A Year of Rapid Progress

Chapter 31: A Year of Rapid Progress

Time flies like an arrow, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Within this year, Long Chen's relationship with Dugu Bo deepened further.

With Long Chen's help, Dugu Bo gradually gained control over the invasion of toxins in his body, breaking through the bottleneck of Level Ninety-one and reaching Level Ninety-two.

For a Soul Master to reach Level Ninety and become a Title Douluo, each subsequent level presents a huge bottleneck.

Dugu Bo had been stuck at Level Ninety-one for a long time, and he finally achieved a breakthrough.

He was very grateful to Long Chen, not only for helping him control the toxins in his body but also for assisting him in increasing his soul power.

During this period, he also provided guidance to Long Chen in his cultivation.

Dugu Bo's ability to reach the Title Douluo level undoubtedly meant he possessed extraordinary qualities.

Long Chen humbly accepted his guidance.

Day after day, soaking in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well Water, the medicinal properties of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot were absorbed better.

Coupled with Dugu Bo's Dan Bead and guidance on cultivation methods, Long Chen's soul power advanced by leaps and bounds over the past year, increasing by five levels to reach the realm of Level Forty-seven.

Not yet fifteen years old, and at Level Forty-seven.

This was an unprecedented achievement on the entire Douluo Continent.

At this point, there was just over a year left until the Soul Master Competition.

Long Chen felt it was time to return.

He knew that according to the development of the timeline, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy team would encounter the Shrek Seven Devils at the Suotuo City Great Soul Arena and lose to them.

Ye Lingling would be threatened by Tang San during the competition.

Long Chen wanted to prevent all of this; he absolutely could not let Tang San succeed.

"Xiao Chen, what are you thinking about?"

Dugu Bo suddenly descended from the sky.

Long Chen recovered and saw Dugu Bo looking energetic. He smiled and said:

"Brother Bo, the toxins in your body are finally under control. Although they haven't been completely forced into your soul bone, they no longer pose a threat to your life."

"Mm, with your help, my body has adapted to the severe poison to a certain extent. Having a little poison is good; if there were none at all, I wouldn't be used to it."

Long Chen pointed to the patch of medicinal herbs.

"That Narcissus Jade Skin Bone has also grown well and can be harvested."

"Really? That's great, then we can detoxify Yanyan."

Long Chen frowned and sighed:

"After harvesting the Narcissus Jade Skin Bone, its vitality must be maintained. Unfortunately, I don't have any tools that can store living things for a long time. If it really comes to that, I can only bring Dugu Yan here to detoxify her. However, there is only a little over a year left until the Soul Master Competition. She is so strong-willed, she might worry about affecting her training and only be willing to come here for detoxification after the Soul Master Competition ends."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo chuckled.

"I thought you were worried about something, but it's just this. What's so difficult about that? I'll give you something."

As Dugu Bo spoke, he took out a blue leather pouch from somewhere and threw it to Long Chen.

The leather pouch was only about the size of two adult palms and was the kind that hung from a belt.

Long Chen knew that this was the Soul Tool that could store living things, the Ruyi Treasure Pouch.

"Brother Bo, this is a Soul Tool, right? You're giving it to me?"

Dugu Bo nodded and explained, "This is no ordinary Soul Tool. It can hold living things, animals, plants, anything that is alive."

"That's great. This way, I don't have to worry about storing the Narcissus Jade Skin Bone."

"Yes, this way you can take that medicinal herb out to detoxify Yanyan."

Long Chen chuckled, his gaze fixed on the medicine garden.

"Brother Bo, besides the Narcissus Jade Skin Bone, I'd like to pick a few more medicinal herbs to keep for future use. Is that okay?"

"How many do you want to pick?"

"Not many, just seven or eight."

"Alright. As long as it's useful to you and not wasted."

"How could I waste such precious medicinal herbs? Thanks!"

Dugu Bo was quite generous.

Long Chen was not greedy either.

Besides the Narcissus Jade Skin Bone, he temporarily picked Lovesick Heartbreak Red, Ink Jade Bamboo, Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Aromatic Silk Beauty, Aromatic Silk Beauty, Eight-Petaled Immortal Orchid, and Snow-White Swan Kiss.

Although Dugu Bo felt a pang of heartache, he could only let Long Chen have his way.

After all, he didn't understand the uses of those medicinal herbs.

After picking the immortal herbs, it was time to leave this medicine garden.

Long Chen looked back at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well with reluctance, joking, "After soaking in this pool for over a year, I'm really a bit hesitant to leave."

"Haha~ Only you, kid, can soak in those extremely hot, extremely cold, and poisonous springs. I'll be cultivating in these mountains. If you ever get bored in the future, you can come find me anytime."

"Brother Bo, come out and play with me. The Soul Master Competition is almost here. Don't you want to see Dugu Yan's performance in the Soul Master Competition?"

Dugu Bo stroked his beard and said with a smile:

"To be honest, compared to Yanyan, I'm more looking forward to your performance in the Soul Master Competition. Your current soul power is Rank Forty-seven. With the speed of your soul power increase, you'll break through Rank Fifty before the Soul Master Competition and compete as a Battle Soul King. In the previous three Soul Master Competitions, neither the Martial Soul Hall Academy nor the academies of the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires had any participating students at the Battle Soul King level. Your appearance will surely cause a sensation and attract attention."

"So, I need you even more. With you escorting me, no one will dare to make a move against me."

"Alright, I'll accompany you then."

"Okay, let's go find Dugu Yan first."

Long Chen knew that the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's main team, as one of the three seed teams, did not need to participate in the preliminary and advancement matches of the Heaven Dou Division. They would directly enter the finals.

This meant that his strength would not be exposed too early and would only be displayed in the finals.

Long Chen could have left the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well earlier and returned to the academy, but he deliberately delayed until now.

This was because he didn't want to get too close to his teammates.

When he was at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, Long Chen often took leave to return to Guang'an Hall to develop medicines.

To cope with this situation, a new member, Shi Mo, was added to the team.

As time went on, Shi Mo spent more time training with everyone and became more in sync, making Long Chen seem like an outsider.

Long Chen knew that Qin Ming would take the Royal Fighting Team to the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City for practical combat training, and they would obtain Silver Soul Badges.

After he returned, his position in the team would be somewhat awkward.

However, he would participate in the Soul Master Competition to protect Ye Lingling.

He knew that the champion reward for the Soul Master Competition was three soul bones, which were specially prepared by Pope Bibi Dong for the Martial Soul Hall Three Heroes.

One of them was the Spirit Condensation Wisdom Skull, with a quality of fifty-thousand years or more.

If he could absorb that soul bone, his mental power would be greatly enhanced.

Long Chen naturally wanted it too.

But taking the soul bone from Martial Soul Hall would not be easy.

The prerequisite was to win the championship of the Soul Master Competition and have a powerful backing.

Therefore, Long Chen wanted Dugu Bo to accompany him.

The two first returned to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and, upon learning that Qin Ming had taken the team to the Suotuo Great Soul Arena, they rushed to Suotuo City.