Douluo: Martial Soul Iron-Eating Beast, Never Be a Slave

"An explosion?"

"Poison Explosion Technique?"

Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo were both taken aback, seemingly not quite understanding.

Zhao Mu continued explaining, "For example, if you throw something by hand and directly throw poison, it does nothing if it doesn't hit the opponent. But if the poison can explode after being thrown, then even if it misses at first, the blast's shockwave can still affect the opponent."

"Explosions are instantaneous attacks, leaving the opponent very little time or opportunity to dodge. And because of the Snowy Swan Kiss, as long as even a tiny bit of poison gets on them, it can be instantly amplified by the Snowy Swan Kiss and deal them a heavy blow."

"Furthermore, the blast wave can also deal damage."

After hearing this, Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo both nodded thoughtfully. What Zhao Mu said seemed to make some sense.

"What kind of soul beast or Immortal Herb should we choose, then?" Dugu Bo asked afterward.

Zhao Mu spread his hands. "That, I don't know. Any soul beast or Immortal Herb with explosive properties should probably work."

After Zhao Mu voiced his idea, Dugu Yan ultimately chose to trust him once again.

With Dugu Bo's help, they did not choose to hunt a soul beast. Instead, they chose an Explosive Fruit growing near the Fire Spring within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Absorbing that Explosive Fruit tortured Dugu Yan terribly, but she successfully absorbed it in the end without any real danger.

Dugu Yan stood tall as five Soul Rings rose one after another beneath her feet, circling her body.

Yellow, yellow, purple, white, red!

That intimidating red suddenly lit up, enough to shock quite a few people.

After all, red represented one hundred thousand years!

As the latter three Soul Rings glowed, Dugu Yan extended her hands. Four small purple spheres were clutched between the fingers of each hand.

She then flicked both hands, sending all eight spheres flying.

Then, with Dugu Yan's soft cry of "Explode."

Boom boom boom—

The eight spheres instantly exploded. Under the force of the shockwaves, Jade Phosphor Purple Poison mist rapidly spread through the air.

If Dugu Yan had tried to spew out that much poison mist herself, setting aside whether her lung capacity could handle it, it would have taken considerable time.

Moreover, since her fifth Soul Ring had also been absorbed from an Immortal Herb and contained extraordinary energy, the explosions Dugu Yan created were no weaker than the ten-thousand-year Soul Skills of some Power Attack System Soul Masters.

Both Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo revealed satisfied expressions at this.

Days passed one by one.

After Dugu Yan obtained her fifth Soul Ring, Zhao Mu did not rush to absorb one himself, since he had no Immortal Herb target in mind.

The three of them remained in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to cultivate. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well also provided a certain boost to cultivation.

During that time, Dugu Bo often sparred with Dugu Yan and Zhao Mu. Zhao Mu was more than happy about it—there were scarcely any Title Douluo-level sparring partners on the entire continent, and they were not easy to find.

Heibai: Of course you're happy. All you do is flap your mouth; I'm the one doing the fighting.

Bang!

Thud!

Heavy collision after heavy collision echoed across an open area of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well where no Immortal Herbs grew.

"Heibai, Fourth Soul Skill—Demon God Descent!"

At the shout—

Heibai, originally bathed in purple and silver lightning, threw back his head and roared. Black light burst from his body, and in an instant, he transformed from Thunder Form into Demon God Form.

Black and white, fierce and imposing, Heibai dropped onto all fours and fixed his gaze on the massive jade-green Jiao ahead, as well as Dugu Bo standing atop its head.

"Heibai, use Meatball Impact!"

After Heibai enlarged, Zhao Mu immediately gave his command.

Heibai skillfully wrapped his forepaws around his hind legs, pressed his head against his stomach, curled himself up, and rolled rapidly toward Dugu Bo.

Because of his enormous size, the rapidly rolling Heibai was an imposing sight.

Watching Heibai roll toward him, Dugu Bo gave a cold snort. The Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon beneath his feet swung its enormous tail, lashing it viciously against the rolling Heibai. The blow was so powerful that it sent the latter directly flying.

Yet Zhao Mu was not flustered in the slightest and immediately shouted again:

"Heibai, use Mount Tai Press!"

Heibai unfurled his body mid-roll, spun three hundred and sixty degrees in the air, turned his backside downward again, and crashed down fiercely.

Heibai's enormous body blotted out the sky. Even Dugu Bo chose not to take the blow head-on. Perhaps it was not that he could not block it, but simply that being pinned beneath Heibai's butt would not look very good.

With a twist of its body, the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon dodged Heibai's descending smash.

Boom!

Heibai slammed heavily into the ground, shaking the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well until rocks tumbled down and the earth trembled.

Zhao Mu had not stopped developing Heibai's skills. Once his body became huge, he naturally needed skills suited for that enlarged form.

After dodging Heibai's crushing backside, the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon beneath Dugu Bo opened its bloodthirsty maw and fired a green beam toward Heibai.

"Third Soul Skill, Wrath of the Winter, Blazing Heaven!"

Before Heibai's backside had even settled, he transformed again.

Scorching heat and freezing cold intertwined around him. Heibai's enormous six- to seven-meter body shrank back to two meters, while his black-and-white fur transformed into red-and-blue crystals.

"Water Severing Wave!"

At Zhao Mu's command, Heibai, who had just assumed his ice-and-fire form, puckered his lips and eagerly began spraying at Dugu Bo.

A thin stream of water shot forth at high speed, colliding with the green beam spat out by Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon.

The high-speed current actually severed the green beam outright and, pushing through it, stabbed toward the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon.

Dugu Bo, standing atop the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon, was full of shock. "That water can actually cut through my Jade Phosphorous Purple Glow?"

Seeing the incoming stream, Dugu Bo immediately controlled the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon to turn and dodge. However, this time it was a step too slow. The high-speed water swept past and directly slashed the corner of the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon's mouth. Its scales were as brittle as paper beneath the current's impact.

Zhao Mu was not surprised at all. Dugu Bo probably did not know that the sharpest blade in the world was a one-hundred-megapascal water cutter mixed with diamond sand!

That thing could even cut through diamonds.

Although the water Heibai sprayed did not contain diamond sand, its pressure was absolutely sufficient.

Having suffered a setback, Dugu Bo did not stop. He controlled the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon to close in and grapple with Heibai. This time, however, Dugu Bo lightly moved his arm. Beneath that nearly imperceptible motion, a tiny jade-green snake quietly appeared in his palm before dropping to the ground.

Faced with the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon's close-quarters assault, Heibai immediately transformed back into the enlarged Demon God Form of his Fourth Soul Skill.

Previously, the second-form Diamond Form possessed the greatest strength. But after obtaining his fourth Soul Ring, the enlarged fourth-form Demon God Form became his strongest form.

In Demon God Form, Heibai roared loudly, utterly unafraid of brawling with the Jade Phosphorous Profound Dragon.

At that moment, Heibai's fighting spirit surged. He looked ready to tear apart a True Dragon with his bare paws.

Yet at that very moment, an unexpected change occurred. Zhao Mu suddenly felt a chilling sensation, as if something had fixed its gaze upon him.

At some unknown point, a small snake had leaped from the ground and lunged to bite him.

The little snake was nearly transparent and exceptionally well concealed, so Zhao Mu had not noticed it at all until it launched its ambush.

With scarlet eyes and nine bamboo-joint-like stripes across its green body, it opened its mouth and bit toward Zhao Mu.

In the emergency, Zhao Mu had no time to summon Heibai to protect him. Besides, with Heibai's current massive size, he might not have been able to deal with such a tiny green snake anyway.

Thus, Zhao Mu merely raised his hand instinctively to brush it aside. In his panic, the Soul Power within his body actually flowed through a particular set of meridians.

A chilling wind swept by. As Zhao Mu's fingers passed through the air, five slashes appeared at once, cutting the green snake into several pieces.

Five fingers exerted force, invincible and unbreakable, destroying the enemy's vital point as easily as piercing rotten earth.

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"Nine-Section Jade!"

"My Nine-Section Jade!"

Seeing the green snake broken into several pieces after Zhao Mu's unintentional defense, Dugu Bo lost all interest in continuing the spar. He hurried over to Zhao Mu and cradled the severed snake segments in both hands.

"You brat, compensate me for my Nine-Section Jade! This is a Nine-Section Jade! The finest of Green Bamboo Snakes, the finest among the finest, the king of poisons, one of the most venomous snakes in the world—and you turned it into this!"

"Who told you to use that thing for a sneak attack? Since this was a spar, if anyone was going to hold back, it should have been you. Don't tell me a dignified Title Douluo sparring with a Quasi-Soul King expected me to hold back?" Zhao Mu shot back.

"You..." Dugu Bo was momentarily speechless. "Your tongue is too sharp. I can't argue with you!"

Dugu Bo looked painfully at the pieces of Nine-Section Jade in his hands, but he quickly realized something was wrong.

Although the Nine-Section Jade looked small and fragile, its body was harder than refined steel. Blades could barely harm it, and its defense was astonishing.

How could Zhao Mu have sliced it into several pieces in one strike? And with his hand, no less?

Moreover, the cuts were smooth and even, making the attack's sharpness obvious.

"Second Brother, this Nine-Section Jade may be small, but its body is extremely hard. How did you do this? Isn't that bear your primary combat strength?" Unable to figure it out, Dugu Bo simply asked Zhao Mu directly.

This was also what Zhao Mu was most concerned and curious about. He swept his arm again, making his Soul Power flow through the same meridians as before. As his fingertips passed through the air, Zhao Mu saw several silver arcs—or rather, silver claw marks—flash past. Accompanied by a shrill whistle, they inspired fear in anyone who heard them.