Dugu Yan Came Calling Again, and Was Spotted by Dugu Bo

Two days later.

"Has the Imperial Dou Team made any moves since they returned?"

Li Zhexian asked Xue Qinghe beside him, sounding casual.

Xue Qinghe glanced at him and said blandly:

"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 for special training under his grandfather, Thunder Douluo Yu Yuanzhen."

"As for the others..."

"Ye Lingling hasn't left her home."

"Dugu Yan has been keeping herself shut up in the manor too."

As he spoke.

Even Xue Qinghe found it somewhat strange.

"Come to think of it..."

"Dugu Yan isn't the quiet type."

"How has she settled down these past two days?"

Li Zhexian held his fishing rod, looking utterly undistracted.

Good.

It was good that she had settled down.

He had been rather worried that Dugu Yan's somewhat perverse personality would drive her to do something crazy.

It seemed Dugu Yan had not taken it to heart.

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

That afternoon.

Li Zhexian returned to the courtyard.

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

Oh no!

Why had Dugu Yan come again?!

After hesitating for a while.

Li Zhexian turned around and left.

Yet before he had taken more than a few steps.

With a creak, the courtyard gate behind him was pushed open from within, and Dugu Yan's indifferent voice rang out.

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

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

"What do you want?"

Dugu Yan leaned against the doorframe, assuming her signature arms-crossed pose.

She stared straight at Li Zhexian, humiliation and anticipation intertwined in her emerald eyes.

"I'm not convinced."

"I want to fight you again."

Li Zhexian curled his lip.

"Not interested."

Dugu Yan wound a strand of purple hair around her slender finger and said coolly:

"If you don't agree, I won't tell you what else your little sweetheart said."

Li Zhexian's brow furrowed.

"Dugu Yan, do you think that just because you have a Title Douluo for a grandfather, I won't dare hit you hard?"

Dugu Yan's breathing quickened slightly.

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

With that.

She crooked a finger at Li Zhexian, then floated over the wall into the courtyard.

A trace of anger flashed through Li Zhexian's eyes as he swiftly followed after her.

A few minutes later.

In the courtyard.

Whoosh—!

A cold gleam flashed.

Dugu Yan grunted in pain. The cloth around her arm was sliced open, and a bloody gash abruptly appeared on her fair skin.

She panted heavily, looking wretched.

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

Li Zhexian said harshly:

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

Dugu Yan staggered as she forced herself upright.

Her head hung low, her hair concealing the sickly curve of her lips.

"Li Zhexian, I'll never admit defeat!"

Li Zhexian's swordlike brows rose, only for Dugu Yan to continue:

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

Huh?

Li Zhexian froze.

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 Zhexian subdued Dugu Yan.

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

"Spit venom into it!"

--

--

Watching Dugu Yan limp away.

Li Zhexian, 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 Zhexian: "..."

With a single sword strike, he swept the messy courtyard clean.

Li Zhexian prepared to begin his second attempt at brewing wine.

Suddenly, he frowned.

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

"Something feels off..."

"Didn't I get this snake venom a little too easily...?"

Li Zhexian was not one to dwell on things.

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

He immediately began brewing.

The sun slanted westward.

The world was awash in brilliant orange light.

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

"It failed again!"

"Brewing wine is even harder than I thought!"

"There can't be even a trace too much or too little snake venom. I have to figure out the amount myself!"

That was also because he had only just begun learning to brew wine.

After all, everything was difficult at the start.

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

"But the problem now is..."

Li Zhexian sighed with a headache.

"I'm out of snake venom again."

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

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

Dugu Manor.

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

Dugu Yan's tall figure was draped in an outer coat. After greeting Dugu Bo, who was practicing, she hurried upstairs.

Dugu Bo nodded with his eyes closed.

"Mm."

Once the second-floor door had closed.

He abruptly opened his eyes. The phantom of a Jade Python Snake Emperor flashed through them.

"The smell of blood..."

"Yanyan is hurt?"

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

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

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

"No. If there's a next time, I'll follow her and find out exactly what's going on."

The next day.

Li Zhexian returned from Lotus Lake.

Before he even reached the courtyard gate.

From a distance, he saw a familiar tall figure standing before it.

Li Zhexian: "..."

He finally understood what had felt wrong yesterday!

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

When he drew near.

Li Zhexian looked at Dugu Yan with a headache.

"What exactly do you want?"

Today, Dugu Yan wore a fitted green tank top that revealed a section of her slender waist, paired with loose casual pants that made her figure appear even taller.

The wounds on her exposed arms had already vanished.

First, Spirit Masters possessed strong healing abilities.

Second, the Dugu Family was wealthy, and they had all sorts of precious ointments smeared over her wounds.

"I want to defeat you."

Dugu Yan's tongue swept over her red lips. A glint of greed, like a venomous snake spotting its prey, flashed in her gaze as she looked at Li Zhexian.

It felt good.

Too good.

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

Even in her dreams, she saw Li Zhexian's sword slicing across her arms and Li Zhexian pinching her chin as he forced her to spit venom...

After enduring the torment of snake venom for fourteen years, Li Zhexian's actions were like roughly tearing open her scabs, carrying a sharp sweetness as they coursed through her body.

Dugu Yan admitted it...

She had developed a taste for it.

Dugu Yan's gaze made Li Zhexian's scalp tingle, and he immediately said:

"I concede. You win."

Dugu Yan's delicate brows drew together.

But the next moment, her lips curved upward as she said:

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

"Don't you want my venom anymore?"

Hearing that.

Li Zhexian looked conflicted.

He truly needed snake venom.

Give him one more chance, and he would definitely brew Snake Saliva Rice Soul successfully.

It was not as though he had never considered using the snake venom of other Spirit Masters.

Today, he had even told Xue Qinghe about it.

But the one in the Imperial Palace with a snake-type Martial Soul was a eunuch. Using snake venom spat out by a eunuch genuinely disgusted him.

After thinking it over and over.

Li Zhexian helplessly pushed open the courtyard gate.

"Come in."

"Heh..."

Dugu Yan followed Li Zhexian into the courtyard smugly.

Creak—

The courtyard gate slowly closed.

A fishy gust suddenly swept over.

Dugu Bo stood outside the courtyard gate, his old face dark and gloomy.