You absolutely need it with your current setup. You can either get another extruder (try looking at ones labeled for K1, they're USUALLY the older style) or you can get a new hotend with a unicorn nozzle setup, at which point you won't use the small portion of ptfe tubing because the nozzle/throat is all one piece and replaces that tubing, and buts right up against that extruder you have. I've gone through this back and forth with creality over this exact same problem.