Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan, watching from a distance, were dumbfounded.
"This is... hand-to-hand combat?" Dugu Yan murmured. "How can a human possibly overpower a flood dragon?"
Dugu Bo's brow furrowed. "That kid's flames are strange. They seem to specifically counter the flood dragon's protective Soul Power. And his physical strength... he doesn't look like a child without a Spirit Ring at all. He looks more like a Tyrannosaurus wearing human skin."
At last.
With Yu Tianyu's final punch shattering the Iron-Armored Poison Flood Dragon's skull, the arrogant Sub-Dragon let out a mournful cry and crashed to the ground, its massive body no longer moving.
Yellow specks of light drifted from its corpse and gathered into a deep-yellow ring. Its color was rich, clearly nearing seven hundred years—far beyond the limit for a First Spirit Ring.
Yu Tianyu panted heavily, covered in blood (most of it the flood dragon's), but didn't rest. He sat cross-legged at once.
"Come on!"
He drew the yellow Spirit Ring toward himself and let it settle around him.
"Bzzzt—"
The instant the Spirit Ring entered his body, Yu Tianyu's face turned deathly pale.
A violent, resentful, icy energy rampaged through him, as if trying to tear his meridians apart. It was the backlash from absorbing a Spirit Ring beyond his level, mixed with the lingering resentment of a Dragon-type Soul Beast.
"Ugh..." Yu Tianyu grunted, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His skin flushed red, and his veins bulged as though he might burst at any moment.
"This is bad!" Dugu Yan cried. "Grandpa, help him! He's bleeding!"
But Dugu Bo held his granddaughter by the shoulder and shook his head, a complicated look flashing in his eyes. "There's nothing I can do. Absorbing a Spirit Ring depends entirely on the person. Interfering will only make him die faster. Now we can only hope that kid's tough enough to survive."
In his heart, he had already sentenced Yu Tianyu to death.
A six-hundred-year-old Sub-Dragon Spirit Ring carried an energy surge that even a physically powerful Power Attack System Soul Elder would have to handle carefully when absorbing a third Spirit Ring. And this child was trying to absorb it as his first?
Time passed, second by second.
Yu Tianyu's body trembled more and more violently, and tiny beads of blood even seeped from his skin.
Just as Dugu Bo was about to sigh and prepare to collect the body—
Suddenly!
A deep Dragon Roar, as if from the dawn of time, rang out from the depths of Yu Tianyu's soul!
Then the crimson flames around him abruptly changed. Their color deepened, tinged with a faint dark gold.
The Dragon Slayer Magic Power within him was like an enraged king. Faced with the foreign resentment of the flood dragon, it didn't retreat. Instead, it opened its jaws—
And devoured it!
That was the overbearing nature of Dragon Slayer Magic. You're strong? I'm stronger! You're a dragon? Then I'm the one who eats dragons!
The flood dragon's violent energy was instantly suppressed, then forcibly broken apart and absorbed into Yu Tianyu's limbs and bones.
"Crack—crack—"
His bones popped like beans roasting over a fire.
The scabs covering Yu Tianyu's body fell away, revealing tough, newborn-looking skin beneath. His muscles became more streamlined. He didn't grow bulkier, but the explosive power within him increased severalfold.
At last, the deep-yellow Spirit Ring settled into a steady rhythm around him.
As the First Spirit Ring stabilized, Yu Tianyu slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.
It wasn't just waste. A faint purple mist came with it. After absorbing the Spirit Ring of the six-hundred-year-old Iron-Armored Poison Flood Dragon, the Poison Dragon Factor inside him was no longer dormant. It was like a little snake newly hatched from its egg, opening its mouth in hunger.
Yu Tianyu sensed his first Spirit Skill:
Poison Dragon's Spiral Jaw: Concentrates the energy of the Poison Dragon Factor in the legs, greatly enhancing leg strength.
"How do you feel?" Dugu Bo asked gravely, still shaken by the brutal fight he had just witnessed.
"Better than ever."
Yu Tianyu stood and rolled his neck, producing a series of sharp cracks. "My appetite's wide open now."
He turned to Dugu Yan and beckoned with a finger. "Come here. That little appetizer wasn't enough. I can clear you out even more thoroughly now."
This time, Dugu Yan didn't hesitate or feel shy. Instead, she hurried over with almost blind trust.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Same as before. Sit down and relax."
Yu Tianyu placed a hand against her back. This time, he wasn't careful.
"Poison Dragon's—Inhale!"
He silently recited the incantation, and a force several times stronger than before surged from his palm.
If last time had been like drinking through a straw, this time was like using a high-powered water pump. Dugu Yan felt the toxins that usually ran wild through her body, stabbing at her meridians, instantly drawn together by an overbearing force. They poured into Yu Tianyu like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea.
"Mm..." Dugu Yan couldn't help letting out a soft moan. But this time, it wasn't from pain. The sensation of relief spreading from deep within her soul was simply too intoxicating.
Just five minutes later,
Yu Tianyu withdrew his hand and licked his lips, looking pleased. "Not bad. I cleared out about thirty percent of the accumulated toxins this time. Your complexion looks much rosier."
Dugu Yan opened her eyes and stared delightedly at her hands. The blue-purple tint that had always clung to her fingertips was gone, and her Soul Power flowed more smoothly than ever.
"It really... it really doesn't hurt anymore!" She turned excitedly to her grandfather. "Grandpa! My poison's really under control!"
Dugu Bo's eyelid twitched. He could sense that the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison in his granddaughter hadn't weakened after being drawn out. If anything, it had become purer now that its impurities were gone.
This kid was simply astonishing!
"Old Poison, your turn."
Yu Tianyu turned around and fixed his gaze on Dugu Bo. He wasn't looking at a Titled Douluo; he was looking at a table of Manchu Han Imperial Feast.
"Me?" Dugu Bo instinctively took half a step back. "Kid, I'm a Titled Douluo. I have hundreds of times more poison in me than Yan Yan. Aren't you afraid you'll burst?"
"Bursting is better than starving."
Yu Tianyu grinned, showing a mouthful of white teeth. "And even though you've got a lot of poison, to me it's the finest nourishment. Enough talk. Want to sleep soundly for once?"
Dugu Bo gritted his teeth. He might as well try, since there was nothing left to lose!
He sat cross-legged with his back to Yu Tianyu. "Go ahead! If I feel anything wrong, I'll shake you off immediately."
Yu Tianyu placed both hands on Dugu Bo's broad back.
Boom!
The moment they made contact, a terrifying torrent of poison surged up his arms. After all, it was decades' worth of deadly poison accumulated by a Titled Douluo. An ordinary person would die instantly from a single drop.
Yu Tianyu's face turned purple-black, and even his body trembled slightly.
"Tianyu!" Dugu Yan cried.
"Shut up. Don't make a sound."
Yu Tianyu clenched his teeth. Instead of letting go, his eyes turned into vertical pupils, and a deep-purple light blazed in his right eye.
"Devour—everything!"
The Poison Dragon Factor inside him roared wildly, revealing the greed unique to dragons as it faced the towering waves of poison.
Devour! Transform! Absorb!
The toxins could corrode metal and stone, but once they entered Yu Tianyu's body, they were rapidly broken down into pure Magic Power, nourishing his limbs and bones.
A quarter of an hour later,
Yu Tianyu abruptly pulled his hands away and staggered back three steps, spitting out a cloud of thick purple smoke.
The smoke hit the ground and corroded a deep pit in the hard rock.
"Fantastic!"
Yu Tianyu roared. Though drenched in sweat, he was more exhilarated than ever.
Dugu Bo, by contrast, sat frozen in place, sensing the changes in his body.
The constant pain that had haunted him... was gone?
The poison was still inside him, but the oppressive feeling that it might erupt at any moment and ravage his organs had truly eased by at least twenty percent!
For decades!
Since reaching the Titled Douluo rank, this was the first time breathing had felt so easy—and the first time his body had felt so light!
"Kid... you..." Dugu Bo rose unsteadily, his gaze toward Yu Tianyu utterly changed.
He no longer looked at him as a junior. He looked at a monster—a savior.
"Don't look at me like that. It's creepy."
Yu Tianyu waved him off, sat on a clean rock, and casually took a bite of fruit to calm himself. "That was just a preliminary cleanup. To solve your and your granddaughter's problems completely, we'll also need to use the herbs here."
"But the most important part is—me."
Yu Tianyu pointed at himself. "I'm basically a human filter. As long as you come to me regularly to 'eat,' and feed me the excess, volatile poison in your bodies, you'll stay healthy and be able to keep cultivating poison techniques."
"And I'll get to fill my stomach, too."
"That's what I call a win-win."
Dugu Bo took a deep breath, and the wariness in his eyes finally faded.
He understood that from this moment on, his and Dugu Yan's fates were bound to this boy's. But that wasn't a bad thing. In fact, it was an enormous stroke of fortune.
"Fine."
Dugu Bo spoke gravely, his tone more solemn now. "From today onward, you can come and go as you please at the villa in Sunset Forest. Take whatever herbs you need. Anyone who dares lay a hand on you will have to answer to me, Dugu Bo!"
Yu Tianyu's lips curved upward. He'd achieved his goal.
He stood and looked past Dugu Bo at the two Ice and Fire Immortal Herbs radiating an overwhelming aura.
His poison resistance was maxed out, and his physical strength had been enhanced.
Next came the real main event.
"You two should head back. I'm going to cultivate here for a few days," Yu Tianyu said, dismissing them. "Don't let anyone near this valley without my permission."
Dugu Yan was reluctant to leave, but when she saw her grandfather nod, she obediently agreed. "Then... be careful. I'll come get you next weekend."
As he watched the grandfather and granddaughter leave, Yu Tianyu turned to face the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
"All right. The area's clear."
He took off his shirt, revealing a toned upper body traced with faint dragon-scale patterns, his eyes gleaming with fervor.
"Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Infernal Delicate Apricot."
"I wonder what I'll evolve into if I devour you both at once?"
Before you continue