Yang Kai's first thought was that he had been knocked unconscious sohow. But recalling what he knew about Han Xuhan's Mystic Arts, that conclusion didn't quite make sense.
Squinting in the darkness, Yang Kai realized that he could clearly feel his own body, limbs, and stance. He was standing still within a dark mass, eyes open, breathing in and out normally.
This ant that he was definitely not unconscious. So where did this darkness around him co from? Was it another of Han Xuhan's nurous tricks? Was this how Jiang Chen and Sister i had been defeated?
Growing wary, he quickly backpedalled and found the darkness around him fading away. To his delight, he managed to fully extricate himself from it with a re dozen steps.
From outside, he discovered that the darkness he had been subrged in was just a mass of fog, similar to the tides that sward the sect's territories ever since their arrival. The source of this mass of fog, however, wasn't visible.
Han Xuhan himself was fully hidden inside it. Yang Kai hesitated to return there to continue his assault, lest the fog should contain sothing harmful.
Straining his ears, he caught so whispers from the crowd encircling their dueling area.
"Are you sure you saw that right? It was a skeletal bird inside that flying shroud?"
"Of course! In fact, I'm sure that it's one of the pets kept by Brother Han Xuhan. I've seen a skeletal bird flying around his house several tis."
"Did Han Xuhan teach that bird to attack Yang Kai during their duel?"
"Maybe... But what kind of weapon did the bird use? How did it summon so much fog? Could it be poisonous?"
Yang Kai's pupils shrank as he understood exactly what was going on. Han Xuhan had baited him into attacking him mindlessly while preparing an ambush from behind!
Was he planning to use this poisonous fog to win the duel?
Face turning pale, Yang Kai roared at his hiding opponent, "Han Xuhan, what the hell do you think you're doing? We agreed not to use any kind of weapons. Doesn't poison count as one? Have so sha!"
From within the fog, Han Xuhan responded, "Don't be ridiculous, brother Kai. Did you see use any weapons? Did I summon this fog? How can you bla for this?"
Yang Kai's face turned red from fury.
"Do you take for a fool? Everyone saw your skeleton soldier doing it!"
"First of all, how could my skeleton soldier summon the fog that our sect's most powerful cultivators haven't managed to control for such a long ti? My minion has no such capability. I can swear that by a heavenly oath!"
Han Xuhan's claim, as logical as it sounded, convinced few people. Yang Kai wasn't one of them. But he didn't get the chance to rebut him.
"And secondly, even if my minion was capable of doing such a thing, how does that incriminate ? I promised not to use any weapons myself.
But my minion is an entity with its independent will and ideas. How am I supposed to control what it does in the heat of the mont?"
"Bullshit! A master must be held accountable for his servant's actions," Yang Kai shouted indignantly.
"Well, if you're going to insist on the technicalities of the law, two can play that ga. Let reiterate then.
Before this duel began, I said that I wouldn't use a weapon. I never explicitly promised the sa condition to be applicable on my minions."
Han Xuhan sounded so gleeful in spouting that load of legally inaccurate nonsense that Yang Kai beca certain of one thing.
He wouldn't win this verbally. He had to seal his victory in a proper manner.
His thoughts raced as he analyzed the situation. Han Xuhan was using the poisonous fog as a shield, perhaps to buy ti, or perhaps to set up a different thod of ambush.
But for how long could he truly hide in there?
A sudden idea occurred to him with that thought. Was the fog actually even poisonous? If it was, how could Han Xuhan stay unhard in it for so long?
...Did I get scamd again? Is the fog actually a harmless diversion? Damn it!
Imdiately upon that realization, Yang Kai dove into the mass of darkness head-first, punching and kicking at every smokey silhouette.
Sure enough, Han Xuhan took a couple of hits and had to crawl out of the fog in desperation.
When Yang Kai followed him out, he noticed that Han Xuhan was trying to hide sothing inside his robe. While he was distracted, Yang Kai took the opportunity to strike once more, kicking the back of his head with the maximum strength his legs could muster.
Unfortunately, Han Xuhan managed to dodge it, as if his reflexes had suddenly gotten an upgrade. Undeterred, Yang Kai executed a follow-up kick targeting the back of his head again, but this ti resorting to an illusion of striking his lower back.
The illusion fooled him and the real kick made contact, much to his delight. But that delight turned into confusion when Han Xuhan shrugged it off and swung back a punch aid at his stomach.
How the hell did he suddenly grow so much stronger and faster? Was it because of the fog?
Yang Kai didn't have the ti to dwell on that thought. The montum of the combat was shifting.
Han Xuhan was no longer passively taking a beating. And his own strikes were no longer as effective as before.
Attack, defend, attack, evade, attack, defend, evade, evade, defend, att-
Bang!
A blindingly fast kick struck him before he could take counterasures, sending a wave of incredible pain across his left thigh. Clutching that leg and gasping for breath, Yang Kai felt a horrifying realization sink in.
This battle was following the sa pattern and heading in the sa direction Jiang Chen had recounted to them, like a force of untaable nature, despite his best efforts to make the duel different.
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