Dugu Yan Came Calling Again, and Dugu Bo Caught Her

Two days later.

"Has there been any movement from the Imperial Dou Team since they returned?"

Li Zhixian asked Xue Qinghe beside him in an apparently casual manner.

Xue Qinghe glanced at him and said flatly,

"Who are you asking about?"

"Just asking."

Xue Qinghe snorted, but still said,

"After suffering two crushing defeats in a row, Yu Tianheng has returned to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to undergo special training under his grandfather, Thunder Douluo Yu Yuanzhen."

"As for the others..."

"Ye Lingling hasn't stepped outside."

"Dugu Yan has also been staying cooped up in her manor."

As he spoke,

even Xue Qinghe himself seemed somewhat puzzled.

"Come to think of it..."

"Dugu Yan isn't the quiet sort."

"Why has she been so well-behaved these past two days?"

Li Zhixian held his fishing rod, looking utterly undistracted.

Good.

It was good that she was keeping quiet.

He had been rather worried that Dugu Yan's slightly twisted personality might drive her to do something insane.

Now, it seemed Dugu Yan had not taken it to heart.

"Ah, I'll just have to find the snake venom again."

That afternoon.

Li Zhixian returned to the courtyard.

He stopped before the courtyard gate, and his expression suddenly changed.

Oh no!

Why had Dugu Yan come again?!

After hesitating for a long while,

Li Zhixian turned around and left.

But before he had taken more than a few steps,

the courtyard gate behind him opened with a creak, and Dugu Yan's cold voice sounded from within.

"Aren't you curious what your little lover said?"

Li Zhixian stopped, turned around, and frowned at Dugu Yan.

"What do you want?"

Dugu Yan leaned against the doorframe, arms folded in her signature pose.

She stared straight at Li Zhixian, humiliation and anticipation tangled in her jade-green eyes.

"I'm not convinced."

"I want to fight you again."

Li Zhixian curled his lip.

"Not interested."

Dugu Yan twirled a strand of purple hair around her slender finger and said coolly,

"If you refuse, I won't tell you what else your little lover said."

Li Zhixian's brows drew together.

"Dugu Yan, do you think I wouldn't hit you hard just because you have a Titled Douluo for a grandfather?"

Dugu Yan's breathing quickened slightly.

"That's right. You wouldn't dare."

With that,

she crooked a finger at Li Zhixian and floated over the gate into the courtyard.

A flicker of anger passed through Li Zhixian's eyes as he hurried after her.

Several minutes later.

In the courtyard.

Swish—!

A cold gleam flashed.

Dugu Yan groaned in pain. The fabric on her arm was sliced open, and a bloody gash appeared on her pale skin.

She panted heavily, looking utterly disheveled.

Her left cheek was swollen red again. Several loose strands of hair stuck to the corner of her bleeding mouth, both sleeves had been shredded by sword qi, and four or five wounds crisscrossed her arms.

Li Zhixian said sternly,

"Dugu Yan, are you still refusing to admit defeat?!"

Dugu Yan staggered as she forced herself upright.

Her head was lowered, her hair concealing the sickly curve of her lips.

"Li Zhixian, I will never admit defeat!"

Li Zhixian's swordlike brows rose, only to hear Dugu Yan continue,

"Even if you make me spit venom again, I still won't admit defeat!"

Hm?

Li Zhixian froze.

That was right.

Wasn't the snake venom he needed right in front of him?

"Dugu Yan, if you keep pushing your luck, don't blame me for taking your snake venom again!"

"Come on, then! Come on!"

In just a few moves, Li Zhixian subdued Dugu Yan.

He gripped Dugu Yan's jaw, took out the teacup from that day, and pressed it against her red lips.

"Spit venom for me!"

Watching Dugu Yan limp away,

Li Zhixian, reflecting on whether he had been too rough, asked,

"What else did Zhu Zhuqing say to you?"

Eager to return and savor everything that had happened today, Dugu Yan answered carelessly,

"She said she likes you and wants you to kiss her next time you meet."

Li Zhixian: "..."

With one sword strike, he swept away the mess in the courtyard.

Li Zhixian prepared to begin brewing wine for the second time.

Suddenly, he frowned.

He picked up the teacup containing snake venom and gave it a shake.

"Something feels off..."

"Did this snake venom come a little too easily...?"

Li Zhixian was not the type to agonize over things.

If he could not figure it out, he simply would not think about it.

He immediately began brewing wine.

The sun slanted westward.

Brilliant orange light filled heaven and earth.

Li Zhixian stared at the pitch-black wine lees before him, his handsome face as dark as the bottom of a pot.

"Failed again!"

"Brewing wine is even harder than I thought!"

"Not a drop more or less of snake venom will do. I have to figure out the amount myself!"

That also had to do with this being his first time brewing wine.

As the saying went, all things were difficult at the beginning.

Once he successfully brewed Snake Saliva Rice Soul, brewing other wines in the future would come easily to him.

"But the problem now is..."

Li Zhixian sighed with a headache.

"I'm out of snake venom again."

"It was already rare enough for Dugu Yan to come to my door twice."

"I hit her hard today. She'll probably avoid me whenever she sees me from now on."

At Dugu Manor.

"Grandfather, I'm going upstairs to cultivate."

Dugu Yan's tall figure was wrapped in an outer robe. After greeting Dugu Bo, who was cultivating, she hurried upstairs.

Dugu Bo nodded with his eyes closed.

"Mm."

Once the second-floor door had shut,

he suddenly opened his eyes. A phantom of the Jade Scale Snake Emperor flashed through his pupils.

"The smell of blood..."

"Yanyan is injured?"

"Who dares bully my, Dugu Bo's, granddaughter?!"

Killing intent surged across Dugu Bo's aged face, but then his dark green brows knotted tightly.

"But judging by Yanyan's appearance, it doesn't seem like she was wronged."

"No. If there is a next time, I must follow her and find out what is going on."

The next day.

Li Zhixian returned from Lotus Lake.

Before he even reached the courtyard gate,

he spotted a familiar tall figure standing before it from afar.

Li Zhixian: "..."

He finally understood what had felt wrong yesterday!

Why did this Dugu Yan seem like she was deliberately coming to offer him snake venom?!

When he approached,

Li Zhixian looked at Dugu Yan with a headache.

"What exactly do you want?"

Dugu Yan wore a tight green tank top today, exposing a section of her slender waist. She wore loose casual trousers below, making her figure appear even taller.

The wounds on her exposed arms had already vanished.

First, Soul Masters possessed strong healing abilities.

Second, the Dugu Family was wealthy, and all kinds of precious medicinal ointments were generously applied to her wounds.

"I want to defeat you."

Dugu Yan's tongue swept across her red lips. A flash of greed, like that of a venomous snake spotting prey, passed through her gaze as she looked at Li Zhixian.

It felt good.

Too good.

Yesterday had felt so good that she could barely restrain herself.

Even in her dreams, she saw Li Zhixian's sword slicing across her arm, Li Zhixian gripping her jaw and forcing her to spit venom...

After fourteen years of suffering the torment of snake venom, Li Zhixian's actions were like violently tearing open her scabs, carrying a fierce sweetness as they coursed through her body.

Dugu Yan admitted it...

She had developed a taste for it.

Li Zhixian's scalp prickled under Dugu Yan's gaze, and he immediately said,

"I admit defeat. You win."

Dugu Yan frowned tightly.

But in the next instant, the corner of her lips curled up as she said,

"Though I don't know what you need snake venom for."

"Don't you want my venom anymore?"

Hearing that,

Li Zhixian looked conflicted.

He truly needed snake venom.

Give him one more chance, and Snake Saliva Rice Soul would definitely be brewed successfully.

It was not as though he had not considered using the snake venom of other Soul Masters.

He had even mentioned it to Xue Qinghe today.

But the one in the palace with a snake martial soul was a eunuch. Using snake venom sprayed by a eunuch genuinely disgusted him.

After thinking it over.

Li Zhixian helplessly pushed open the courtyard gate.

"Come in."

"Heh..."

Dugu Yan followed Li Zhixian into the courtyard smugly.

Creak—

The courtyard gate slowly closed.

A foul wind suddenly swept over.

Dugu Bo stood outside the courtyard gate, his old face grim.