"How did you poison me? How?!"

This was the first thing to come out of Chen Yan’s mouth after he fully regained his consciousness under the ministration of several Elders and arena officials.

Han Xuhan responded languidly from a few meters away, "What poison? I did no such thing."

Chen Yan’s eyes grew bloodshot. "Han Xuhan! Don’t take me for a fool!

In the heat of the battle, it didn’t occur to me that you could poison me in secret. But now I’m absolutely certain that you did! Otherwise, how could I not summon a single stream of vital energy?"

"If you couldn’t summon your vital energy, how did you execute that first killing move?"

"Bullshit! If my killing move had been executed at its full power, you wouldn’t have been left in one piece! My vital energy might have been active during the initiation of that move, but it got scattered right at the most critical moment! You designed that situation intentionally to misdirection my suspicion, didn’t you?"

Unbothered by Chen Yan’s fierce glare, Han Xuhan rubbed his fingers together and asked, "Let me ask you something, senior brother.

You say that I sealed away your vital energy by using poison on you in secret. But when did I even have such an opportunity?

Under so many eyes, so many experts watching this duel, do you think it would have been possible for me to poison you undetected? You’re overestimating me!"

Chen Yan began to gnash his teeth. "What bold lies! Why don’t you admit what you did? It’s not like using poison violates the rules of this round!"

Han Xuhan shrugged helplessly. "On one hand, you’re certain that I poisoned you. But on the other hand, you knew that I might do so and surely took precautions, right?

In fact, you were so confident that you intentionally left poisons out of the rules of violations, hoping to bait me into making that choice.

Even during the battle, when the so-called signs of poisoning appeared, you’re saying that you couldn’t believe that I could have succeeded in poisoning you.

The precautions you took must have been pretty foolproof, huh?"

Chen Yan truly wished that he could rush over and slap that toothy grin out of Han Xuhan’s face. Perhaps sensing his rage, Han Xuhan changed his tone, turning somewhat serious.

"Senior Brother, let’s make a deal, shall we?"

"What deal?"

"I can tell you exactly why you failed to summon your vital energy during the duel. In exchange, in the next round, you must discard the precautions you took against my poison."

This time, even the arena officials had to work together to hold Chen Yan down as he tried to really rush up to give Han Xuhan a beating, snarling in frustration.

"Heyheyhey, why are you getting so worked up? It was a genuine suggestion!" Han Xuhan shouted in concern.

"What part of it was genuine? How is that a fair deal? I got poisoned so quickly despite taking those precautions! If I discard them, would I even survive three moves in the following round?"

"I think the concussion really got you, senior brother. Since the precautionary measures didn’t protect you the first time, they won’t protect you the second time either, would they?"

"Then there’s only one way to make things fair," Chen Yan said through gritted teeth.

"I can promise to drop my protective measures against the poison if you promise not to use poison against me in the next round."

Looking indignant, Han Xuhan threw his hands up in the air. "How is that of any benefit to me? Why would I even agree to this deal?"

"You!" Chen Yan grabbed his saber and tried to hurl it at him, but it was slapped away by one of the Elders standing next to him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The Elder yelled at his face.

"As a senior disciple, it’s already shameful enough that you’ve lost so thoroughly against a junior. Should you be throwing tantrums and making a scene at a moment like this? Behave yourself!"

The Elder’s furious words seemed to slap Chen Yan back to his senses. Vexed, he gazed around himself, noticing the numerous jeering faces in the gallery.

Thousands of members of the sect, disciples and servants, had witnessed his repeated defeats today. Even half an hour ago, Chen Yan himself hadn’t foreseen that such an outcome existed among all possibilities.

He couldn’t imagine how shocked and overwhelmed those outsiders must be.

For the first time, he became truly thankful for the mask on his face.

Chen Yan closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down. Since awakening his bloodline, his emotions were going beyond his control far too easily. Something had to be done about this.

Reviewing the twists and turns in this duel so far, the harsh and unanticipated reality washed over his heart like a wave of icy coldness.

The first round had ended in a tie. Han Xuhan’s setup was undoubtedly superior to his plans in that round. And to his credit, Han Xuhan had not truly attempted anything too shady during the duel itself.

The second round, where Chen Yan was almost certain that he’d emerge victorious, actually ended with his defeat. But this time, Han Xuhan’s scheme was not superior. He had even predicted it.

Rather, it was Chen Yan’s own overconfidence and greed that had truly worked as the pivot for his defeat.

The shift in the Elders’ attitude at the moment did not escape his notice. They were barely restraining themselves from lashing out at him openly.

If he failed to take this duel in the intended direction as promised, those old turtles would probably eat him alive. He’d not be safe inside or outside the sect!

The regret in his heart was as heavy as a mountain. Still, he could simply not understand how or when he had been poisoned by the fog.

Considering this, Chen Yan knew that Han Xuhan had actually managed to push him into a corner right now. If he refused to accept the proposed deal, he’d have no clue how to counter the poison in the third round.

Of course, in the third round, Mystic Arts could be used to make up for the loss of vital energy. But what if the poison had the effect of suppressing mystic qi as well?

Just like in the second round, Han Xuhan could let him use a bit of qi initially, only to spoil all the effort at the penultimate moment and ambush him again!

The dreadful realization sobered him up completely, pushing his introspection to the limit. And soon enough, he found an easy way out of the deadlock.

Opening his eyes, Chen Yan got to his feet and pointed at Han Xuhan.

"In the next round, I’m going to add a new rule. Using any kind of poison would be prohibited. That way, whether my protective measures against the poison work or not wouldn’t matter."

Han Xuhan turned to look at the arena official, who got the question right away and shrugged. "It’s one of the traditional rules of the arena, after all. Even if he wants to invoke it in the middle of a duel, the prohibition would be allowed."

Sighing, Han Xuhan said, "Are you sure you’d stoop that low just to defeat a junior like me? Don’t you feel ashamed?"

Chen Yan sneered. "The only thing to feel ashamed of here is the use of poisons in secret."

But for some reason, Han Xuhan smiled.

"When exactly did I claim that I used poisons in secret?"