Observing that cooling igneous rock, Bubai furrowed his brows.

  “This royal egghead... how ruthless.”

  Even if that didn’t scrap the battle doll, it would’ve melted her skin off! His own skin won’t fare much better.

  As expected, since this sword goddess no longer had the advantage, the dynamics had changed.

  His opponent wasn’t just going to stand by and idly watch him solo the doll in melee combat.

  Dragging the doll around the battlefield worked so far, but now, if he gets stalled in place for even a breath too long, it’s just asking to be cooked.

  Even if it’s not fire, it’ll be wind or even a talisman.

  This is the annoying part of the Shadow Sun doll users.

  While their dolls hounded their foes on autopilot, the owner can still cast spells!

  When ruthless, they can even sacrifice their puppet to inflict a thousand damage to the enemy, even at the cost of eight hundred to their own!

  They were literally burning money!

  Against these types of rich rogues, a war of attrition was not the answer, especially since mid-tier dolls have a much longer battery life than low-grade ones.

  “Seems I really can’t drag this out any longer...”

  Seeing the unharmed ice goddess gliding back over, Bubai bolted towards the edge of the frosted field.

  His hands didn’t stay idle.

  Two kunai tied with smoking pouches shot out in the direction where his foe turtled up.

  Finishing it off, a few more smoke pellets were familiarly tossed out around his route...

  Poof! Poof! Puff!

  Billowing smoke clouded his vision.

  Take away the puppet controller’s vision! Divide the battlefield!

  All was done in a few breaths, but this short span of time already let Bubai leave the slippery ice field.

  But… he still couldn’t escape from the enemy chaser!

  A weak warning from his Bubai tingle jerked his attention over to the smoke-choked space behind.

  But the smoke played in favor of his foe this time!

  By the time his sharp eyes caught the glints flying at him, it was already too close!

  Five needles, fanned out like a lopsided X to cover all possible room for evasion on his left half!

  Step. Twist. Bubai quickly backpedaled to the right to borrow time…

  A hardwood board whipped out just in time to catch the three he couldn’t dodge.

  Tuk. Tuk. Tuk!

  Bubai’s eyes did a quick sweep over the three jade needles that pierced halfway through the board.

  Those glossy tips vaguely gleamed in a different shade.

  Poison. No doubt about it.

  But there was no time to analyze further.

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  Bubai barely tossed aside the board when- Whoosh!

  Razor-sharp nails cut apart the smoke curtain and sliced at him as if they had eyes!

  Snap! Bubai’s claw was even faster at catching that wrist!

  A hard tug dragged the goddess toward him and his body stuck to hers, shoulder-throwing her down!

  But mid-way, those long, sexy legs of hers snaked around his neck, tightening with frightening speed to strangle him!

  Bubai could feel the pressure building in his temples when his air supply was cut off.

  Those legs trying to twist his head the wrong way only made it worse.

  But Bubai didn’t choke at this critical moment!

  His body twisted around to slam the beauty down with bone-crushing force, pinning her arm against her back and even clamped her head using his legs to press it face-first against the floor!

  Prey subdued! But he wasn’t naive enough to think it was over.

  The cold air wafted out from below and started frosting over the ground...

  Bubai felt her struggle with strength that didn’t lose out to that Jia Liang brute.

  Too bad there’s not much that could be done to reduce her struggle because most of his available drugs aren’t that effective against his An Jali doll, let alone this Leng Meng.

  Fortunately, her strength was nothing compared to his own.

  Even with Turtle Breathing activated, there was no trouble with keeping her pinned down.

  Air wasn’t a problem either.

  Breathing through pores. His hidden space’s emergency air supply.

  Even without these, his body can last a while when deprived of oxygen.

  Those spores in his bloodstream didn’t just grant a regeneration passive. Photosynthesizing oxygen was a perk of a plant.

  In this tussle, the conditions were in his favor, but time was not. The smoke distraction will only last so long!

  His injured but free hand reached into his storage pouch, pulling out a talisman he had prepped as a trump card.

  "You doll lovers sure are rich. Too bad for you. I’m not one to play fair either. I can burn money, too!"

  Facing that arced jade back shaped like an hourglass, time ticked away, but Bubai hesitated because his naked eyes can’t see anything special.

  “Only got one shot. It’s either the dantian or…”

  A mid-tier doll runs on multiple power sources. Targeting the dantian alone might not work!

  To put her out of commission, he either sealed every single energy source or simply... cut off her core from all the energy by sealing the sunstone gem!

  The choice was clear, but...

  The convenience of divine sense wasn’t available.

  Seems he can only try that...

  Qi flowed to his eyes. Bubaigan, activate!

  The world of invisible Qi was colored in his vision.

  It’s hard for these eyes to distinguish between all the currents of Qi, but… there was always an exception – his own energy!

  The vague greenish flow circulating on the smooth jade canvas was ever so thin, but that color was unmistakable.

  That should be the essence he deposited in her earlier!

  Now, it was a stain that let him vaguely sense the energy flow within her!

  Under the brilliance of his eyes, a few breaths was enough for him to pinpoint the exact location he was looking for. “It should be… right there!”

  The glowing pupils flashed back to normal.

  Not hesitating any longer, the talisman was slapped onto the nape of her neck. Qi flowed to the talisman...

  High-grade Essence Core Seal, activate!

  Seeing the talisman’s runic patterns sinking into her flesh like ink dissolving into water, Bubai felt his resolve burn hotter than ever.

  This was a charm designed for suppressing a foundation-builder’s dantian.

  It was essentially creating a temporary barrier to blockade a cultivator’s main energy source.

  But to use it here...

  “Will this work? Guess I’ll find out soon…”

  Meanwhile…

  Tai Yingui vigilantly rushed out of the smoke cloud and finally got a clear vision of the curtain of smoke curtain on the other side.

  “Geh! Thought it’ll be an ambush, but it’s just smoke. Want to hide using a cheap trick like this? De le!”

  His bony fingers brushed over his eyes. “Doll Seed Sense!”

  A wicked light flashed through the twin dark suns…

  Tai Yingui quickly locked onto the unmoving glowing orb in the haze and sneered. “Found you!”

  Rattle. A gourd was fished out from his pouch and he took a swig of the dark mineral-infused liquid.

  Rushing closer, Tai Yingui tossed the gourd aside and his hands quickly weaved a series of seals…

  His lungs puffed up. His flesh seemed to shrivel a bit more. The brewing power within reached its peak...

  Fire Style: Molten Rock!

  Squelch! His mouth erupted like the mouth of a volcano, spewing out a torrent of molten lava towards the beacon in the smoke!

  Within the smoke, the fighter entangled with the goddess immediately sensed the attack hot on his heels.

  The blistering heat wave made Bubai’s danger sense tingle like a hot wire, but...

  Want to defend? None of his hands were free!

  Even his legs were locked up. It’s not like his third leg could hold up a shield to defend, right?

  As for rolling away?

  Know that a tiny shift can cause the sealing talisman to fail. Once the sealing fails, there was no second chance!

  So moving was out of the question, unless he gives up on this chance!

  But to give up now?

  Bubai looked at the glow of the talisman rune fading like the final grains of an hourglass slipping away. “Almost there…”

  His eyes flashed with a ruthless color.

  Man will die for riches just as birds will for food. It’s time to man up!

  His body covered the weakly struggling ice goddess to fully shield her beneath him and Bubai gritted his teeth.

  “I came. I saw. I conquer! Now, she’s mine!”

  Fwoom! The molten tide crashed down! The world turned into a furnace!