Blood spurted from Xu Ke's seven orifices. Ouyang Shuang's overpowering True Qi was like a wave of fire scorching his skin, instantly disintegrating the clothes on his arms into dust.

"Ah!" Xu Ke wailed in pain. A sweet, metallic taste filled his throat as he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

But Ouyang Shuang was hardly faring any better. After that one palm strike, her body immediately deflated like a punctured ball, slumping to the ground. The power boost from burning True Qi was extremely brief. Combined with the fact that Xu Ke had already stabbed her Dantian, the meager amount of True Qi she had left was now completely depleted. She had reached her limit.

Both fighters collapsed to the ground, grievously injured.

The entire martial arts arena fell silent.

Ouyang Shuang lay with her eyes open, staring blankly at the sky. Xu Ke's eyes were squeezed shut, his face a bloody, unrecognizable mask from his injuries.

Seeing this, Huang Zhenyang's face lit up with manic joy. "Good, well done!" he whispered.

"That Xu Ke is such an idiot. Ouyang Shuang was already burning her True Qi, and he still foolishly competed against her…" Huang Zhenyang whispered repeatedly into Huang Sheng's ear. "An inferior is an inferior. He doesn't even have a brain."

In this state, even if Xu Ke didn't die, the rest of his life would be ruined. The thought brought a surge of joy to Huang Zhenyang. Even if Ouyang Shuang died, he didn't particularly care. After all, she was nothing more than a retainer in the Huang Family. She didn't even have the surname Huang.

Meanwhile, a ghostly pallor crept onto Wong Qifu's face. Xu Ke still hadn't gotten up.

Chen Xiong and Wang Wu's expressions were uncertain. They couldn't make sense of the situation.

The arena fell utterly silent, except for the members of the Huang and Ye families, who were whispering with glee. Good riddance!

Just then, someone could no longer sit still. Huang Qi shot to his feet. "Alliance Leader Chen, can you declare the result now?"

In truth, Huang Qi was the third party whose fate was tied to this battle. Seeing both Ouyang Shuang and Xu Ke hovering between life and death, he panicked. How can they determine a winner like this?

"No," Chen Xiong refused flatly. "We must wait until one of them has drawn their last breath."

Neither Ouyang Shuang nor Xu Ke were making a sound, but both were still breathing. For this reason, Chen Xiong held off on declaring a winner.

Huang Qi's face turned livid.

At that moment, a hoarse voice suddenly echoed from the stage. "Xu Ke, you shouldn't have provoked me."

It was Ouyang Shuang.

Huang Qi was ecstatic. Ouyang Shuang can still speak? Doesn't that mean she can deliver the final blow to the utterly drained Xu Ke?

Ouyang Shuang trembled as she got to her feet. She stared at the tightly-shut eyes of Xu Ke and grinned. "You'd better pray you don't run into me in your next life." The smile on her emaciated face was terrifying.

In the stands, Wong Qifu gritted her teeth. "Uncle Wu, get ready to act." She couldn't just stand by and watch. To hell with the rules. In her eyes, the entire Tianhai Martial Alliance wasn't worth as much as Xu Ke.

Wang Wu nodded slightly, his hand tightening around a pistol. He was too far away to run over; a firearm was his only option.

Ouyang Shuang's True Qi was completely burned out. But as the saying goes, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. She still had some fight left in her. With a trembling hand, she pulled the dagger from her Dantian. A faint purple liquid dripped slowly from the blade.

"It really is poisoned." Ouyang Shuang sniffed the blade, her expression instantly turning foul. "This poison…" To her horror, she realized this poison was even more potent than her own.

She couldn't accept it. Regardless of whether Xu Ke had concocted it or not, she refused to believe that the poisons she had spent so many years researching were inferior to someone else's.

"I want you dead!" Spurred into a mindless rage, Ouyang Shuang flicked her wrist, sending the dagger straight for Xu Ke's heart.

Upon witnessing this, Huang Qi was ecstatic. Huang Sheng smiled faintly. Huang Zhenyang and Ye Fan sneered triumphantly.

Wang Wu instantly raised his gun and squeezed the trigger.

But just then, a blood-drenched hand moved faster than Wang Wu. It shot out like lightning, snatching the dagger from the air. It was Xu Ke's.

Seeing this, Wang Wu's pupils contracted. Acting on pure instinct, he jerked the barrel skyward just as the bullet left the chamber.

BANG!

The gunshot echoed. The entire arena was stunned. No one paid any attention to the gunshot; all eyes were riveted on Xu Ke, who was still on the stage.

Drenched in his own blood, he slowly rose to his feet and stated calmly, "It's over."

At his words, Ouyang Shuang's pupils shrank. "Why aren't you dead?"

"Go ask Lord Yama," Xu Ke replied without wasting another breath, thrusting the dagger straight into Ouyang Shuang's throat.

This time, Ouyang Shuang had no strength left to resist. It was over for her.

THUD.

Ouyang Shuang collapsed, her breath gone completely.

Her death was a quiet one. Once more, a deathly silence descended upon the arena.

Huang Zhenyang stared in a stupor. There have been far too many reversals in this deathmatch...

Only after killing Ouyang Shuang did Xu Ke finally let out a long sigh. That was close. My physical resilience, boosted by the medicinal baths and the Dragon Essence, is what got me through that. I survived. And since I survived, of course the first thing to do was take Ouyang Shuang out for good. Everything else can wait.

"No, impossible!" Huang Qi was the first to cry out, but in the next instant, a hand clamped over his mouth, silencing him.

Chen Xiong rose and declared, "Xu Ke is the victor. Ouyang Shuang is dead. Huang Qi's life is now at Xu Ke's disposal."

At his words, the faces of the Huang and Ye family members turned as black as the bottom of a wok.

Wong Qifu closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath of relief.

Xu Ke chuckled, his smile looking cruel beneath the mask of blood. "Huang Qi, don't worry. I'll make your passing a peaceful one."

Huang Qi's eyes widened in terror, his body shaking uncontrollably. Locked up for four days... tormented for so long... only to face death in the end?!

"No, don't!" Huang Qi immediately fell to his knees. "Young Master Xu, please spare me."

"Don't call me Young Master Xu," Xu Ke sneered. "I'm the 'inferior' you all look down on. And I am a man who repays every grievance."

A cruel look crossed Xu Ke's face. He was not a magnanimous man; in fact, one could even call him petty. The moment he was kidnapped, he had resolved to take revenge on every single person involved. Now, only Huang Qi remained.

Seeing Huang Qi reduced to a lamb for the slaughter, Huang Zhenyang's expression turned foul, fury burning in his eyes. Xu Ke was slapping the Huang Family in the face. He wasn't just humiliating and torturing Huang Qi; he was shaming the entire Huang Family!

At that moment, Huang Sheng stood up. "Xu Ke, the Huang Family will agree to one condition. Just let my brother go."

He could accept Xu Ke getting rid of Huang Qi in secret, but he could not permit Xu Ke to torture his brother so brazenly at a gathering of the three great families. His words, however, were startlingly similar to what Wong Qifu had said earlier.

In the next moment, Xu Ke turned to look at Huang Sheng and scoffed, "Huang Sheng, when did I ever give you the impression that I was merciful?"

At his words, the expressions on the Huang family members' faces turned incredibly ugly. Weren't those the exact same words Ouyang Shuang had just said?

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