Poison Bone

Deep within the nest, purple-black light throbbed wildly like the heart of a dying beast, illuminating two pairs of equally cold eyes.

Blood poured from Jingtian's wounds. His blue-black venomous blood mixed with the purple-black energy of the Soul Bone inheritance, giving off a sickeningly sweet, fishy stench. The infusion from the Soul Bone core inheritance had been forcibly interrupted. Violent energy rampaged through his body, clashing fiercely with the newly inflicted cuts imbued with Sea God's Purification, bringing pain that seemed to tear apart his soul. Under the double blow of grievous wounds and energy backlash, his aura fluctuated violently, rising and falling.

Blocking the entrance was a Title Douluo from Sea God Island—Luoxius, the Sea Horse Douluo, one of the seven Sacred Pillar Guardians known for his steadiness, decisiveness, and skill in tracking and hunting. His face was hard and cold. The translucent phantom of a seawater trident in his hand flickered with icy light, while his deep-blue eyes held not the slightest trace of underestimation, only absolute calm and determination to kill.

Unlike Luo Kes, he did not waste words, nor did he give Jingtian any chance to catch his breath. The instant he confirmed his ambush had succeeded and that Jingtian was in terrible condition, he moved.

"Domain—Vast Sea Cage!"

Deep-blue light instantly spread out from him. It did not seek broad suppression, but condensed and contracted like a moving prison of water that kept tightening, precisely enveloping the badly wounded Jingtian! Within the cage, seawater was as viscous as lead and mercury, containing terrifying suppressive and cutting force. It also carried the purifying attribute unique to Sea God's Power, naturally restraining Jingtian's venom.

He knew full well how treacherous this Poison Beast was, as well as its deadly venom technique that ignored defenses, according to Luo Kes's intelligence. Thus, he unleashed his strongest control from the start, giving his opponent no chance to use that strange venom technique! He would completely imprison Jingtian, then kill him with thunderous force before his venom technique could take effect!

Trying to imprison me?! Jingtian roared inwardly. His instinct to survive and towering fury overwhelmed the agony. He could no longer maintain a complete Poison Domain, but the extreme sensitivity to and control over energy flow that he had tempered through twenty years of Guixu's dead silence erupted to its utmost limit at this moment!

Rather than using his broken Poison Domain to resist the intact Vast Sea Cage, he crazily drove his remaining venom and Soul Power into the cage's energy circulation nodes and weak points like the most precise wedges! At the same time, his massive body charged desperately toward the side and rear—toward the fissure entrance still violently pulsing and spewing purple-black energy!

"Poison Erosion—Barrier Breaking! Guixu Assimilation—Open!"

Dark-purple Poison Erosion mixed with a trace of Guixu's dead-silent nature, corroding and disrupting the cage's energy structure like the most insidious acid. His charge toward the fissure made Sea Horse Douluo frown. The vast, strange venom fluctuations within the fissure filled him with apprehension.

In that brief moment of interference and hesitation, Jingtian's battered body had already sunk halfway into the torrent of purple-black energy pouring from the fissure entrance!

"Seeking death!" Sea Horse Douluo's eyes sharpened. He held nothing back. The phantom trident in his hand blazed brightly and transformed into a blue-gold streak that tore through space, stabbing straight at Jingtian's back as he entered the fissure! This strike contained ninety percent of his power, bolstered by his domain, and was meant to kill in one blow!

Yet just as the trident's light was about to touch Jingtian's body—

"Rip—!"

A thick tentacle, previously torn off by Jingtian himself to serve as a "sacrifice" and establish a link with the Soul Bone, shot out of the purple-black glow deep within the fissure as if alive, blocking the trident's path!

"Pfft!"

The trident light pierced through the tentacle without resistance, blasting it to pieces! But after that obstruction, its power and speed had both diminished by more than half.

More importantly, at the instant the tentacle exploded, the venom power and Spirit Energy imprint within it—which had formed a deep link with the Soul Bone—were completely triggered and detonated! Like a drop of water falling into boiling oil, the purple-black energy torrent deep within the fissure seemed thoroughly enraged. It let out a soundless roar and surged forth with even greater violence!

This violent energy shock not only further weakened the remnants of Sea Horse Douluo's trident light, but indiscriminately battered everything near the fissure entrance! Jingtian bore the brunt of it, staggering from the blast and worsening his injuries, but he also used the force to slip completely into the depths of the fissure. Sea Horse Douluo's Vast Sea Cage domain was likewise struck hard by this sudden, wildly different energy, producing violent turbulence and a gap!

An opportunity! A moment of life and death! His final chance!

At the final instant before he was swallowed by the energy torrent and his consciousness sank away, the hunter's instincts overwhelmed everything else. He no longer thought of the Soul Bone, nor of the inheritance. He had only one thought—make this ambusher pay the price!

He no longer had the strength to condense a complete Dan-Devour, which required precise control. But within his body remained a thread of Dan-Devour's origin venom, previously condensed to an extreme degree to link with the Soul Bone and not yet fully dispersed. This venom had been prepared to "knock on the door," incomparably pure, yet after briefly touching the Soul Bone's energy, it had taken on an indescribably ancient and silent quality.

Now—!

Jingtian let out a silent shriek from the depths of his soul. He mixed that special thread of Dan-Devour venom with all his rage, resentment, and the most vicious curse of a dying man. Using the last trace of his Spirit Energy as a guide, regardless of the limits his meridians and soul could endure, he forcibly compressed, ignited, and activated it!

This was not a sniper strike seeking a perfect hit. It was a desperate, indiscriminate spray of venom power, as though he intended to perish together with his foe! Its target was the blurry blue figure whose aura had become slightly disordered due to the turmoil in his domain—Sea Horse Douluo!

A tiny streak of venom light, deeper and gloomier than any before, nearly blending into the surrounding purple-black energy, flashed out from Jingtian's curled body. It pierced through the violent energy currents and silently "drifted" toward Sea Horse Douluo.

It was slow and unstable, as if it might disperse at any moment.

Yet it contained the most fundamental intent of death that Jingtian could summon at this moment.

Sea Horse Douluo's entire focus was occupied by the violent Soul Bone energy tide and the turmoil in his own domain. He saw that tiny, inconspicuous streak of venom light, and a faint warning rose in his heart. Yet his confidence in the purification might of Sea God's Power, along with his judgment that the Poison Beast was already at the end of its rope, kept him from immediately retreating. Instead, he swung his trident, gathering a condensed stream of water to scatter and purify it.

"Tricks of a dying beast!" he shouted coldly.

Yet at the instant the water touched the dim venom light—

The venom light silently vanished. It had not been purified; rather, as if it possessed life, it actively "split" into countless finer particles, dust so minute that Soul Power could barely detect it. Following the water current—and even moving against it in defiance of all reason—it silently adhered to Sea Horse Douluo's protective Soul Power and armor, then seeped through the tiniest gaps into his skin!

What?! Sea Horse Douluo's heart tightened. He immediately activated Sea God's Power to scour his entire body. A faint numb itch and icy sensation came from the surface of his body, but they seemed quickly suppressed and dispersed by the vast purifying power.

Just a bluff... The thought had only just arisen when his expression changed drastically!

A hollow, weak sensation from the deepest depths of his soul seized his life core without warning like an icy venomous snake! He felt his Soul Power being slowly yet steadily "devoured" and "annihilated" by something invisible! It did not feel like poison corroding him. It was more like... the very origin of his life was being directly "erased"?!

"It's poison! That beast's poison!" Sea Horse Douluo finally understood, and for the first time, horror appeared in his eyes. The unsolvable poison described in Luo Kes's intelligence had still been unleashed despite his opponent being so wretched and near death—and it had struck him in such a hidden, vicious manner!

He frantically activated his Soul Power and Sea God's Power, trying to locate and expel the venom within him. Yet this thread of Dan-Devour was too minute, too dispersed, and carried a strange silent quality. Like the finest dust falling into the sea, it was impossible to grasp, yet everywhere at once, continuously and slowly "gnawing" away at his vitality.

His Soul Power instantly became sluggish, the operation of his domain noticeably stuttered, and a powerful wave of dizziness and weakness surged into his mind. Jingtian, whose chest had been grazed by the residual trident light, had risked his life for this strike. Though it was not enough to kill Sea Horse Douluo immediately, it was like the most poisonous thorn embedded deep in his lifeline. His combat strength instantly dropped by more than thirty percent, and was still worsening!

I have to leave now! Return and have the High Priest and Sea Star Elder treat me! Sea Horse Douluo made his decision at once. He knew that in his current state, he could no longer ensure the death of that unfathomable Poison Beast. If he continued fighting and the beast still had another move, or if Dan-Devour erupted faster, he might well perish here!

He stared fixedly at the still-chaotic fissure, feeling the venom within him constantly devouring his vitality like gangrene clinging to the bone. His eyes were filled with unwillingness, shock, fury, and a trace of indescribable fear. Without the slightest hesitation, he spat out a mouthful of blood flecked with pale-gold light—forcing his Soul Power had intensified Dan-Devour's erosion. His body transformed into a slightly unsteady blue streak and shot out of the nest at top speed, vanishing into the darkness.

He had to race Death itself.

Deep within the fissure, the violent energy gradually calmed.

Jingtian lay limp against the cold, rough rock wall like an utterly emptied husk, his aura so weak it was nearly nonexistent. That final forced activation of Dan-Devour had almost drained the last of his soul and life force. The rings on his body had become dim and lusterless, covered in cracks. The Soul Bone inheritance infusion had long since been interrupted, and chaos reigned within his body.

But the corner of his mouth—within his consciousness—seemed to twitch.

He "felt" it. That faint yet successful Dan-Devour had struck its target.

"Heh... Title... Douluo... so what..." His shattered thoughts drifted away through the darkness like the final wisp of smoke from a dying candle flame in the wind.

Then endless darkness and cold completely swallowed him.

He sank into an absolute silence deeper than death, devoid of all sensation.

This time, there was no Guixu Assimilation, no Tortoise-Breath Feigned Death—only ultimate dormancy, with all life activity nearly completely halted. His body rapidly grew cold and rigid, and a thin layer of poisonous ice crystals even formed over his surface. Only at the deepest source of his venom, that point of spirituality which had briefly resonated with Dan-Devour's origin and the Soul Bone, remained like a spark frozen within ten-thousand-year profound ice, sustaining the final possibility of survival by "burning" at a pace measured in hundreds of millions of years.

The nest fell utterly silent. Only deep within the fissure, the Scorpion Tail Soul Bone—its light completely dimmed and its vitality greatly diminished—still lay quietly beside the ancient skeleton, as if keeping another newly born skeleton company as they slept together.

Hope was more tenuous than the abyss.

But that thread of Dan-Devour had, after all, been planted.