Substitute-Protect-Toxic Strategy, Mutual Defeat, and Victory?

"What?!" Dugu Bo was startled. He could feel an abnormal sluggishness and weakness emanating from his Martial Soul Avatar. It was the corrosion of a completely unfamiliar kind of "poison" he had never encountered before!

His Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor had an extremely high resistance to toxins, but this "poison" did not seem to act on flesh or energy. It was more like it was eroding existence itself. Though he had some resistance, he could not completely resist it!

"If it can't be cured, then I'll ignore it!"

Dugu Bo controlled the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor True Body. Its massive tail swept across the arena, stirring up poisonous energy, while it opened its mouth and spewed a weakened poisonous mist from its ninth soul skill, Jade Phosphorous Divine Light, covering a vast area.

Gengar did not take the attack head-on. Its figure flickered.

Double Team!

In an instant, more than a dozen identical Gengar appeared all over the arena, pulling faces simultaneously. The real one was impossible to distinguish from the fake ones.

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's attacks struck several duplicates and scattered them, but they were only illusions. Meanwhile, the real Gengar had already quietly used its next move.

Substitute!

A Substitute formed from ghostly energy, nearly identical to its true body, appeared where it had originally stood. Gengar itself slipped even more stealthily into the shadows of its surroundings.

Dugu Bo frowned deeply. He discovered that although his attacks could disperse those duplicates and even hit that "Substitute," the results were poor.

After taking the attack, the "Substitute" merely swayed and dimmed without immediately collapsing. Meanwhile, the opponent's "Toxic" continued eroding his Martial Soul Avatar, and that feeling of weakness was slowly but steadily worsening.

"Playing tricks! Eighth soul skill—Time Stasis!" Dugu Bo tried to lock down the space and find the real body.

The power of time spread out, and the movements of several Gengar phantoms became extraordinarily slow.

However, just as he prepared to focus his attack, a semi-transparent Barrier shimmering with an unusual gleam appeared out of thin air before the "Substitute" Gengar!

Protect!

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's fierce poisonous strike slammed into the Barrier. The Barrier trembled violently, yet held firm!

Although the Barrier shattered afterward, the "Substitute" Gengar was completely unharmed. It even had time to make a taunting face at Dugu Bo.

"How is that possible?!" Dugu Bo was horrified.

Gengar's fighting style was far too strange! It never fought head-on. It simply poisoned, used duplicates, made Substitutes, and defended... like a slippery loach, or a trap that was slowly tightening around him.

Still, it was fortunate that Gengar was not as much of a prodigy as Charizard. If it had not possessed poison itself, then any other Titled Douluo would have suffered a massive drop in combat strength after being poisoned.

The soul bone on Dugu Bo's forehead flashed.

"Medusa's Gaze!"

Two grayish-white petrifying beams shot out abruptly, incredibly fast and carrying the effects of locking on and petrification!

This time, the "Substitute" Gengar seemed unable to use "Protect" again in time. It was struck by the petrifying beams, and a layer of grayish-white instantly covered its body as its movements froze.

"Got you!" Dugu Bo rejoiced. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor True Body swung its tail and instantly smashed it apart.

However, the other duplicates on the field did not disappear. The one he had just shattered was not the real body.

At that moment, Dugu Bo felt the strange "Toxic" corrosion suddenly intensify!

The energy flow within his Martial Soul Avatar became abnormally sluggish. His Soul Power was draining at a much faster rate, and even his mind began to ache and grow dizzy! It turned out that while he was attacking the Substitute and had relaxed slightly, the real Gengar hidden in the darkness had quietly inflicted another dose of "Toxic" on him!

Moreover, new Double Team duplicates appeared once more, while another Substitute began to form.

The battle thus fell into a bizarre cycle that left every spectator dumbfounded.

Dugu Bo unleashed powerful soul skills, trying to find and defeat Gengar.

Gengar, meanwhile, never engaged him directly. It simply continued with Toxic corrosion, duplicate interference, and Barriers to block fatal attacks.

Occasionally, Gengar's Substitute would be petrified or scattered, but a new one would soon appear.

The classic "Substitute-Protect-Toxic Strategy."

Dugu Bo's soul skills possessed peerless power and spectacular visual effects. Each time they seemed about to succeed, they were always neutralized or avoided by one method or another.

Yet that strange "Toxic" clung to him like gangrene in the bone. As time passed, the damage it inflicted upon Dugu Bo's Martial Soul Avatar, Soul Power, and even his mind grew increasingly severe.

"What... what kind of fighting style is this?" At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Bone Douluo's eyelids twitched. "That Gengar is clearly nineteenth on the Heavenly Pride Ranking. Why does it feel like it's not even as strong as that Charizard?"

Sword Douluo said gravely, "Perhaps because it rarely fights, it hasn't fully turned its talent into strength.

"It actually used poison against Poison Douluo. According to the Sky Screen's introduction, it seems more proficient in shadows and space, yet it hasn't used either of them."

At this moment, countless ordinary spectators across the continent had gradually shifted from their initial shock to... confusion and unease.

"Huh? Poison Douluo... is actually fighting the nineteenth-ranked prodigy... evenly?"

"Could it be... Gengar isn't actually that strong? Maybe it's just especially good at survival and harassment?"

"After all, its growth experience... it leveled up by walking with shadows. Maybe its actual combat experience really is inferior to Charizard's?"

"That makes sense! Charizard fought its way up for real. This Gengar probably put all its talent into being weird and surviving, so its frontal combat strength is poor?"

"Then Poison Douluo has a chance? Level 92 against level 89—there's still a level advantage!"

"Charizard might really be an exception! It might be exceptionally good at fighting in the Pokemon World! Perhaps the other prodigies aren't as monstrous as it is?"

Without anyone realizing it, because of Gengar's sneaky Substitute-Protect-Toxic Strategy, the impression many people held of the Pokemon World's prodigies as "invincible" quietly developed a crack.

Especially when they saw Dugu Bo's powerful soul skills repeatedly force Gengar into "desperate" defense, shattering its Substitutes, they developed the illusion that it seemed possible to fight it.

Yet on the Prodigy Arena, Dugu Bo could not voice his suffering. Though he appeared to be suppressing his opponent, his Soul Power was being consumed far faster than expected.

That "Toxic" corrosion clung to him like gangrene in the bone, worsening without end. It made his internal organs feel as though they were being burned and frozen, while waves of dizziness struck his mind.

It was even more painful than when Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison had flared up in the past. He was forcing himself to endure it! He had to end the battle quickly!

It would have been one thing if he had been instantly defeated like Charizard's opponents, but instead, his opponent had used poison to torment him into this state.

It was unbearably stifling.

But in the next moment, just as Dugu Bo tried to activate Medusa's Gaze once more, the intense dizziness and sluggish Soul Power made his body stiffen. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor True Body twisted violently, nearly unable to remain intact.

Gengar silently emerged and raised a claw at him one final time.

Dark purple Toxic light entered Dugu Bo's body for the last time.

"Pfft." Dugu Bo could no longer hold on. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor True Body collapsed with a boom, and he fell to one knee, his face purple-black as he coughed violently. He had been deeply poisoned and lost the ability to fight.

He collapsed directly onto the ground. Strange purple-black patterns surfaced across his skin, and he could only stare wide-eyed as that "weakened" Gengar slowly "struggled" out from a shadow not far away.

At this moment, Gengar also appeared to be in "terrible" condition. Its deep-purple body had dimmed until it was almost grayish-purple. Its floating path was crooked and unsteady, and its red eyes were half-open, as though it could collapse at any moment.

Golden light descended, enveloping and teleporting away both the near-death Dugu Bo and the "exhausted," critically weakened Gengar.

The entire Douluo Continent erupted in uproar!

It won! Gengar won! But...

"Mutual defeat?! They practically perished together?"

"My god, Poison Douluo almost won! Just look at Gengar at the end!"

"It definitely overexerted itself! To defeat Poison Douluo, it pushed itself to its limit too!"

"Poison Douluo may have lost, but he lost with honor! He nearly took out the nineteenth-ranked prodigy! Although it feels a little strange for Poison Douluo to be defeated by poison, he still did far better than the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's leader."

Seeing that even Dugu Bo could fight the nineteenth-ranked prodigy back and forth,

the other Titled Douluo began entertaining new thoughts.

If their opponent was the "type" of Gengar, they felt they might not lack the strength to fight!

Dugu Bo had fought to mutual defeat. Perhaps they could... fight and win?