Bai Qi felt how anger rose, an emotion that he normally tried to avoid, especially during combat. But this time, he accepted part of it.

Only a small amount of it was caused by the wound, although it did influence its welcome. After all, some trash dared to harm him, and then laugh at about it? But the main part came from the realization that he had almost failed his word.

"If I can, I will" such words, and said inwardly, should not be considered an acceptance of something. But Bai Qi thought otherwise. In this situation, he could protect Zhuan Min. But if not for him letting her go just a breath before, his instincts would have been the death of her. His dodge had made the attack miss his neck and pass through his left shoulder, from where it would have hit the girl he held in the arm.

"Big Brother Chen?!" She shouted again, and this time Bai Qi looked at her.

"I am sorry" He gently murmured before dispersing the remnant 'Ghostflame' and quickly moving behind her. A single hit on the back of her neck, and Zhuan Min fell unconscious. Agitating his aura to hide her life signs, at least for now, Bai Qi proceeded to make sure she would be safe.

Probably he could have avoided doing so brusquely, but he was not in the mood to risk again. The supplies courtesy of the City Lord or maybe Deng Guiying contained a powerful, almost Warrior King protective talisman, and he immediately activated it on her. Adding a concealment one, he made sure that from this moment on, she would be a very hard target. And not that Hu Mu would have an opportunity to target her. At least not if Bai Qi's strategy worked out.

***

Hu Mu sensed how the girl's presence disappeared, and he sneered. He did not know if he managed to wound or kill her, but in any case, she had been touched by his unaimed attack. Thus, his opponent's mind should be far from the concentration needed for this fight.

And as he saw him, Hu Mu's sneer grew into a wide smirk. The impressive black flame armor had dispersed, and the previously white robes were darkened with blood all over his left side. His eyes were also like the ones of a madman, filled with anger and killing intent. Now, it was just a question of making him fall into the trap of his emotions, and kill him.

Such a skill, a full-body covering one was a trump card, and from the strength it released, it was a costly one as well. Still, Hu Mu doubted that his opponent was yet pressed against a wall. And so, he decided to fuel the fire.

"Has she died? Or maybe you want to hide her? Give her a few minutes more to live? Don't worry, I will leave her an intact corpse!" He loudly laughed while inwardly preparing.

***

Bai Qi was far from truly losing his mind in anger or anything of the like, but acting like it was the only way that he saw to force Hu Mu to act. He needed to break the rhythm of the battle, and he would do so.

"Intact corpse? We will see what is left of you!" Bai Qi roared and began running towards Hu Mu while activating his 'Scorching' and 'Flaming' claw skills.

This time in a bright orange-colored flame, as he had indeed spent all of the 'Ghostflame' infused one. He could force some more, but it would weaken the flame itself, and a simple feint did not require such excesses.

Hu Mu in response waved his hands, releasing several of the qi projectiles that he was so keen on using. But this time, Bai Qi did not escape from them. In fact, he crashed right through them.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*

From the side, it could appear that the orbs missed him by pure luck, but in truth, Bai Qi had been very careful, in an almost unnoticeable way dodging the brunt of the attacks. As for the explosion remnants both to his sides and behind him, Bai Qi used them to add to his initial speed. A strong concentration of aura, like a shield, was enough to block most of their damage. As for the remaining one, there was no other option but to grit and resist.

"Hahaha, so learned a new trick? A shame that it's not enough to block them entirely" Hu Mu again mocked, just to suddenly change his pose and extend one of his hands, palm up.

"Ninety-Nine Blood Gods, Tear!" He proclaimed, and a drop of blood, no doubt his own, appeared on top of his palm. Then it flew at Bai Qi.

"Counting Steps" Bai Qi muttered the short version of his movement technique and disappeared from the spot, only to reappear three hundred feet forward, right next to Hu Mu. "The speed of that blood drop is very low, but if it hits, it will definitively wound even a Warrior Lord" He briefly analyzed the 'Tear' attack, but without distracting himself from his objective.

*Slash*

"Blood Dome!" Hu Mu was again forced to defend himself with the dome, and Bai Qi could now assure that his opponent was not equipped for close combat.

*Slash*

"You can not do anything except hide yourself inside your dome, can you?" This time it was Bai Qi's turn to mock. He knew that the dome would be extremely hard to penetrate, and so, his main objective was to get Hu Mu to dispel it.

*Slash*

"Says the man that can only attack with a single arm?" Hu Mu responded in kind, but still did not show any intention of fighting hand to hand.

*Slash*

"And you are a weakling that hides even from a wounded opponent. Are that the teachings of the holy coward clan or whatever yours is called?" In truth, Bai Qi's wound was not so serious, with only a part of his muscles being torn by the passage of the projectile.

He had preferred to not close the wound with qi or cauterize it with flame as to allow it to bleed. Controlling the blood loss added a slight strain to his consciousness, but it was manageable. And in turn, it made the wound appear far more serious.

"You, you dare to offend the Holy Blood Clan?!" Seemingly the clan's honor was far more important to Hu Mu than his own. He reacted far stronger than before, and his eyes were now filled up with true fury.

"Since when the truth is an offense? A clan that reared such a coward, can not be called anything but a clan of cowards!" Bai Qi shouted again and even added a few kicks to his last claw swipe. They would not do anything, but they showed that his words and actions were being driven by fury. "You want to play emotions with me? You are at least 800 years too young" Thinking so, Bai Qi sneered inwardly.

"So you want to die so badly? Okay then, I will play along!" Hu Mu roared before suddenly using his right-hand nails to slash at his left wrist. Blood immediately gushed from the cut veins. But instead of falling to the ground, it gathered around the wound as Hu Mu exclaimed "Blood Path, Combat!"

*Swish*

The gathered blood shone brightly, being infused with qi, and then was absorbed back into his body through the same cut vein. Seemingly the cut was also closed by this process, as the bleeding stopped.

A few moments passed with no changes, moments that Bai Qi used to land another couple of swipes and another round of insults.

*Plop*

And then, with a strange sound, Hu Mu's naked body throbbed. All the veins on his body began throbbing, visible even across the tattoos that covered most of it.

His body abruptly shivered, and everything, including his stature and thin build, began expanding while his skin assumed a crimson color, similar to the tattoos. The entire process took no more than a couple of breaths, and the result could be said to be impressive.

Heavily breathing, Hu Mu dispelled the blood dome with a swipe of his hand. His height had increased by at least two feet, making him tower over Bai Qi. An effect that was only supplemented by the muscles bulging all over his body.

"So you decided to grow a bit? Shame that your little brother didn't" Bai Qi sneered. The initial stage of his strategy was completed, now it was a question of how much did Hu Mu truly amounted for in a brawl.

He did not receive an answer, at least not a voiced one. In place of it, Hu Mu immediately launched a punch.

*Swoosh*

"Bigger muscles don't help much if you don't know how to fight" Bai Qi teased while dodging, and using his right arm, covered with the 'Scorching Claw' to swipe at the nearby arm.

To no avail, as neither the flames nor the sharp claws of qi that covered his fingers left any trace of their passing. "His defense improved by a lot. Without the 'Ghostflame' I will have to spend a lot of time to penetrate his skin" Bai Qi analyzed the result while quickly opening some distance.

"Who. Is. The. Coward. Now" Hu Mu spoke pausingly, and from the heavy breathing that accompanied his words, it was made clear that it wasn't so easy for him to maintain his new body.

"Did you say something? Sorry, it's hard to hear anything with all that thirsty dog panting" Bai Qi continued mocking and sneering. His plan had two variations, one in where he would be able to beat Hu Mu physically, and one in which he would attack the strongest, and the weakest as well, part of any Blood Cultivator. Namely, the blood.

"DIE!" Hu Mu shrieked like an enraged beast and launched at Bai Qi.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swipe* *Swipe* *Swoosh*

Bai Qi dodged most of the punches and even sent a couple of claws in turn. But Hu Mu was somewhat trained in close combat as well. Maybe not so good as to produce true danger, but at least to land one attack. And indeed, his previously unconnected punches took the form of a series that ended with a heavy kick aimed at Bai Qi's abdomen.

Dodging it would open Bai Qi to follow-up punches while counter-attacking would not net much. And so, the only option was to block it.

To do it, and do not take any risks, Bai Qi used both of his arms in a crossed block. Revealing that his previous lack of mobility for the left one did not matter much now, as he truly doubted that Hu Mu would sit down behind his dome again. At least not until he felt some danger, which he had not felt for now.

*Slam*

The impact was strong, and Bai Qi felt that almost every bone in his body shuddered from it. But he did not show it, except making a small amount of blood spurt from the wound on his shoulder, and taking a few steps back as to dissipate the remnants. Thus creating the impression that it wasn't anything impressive. A point that he immediately made known to Hu Mu with a mocking gesture accompanied by the words "And why did I even bother?"

"Grah! Ninety-Nine Blood Gods, Judgement Palms!" Provoked to the point of missing several details that would have him understood that something wasn't right, Hu Mu wildly roared. His aura grew visibly restless and droplets of blood emerged from the pores on his shoulders and arms. Blood that slowly began flowing towards his raised and extended palms.

Occupied with his trump card skill, the enraged Hu Mu failed to notice Bai Qi's current actions. How the latter claws skills suddenly changed colors and even elements, going from the bright fire to dark green. Or how an inconspicuous flask appeared in his right hand and then was crushed, allowing some kind of dark liquid to seep unto the claw.

"Now die!" Hu Mu rushed towards Bai Qi while retracting his arms and shouted while throwing them forward. The sheer pressure coming from the attack would be enough to crush a weak cultivator, and even Bai Qi shuddered to imagine what would happen if he received it entirely.