However, Li Kujie lived up to his reputation as the Poison King of yesteryears. Despite Lin Guang's unexpected and swift actions, he managed to defend himself in time.

A mass of purple sludge inflated from Li Kujie's body in an instant, blocking Lin Guang's right fist's trajectory.

But what he didn't expect was…

The situation changed again!

Lin Guang suddenly changed his fist into a palm and forcefully slapped something like a crystal stone he was holding onto the sludge. Without any hesitation, he rolled with the momentum of his punch—

Li Kujie's pupils contracted.

Boom!!

At the center of the arena, shockwaves and thick smoke spread!

Fierce red flames exploded, blasting through that mass of sludge!

In the blink of an eye, a faint white light flashed over Li Kujie's body, keeping the shockwave at bay.

Undoubtedly, it was the protective spiritual artifact he carried.

Meanwhile, Lin Guang curled his body with all his might and used his spiritual power to release a [Barrier] on the side that bore the brunt of the impact.

He no longer had a body-protecting spiritual artifact, so he could only withstand the aftermath head-on.

The [Barrier] held off the first wave of impact before dissipating, and the following gust still blew Lin Guang, causing him to roll twice on the ground. However, after coughing twice, he immediately got up.

Though his spiritual power had mostly settled and his limbs started feeling weak, Lin Guang still managed a smile when he saw the now-fixed expression on Li Kujie's face as the smoke cleared: "Senior Li, thank you for the match."

Li Kujie marvelled, "A bomb..."

In fact, Lin Guang's suspension of the mystical technique was not an intentional display of weakness to lure the enemy but a necessity due to excessive consumption of spiritual power from supporting three people along with the venomous erosion nearing its limit.

Without taking this gamble, he was close to reaching his limit anyway.

"..."

At this moment, Li Kujie gradually put away the disbelief on his face, yet a hint of amazement remained in his partly narrowed eyes.

—Feigning loss of combat strength, then erupting, seemingly going all-in, while actually luring the opponent's main body to approach, masking the impending explosion of the ethereal crystal bomb with the Explosion Fist, and even considering a barrier to protect himself at the end...

Truly unexpected.

He wasn't surprised about Lin Guang using his body for the Explosion Fist—after all, the video was all over the internet, one glance was enough for him. Nor was he astonished at pulling out an ethereal crystal bomb—this was easily deduced, likely crafted by Vishdair a moment before.

The real amazement was why Lin Guang could still move, even quickly devising and executing such a precise tactic under the circumstances.

"Kid, how did you resist this old man's poison?"

Li Kujie squinted slightly, clicking his tongue in amazement, "Back in the day, this poison of mine had taken down more than one Five-star Spirit Master. Logically speaking, with your intense use of spiritual power, you should be completely immobilized already, yet you still managed such a strike?"

Lin Guang pondered briefly, then suddenly a few jewel-like golden needles flew from his neck, which he pinched and reinserted into the acupuncture kit on his thigh.

"Exclusive secret technique."

It was naturally the [Heavenly Mending Record: Needle Dao Profound Insights] suppressing the flow of the toxin.

Actually, using extra spiritual artifacts and ethereal crystals might be technically a violation.

But since Li Kujie didn't start the fight normally either, he didn't see anything wrong with it.

The old man just stared at the needles in a daze for a moment, then shook his head with a sigh: "Truly remarkable."

A poisoner always holds an advantage over an antidote practitioner.

There are countless toxins in the world, each with different principles and mechanisms. The physiological differences between Spirit Beasts are vast. This led humans to develop complex pharmacokinetics and theories. Unless prepared in advance, usually only universal detox capabilities that defy common knowledge can work without fail.

However, only a few powerful or unique Spirit Beasts can grasp universal detox skills.

If it's challenging for Spirit Beasts, it's even more so for Spirit Masters, who generally lack universal solutions without exceptional talents.

Li Kujie was confident in his poison. Even if facing Two-star Spirit Masters, not to mention Four-star, they should have long lost combat ability—this wasn't arrogance but data from countless Spirit Masters who had fallen at his hand.

Who would have thought a Two-star Spirit Master could possess such extraordinary ability…

Was he training in the womb? How does he know so many advanced techniques?!

Hence, Li Kujie's sentiments were genuinely heartfelt.

Lin Guang looked at the sludge crawling back onto the old man from the ground—it relied on its mastery of the [Disguise] skill to turn back into the tattered clothes on Li Kujie, even the Eye of Omniscience and Omnipotence couldn't discern any oddity, his expression complicated: "So it's the [Slime Split] trait indeed."

[Slime Split], an extremely rare trait of Abyssal Rot Mud.

You must know that [Abyssal Rot Mud]isn't a common magical beast, and among a thousand Abyssal Rot Muds, only three or four might possess the trait [Slime Split].

With this trait, it allows for a certain degree of [Multiple Casting], using one as two, or more.

The reason Lin Guang remembered it so clearly was because he had soaked in the secret realm "Abyssal Mud Pit" for ages trying to contract an Abyssal Rot Mud with a hidden trait during a full-attribute challenge. That time, he nearly developed a semi-permanent Debuff from the time spent there, and still didn't find one.

He wasted so much time that he failed the poison attribute challenge in the end.

Li Kujie heard Lin Guang's musings and shook his head.

—He knows this too?

And at this moment, with the complete outbreak of toxins in his body, coupled with the direct contact with the toxin-laden abyssal mud, Lin Guang could no longer resist the weakness in his body. Slowly squatting down in front of Li Kujie, he sat cross-legged, slightly lowering his head, as if entering a meditative state.

The three main combatants of Zhen Sheng Experimental School for this state's competition were still, as originally planned, taken down by the once-renowned Poison King.

But…

The outcome had long been decided, and in a way no one anticipated.

"Ah..."

"This is why I dislike dealing with these so-called prodigies; they always defy usual experiences and norms."

"These eight thousand credit points must be returned... Is it easy for an old man to earn some wine money?"

Li Kujie complained while waving his hand to let the Poisonous Spirit fly out and start detoxifying all the poisoned individuals.

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