Even though Nie Yan was bound by the Shadow Shackles and unable to move, he wouldn't just sit there and wait for death.

Nie Yan couldn't use active skills at the moment, but he still had passive skills!

The appearance of Ying Sha (Shadow Kill) was swift and sudden, but Nie Yan reacted in time.

Just as Ying Sha's Sap was about to hit Nie Yan, Nie Yan reflexively used a Death Immunity skill. This was the reward for his Great Thief class advancement quest. It was a passive skill that ignored any control skill for two seconds when activated. Many Great Thieves had similar skills, but the effect was much worse than Nie Yan's Death Immunity.

With a bang, the dagger in Ying Sha's hand pierced the back of Nie Yan's head. A damage number of -806 floated above Nie Yan's head. In addition, the dagger in Ying Sha's hand was coated with a virulent poison. Under the effect of the poison, Nie Yan's skin slowly turned greenish-blue. This was the effect of the Stiffening Toxin. Nie Yan found that his limbs were gradually stiffening. Fortunately, Nie Yan had a Detoxification Pearl in his bag, which enhanced his resistance to toxins, so the spread of the toxin was much slower, and the effect was greatly reduced.

Stiffening Toxin was a very rare item. It usually cost at least several thousand gold coins for a bottle. With the Shadow Shackles scroll and the Stiffening Toxin, Ying Sha had put a lot of effort into killing Nie Yan, using quite a few good items.

Ying Sha was slightly stunned when he saw that the Sap hadn't stunned Nie Yan. He suddenly remembered the Death Immunity skill! He didn't expect that he could still use the Death Immunity skill to avoid his control skill after launching a sneak attack on Nie Yan in such a short time.

Godlike reflexes!

The effect of the Death Immunity skill was only two seconds, which was still far less than the control time of the Shadow Shackles. Even if you can dodge it, so what? I can still kill you!

Although Death Immunity could resist the control of Sap, it couldn't解除阴影捆缚 (jie chu ying ying kun fu) [remove Shadow Shackles]. Death Immunity could resist control skills, but it couldn't解除控制状态 (jie chu kong zhi zhuang tai) [remove control state]. While Nie Yan's body was still shackled, Ying Sha stabbed Nie Yan in the back of the head again with a Heavy Stab. This was his free skill, which came with a Cripple effect. It could cripple Nie Yan, preventing him from using active skills or running away.

If Ying Sha's Heavy Stab hit Nie Yan, Nie Yan would basically be dead. Being crippled for just a few seconds was enough for Ying Sha to knock Nie Yan to the ground.

When thieves fought, life and death often hung by a thread!

Nie Yan had worked hard to gain two seconds with Death Immunity, so naturally he wouldn't let those two seconds slip away easily. This was his only chance to escape.

All active skills being unusable meant that Nie Yan had no chance to escape at all, and his four Demon Forging Blacksmiths and the Golden Land Dragon were all more than twenty yards away from him. A rescue seemed a little too late. If he stood still and used anti-control skills to fight Ying Sha, Nie Yan would definitely lose in the end. In the eyes of ordinary people, this was already an unsolvable situation.

Nie Yan had lost the initiative as soon as the two sides made contact, and it would be difficult to turn the tables now that he had been preempted.

During those two seconds of Death Immunity, Nie Yan controlled the distant Golden Land Dragon to spew a breath of dragon fire towards himself and Ying Sha.

Dragon Breath was a small area-of-effect spell with extremely high damage. Combined with the Golden Land Dragon's terrifying attack, the Dragon Breath skill could kill people instantly. At the same time, Dragon Breath ignored friend or foe. Even if Nie Yan was hit by Dragon Breath, he would still die.

Flames streaked across the sky, and a scorching heat wave hit him in the face.

Ying Sha was about to attack Nie Yan with Heavy Stab when he suddenly noticed the Golden Land Dragon's Dragon Breath shooting towards them. He was shocked. He had seen the Golden Land Dragon's Dragon Breath before. This skill had killed many players, and he couldn't guarantee that he could survive the Golden Land Dragon's Dragon Breath.

If he disregarded everything and continued to attack Nie Yan with Heavy Stab, the Golden Land Dragon's Dragon Breath would devour him the next moment. At this critical moment, Ying Sha decisively chose to retreat.

If he had been even a step slower, it wouldn't have been Nie Yan who died, but him.

Could it be that the Golden Land Dragon's Dragon Breath was ineffective against Nie Yan? Ying Sha was slightly surprised.

At the moment he was about to be hit by Dragon Breath, Ying Sha activated Gale Steps and quickly ran out of the Golden Land Dragon's attack range.

The next moment, the raging flames of Dragon Breath engulfed Nie Yan. The flames soared into the sky, and the tongues of fire licked his body. There seemed to be a faint protective film around him, and the flames were isolated outside his body.

When Ying Sha saw this, he instantly understood that this was Kuang Ze Nie Yan (Mad Rogue Nie Yan)'s Divine Judgement skill! He didn't expect that Nie Yan would use such extreme methods and means to force him back. This method was undoubtedly quite effective.

Nie Yan activated the Divine Judgement skill in time, using the spell immunity of the Divine Judgement skill to resist the attack of the Dragon Breath.

The Shadow Shackles effect on his body quickly dissipated. Nie Yan was still in a stiffened state. He stood in the flames and looked at Ying Sha in the distance. Half of Ying Sha's body was hidden in the darkness, and his eyes were like those of a falcon, staring at Nie Yan.

Nie Yan used the detoxification skill on the Detoxification Pearl to解除身上的僵化状态 (jie chu shen shang de jiang hua zhuang tai) [remove the stiffened state].

At this time, the control effects on Nie Yan's body completely disappeared. He finally regained his combat power, and all active skills could be used.

The raging flames burning around Nie Yan slowly extinguished.

Using Divine Judgement had saved his life.

Nie Yan and Ying Sha looked at each other. Both could use active skills. If Ying Sha wanted to kill Nie Yan again, it wouldn't be so easy.

This was their second confrontation, and Ying Sha's assassination of Nie Yan had failed once again.

"You are much stronger than I thought. I admit that I am indeed not as good as you in terms of PK skill, but I won't let you escape so easily next time." Ying Sha's assassination of Nie Yan wouldn't end here. Assassination was different from direct combat. Ying Sha wouldn't give up until he achieved his goal. Although he couldn't kill Nie Yan, it wouldn't be easy for Nie Yan to catch him either.

"I won't give you the same opportunity again next time. How much money did the person who asked you to assassinate me offer? I can offer double the price," Nie Yan said. Being targeted by an assassin like Ying Sha was really a headache. If he wasn't careful, Ying Sha might succeed. He often grinded monsters and leveled up in the wild, so how could he not have any flaws?

Ying Sha smiled dismissively and said, "It's not just a matter of money. Even if no one pays, one of us will eventually fall to the ground."

Nie Yan was silent for a moment. He understood Ying Sha's meaning. Ying Sha assassinated Nie Yan not just for money. In his previous life, Ying Sha constantly assassinated one prominent player after another. Without exception, all the people he killed were top-level experts. Assassins, as a group, were often irrational. Ying Sha stubbornly insisted on assassinating Nie Yan in order to challenge his limits. He liked playing this exciting game.

These people were the most difficult to deal with!

"If it were me assassinating you, once would be enough." Nie Yan's mind raced, and he smiled disdainfully.

Ying Sha sneered when he heard Nie Yan's words. Nie Yan's words were a bit too arrogant. He had failed to assassinate Nie Yan twice in a row because thieves had too many life-saving skills. In a duel between expert thieves, it was difficult to kill the other party unless there was a huge difference in strength. Either they had to take the opponent by surprise like Ying Sha, or they could succeed by sneak attacking. As long as he stayed alert, even if Nie Yan gathered all his pets to besiege him, he could escape calmly. Nie Yan's claim that he could kill him once was a bit of an exaggeration.

If he was pestered by Ying Sha in the future, Nie Yan would have a headache even if he wasn't successfully attacked. The only way was to settle things between them once and for all.

"How about we make a bet?" Nie Yan said, "We each have one chance to assassinate the other. Whoever succeeds first wins. If both fail, you win."

Ying Sha raised an eyebrow. He was also very proud. He wanted to see how Nie Yan would kill him, so he asked, "This bet is very interesting. What are the stakes?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. You can say anything," Nie Yan said. He really couldn't think of anything he could bet with Ying Sha. He just wanted to get rid of this trouble as soon as possible.

Ying Sha was silent for a moment and said, "If you win, our matter will be settled, and you can ask me to kill three people for you. If I win, I will kill you three times."

"Three lives for three lives, that's fair." Nie Yan thought for a moment and smiled. He remembered that he had a similar bet with Wang Zhe Tian Xia (King of the World) before, but Wang Zhe Tian Xia and Ying Sha were different. Nie Yan knew Wang Zhe Tian Xia's character and he was very trustworthy. Nie Yan could recruit him. But Ying Sha was a profit-seeking killer who wouldn't be as easily subdued as Wang Zhe Tian Xia. Such a bet was already enough.

Nie Yan's words meant that he had agreed to the bet.

"Okay, it's a deal." Ying Sha said, a fanatical gleam in his eyes. This was an exciting game.

The bet between them was notarized by the main brain and took effect immediately. There was no time limit for this bet.

"I'll wait for you to come and kill me." Ying Sha said. After speaking, his figure slowly disappeared into the darkness of the corner,消匿无踪 (xiao ni wu zong) [vanishing without a trace].

Nie Yan didn't even notice where he was. It was a powerful stealth skill like Void Concealment!

If Ying Sha treated him like an ordinary thief, then he would be completely wrong. Nie Yan had at least seven or eight ways in his head to kill Ying Sha and make him lose convincingly!

After Ying Sha disappeared, Nie Yan's eyes suddenly narrowed. He whispered to Guo Huai and sent him a message: "Order the Thieves Guild to track Ying Sha immediately and report his whereabouts to me."

"Ying Sha? Understood." Guo Huai nodded and immediately went to assign tasks to the Thieves Guild.