Chapter 834: Chapter 830: Can Only Rely on Luck!

"Using such a magical artifact, surely your own energy consumption won’t be small, right?" Hidden Needle sneered, with a tone that suggested he had caught onto something.

Xiao Tian remained expressionless, seriously contemplating how to break the impasse. At the same time, he reinforced the connection between himself and the artifact temporarily lent by Sun Miaohan, fearing that Hidden Needle might risk injury and attack again.

However, it seemed Xiao Tian still couldn’t escape the mysterious Murphy’s Law, and what he feared came true...

Hidden Needle continued, "Not speaking? Seems like I guessed it right. I bet you’ll suffer backlash if I launch a full-force attack, won’t you?"

Hearing this, Xiao Tian hesitated no more and immediately activated Iron Chain Cross River, initiating the attack.

Hidden Needle’s eyes narrowed, swiftly changing his stance to attack the inner wall of the giant bell behind him. By doing so, he would undoubtedly suffer the bell’s counterstrike, but he believed Xiao Tian wouldn’t have it easy either.

In a way, this was not much different from a direct confrontation between both sides. Hidden Needle might even end up at a disadvantage.

Because attacking the inner wall of the giant bell meant Xiao Tian had to use enough True Qi to stabilize the connection between himself and the bell, it was essentially a battle of overall True Qi between the two.

On the surface, Xiao Tian seemed at a disadvantage, but Hidden Needle had to endure the bell’s instinctive counterattack, canceling each other out, and in truth, Xiao Tian wasn’t at such a big disadvantage.

However, Xiao Tian couldn’t let it continue this way because his peak condition didn’t differ much from Hidden Needle’s current state. He was fully aware of the recovery capabilities of top experts at this level, immensely stronger than his current state.

To put it simply, if Hidden Needle’s total True Qi drastically reduced by half, he could quickly replenish twenty percent of it. In contrast, due to Xiao Tian’s cultivation technique regression, he could only recover ten percent, meaning he would still lose.

Moreover, there was always the risk of unexpected situations, like Hidden Needle surpassing levels and interrupting his connection with the bell.

Additionally, one of the reasons Xiao Tian was keen to force Hidden Needle into a direct confrontation was that in combat, risk and opportunity coexist, and seizing on one point could lead to a turnaround!

"Clang!"

After yet another long, resonant sound, Xiao Tian’s face turned extremely unsightly. Although Hidden Needle’s sneaky tactics seemed unbecoming of a master, they were undeniably effective!

After hurriedly stabilizing his connection with the bell, Xiao Tian looked at the soulless Hidden Needle standing still and felt immense oppression and helplessness.

The opponent was right in front of him, ready to be slaughtered, yet Xiao Tian had no surplus True Qi to mount a decent offensive.

After a while, the revived Hidden Needle, hiding behind a mask, couldn’t conceal a painful expression, but upon seeing Xiao Tian’s ashen face, he couldn’t help but reveal a smile.

"Hahahahaha!" Bursting into laughter, Hidden Needle taunted, "Hunter, where’s your swagger now?!"

Xiao Tian didn’t respond rashly to Hidden Needle’s mockery. The distance between them was beyond the range for a guaranteed hit, and besides, Hidden Needle wasn’t foolish enough to stay put and let himself be attacked.

Moreover, Xiao Tian could be sure that any sign of movement from him, and Hidden Needle would immediately leave his spot, once more crashing into the giant bell’s inner wall, resulting in mutual injury.

"What, have you lost the courage to charge now?" Hidden Needle boasted, while quietly gathering True Qi, focusing all his attention on Xiao Tian, not missing any detail.

With the precedent set by Thunder King Salon, Hidden Needle, though seemingly arrogant, was cautious and alert, with a mindset of taking full advantage of any opportunity!

If Xiao Tian even twitched an eyelash, Hidden Needle would immediately act, crashing into the troublesome giant bell for the third time.

This cunning Hidden Needle was truly giving Xiao Tian a headache. He never anticipated that in this relatively isolated space, Thunder King Salon would be so cowardly as to avoid direct confrontation.

But for Xiao Tian, such moments were rare, and missing them wasn’t just a minor setback, but a real problem if Hidden Needle launched a decisive counterattack!

Despite his calculations, Xiao Tian ultimately underestimated, or rather, failed to anticipate that Hidden Needle would confront him in such a way.

If there was blame, it rested on Ji Dantong for not fully explaining when he gave Xiao Tian the artifact that day.

However, Xiao Tian clearly had no intention of pursuing this issue, knowing well that challenging Ji Dantong on it would elicit a response like: "I thought you, with your exceptional talent and insight, could figure out how to use it yourself!"

Or Sun Miaohan might react angrily and retort: "Why didn’t you ask me then?!"

So, dwelling on these was futile and would yield no meaningful result!

In a moment of chance, Xiao Tian seemed to notice engravings on the inner wall, resembling vague images shrouded by a halo.

Instinctively, Xiao Tian thought to narrow his eyes, focusing his vision on them. But seeing the jumpy Hidden Needle, he quickly abandoned the idea, resorting to guesswork based on vague outlines and unclear details.

This was the only option, since generally, carvings or illustrations on magical artifacts carry meaning, even with Life Seal bearing engravings from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

Whether by luck or gamble, all Xiao Tian could do was treat a dead horse as if it were alive, hoping for an unlikely success!

After a long time, as Hidden Needle’s True Qi reached its peak and prepared to burst, Xiao Tian finally gleaned some rough insights.

On the inner wall of the giant bell, there seemed to be an intricate hand print, appearing complex and somewhat illogical by normal standards.

With an increasing sense of impending danger, Xiao Tian concentrated on recalling the complex hand seal. It was the only method he could now try—if it proved useless, there was nothing more to say.

The next instant, Xiao Tian’s expression became ferocious. He clasped his hands, pressing his middle fingers together, interlocking the left index and little fingers, slightly bending the right thumb, and curving the ring finger into an impossible arc.

This inelegant hand seal caused Xiao Tian intense pain as he blindly imitated it, his fingers cracking, and the piercing pain with each movement tempted him to give up multiple times.

In just a few blinks, Xiao Tian was drenched as if caught in a torrential downpour, sweat pouring off him.

Yet, despite enduring such difficulty, Xiao Tian couldn’t even be sure if he had executed it correctly; it was indeed somewhat ironic.