Chi Yang, the Heavenly Flame Venerable, felt dizzy as he dropped to his knees.
His dantian was destroyed, three of his Eight Extraordinary Meridians were severed, and Chi Yang instinctively realized that the vital energy remaining throughout his body would run rampant.
The Heavenly Flame Technique.
He despaired at the fact that even this divine technique of vengeance, capable of burning the heavens, was no match for his opponent.
He'd trained so hard.
For revenge.
To annihilate this goddamn martial world, he'd sacrificed everything and even joined hands with beings from other dimensions.
But was this really how it would end?
Chi Yang ground his teeth and glared at the man before him.
Not the righteous sect bastards he'd been most wary of.
Not the powerful Demon Cult bastards either.
Hell, not even the minions from other dimensions.
Just some scumbag from the evil sects who spent his time squeezing the lifeblood out of powerless people and doing trashy deeds.
To think he'd be defeated by an evil sect thug who could only be described as trash.
Chi Yang barely swallowed down the blood rising in his throat and glared at him.
The man wore worn clothes so old they looked like they'd crumble at the slightest breeze, and his eyes were utterly indifferent.
Irritating.
Those eyes irritated him to no end.
He wanted to crush those eyes that ignored his life's work, his aspirations.
"Haah!"
He couldn't die like this.
He had to take at least this bastard with him.
A heavenly jade flame formed in his hand as he drew up all his remaining true essence energy.
But the man before him showed no fear.
"Hup!"
With a low shout, he swatted the blazing Heavenly Flame away with his left hand, sending it flying into empty air. He casually dusted off his hand.
Two suns appeared in the sky and slowly faded away.
"Ha... haha... You... are you even human...?"
Feeling his remaining life force drain away, Chi Yang stared at him weakly.
"I wanted to be strong."
"...I see."
"So I worked hard. The pain of coughing up blood, the despair of my entire body breaking apart—I overcame it all and worked to become strong."
"Seems like it. You're definitely strong."
Chi Yang laughed bitterly at the indifferent voice.
He could feel death approaching.
The man raised his fist toward him.
He could sense blue energy.
Despite being nothing but trash from the evil sects, the vilest of the vile, the energy he possessed was crystal clear.
Staring intently at it, Chi Yang spoke weakly.
"Answer me. Mad Mutt Xu Yun."
Mad Mutt.
A crazy dog.
An unusual nickname for a martial artist, but the weight of the title "Mad Mutt" in the martial world was never light.
He was someone who'd taken down countless strong fighters in the chaotic world after the great upheaval.
Many had died helplessly at the hands of this lawless man, and he soon became the hope of the evil sects in the martial world.
But that only lasted briefly.
After defeating all the strong fighters from the righteous sects, the demonic path, and other dimensions, he didn't spare the evil sect strongmen either.
Just someone who fought like a mad dog.
No sense of hierarchy, fighting like a dog and greedily pursuing money and wealth like a pig.
People called him by such a nickname out of fear, hatred, and loathing.
Because they were afraid.
Because they hated even his appearance.
They gave him such a lowly nickname to calm their own fears.
And Xu Yun showed no reaction to it whatsoever—no like or dislike.
He just silently went around beating down the strong.
Truly a Mad Mutt.
Xu Yun, the dog who only pursued money and wealth, stared at Chi Yang and asked indifferently, "What?"
"The reason you're strong. What kind of willpower made you this strong?"
Xu Yun concentrated even more energy into his fist.
Watching the blazing blue energy condense into a single point, Chi Yang closed his eyes and waited for his answer.
"First. Training that carves away bone."
You must work hard to become strong.
He acknowledged that.
Xu Yun must have put in countless efforts and training as well.
"Second. Living today, not tomorrow."
To become strong, you must have strong will.
Temptation always comes during training.
This should be enough.
If I've done this much, I can do the rest tomorrow or the day after.
It's okay to rest for a day.
But you can't do that to become strong.
Living today to the fullest.
Living today like crazy, not tomorrow.
That's the prerequisite for becoming strong.
Chi Yang nodded at Xu Yun's words, which seemed to understand this.
Becoming strong is ultimately a battle with yourself.
If he knew that, Chi Yang could acknowledge his strength.
"Third. Having faith that it'll eventually come out."
"...Huh?"
Something's off here.
Seeing Chi Yang's confusion, Xu Yun thrust his fist at him and said:
"Fourth. Endless microtransactions. How much damn money I've thrown away... I don't even know. I'm the biggest dog of all dogs, after all."
Watching the fist flying toward his head, Chi Yang muttered without thinking.
"Microtransactions...?"
Thunk.
Chi Yang's head exploded in one blow.
As he collapsed, Xu Yun let out a deep sigh.
[Caught the Heavenly Flame Venerable Chi Yang...]
A translucent gray rectangle appeared before him.
Facing the black pill inside a background so flashy and colorful it seemed unreal, he swallowed hard.
"I've thrown away hundreds of thousands of gold coins and hundreds of gacha tickets... Please just come out."
Looking at it, Xu Yun ground his teeth and reached for the rectangle.
Words appeared on the rectangle at the same time.
[11-consecutive thousand-year tribute pill gachas.]
A sphere floating above the translucent gray window rapidly spun and emitted light.
Watching it, Xu Yun shouted energetically.
"Come out! Thousand-year tribute pill! Let's go!"
A moment later.
"Ah... shit... Is this a elixir gacha... or a polygonum multiflorum gacha..."
He despaired, throwing away the eleven worthless polygonum multiflorum roots in his hand.