh!”

  “They don’t call her sword Frost Mourn for nothing! All wounds will freeze under her cut! She’s the perfect tool to deal with special physique like yours! You can’t escape the inevitable! Gehehe!”

  Bubai’s lips twitched.

  This Tai Yingui really did act like a third-rate villain, but Bubai wasn’t going to complain about blabbermouths like these.

  Boast all he wants. Bubai is happy to analyze whatever is said.

  Just from those few lines, a lot of intel was picked out.

  Most importantly, Bubai could almost guess why this Tai Yingui dared to challenge him.

  As expected, the world didn’t revolved around him. Other characters are alive.

  Since he showed some uniqueness, how can others not try to test his limits?

  Sure, his wounds can heal. Poison wasn’t too effective. But what if his wounds were frozen?

  Perhaps there other ways to suppress the recovery? Who knows. It was all a test.

  So, from a higher perspective, he was always losing, even if he won.

  As for who was behind this test?

  Bubai peeked upwards. Is it them?

  Above.

  Sporting a wicked smile, Tai Yinjun gloated, “Gawahaha! I wasn’t wrong. The ice arts of the Heartless Sword Sect is really the best restraint against you muscle-heads who rely on physique!”

  The brawny Jia Gufan scoffed. “A little cold is nothing against my heat.”

  “Aye, things like this can’t be generalized. It’s a weensy cold for you, but against those little dollies in the playground below… gawahaha! They can just wait to be turned into an ice cube!”

  Ma Pei blew his beard angrily. “Old thief, don’t forget. Restraint is mutual. It’s still too early to know who will have the last laugh!”

  Victory was still hard to tell, but Bubai sure didn’t have the leisure to be laughing.

  Man oh man. He really didn’t expect the difficulty to spike so much between a low-grade and mid-grade doll!

  Remember the good ol’ days where he bulldozed through dolls at Hei Hua Lou left and right?

  Yeah, not happening here.

  As for hoping for a downgrade in power due to a lack in control? Who is he kidding?

  That Tai Yingui’s sword skills were apparently nil.

  There’s no way he’s controlling this unrefined doll to perform all these fancy stances.

  This Leng Meng was definitely set to auto-combat mode!

  Even so, she was a headache to deal with!

  Know that this Leng Meng doll had underwent decades of deterioration, and all that was retained was just pure combat instincts!

  Just imagine how powerful she would be when she was fully conscious and at her peak. Terrifying!

  Bubai shuddered at the thought. To think a human puppet could preserve so much power from the mold it was created from!

  How does something so outrageous like this exist? Not a clue.

  That’s the secret craftsmanship of the Shadow Sun clan.

  Regardless of those mysteries, there was no mystery regarding his next battle plan.

  If he wanted to deal with that tortoise chilling in the back, he had to first deal with this chilling Leng Meng standing in his way!

  The question is how.

  Bubai’s mind raced, analyzing the pattern in her moves.

  Her seamless movements betrayed almost none of the rigidity one might expect from a puppet, but...

  Instincts shape habits. No matter how perfect the stance, the pattern was still there.

  Coming from the left… coming from the right…

  Bubai veered right, a step back, then left…

  Her crystal blade was always close, but it left nothing but a weak chill that bit his skin like a ghost’s touch.

  Predictability was in play, but counters were still out of the question.

  Any attempt to trip or grapple her failed.

  She’s not thinking, but she still reacts.

  Her aggressive sword established a defensive zone that Bubai didn’t dare to breach after earning a few extra cuts on his arms and legs.

  Unless he was ready to sacrifice a limb or two to that crystal blade, there was no way to go all-in.

  Even taking a step closer would put his throat or heart at risk!

  Fortunately, even though the sword was sharp, there’s no sword aura flying out nor assistive spells.

  The intense practice he had with Xiao Lan made all this manageable.

  But he can’t go on like this! Running and dodging like this is not a way out.

  Don’t forget. There’s still Tai Yingui’s malicious gaze locking onto him from afar!

  The lack of adept control prevented that turtle from achieving synchronous cooperation with the sword goddess, but there’s no saying when he’ll join in to snipe him with a ruthless blow!

  A war of attrition is not the answer. He must quickly solved this annoying hound chasing him down!

  But the sword was like the goddess’s angel. That was a big problem.

  Then… let’s break it down into smaller problems.

  To break the goddess, break her sword. So... solve that annoying sword first!

  Feeling the blade hiss past his ribs once again, Bubai steeled himself. That stance… the next will be a thrust!

  Bubai’s eyes flashed with a spark of cleverness.

  The low-grade pouch he hid in his trousers was pulled out…

  When the next sword lanced over at his heart, Bubai bravely opened the little pouch to catch the sword, letting it stab right into the storage space inside!

  Bubai didn’t waste a second and moved in close before the sword goddess could instinctively retract her blade…

  Sticking up close and personal, the strings of the pouch was tied tightly in place around her wrist!

  Job’s done! The sword got bagged!

  Since the doll lacked the intuition to manually untie the pouch, it was effectively banishing the dangerous sword. Perfect!

  With the guardian gone, the goddess was open wide for him to desecrate!

  When Bubai looked at that gorgeous frozen face up close, a triumphant grin spread across his face. Whatcha going to do now?

  But before Bubai could celebrate any further, his eyes locked onto the goddess’s parting lips.

  Foggy white stuff was rolling off her tongue and leaking out from those sexy lips...

  The omen reminded him of the wonderful blow from earlier, but now…

  An icy dread came from his Bubai tingle. Danger!