Death Purgatory! Yu Xiaogang the Useless, Bibi Dong's Disappointment!

That round, plump Three Pao snorted, clumsily turned around, and tried to block the Mandala Snake with its fat body. However, the snake was incredibly fast. With a twist of its body, it easily slipped around Three Pao and viciously bit its backside.

"Luo Luo—" Three Pao screamed and toppled to the ground on the spot, belly-up, its entire body twitching.

Three Pao's body immediately turned into a streak of purple light and merged back into Yu Xiaogang's body.

Three Pao had been poisoned, and the toxin invaded Yu Xiaogang's body the instant the Martial Souls merged. His body stiffened, and he stood rooted in place like a wooden post.

The Mandala Snake showed no mercy. It swung its tail in a wide arc and smack! sent him flying. When Yu Xiaogang hit a tree trunk and slid down, half his clothes had been torn apart.

"That's... Xiaogang!" Bibi Dong's voice suddenly caught, and her fingers unconsciously tightened around her scepter.

The dispirited, middle-aged man with a flat haircut before her, who could not even defeat a century-old Mandala Snake and had been sent flying by a single tail strike—was he really Yu Xiaogang, the moonlight in her heart?

Bibi Dong was completely dumbfounded. How could this be possible? This had to be fake, right?!

Yet Yu Xiaogang's voice, as well as Three Pao, the Pig Martial Soul that could leave his body—all of it told her that this was reality!

Out of the corner of his eye, Lin Fan saw Tang San pull out a Sleeve Arrow. How could he allow that?

If Tang San managed to turn things around, wouldn't the first Soul Ring follow the original plot?

Without even greeting Bibi Dong and the others, he directly summoned the Purgatory Spider Emperor Martial Soul. Six Purple-Black Spider Legs tore through his clothes from behind with a swish, while his hands transformed into sharp, two-meter-long Spider Spears.

"Death Purgatory, activate!"

Death Purgatory: the Purgatory Spider Emperor Talent Domain. It increased all of the user's attributes by twenty percent and reduced all enemy attributes by thirty percent;

Enemies within the Domain could not use any concealment or instant movement skills. Light Sacred and life-type abilities would be weakened. At the same time, it produced Mental Deterrence, increasing the user's Mental Power by twenty percent while weakening the opponent's Mental Power by twenty percent; (all of the above was contingent on the enemy's cultivation not being far higher than the user's)

Once struck by the venom, the body would continuously weaken until the entire area covered by the Domain was filled with Purgatory Spider Emperor Venom, possessing overwhelming corrosive and spreading properties.

It would also continuously devour the enemy's Soul Power and Mental Power.

The Dark Purple Domain spread like a tide, and the surrounding grass and trees withered in an instant. The temperature around them plummeted, as though they had entered hell itself.

Tang San had only just assumed the opening stance of Mysterious Jade Hand when he saw Lin Fan flash to the snake's head. With a wet squelch, his Spider Spear pierced its eye and went straight through to its brain.

The snake's body writhed wildly and lashed at the ground, splattering Tang San's face with mud.

"Hiss..." Tang San staggered to a halt. When he turned back, cold sweat poured down his face—he watched helplessly as Lin Fan inserted his Spider Spear into the snake head's Poison Sac and began greedily absorbing its poison. A Yellow Soul Ring slowly floated into the air.

What frightened him even more was the evil and deathly aura surging around Lin Fan's body!

Watching Lin Fan's domineering display, Bibi Dong, Chrysanthemum Douluo, and Ghost Douluo were all stunned.

This kid was far too fierce!

"No... my Soul Ring!" Tang San had no idea why, but he inexplicably uttered those words. It felt as though he had lost something in the unseen.

He stared fixedly at the floating Yellow Soul Ring, his chest seeming to be clenched by an invisible hand—this Soul Ring should have belonged to him!

Black energy swirled around Yu Xiaogang's originally stiff face. He was barely breathing, his body rigid and completely numb.

Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan glanced at him and casually asked, "Your Eminence the Pope, Yu Xiaogang has been poisoned. Shall we detoxify him?"

Bibi Dong looked at Yu Xiaogang's pained appearance, her heart filled with complicated emotions.

Although they had not seen each other for many years, that dispirited and bedraggled face still made her heart clench.

She said coldly, "Detoxify him."

Lin Fan thought to himself, No, I need to quickly find a way to make Bibi Dong see Yu Xiaogang's true nature.

Hah, Your Eminence the Pope still has feelings for this useless man. Yue Guan shrugged. With a flick of his fingertip, a Golden Chrysanthemum drifted to Yu Xiaogang's chest. Its petals spread apart, turning into specks of Golden Light that seeped into his skin and suppressed the spread of the toxin.

Then he took out a Detox Pill and stuffed it into Yu Xiaogang's mouth.

Lin Fan looked at Tang San, the corner of his lips curling upward. He deliberately shook the Mandala Snake's corpse in his hand and said leisurely, "This snake's Soul Ring is pretty good. What a pity—some people won't get the chance."

Damn it, this man has earned his death! Tang San silently bore a grudge against Lin Fan. That had clearly been his Soul Ring!

The pill melted as soon as it entered his mouth. A cool sensation instantly swept through Yu Xiaogang's entire body, and the black energy on his face gradually dissipated as feeling slowly returned to his body.

"Cough, cough..." Yu Xiaogang coughed violently several times before finally recovering his senses. He looked around blankly. "I... what happened to me?"

"Go on, thank me already." Lin Fan shook the snake blood from his Spider Spears and glanced sideways at the disheveled Tang San and the newly awakened Yu Xiaogang. "If I hadn't acted quickly, the two of you would be getting digested in that snake's belly by now."

Yu Xiaogang's hand, which was braced against the tree trunk, trembled. His face still carried the bluish-gray hue left by the poison.

He opened his mouth, but the words "thank you" lodged in his throat and refused to come out—being watched by his student as a six-year-old stranger saved his life was simply too humiliating for his old face.

Tang San's fingernails nearly dug into his palms. He stared at the snake corpse on the ground, his mind buzzing with the words, That Soul Ring should have been mine.

Yet he had completely forgotten who had just been chased around by the Mandala Snake.

Bibi Dong slowly stepped forward, her Purple Gold Scepter crunching softly over the dead leaves.

She looked down at Yu Xiaogang, who was slumped against the tree roots. "Long time no see, Yu Xiaogang."

Yu Xiaogang's mud-stained flat haircut jerked upward.

When he clearly saw the familiar yet unfamiliar face beneath those luxurious robes, his Adam's apple bobbed twice. "Bi... Bibi Dong?"

The two exchanged a few words of reminiscence, and the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

When they learned that Yu Xiaogang had actually brought his disciple out to hunt for a Soul Ring, only to be chased into such a miserable state by a century-old Mandala Snake, even Ghost Douluo nearly failed to hold back his laughter.

Chrysanthemum Douluo directly pinched his own thigh to stifle his laughter—the Yu Xiaogang who claimed his theories were invincible really was still as useless as ever.

"Cough, cough..." Yu Xiaogang's old face turned the color of pig liver. Shamelessly thick-skinned, he gathered his courage and made a request of Bibi Dong. "Dong'er, could you help me hunt a Soul Ring?"

The entire area fell silent.

Lin Fan nearly choked on his own saliva—good heavens, where did this useless fool get the nerve to call the Pope by her personal name? And he even dared to hold out his hand and beg for help?

Such shameless behavior was completely squandering the few good impressions Bibi Dong still had of Yu Xiaogang.

After a moment of silence, Bibi Dong helplessly shook her head and sighed. "Sigh... after all these years, Yu Xiaogang has not improved at all. I can help you, but this will also be the last time I help you."