Get sacrificed? No way, José!

Bubai wasn’t sure if any sacrifice to some sage-like existence could really be pulled off that easily or if that unknown curse could really bypass the power of his mysterious cheat to harm his spirit.

Either way, he sure didn’t want to learn it the hard way!

Noticing that bloody off-brand Hidan’s foot was sketching out a bloody ritual circle again, Bubai sneered inside.

How to counter a curse that needs a ritual circle drawn with blood to work?

Just get rid of the surface that can be drawn on!

A hand upended his handy storage pouch…

Out poured water that flooded down and washed away the bloody circle!

Want to draw anything now that Batbai’s prepared? Dream on!

Just when Bubai thought he solved the root of the curse, the wicked grin on Jin Tiemo’s face grew even wider.

Sinister eyes locked onto Bubai and their owner aimed the scythe at his own thigh! “Zeheheh... who said I need a ritual circle for the curse to work?”

...Wait! Naniii?!

His Bubai tingle ushered in blaring warning bells that made Bubai’s scalp numb.

“Feel the pain! Accept pain, and know pain!”

Watching that scythe stab down, Bubai’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks—Puff!

The tip of the scythe skewered straight through a thigh!

At the same time, Bubai grunted and felt a searing white-hot agony piercing his own left thigh!

He immediately lost control of that leg and almost slipped down the wall!

Fortunately, his other leg barely kept him anchored. However, that did little to change his situation.

He knew. He can feel it. There were no injuries at all on his physical thigh! But he can’t feel nor control the thigh!!

Is this the disconnect of body and spirit? Is this the so-called damage to the spirit?!

Bubai confirmed this once he took a look at the phantom internal insight character model in his mysterious space…

He noticed the left thigh of the model has become illusory—almost all faded away as if that patch of his legs got erased!

Know that: even when his entire body got charred inside-out, this model reflected the injuries but still retained every part of the model!

But now… to think a part would just be gone! This was obviously bad, bad news.

On the flip side, it was good news to his enemy.

“Zehah—zehahaha! You didn’t expect that, did you, dead cockroach!” Jin Tiemo stood there and roared like a third-rate villain, proud over the success of his own scheme.

“I knew somebody will fall for the deception I laid out eventually! And I live just for that look on your face! How’s the taste of losing a leg?! Do you feel my pain? Feels good, doesn’t it? Zehahahah!”

Bubai looked at the cackling maniac wiggling the scythe to dig deeper into the wound and felt his heart sink to rock bottom.

He thought he was smart to find countermeasures for this bloody psycho’s abilities, but who knew… the minds of others were just as sinister!

Deception, who can’t? What’s shown might just be misleading smokescreens!

When everybody’s attention got misdirected to the ritual circle, they all already played right into the man’s trap!

This caused them to not consider other possibilities...

Now that Bubai thought about it again, how can a simple circle drawn with a low-level cultivator’s blood achieve such a powerful curse effect?

That’s pure nonsense! Especially since there’s no chants to borrow power from some god-like mysterious existence!

Even if there was indeed some connection to such an existence, will such a connection only be available through such an easy-to-destroy ritual circle?

Remember. This was a supernatural world of cultivation. The power could be linked to anything else! The cliché tropes in anime and novels might or might not apply here!

Too bad, Bubai had no time to bother figuring out that mystery right now.

The most important thing now is: how to stop the curse!

If he loses both legs, it’s as good as game over!

Though sweat was running cold down his back, Bubai forced himself to breathe steady and looked at the crazy villain that was laughing far too much for his own good.

Seems there’s no way around it. Then—fine. That’s the only way!

Hesitating no longer, Bubai let go of the wall and quickly swooped down! Leap of faith!

In the blink of an eye, the ground rushed up to greet him! After a kick off the wall, he did a roll to break his high freefall...

Borrowing the momentum from his roll, he sprung forward and launched himself towards the bloody curse source like a three-legged wolf!

Jin Tiemo saw him coming, but he didn’t even bother running or dodging. Instead, he even opened his arms wide as if to welcome him with a hug and roared, “Come! Come and taste true despair!”

That welcoming ceremony was clearly an ominous Hongmen Banquet sign and Bubai could even guess what’s gonna happen.

But even though he knew, Bubai’s heart became even more ruthless.

Since this villain is so eager, then… he’ll be happy to oblige!

With zero hesitation, Bubai pounced on the madman and cruelly smashed his fist into the other’s left arm—Crack!

An arm got snapped like a twig, but the pain went both sides!

One ended up with a completely dislocated arm while the other’s arm was seemingly unharmed, but all feeling was lost from shoulder down!

Physical pain wasn’t there, but the sudden direct damage to his spirit made Bubai break out in cold sweat and even fell on one knee!

On the other hand, even though Jin Tiemo lost an arm, the lunatic grin never left his face.

“Zehehehe! That’s it! That’s right! Keep hitting! Keep hitting until you feel absolute despair! For no matter what you do, you can’t kill me or else you’ll be the first to die! But… the same doesn’t apply to me!”

The intact arm swung the bloody scythe to reap the head of the kneeling prey!

Right on time, a hand snapped up and cuffed the executioner’s wrist, locking arm and weapon in place!

Jin Tiemo frowned and tried to wrench back his hand, only to... help the other stand up?

Face-to-face again, the two men glared at each other and Jin Tiemo tried hard to shake the other off, straining until veins bulged on his neck, but the other didn’t even budge!

It was like his wrist got clamped by a statue!

Jin Tiemo’s pupils narrowed. This strength… is this still the level of a mere Qi Refiner?!

Even that Qian Clan body builder isn’t this strong! Like what in the bloody heavens?

To think somebody this strong actually ran off like a coward for the past hour?! Is this a joke?!

If he knew it was gonna be like this, he would’ve reset his other arm first!

Now, one arm got locked while the other dangled useless. It’s too late to regret...

This was a miscalculation on Jin Tiemo’s part. Still, there was no need to panic.

So what if this cockroach is a little stronger that expected? Now that he’d been cursed, there’s no escape!

Besides, even if hands don’t work, that’s not the only things that can kill!

Without warning, a knee shot up and low-balled the statue—Wham!

But Bubai didn’t even flinch. He even cracked his neck and grinned. “Yo… did you not eat dinner? You hit like a flower vase.”

“You—!”

“You what? Try again. Maybe I’ll pretend to cough blood for you?” Bubai sneered.

Though a foundation realm master’s attack wasn’t light, a physical blow really can’t do much to Bubai nowadays! Even with Qi externalization!

After all those countless fierce fights, his ability to withstand blows only grew tougher.

The recovery cycle through using his green dew actually doubled to temper his body!

His physique only grew tougher every second, minute, and hour…

The him today is different from the him yesterday!

Perhaps this Jin Tiemo’s sharp scythe can cut through his skin and the reflected spirit damage is painful, but bare fist and legs?

Attack all he wants! Perhaps his HP regen is higher than the madman’s damage…

Of course, Jin Tiemo certainly didn’t just have such mediocre attacks. Since dull physical attacks didn’t work, his mouth gaped open and out gushed a spray of blood! Bluuurgh!

Other people’s blood might not count for much, but a Blood Art cultivator’s blood is corrosive!

If that landed on Bubai’s face, he can say goodbye to his mask, maybe even his brains…

And at such a close range, there really wasn’t much space or time to dodge.

But Bubai has long brewed a countermeasure! Mirroring the man, his mouth opened and out puffed a small fireball!

Fire Style: Torch Blowing Technique!

Though Bubai didn’t train this fire spell much, resulting in a flame that was awfully weak and small in size compared to others, it was still good enough to evaporate the blood spewing over.

An added bonus? The pathetic low heat didn’t even manage to burn the madman’s face, and that did work in Bubai’s favor.

“Tch.” Jin Tiemo felt that strange annoyance bubble up within him again. He didn’t expect... there was nothing he could do to the other!

A stalemate! Or so it seems.

But Jin Tiemo quickly forced another laugh, harsher and louder. “Zeheheh… So is that how it is? You want to stall me like this?”

“But even if you can, so what? With this curse power, I am invincible! But one mistake, and you’re done for!”

“Besides, your doom is inevitable! I want to see... just how long your Qi can last if you don’t even have hands to eat pills! Come on! Entertain me, worm!”

Jin Tiemo’s blood roiled and his mouth spewed forth his corrosive blood attack again!

The initiative was entirely in the other’s hand and Bubai was forced to passively defend!

Alas... the situation wasn’t looking good at all.

The Fire Style: Torch Blowing Technique was a basic spell, but it certainly wasn’t cheap to cast for a wood-attribute cultivator like himself!

So it’s true: his Qi was bottoming out!

Sure, he could cheat and pipe more Qi from his main reserves, but...

That won’t solve the root of the problem: the source of the curse in front!

What to do? Dear Merlin, how to break this deadlock where he can’t even harm the other? Is there really no way out?