Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flower

Tieli had left out one very important detail: he had won the Tang Sect's deed from Tang Lin in a bet.

Under those circumstances, Tieli had chosen to keep it quiet so as not to anger Xue Yuheng.

Xue Yuheng already knew. He had sent Yue and Ying to investigate the full story behind the Tang Sect's destruction.

He just hadn't expected the Iron Blood Sect and the city defense forces to act so quickly.

The Tang Sect's elite had been wiped out. Of the forty-three people in the entire family, only Tang Ya and her parents remained.

Because of its brutal methods and heinous crimes, every Iron Blood Sect disciple and elder had been arrested and imprisoned, including its sect master, Tieli, and his son, Tie Tang.

Vista, commander of the city defense forces, had neglected his duties and indulged his subordinates. He was suspended without pay and confined to his home for three months. After all, he was the emperor's younger brother, so the punishment was little more than a slap on the wrist.

The captain directly involved in the affair was dismissed on the spot, and the three hundred soldiers under his command were punished as well. Anyone implicated in a death was sentenced to pay with their own life.

The Tang Sect was utterly destroyed that day.

Vista had gone so far out of his way to curry favor with Xue Yuheng because he still had an unrevealed trump card.

After the Tang Sect matter was settled, Princess Weina's Martial Soul successfully evolved as well. Her Body Martial Soul, the brain, had transformed into the demigod-level Brain of Wisdom.

What shocked the Body Sect's upper echelons was that this evolution had also brought her Body Martial Soul to its third awakening.

Its quality had even surpassed the Gold level by far.

The tournament, originally scheduled to last around forty days, had entered its final ten days and reached the round of thirty-two.

Just as Shrek advanced to the round of sixteen with an overwhelming advantage, Du Busi also emerged from seclusion.

"Xiao Ya, get ready. The Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flowers are at least twenty thousand years old, and their poison is overbearing. Fusing with one will take tremendous willpower."

In the Body Sect's secret chamber, inside the pool

The two of them stood naked together. This time, Xue Yuheng was going to help Tang Ya evolve her Martial Soul.

The few Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flowers Du Busi had brought back from Sunset Forest, the key materials for the Martial Soul Evolution, had been placed in the pool, tinting its clear hot-spring water emerald green.

Over the past ten days, Tang Ya's temperament had changed drastically. She had grown almost completely silent.

The lively, spirited girl from her first appearance in the original story was nowhere to be seen.

She had personally buried each of the forty-three members of the Tang Sect.

Xue Yuheng had promised her that every Iron Blood Sect disciple and elder would be imprisoned in the empire's dungeons, waiting for her to claim their lives with her own hands.

The condition was that she had to gain the strength to kill her enemies herself.

Tieli was a Soul Emperor. Tang Ya was only ten, and had never had much talent. She had been playful and active, neglecting her cultivation, and was now only a Level 12 Soul Master.

Tang Ya had to reach at least the Soul Ancestor level.

Her Martial Soul was a Mutated Martial Soul, Dark Blue Silver Grass. With enough life force, she could rapidly raise her cultivation.

Xue Yuheng didn't have Gold of Life for now, but he did have the Power of Creation, which could simulate Soul Power of any attribute.

In other words, while cultivating with Tang Ya, he would produce a little less Power of Creation per hour. That was all.

As a Plant-type Soul Beast of the Ultimate Poison level, the Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flower had granted Du Busi the Ultimate Poison attribute after he absorbed a Soul Bone from a seventy-thousand-year-old Nine Absolute Flower.

He had successfully broken through the final threshold and reached the Limit Douluo level.

Douluo Continent was vast beyond measure. Even though Sunset Forest was right nearby, Du Busi might never have had the chance to advance without Xue Yuheng's suggestion.

Du Busi, a man who took responsibility for his actions, owed Xue Yuheng an enormous favor. He had promised afterward that he would lend Xue Yuheng his help three times, whenever needed.

A Limit Douluo's promise... Xue Yuheng didn't seem to care much.

In the pool, Tang Ya showed no trace of shyness. She stared resolutely at the thick vines in the water.

A few days earlier, at Xue Yuheng's arrangement, her parents had gone to Lingdou City to begin a new life.

Before leaving, the couple had talked with Tang Ya all night, urging her to let go of the Tang Sect. She only needed to kill Tieli someday and avenge those who had died.

Tang Lin, as sect master, had been hopelessly addicted to gambling. He had even gambled away the deed and hadn't dared to admit it. He was plainly unfit for the role.

Tang Ya's mother was just as irresponsible, spending money recklessly.

A couple like that had never placed much hope in their children.

Especially not in a daughter.

But the massacre of her family had made Tang Ya understand the law of the jungle.

Tang Ya didn't just want to destroy the Iron Blood Sect. She wanted to rebuild the Tang Sect and make it stand tall across the continent.

A Blue Silver Grass Soul Master with only Level 6 Innate Soul Power could never do that.

"Your Highness, if I fuse with it, will I become strong?" Using her Purple Demon Eye, Tang Ya saw the veins inside the vine, where a deadly dark green poison coursed.

She was afraid. She was afraid that if she died, no one would remember the Tang Sect anymore.

"At the very least... you'll have the chance to become strong." Xue Yuheng's words clearly moved the girl before him.

The Wordless Heavenly Book rated Tang Ya's Dark Blue Silver Grass highly. Its path of Martial Soul Evolution led to the demigod-level Death Blue Silver.

It wielded the authorities of Ultimate Poison and Ultimate Death.

It seemed Innate Soul Power wasn't the only measure of a Martial Soul's potential.

There were only useless Soul Masters, not useless Martial Souls.

Grandmaster's theories about Soul Masters were right.

Tang Ya closed her eyes and began to release her Soul Power. Several short strands of Blue Silver Grass wrapped around the thick vines of the Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flower.

In an instant, emerald poison surged through the Blue Silver Grass and poured into Tang Ya's body.

Xue Yuheng's gaze sharpened. He pressed his palm to her back, and a vast surge of the Power of Creation burst forth.

Golden light spread like a thin veil, precisely shielding her heart and brain, her two vital weak points.

Every other part of her was left exposed to the ravages of the Ultimate Poison.

Wherever the poison passed, her skin instantly turned blue-black, and her muscles visibly rotted.

"Ah—!"

A piercing scream burst from Tang Ya. Her body convulsed violently, and her once-smooth black hair began falling out in clumps.

Strands spun through the air and fell into the water, quickly corroded away by the poison.

Her fingernails cracked one after another, first splitting, then coming off entirely.

Pain surged through her like a tide.

Her once-delicate face became a bloody ruin. Tang Ya teetered on the edge of consciousness, every second like thousands of needles stabbing her at once.

Xue Yuheng's Power of Creation protected her heart and kept her conscious, denying her even the mercy of passing out.

The Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flower's poison ravaged Tang Ya's bones and meridians.

Her bones seemed ready to shatter at any moment, while the poison burned her meridians until they were riddled with holes.

Tang Ya's body continually shrank, then swelled wildly under the poison's stimulation, reshaping itself.

Rotting flesh fell away, and new flesh, glowing faintly blue-green, slowly grew in its place.

This was a battle between the poison and the Power of Creation—a rebirth through unimaginable agony.

After an unknown amount of time, the pool water gradually cleared from emerald green. The sores on Tang Ya's body finally stopped spreading.

New flesh covered her from head to toe, smooth and taut, even more lustrous than her skin had been before.

Her fallen hair grew back, darker and shinier than before, cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall.

Her lost nails regrew too, translucent and faintly gleaming.

The burn marks vanished from her face, and her already pretty features became even more exquisite.

Tang Ya slowly opened her eyes, feeling the Soul Power surging within her. Her gaze was full of astonishment.

Her Soul Power had shot straight from Level 12 to Level 20, reaching the Soul Grandmaster level.

In the pool, several Jade Scale Nine Absolute Flower vines had withered, dissolving into specks of green light that merged into her body.

A Soul Ring belonging to a twenty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast slowly rose around her.

The purple-black Soul Ring drifted through the water, radiating a potent poisonous aura. Tang Ya raised her hand instinctively, and several thick strands of Dark Blue Silver Grass grew from her palm.

A faint green poisonous glow curled around the leaves. With a gentle sway, they sent ripples through the pool.

This was the evolved Martial Soul of Dark Blue Silver Grass: Death Blue Silver.

Kneeling in the blood-red pool, Tang Ya murmured, "Tang Ya thanks Prince Gan for granting me a new life."

...So she was drawing a line between us.

Xue Yuheng said coldly:

"I hope you understand how little value you have left."

After all that effort, and now you're telling me you want to put on a chaste act.

That was ridiculous.

Xue Yuheng didn't like girls who didn't know their place.

The Tang Sect was a useful name to have on one's side. Nothing more.