A Palm Clash with Dugu Bo! Perhaps I Can Cure the Jade Scale Snake Poison

In the courtyard.

Li Zhexian took out a teacup.

"Are we doing this directly, or following the process?"

Dugu Yan furrowed her delicate brows. "Of course we're following the process."

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

The words were only half out before Dugu Yan immediately changed them.

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

She looked at Li Zhexian with clear displeasure.

Seriously, he wanted something without giving anything in return. Did he expect all the good things to fall into his lap?

"Ah..."

Li Zhexian shook his head and sighed.

"Then come on."

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

"Li Zhexian, straighten up that attitude!"

"I want you to fight me seriously!"

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

Whoosh—!

In the blink of an eye, Dugu Yan had rushed before Li Zhexian. She raised her leg, twisted her waist, and unleashed a fierce spinning kick. Her loose casual pants tightened like steel as the kick shot straight toward Li Zhexian's face.

Li Zhexian raised his arms and crossed them in defense.

Bang—!

A tremendous force struck him.

Li Zhexian slid several meters across the ground, pain and numbness surging through his arms.

A trace of anger flashed across his handsome face.

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

With a flip of his hand, the Azure Lotus Sword appeared in his grasp. Its overflowing chill caused the temperature in the courtyard to plummet.

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

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

Staring at Li Zhexian with Azure Blade in hand, she licked her red lips with the tip of her tongue and charged again.

Swish—!

Swish—!

Sword light flashed coldly through the courtyard as poisonous mist spread everywhere.

Several minutes later.

Li Zhexian subdued Dugu Yan, who was covered in injuries.

"You lost. Give me the snake venom."

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

"I won't!"

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

"I won't!"

Dugu Yan turned her head aside and bared her teeth provocatively at Li Zhexian.

Li Zhexian was so angry he laughed.

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

"Fine, fine, fine!"

At once, he gripped the back of Dugu Yan's neck and pressed her red lips against the rim of the teacup.

"Spit your venom into it!"

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

However, at that moment.

Bang—!!!

The courtyard gate suddenly exploded.

Startled, Li Zhexian and Dugu Yan hurriedly looked over.

They saw a Grey-robed Elder glaring with fury, his dark green hair flying wildly around him in rage.

"Grandfather!"

Dugu Yan cried out in alarm.

"Dugu Bo?!"

Li Zhexian reacted swiftly. He immediately released Dugu Yan and darted out of the courtyard.

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

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

Damn it! Someone had reduced Dugu Bo's granddaughter to such a state!

"Die!"

Dugu Bo was so fast he was practically teleporting.

In an instant, he appeared behind Li Zhexian.

His withered palm shot out, and the air gave an explosive boom as though it could no longer bear the pressure.

Hearing the roaring howl of wind behind him, ruthlessness burst from Li Zhexian's eyes as he swallowed the wine he had prepared in his mouth beforehand.

Whoosh—!

A purple Spirit Ring rose beneath his feet.

Soul Power throughout his body boiled like scalding water.

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

"Second Soul Skill—Three Swords of Splendor!"

"Azure Lotus Sword Song, First Form—Yaoguang Sword!"

Though it was broad daylight.

A wisp of starlight swayed down above Li Zhexian's head and attached itself to his sword.

The blade, already at the pinnacle of sharpness, erupted with dazzling and terrifying sword light, making even Dugu Bo narrow his green eyes.

Sizzle—!

Boom—!

Palm and sword collided head-on.

Dugu Bo did not move an inch.

Li Zhexian's face suddenly flushed red. He forcibly swallowed the sickly sweetness that surged into his throat.

He was sent flying backward.

At that moment.

A tall figure rushed behind him.

The two crashed together and slammed hard into the courtyard wall.

Li Zhexian was all right, cushioned by a soft pad of flesh behind him.

But Dugu Yan, who had rushed over, took the full impact of Li Zhexian's weight.

She immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Yanyan!"

Dugu Bo's aged face changed slightly.

"What are you doing?!"

Dugu Yan staggered in front of Li Zhexian, spread her arms, and shielded him.

"Grandfather, don't attack."

"Li Zhexian didn't force me."

"I... I was the one who went looking for Li Zhexian."

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 an unsheathed sword.

"Li Zhexian..."

"At such a young age, yet you can strike with such a sharp sword."

"You must be Jian Jiu, the fastest person to earn a Gold Badge at the Soul Fighting Arena."

As he spoke.

His hand remained hidden within his wide sleeve.

A rather deep wound was visible on his palm.

Dugu Bo appeared indifferent.

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

He was a dignified Title Douluo, yet he had been wounded by a mere youth.

Though he had not used a Spirit Skill.

It was still utterly unbelievable.

Li Zhexian cupped his hands neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"Greetings, Senior Dugu Bo."

Dugu Bo nodded impassively and glanced at his granddaughter, who was still standing in front of Li Zhexian.

He swept his sleeve.

A medicine bottle flew toward Li Zhexian.

Li Zhexian caught it and looked at Dugu Bo in confusion.

"You're a strange one, boy."

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

"But you still suffered some internal injuries. This is medicine for healing them."

Li Zhexian smiled.

"Thank you, Senior Dugu."

To be honest.

He did not hold a grudge against Dugu Bo over that palm strike.

Whether or not Dugu Yan had acted willingly, it was a fact that he had forced the man's granddaughter to spit venom.

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

Besides...

Li Zhexian glanced at the blood dripping from his sword's edge.

He had not come out on the losing end. Dugu Bo had been injured as well.

"Good boy. Interesting, very interesting."

Dugu Bo was old and shrewd.

At a glance, he could see the openness in the youth's heart.

People said Dugu Bo was eccentric and temperamental, but no one could dislike a broad-minded young man.

"Li Zhexian, I'm leaving."

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

With that, without waiting for Li Zhexian's response or even looking at Dugu Bo, she staggered toward the courtyard exit.

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

Having witnessed that scene, how could he not know that his granddaughter, tormented by the snake poison, 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 Zhexian sighed.

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

She had been driven psychologically twisted by the snake poison.

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

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

Dugu Yan stopped in her tracks.

Whoosh—!

A foul wind suddenly blew through the courtyard.

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

"Kid!"

"What did you just say?!"

"You can cure the Jade Scale Snake Poison?!"

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

But Li Zhexian was different!

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

Perhaps...

Perhaps there really was a glimmer of hope!!!