A Head-On Clash with Dugu Bo's Palm! Perhaps I Can Cure the Jade Scale Snake

In the courtyard.

Li Zhixian took out a teacup.

"Should we just spit directly, or go through the proper process?"

Dugu Yan's delicate brows furrowed as she said:

"Of course we go through the proper process."

"If you don't fight me..."

The words had barely left her mouth when Dugu Yan immediately changed them.

"If you don't beat me, you still want my snake venom?"

She looked at Li Zhixian with clear displeasure.

Seriously, he wanted something without giving anything in return. He got all the good deals.

"Ah..."

Li Zhixian shook his head and sighed.

"Then come on."

Seeing Li Zhixian empty-handed and wearing a lazy, indifferent expression, Dugu Yan bared her fangs between her red lips.

"Li Zhixian, straighten up your attitude!"

"I want you to fight me seriously!"

With that, she charged at Li Zhixian, carrying a sickly sweet wind with her.

Whoosh—!

In the blink of an eye, Dugu Yan was before Li Zhixian. She raised her leg, twisted her waist, and unleashed a ferocious spinning kick. Her loose casual pants tightened like steel as her foot shot straight for Li Zhixian's face.

Li Zhixian raised both arms and crossed them to block.

Bang—!

A tremendous force struck him.

Li Zhixian skidded several meters across the ground, pain and numbness surging through his arms.

A flicker of anger crossed his handsome face.

"Dugu Yan, I really need to teach you a lesson!"

With a flick of his palm, the Azure Lotus Sword appeared in his hand. Its spilling cold gleam caused the courtyard's temperature to plummet.

"Come on, I'm begging you to teach me a lesson!"

The tremor in Dugu Yan's voice could not hide her excitement.

She stared at Li Zhixian holding the gleaming sword, ran her tongue across her red lips, and charged again.

Swish—!

Swish—!

In the courtyard, sword light flashed sharply as poisonous mist spread.

Several minutes later.

Li Zhixian captured the battered Dugu Yan.

"You lost. Give me the snake venom."

Looking at the familiar teacup before her, Dugu Yan shook her head.

"No!"

"We agreed that if I beat you, you'd give me the snake venom."

"No!"

Dugu Yan turned her head away and bared her teeth provocatively at Li Zhixian.

Li Zhixian was so angry that he laughed.

"You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!"

"Fine, fine, fine!"

He immediately grabbed Dugu Yan by the back of the neck and pressed her red lips against the rim of the teacup.

"Spit the venom for me!"

Dugu Yan's pretty face flushed as she opened her mouth to prepare.

However, at that moment.

Bang—!!!

The courtyard gate suddenly exploded.

Li Zhixian and Dugu Yan hurriedly looked over in alarm.

They saw an elderly man in gray robes glaring furiously, his dark green hair flying wildly from rage.

"Grandpa!"

Dugu Yan cried out.

"Dugu Bo?!"

Li Zhixian reacted swiftly. He immediately released Dugu Yan and darted toward the courtyard entrance.

"Boy, how dare you humiliate my granddaughter, Dugu Bo's granddaughter!"

Miserable green poison energy surged around Dugu Bo, and a foul wind suddenly swept through the courtyard.

His granddaughter had been teased into such a state!

"Die!"

Dugu Bo was so fast that he seemed to teleport.

In an instant, he arrived behind Li Zhixian.

His withered palm struck out, and the air let out an overwhelmed explosive boom.

Hearing the roaring wind behind him, viciousness burst from Li Zhixian's eyes as he swallowed the wine he had been holding in his mouth.

Whoosh—!

A purple soul ring rose beneath his feet.

Soul Power throughout his body boiled like water.

Li Zhixian swung the Azure Lotus Sword and turned to slash.

"Second Soul Skill—Three Sword Splendor!"

"Azure Lotus Sword Song First Style—Yaoguang Sword!"

Though it was broad daylight.

A thread of starlight nevertheless drifted down above Li Zhixian's head and attached itself to the sword.

The sword, already sharpened to its utmost limit, erupted with dazzling and terrifying sword light, making even Dugu Bo narrow his emerald eyes.

Sizzle—!

Boom—!

Palm and sword collided head-on.

Dugu Bo did not move an inch.

Li Zhixian's face abruptly flushed red. He forcefully swallowed back the bloody sweetness rising in his throat.

He was blasted backward.

At that moment.

A tall figure rushed behind him.

The two bodies piled together and slammed hard into the courtyard wall.

Li Zhixian was fine, with a soft cushion behind him to absorb the impact.

But Dugu Yan, who had rushed over, took Li Zhixian's full weight as she crashed into the wall.

She immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Yanyan!"

Dugu Bo's aged face changed slightly.

"What are you doing?!"

Dugu Yan staggered before Li Zhixian, spread her arms, and shielded him.

"Grandpa, don't attack him."

"Li Zhixian didn't force me."

"I... I was the one who sought out Li Zhixian."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes and looked past Dugu Yan's obstruction at the white-robed youth slowly rising to his feet, like a sword drawn from its sheath.

"Li Zhixian..."

"So young, yet able to unleash such a sharp sword strike."

"You must be Sword Wine, the one who became the fastest to earn a gold badge at the Soul Fighting Arena."

As he spoke.

His hand remained tucked inside his wide sleeve.

A rather deep wound was visible on his palm.

Dugu Bo appeared indifferent.

Yet in truth, stormy waves had already risen in his heart.

A dignified Titled Douluo had actually been injured by a youth.

Though he had not used a soul skill.

It was still utterly unbelievable.

Li Zhixian cupped his hands neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Greetings, Senior Dugu Bo."

Dugu Bo nodded impassively, glancing at his granddaughter, who still stood in front of Li Zhixian.

He swept his sleeve.

A medicine bottle shot toward Li Zhixian.

After catching it, Li Zhixian looked at Dugu Bo in confusion.

"You're a strange boy."

"Though I don't know why you weren't poisoned by me."

"You still suffered some internal injuries. This is medicine for treating them."

Li Zhixian smiled.

"Thank you, Elder Dugu."

To be honest.

He did not resent Dugu Bo because of that palm strike.

Whether Dugu Yan had acted voluntarily or not, the fact remained that he had forced the man's granddaughter to spit venom.

That sort of philosophy where every disagreement led to a death sentence was not his style.

Besides...

Li Zhixian glanced at the blood dripping from his sword blade.

He had not come out worse for it. Dugu Bo had been injured as well.

"Good boy. Interesting, interesting."

Dugu Bo was an old fox.

He saw at a glance the openness in the youth's heart.

People said Dugu Bo had an eccentric temperament and an unpredictable temper, but no one could dislike an open-minded young man.

"Li Zhixian, I'm leaving."

At that moment, Dugu Yan, who had remained silent, suddenly said in a low voice.

With that, without waiting for Li Zhixian's reply or even looking at Dugu Bo, she staggered toward the courtyard entrance.

Dugu Bo opened his mouth, but in the end, he could only shake his head bitterly.

Having witnessed that scene just now, how could he not know that his granddaughter, tormented by snake venom, had developed psychological problems?

"Jade Scale Snake Poison..."

"Is there truly no cure...?"

Dugu Bo turned and began to walk away.

His once lean, upright figure, straight as a spear, had actually become slightly hunched.

"Ah."

Li Zhixian sighed.

He now understood why Dugu Yan had sought him out time and again.

She had been so tormented by the snake venom that her mind had become twisted.

Looking at Dugu Yan's desolate back, especially the large scrape across her fair arm from shielding him just now, Li Zhixian suddenly spoke.

"Perhaps I can cure the Jade Scale Snake Poison."

Dugu Yan stopped walking.

Whoosh—!

A foul wind suddenly blew over.

Dugu Bo instantly appeared before Li Zhixian. His withered hand gripped the youth's shoulder as he stared with glowing green eyes and urgently said:

"Kid!"

"What did you just say?!"

"You can cure Jade Scale Snake Poison?!"

If anyone else had said that, Dugu Bo would have scoffed.

But Li Zhixian was different!

From the very beginning, he had noticed that this boy was actually immune to his poison!

Perhaps...

Perhaps there really was a sliver of hope!!!