Immediately.
The old Daoist priest couldn't help but step forward to check the situation.
After examining him, he frowned instantly.
"The pulse and breathing are so weak. I didn't give him the wrong medicine."
Just as he prepared to administer aid.
The "corpse" on the ground suddenly opened its eyes.
Like a corpse rising from the grave.
Liu Chang'an, with the speed of lightning, drew the dagger he had prepared at his waist and launched a sneak attack.
Fast!
Accurate!
Vicious!
The target was straight for the other party's heart.
The incident was sudden.
Even the old Daoist priest was shocked and in disbelief.
"You?"
"You pretended to be dead?!"
The moment the dagger plunged into the other party's chest, Liu Chang'an thought he had won.
He had won the gamble.
However.
Just as Liu Chang'an believed victory was in his grasp, the old Daoist priest suddenly grinned, revealing his yellowish teeth.
There was none of the previous panic or shock.
Instead, his face was full of mocking amusement.
His eyes seemed to be saying: Surprised? Unexpected?
"Good disciple, did you truly think... you won?"
"Did I not?"
Liu Chang'an retorted.
The old Daoist priest's smile deepened, a playful smirk at the corner of his mouth: "Is there a possibility... that your Master was wearing protective armor all along?"
Before his voice faded.
A DING, like a belated crisp sound.
Liu Chang'an suddenly realized.
Although the dagger had pierced the other party's chest, it only went in about an inch before it could no longer penetrate further.
It was as if it had been completely blocked by a hard object.
The old Daoist priest thoroughly enjoyed the sight of his prey struggling in vain; he had just cooperated in acting out a big show.
After all, given this child's cunning and depth of mind.
How could he not secretly guard against a trick?
"This soft hedgehog armor of mine was purchased at a great price from the Li family of Taoyuan. It is impervious to water and fire, and impenetrable to blades and spears."
Hearing this.
Liu Chang'an's face turned green with rage: "Taoyuan Li family, damn your whole family!"
If that armor had been even slightly shoddy, his attack just now would have been an absolutely perfect killing blow.
"The fact that you pierced an inch is enough to be proud of," the old Daoist priest sneered.
"Tell me!"
"What kind of magic have you been practicing? Why is your strength so great?"
The other party pressed aggressively.
Liu Chang'an remained calm: "I have no martial arts skills; I am just Innately Divine Strength!"
"Then your Master will cripple you!"
The old Daoist priest.
He struck with his palm.
In an instant, he sent Liu Chang'an, along with the dagger, flying backward.
At this moment, the gap between a mortal and a cultivator was fully demonstrated.
A mortal.
A cultivator.
The difference was like a great chasm, a world of difference.
Knowing that the difference in strength was too vast to resist, Liu Chang'an's face was ashen.
He spat out blood and said: "Winner takes all, you... kill me!"
"Heh heh!"
The old Daoist priest's laughter was low and menacing: "How could your Master bear to kill you? I'll imprison you and torment you day and night until you surrender all your secrets."
"Don't worry!"
"Before that, I will make sure you feel like you're both dying and ascending to heaven." His final smile held an utterly chilling implication.
Extremely sinister.
Liu Chang'an froze for a few seconds, then suddenly reacted violently.
He couldn't help but curse: "Damn you, old beast, you want to... assault me?"
He only now realized that the other party was coveting his body.
Dammit!
How did the depravity from Chengdu's Tianfu Avenue blow over to the world of Fox Spirit Matchmaker?
Outrageous.
Simply outrageously ridiculous!
Thinking of what he was about to suffer, Liu Chang'an suddenly gritted his teeth and cried out in indignation: "I don't fear being shattered to pieces, I'll keep my innocence on earth!"
Without hesitation.
With tears in his eyes, he fiercely raised the dagger, preparing to slit his own throat.
The old Daoist priest's heart shuddered.
He immediately moved to save the boy without thinking.
This child could die, but absolutely not yet. He still needed to extract the secrets from him.
But just as the old Daoist priest prepared to disarm him.
Liu Chang'an was also gambling. He was genuinely attempting suicide, but he was also betting that the other party would surely intervene to save him.
He knew the old man would never let him die easily.
Just as Liu Chang'an's sharp dagger was only 0.01 centimeters away from his throat.
Under the old Daoist priest's shocked gaze.
He suddenly changed direction.
This strike was faster, more accurate, and more decisive than before!
The dagger shot out like lightning, heading straight for the other party.
The old Daoist priest was clearly stunned for a moment.
He never expected this move to be a feint.
Pfft!
Blood splattered.
As the dagger viciously plunged into his right eye, he let out a sharp, agonizing shriek.
In a fury, he fiercely punched Liu Chang'an!
However, facing the old Daoist priest's enraged blow, Liu Chang'an, with his mortal body, actually managed to endure it.
His internal organs felt like they had been dealt a heavy blow, as if they would shatter in the next moment.
In the end, he only clenched his teeth and let out a muffled groan of pain.
"Damn you!"
"Damn you, little beast! I will skin you alive and grind your bones into ash today!"
The old Daoist priest was shocked and furious, and he swung his fist again.
If he hadn't reacted in time, that last strike would have been more than just blinding one eye.
This boy was absolutely aiming to take his life!
So young, yet his mind was so meticulous.
Even the old Daoist priest couldn't help but gasp inwardly.
At this moment.
Opportunity, secrets—none of it mattered anymore.
He now only wanted this little beast to die a brutal death.
The old Daoist priest, whose head was clouded by anger, swung his fist—the size of a sandbag—and struck without a word.
His ultimate skill, Thunder Rush Hand!
The force of the fist, carrying the power of rushing thunder, was fiercely unleashed.
This punch might be insignificant to a powerful monster, but to a fragile human body, it was a fatal blow.
Without a magic treasure to counteract it, anyone hit by this punch would surely be shattered.
After all.
In the world of Fox Spirit Matchmaker, a person's strength is judged not only by cultivation but also by external magic treasures.
Just like in the original plot.
Wangquan Fugui's battle prowess was greatly reduced without the Wangquan Sword, and Dongfang Yuechu's power would be drastically cut without the Pure Yang Flame and his Fire God protection.
At this moment, Liu Chang'an understood the importance of magic treasures more clearly than ever.
The gap between them was simply too vast.
Even with a successful sneak attack and seizing the initiative, he still struggled to genuinely kill the opponent.
Just as his heart sank, a sentence his mentor, Han Li, once spoke suddenly echoed in his mind: "In despair, there is still a sliver of hope for survival."
In an instant.
Liu Chang'an's conviction doubled. Carrying the desperate courage to trade one life for another, a final, decisive gambit.
As the opponent's fist roared towards him, not only did he not dodge, but he resolutely thrust out his most lethal strike, aiming straight for the throat!
If no accident occurred.
This move would undoubtedly result in both parties perishing together.
In response, Liu Chang'an laughed excitedly: "I dare to make the ultimate trade, to perish together!"
"I ask you, do you dare?!"
A loud shout, like a clap of thunder.
The old Daoist priest suddenly snapped out of his rage.
He remembered that the other party was merely a mortal, a lowly person he would usually not even spare a glance for.
This cheap life—why should he trade his own life for it?
He still had so much wealth and glory left to enjoy. He had clearly planned to retire and go into hiding after completing this final job...
His wife and daughter were waiting for him to come home.
"NO—"
It was this instant of hesitation that denied him even the chance to open his mouth and compromise.
Liu Chang'an's dagger had already pierced straight through his throat!
With one final exertion of strength.
The old Daoist priest saw it. He finally saw the image of his own head, spinning high in the air.
So fast!
So... this was the taste of death?
As a headless body collapsed.
The head that fell to the ground still held an expression of shock and disbelief.
Before his death, he probably never imagined that he would die at the hands of a mere mortal with no cultivation.
He had countless opportunities to kill the other party, but the other party only needed one chance and won the gamble.
He was dead.
And there was no regret medicine in the world.
Liu Chang'an, who successfully survived.
He was completely out of breath.
He no longer had any strength left in his entire body. As he collapsed onto the ground, he felt not only excitement but also profound fear.
This intense stimulation of surviving a calamity made his adrenaline surge and his heart pound rapidly.
Everything just now was like dancing on a knife's edge, swimming in a pot of boiling oil.
A slight misstep, and behind him lay an abyss of ten thousand feet, eternal damnation.
Fortunately.
He won the gamble.
The opponent did not lose to him, but lost to his own greed, arrogance, contempt, and fear of death.
Ultimately, he completed this seemingly impossible reversal with a mortal body.
A mortal killing a cultivator.
This battle was simply unprecedented, a textbook counter-kill.
RUMBLE!
The sky was covered with dark clouds, and rain poured down.
Liu Chang'an still struggled to stand up. Under the repeated wash of the heavy rain, he looked up and let out a long cry.
"Entering the game with my own body, I finally — Won Half the Game Against Heaven!"
"Hahahahahaha..."
His laughter echoed in the narrow valley, intertwined with the lightning and thunder.
Under the ink-dark rain.
He dragged his battered body forward.
At this moment, he looked exactly like a hero swimming against the current, radiating an aura of loneliness.
On this solitary road.
He walked further and further, eventually disappearing at the edge of the torrential downpour.
The rain stopped.
The sky cleared.
But when Liu Chang'an returned with a smile to the last place he had parted with his family, the smile on his face froze.
At that three-way intersection.
His family could no longer be found.
===
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