As soon as the match started, Li Lang didn’t hesitate to unleash his Veiling Shroud Qi art. A cloud of grey smoke quickly took over the platform they fought on.

This was because Li Lang didn’t doubt his opponent had already learned about the technique he had just employed the previous round. No matter how good Long Yi was at distracting, Bai Yuchen would have to be blind to not have noticed all the smoke.

Another reason why Li Lang urgently employed the smokescreen was because of the demonic technique Bai Yuchen practiced.

From their investigation, the Bai Clan were famed for practicing a type of possession technique, a technique that required them to absorb the essence of Qi beasts with an affinity with poison.

As familiar as Li Lang was with poisons from his previous world, he would know best how fearsome an unknown poison was. One needed time to decipher the mechanics of a poison and how to neutralize it. Without this important time, any poison was easily fatal. And this wasn’t even taking into account the variable Qi would bring to the table.

That was why Li Lang feared Bai Yuchen rushing toward him at the beginning of the match. This decision also proved wise, as Bai Yuchen did indeed charge forward at the start of the match.

Li Lang could sense his opponent dashing straight at his last known location through the smoke, so he quickly repositioned himself and attempted to repeat the skirmishing tactic he had employed in the previous match.

From a blind spot, Li Lang ruthlessly thrust out his spear at his opponent.

However, Bai Yuchen perfectly dodged out of the strike, as if he had eyes in the back of his head that could see through the smokescreen. He didn’t bother to draw his sword and tried to claw Li Lang’s wrist.

He managed to nick Li Lang and grinned. Before he could follow up, Li Lang had already retreated back into the smoke.

“Li Lang! Your little pesky tricks won’t help you win this. You’ve already lost!”

Unfortunately, Li Lang had yet to master the skills to speak within the haze without giving away his location. Even without a response, Bai Yuchen still laughed to himself.

“Ha ha ha. Don’t be feeling shy now! You should be feeling my poison soon, and you’ll be in so much pain that you won’t be able to speak properly. You should speak while you still can.”

Still, no response came.

“Very well. Do it the hard way instead.”

Bai Yuchen realized he wouldn’t get a response, so he kept quiet with a grin on his face. Dozens of seconds went by, with nothing happening, but the fog persisted. Just as he was finding it strange, another spear lunged rapidly toward him from behind.

Just like before, Bai Yuchen was able to dodge it during the last second.

“What? You’re still moving?! How can this be?!”

In response, another spear was thrust toward his legs.

Bai Yuchen began to question himself. He trusted his sense that his claw hand did make contact with Li Lang. His mind raced to the various possibilities such as Li Lang having natural immunity to his poison, he had prepared an antidote, or he hadn’t applied his poison correctly.

Meanwhile, Li Lang was busy contemplating how Bai Yuchen had been able to dodge his attacks from his blind spots. He had completely ignored Bai Yuchen’s provocations and instead used them against him to catch him off-guard—or it should’ve been, but all his attacks still missed no matter where he aimed.

Can it be? The books say possession-type demonic techniques turn the user closer to what they often absorb, but that is…

Li Lang let out another attack, this time a horizontal sweep with his spear. He thought to change things up, but it only resulted in a mediocre swing that left him open for longer than before. While he had practiced with his spear regularly, he mainly focused on thrusts. He didn’t practice any other moves, as the simplicity of it was the reason why he selected the weapon instead of other weapons, like swords.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

His wide swing attack allowed Bai Yuchen to rake his wrist once more with his nails. However, just like before, the attack wasn’t able to breach Li Lang’s skin. This was thanks to the Iron Hide Art that Li Lang had practiced, turning his skin into a layer of armor for him. It only weakened most attacks, but against the scratching from Bai Yuchen, it was able to prevent his poisoned nails from sinking past the skin.

From this single exchange, both parties immediately had a revelation.

Bai Yuchen realized the defensive technique Li Lang employed was the reason his poison wasn’t working.

Li Lang confirmed that Bai Yuchen would dodge his attacks no matter where they came from. It gave rise to his theory that Bai Yuchen had taken on traits from the type of Qi beast he had often absorbed. One that was venomous and had sharp senses that allowed them to detect danger in the smoke unhindered.

A lot of animals can do that, but what comes to mind first are…snakes. He should either be detecting my attacks through his sharp sense of olfaction or through vibrations. In that case…

It didn’t take long for the two to have yet another exchange within the haze. Li Lang struck out once again at full power, but this time, he aimed at the ground beneath him with the blunt end of his spear. The empowered strike managed to kick up a bunch of rubble, and he instantly charged toward his foe.

The tremor from his all-out attack notified Bai Yuchen of his location, but he kept still. Before long, he once again sensed a faint vibration from behind him, in the other direction of the first tremor, followed by the smell of his opponent’s sweat.

He prepared himself to dodge yet another attack from that trajectory, only to find that nothing came. The vibration stopped, and the presence disappeared. The next thing he sensed came from the opposite direction once more. However, it came so rapidly that he didn’t have time to reorientate himself.

A spear lashed out of the smoke and managed to embed itself into his thigh. The spear had easily overpowered the thin layer of Qi, protecting him, causing large amounts of blood to gush out.

“Sssssssssss!” A sharp hiss escaped from Bai Yuchen’s mouth.

He didn’t get the time to nurse his wounds as Li Lang pressed his attack. With one leg immobilized and heavy bleeding to worry about, the referee soon stepped in to stop the match.

“Winner, Li Lang!”

It was only then that Li Lang relaxed and stopped his Veiling Shroud technique, allowing vision to be restored to his arena.

Bai Yuchen was swiftly made to eat a Recovery Pill to stop the bleeding. It took an entire minute for the wound to clot up. With his wound stabilized, Bai Yuchen finally had the time to process what had happened.

He glanced around and found Li Lang’s robe on the ground a distance away, and several pieces of debris scattered about. He frowned at the pesky tricks employed. While he was angry at his opponent, he was more angry at himself for falling for yet another trick.

As he sulked, Li Lang retrieved his robe and swiftly made his way back to his companions.

“G-good job, boss!”

“Congraulations, Li Lang. You’re the first to secure your victory,” Long Yi greeted. “But what happened anyway? I couldn’t see anything at all the entire time.”

“Hmm, it turns out those side effects of possession-type demonic techniques aren’t just negatives. Bai Yuchen could detect me when I got close through his sense of smell or through vibrations, so I shook things up with an attack directed at the platform. Then I threw some debris around along with my robe on the opposite side of him and charged at him at full speed.”

“That…sounds almost like a chess game. Fighting should be more intuitive.”

“Not e-everyone is as u-used to fighting a-as you, Long Yi,” Wei Ping quipped.

Hearing those words, Li Lang fell into introspection. He knew he won through the use of tricks and ambushes afforded to him by advantageous terrain. In a frontal fight, he would be hard-pressed to defeat others.

I need to prepare more options. This is just a tournament, but in other instances, it would be life or death. I’ll need to stack up on every advantage I can in my favor, whether it be talismans, pills, artifacts, or even poisons...

As he mulled about ways to improve his survivability, his two companions’ names were soon called one after the other.

“Well, it seems like it’s my turn. Cheer me on.”

“I h-have to g-go as well, boss.”

“Yeah, yeah. You both got it. Hurry up, so you can help me come up with ideas on how to handle my next opponent.”

“What?” Long Yi yelped. “What do you mean by next opponent? You don’t have to fight anymore. And…you’d be up against Liang Po, you know?”

“I know. This is too great of an opportunity to turn down. It’s a safe way to experience what a really powerful cultivator around our age can do.”

“B-boss…you j-just want to l-learn about his m-martial intent, right?”

“...That’s a bonus too.”

Both Wei Ping and Long Yi shook their heads at their friend’s antics as they walked over toward their fight.