Back in the private box, Qian Bage shot to his feet in shock. "What?! That bloody meathead actually comprehended the Blood Dao deep enough to manifest his innate blood weapon?!"
Huh? Smelling intel, Bubai looked over to the overreacting shorty. "Blood weapon?"
Qian Bage didn't even glance at him. His face, usually somewhere between half-lazy and half-mocking, turned solemn.
"Brother Bai might not know... but those who cultivate that blood art all must use their blood to condense the essence of their spirit and shape it into a weapon-type foundation seed."
"Naturally, each cultivator's blood weapon seed takes on their own unique form, something that mirrors their inner self…"
"Swords, spears, axes, bows—it can be anything, ou. Even a brush or a tiger seal isn't unheard of. But most of the time, it has a combat-oriented artistic concept. That's why we call it the innate blood weapon."
"And once a blood cultivator reaches the mid-stage and establishes a deeper connection between their spirit and foundation, the talented can manifest their innate blood weapon physically using their blood and spiritual power!"
After that Info Dump 101, Bubai got the gist of it.
In short: it's like forging the soul into a weapon and manifesting such a weapon was a perk of those practicing the blood arts.
This perk was probably the so-called aura power comprehended by mid-stage foundation realm masters, and that blood chain must be this Jin Baihu's innate blood weapon that got realized in reality.
Honestly, at first glance, such a power looked... rather weak and redundant, especially since magic weapons were a thing.
But Bubai had never forgotten the old geezer's ginormous blood sword that almost smashed the entire loose cultivator city back then!
The ceiling of this path was super high! Scary high!
Power aside, Bubai had to admit: this Blood Dao really sounds like a downright cool path to take, simply due to this innate weapon creation.
Imagine if he condenses a sniper rifle or a railgun! Won't he be able to simply lie down and become the God of Bloody Death?!
Too bad, his path was already fixed. Dreams and illusions… it wasn't much worse, right?
Besides, this blood art lacked the mysteriously powerful impact in the early stages.
Blood—yes, in great volumes it could be like a natural disaster, but a weapon shaped from blood really doesn't sound all that durable.
But Bubai saw something quite strange happening down below. "Um? Since the chain is right there, can't your second brother just break the link? Why isn't he even trying?"
Qian Bage shook his head. "Don't underestimate the manifested blood weapon, ou. It might be made of blood, but it's toughness doesn't lose out to spiritworm thread!"
"And even if you do destroy it, it can be re-condensed as long as there's enough refined blood to burn."
Bubai sighed inside. Great Merlin above! The blood weapon actually has a pseudo-indestructible trait as well?! What an outrageous ability!
Perhaps the only downside is that it drains its owner's blood. Well, sounds just like the cliché demonic weapon, no?
A "fair" price for power.
But not quite so fair for whoever is on the other side.
Seriously, how will anyone cope with this… bloody aura farming power?
And right on cue, somebody showed him exactly how.
Down in the arena.
Two men chaotically danced around and played tug-of-war on the move.
But it was clear to all which side possessed the greater strength.
Obviously, it was almost impossible for a spell-oriented Gu cultivator like Qian Fusha to win this tug-of-war head-on. That's like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!
But the elite minds always have clever countermeasures for enemies.
While the body-builder single-handedly tugged on the leash, trying over and over again to reel in the prey…
Qian Fusha spat webs to keep that man's other free hand preoccupied while circling around him over and over to wrap the bloody chain around its own master!
This just so happened to trap Jin Baihu in a tight spot, forcing him to make a tough decision!
Sure, he can dematerialize the chain at will. There's no way his own chain can truly be used against its true owner!
But once that happens... the cuffs on the other's wrist will similarly vanish, which will put him back to square one!
Trying to catch the slippery pest a second time will only happen in his dreams!
So how could Jin Baihu give up the advantage he worked so hard for?!
But since he didn't want to dispel his chain, that forced him to respond to the open conspiracy!
In order to avoid getting bound up like a captive waiting for slaughter, he was forced to let go of his prey time and time again just to twist himself out from the binding!
This put him in an absolute disadvantage!
Know that for every single second that the chain stayed manifested, it burned both his spiritual power and precious blood that was refined using True Qi!
If this keeps up... it will be questionable which will retire first: his blood weapon or blood raging state!
Can't stay like this! Turn passive into active!
"Annoying pest! Really think I don't got a way to deal with you?!"
Jin Baihu tilted to the side to dodge the webby mask aimed to shut him up and fired back his own counterattack!
Fire Style: Torch Blowing Technique!
The dragon's breath roared out straight towards Qian Fusha like an extending cudgel!
Since both sides were nearly up-close-and-personal now, that once-simple-to-dodge pillar of fire became a super dangerous killer move!
Qian Fusha had no choice but to focus on evading and his combat rhythm got interrupted for a heartbeat.
And that single gap was all that Jin Baihu needed to deliver his counterattack combo!
A mechanical ball riddled with pinholes got fished out from his storage pouch and aimed at Qian Fusha.
"Blood Poison Style: Hundred Needle Execution!"
Psh! Psh! Psh!
Blood-stained needles exploded out like a wide, all-encompassing net, ready to turn Qian Fusha into a bloody porcupine!
At such a short distance, there was basically no room for any evasive maneuvers, especially with that short chain limiting his range of motion!
But Qian Fusha naturally knew his body can't tank those needles head-on!
The needles themselves can't kill a foundation realm cultivator, but anybody well-versed with the blood arts knew any needle can carry a sinister blood poison!
If there's no way to solve it, getting pricked by a needle was as good as a doomsday countdown timer!
Qian Fusha's heart steeled. No choice. There's only that left!
A foundation master's last-ditch, basic all-around defensive armor: blast everything away by ejecting pressurized Qi from all the pores!
Oom—!
This protective barrier certainly did the trick to keep the needles at bay, even bouncing them back at their owner, but…
Unlike most basic spells that only locked up certain local meridians for Qi circulation, this foundation realm armor recruited almost all the meridians in the body to achieve this universal defense!
But in doing so, his meridians were basically on a temporary lockdown and no other spell or martial technique could be used!
This put a spell-oriented cultivator like Qian Fusha in a really passive and dangerous situation!
Obviously, Jin Baihu won't let this chance go!
He ignored the needles firing back his way, pulled out a rusted sickle stained with dark blood, and yanked on the chain to reel in his prey while conveniently locking up one of the other's hand as well!
"Huhuhu… it's finally time to end this!"
The man lunged forward and the reaper's sickle came crashing down like a hammer!
Seeing the sickle swinging at him, Qian Fusha's pupils shrank to pinpricks.
That sickle—it looked just like the one used by that nameless Liu dog to poison his fifth brother's foot!
Can't be cut by that or he'll be out for the count!
But even if he wanted to block it... the gap in raw physical strength meant there was no way to stop it using a single hand!
Was this... a dead end?
Just when Jin Baihu thought this would be a certain hit, a pair of strange metallic-black spears dropped down from above and crisscrossed to intercept the sickle—CLANG!
"What?!"
Jin Baihu watched the sparks fly in shock, but before he could figure out what happened, another spear drilled in from the side!
His battle-honed instincts screamed, and his body shifted—just barely in time to avoid the fatal blow!
But that sharp spear still skewered right through his chest and he could almost feel death brushing a fingernail across the edge of his heart!
Agony exploded through him, but he didn't get any chance to think!
Feeling that spear trying to hoist him up into the air, Jin Baihu instinctively rammed his foot forward hard at the other's guts!
"Rghhh—!"
That savage counterattack broke both sides apart, just in time for Jin Baihu to evade two more black spears by a hair's breath!
No, they weren't spears…
"Kek—!" Skidding to a stop, the panting Jin Baihu coughed up a mouthful of blood and finally got a clear look at the long metallic-black limbs that grew out from the other's back like a demonic crown.
Those weren't spears. They were spider legs, and... there were eight of them!!!