Encountering Dugu Bo

Roar!

With a deafening roar rising from the valley below, Flender flew out of it, his eagle claws gripping a red Soul Beast over three meters long.

"Hurry up and absorb it! I'll wait for you at the small lake ahead!"

He tossed the red Soul Beast onto the hillside, turned and fired a wind blade into the valley, then flew off in a direction away from Lu Yi and the others.

"Hurry and kill it so you can absorb its Soul Ring!"

Watching Flender depart, Lu Yi hurriedly urged Wang Shu.

"Got it!"

At Lu Yi's words, Wang Shu answered and immediately summoned his Martial Soul. He struck the Golden Armored Flame Dragon across the neck with an Explosive Flame Slash, cleanly severing its head.

"I'll stand guard for you!"

As the purple Soul Ring slowly emerged above the Golden Armored Flame Dragon's body, Lu Yi spoke to Wang Shu before running to one side to keep watch.

Seeing this, Wang Shu had no time to thank Lu Yi. He simply sat cross-legged on the ground and began meditating to absorb the Soul Ring.

Watching Wang Shu begin to absorb the Soul Ring, Lu Yi silently released his own Soul Rings beneath his feet and condensed Water Blades in his hands, ready to fire them at any Soul Beasts that attacked.

Time slowly passed. Wang Shu took a full two shichen to absorb this Soul Ring. Fortunately, the Fire Tiger's roar from the canyon earlier had frightened off all the nearby Soul Beasts, so Lu Yi and the others encountered no attacks while Wang Shu absorbed the ring.

"Brother Yi, I succeeded!"

Looking at the purple Soul Ring beneath his feet, Wang Shu spoke to Lu Yi with delight.

"Now that you're done absorbing it, let's hurry and meet up with Martial Uncle. It's too dangerous in the Star Dou Great Forest without his protection."

Glancing at the purple Soul Ring beneath Wang Shu's feet, Lu Yi said this before getting up and running toward the small lake they had passed earlier.

"Okay!" Hearing Lu Yi's words, Wang Shu quickly withdrew his Soul Ring, then used Explosive Step to catch up with him.

The lake Flender mentioned lay east of where Wang Shu had obtained his second Soul Ring. A swamp stood between the lake and the canyon. If Lu Yi and Wang Shu wanted to reach the lake quickly, they had to cross the swamp; otherwise, they would have to travel an extra half day.

When they had come through before, Flender's intimidating pressure had kept the Soul Beasts at bay, so Lu Yi and the others had encountered few Soul Beasts while crossing the swamp.

But more than two shichen had passed now, and the Soul Beasts frightened away by Flender had more or less returned to the swamp. This made crossing it countless times more difficult for Lu Yi and Wang Shu than before.

Therefore, to successfully cross the swamp, Lu Yi and Wang Shu did not even use Explosive Step after entering it. Instead, they proceeded with utmost caution.

Yet no matter how careful one was, there was nothing to be done when an unexpected situation suddenly came right at one's face.

Seeing the thousand-year Ink-Pattern Ring-Tailed Snake that had lunged right in front of him, only to be crushed into mush by his Magikarp, and the green figure behind it with nine Soul Rings beneath his feet, Lu Yi could not help but close his eyes in despair.

Who the hell can tell me why Dugu Bo came to this damned Star Dou Great Forest instead of hunting a Soul Ring for Dugu Yan in Sunset Forest?

"Little brat, you've got some nerve. You actually dared to kill the prey I had my eye on?"

Looking at the Ink-Pattern Ring-Tailed Snake reduced to a lump of mangled flesh before Lu Yi, as well as the purple thousand-year Soul Ring above it, Dugu Bo spoke to Lu Yi with a trace of anger.

"Greetings, Your Excellency. I did not mean to steal your prey. This Soul Beast suddenly appeared before me just now, and in my haste, I killed it!"

Hearing Dugu Bo's words, Lu Yi hurriedly lowered his head and admitted fault.

Although Lu Yi was frantically mocking Dugu Bo in his heart for being a Titled Douluo who could not even catch up to a thousand-year Soul Beast,

when faced with Dugu Bo's questioning, he still readily bowed his head and apologized.

When Wang Shu saw the nine Soul Rings beneath Dugu Bo's feet, his usually dull mind suddenly became sharp. He stood behind Lu Yi and bowed to Dugu Bo in apology as well.

"Grandpa, what happened?"

Just then, a clear voice rang out. Dugu Yan, who had been following behind Dugu Bo, saw him stop and asked in confusion.

"This brat killed the Soul Beast I picked out for you. Yan Yan, how do you think we should deal with him?"

Upon seeing Dugu Yan, the anger on Dugu Bo's face immediately turned into a faint smile as he asked her.

"Let them go, Grandpa. These Soul Beasts aren't raised by us. Whoever kills one gets it. Since he killed this Soul Beast, we can just find another one. It's not like we're short on time!"

Hearing Dugu Bo's words, Dugu Yan glanced at the pile of mush on the ground and spoke to him.

"Since Yan Yan has spoken, I'll spare him. But while he may escape death, he cannot escape punishment."

"So long as you can endure my poison for thirty seconds, I'll spare your life today. If you can't hold out, then you can only blame yourself for being too weak!"

Looking at Lu Yi, who was bent at the waist before him, Dugu Bo spoke in a cold voice.

"Grandpa, aren't you still trying to kill them? What's the difference from before?"

Hearing Dugu Bo's words, Dugu Yan immediately frowned.

"Yan Yan, you don't need to concern yourself with this matter. If he really can't last thirty seconds, then he can only blame his own lack of strength!"

Hearing Dugu Yan's words, Dugu Bo waved his hand at her.

His granddaughter was still too kindhearted. It was fine while he was around to protect her, but once he died, Yan Yan would suffer greatly if she remained so softhearted.

Today, he would use these two boys' lives to teach Yan Yan a lesson: in the world of Soul Masters, the strong could freely decide the fate of the weak.

First Soul Skill, Bile Poison Mist!

As Dugu Bo's first Soul Ring lit up, he expelled a cloud of purple-black mist toward Lu Yi and Wang Shu.

Realgar Water Shield!

Watching the poison mist rapidly gather around them, Lu Yi swiftly took a bottle of realgar wine from Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night. He scattered it into the air, then used his talent for water control to form a water shield infused with realgar wine around himself and Wang Shu.

In the original story, Tang San had used realgar wine to counter Dugu Yan's snake venom. Lu Yi did not know whether realgar wine could counter Dugu Bo's snake venom, but he had no better option at the moment, so he could only try it as a last resort.

To Lu Yi's relief, though he had no idea of the principle behind it, the water shield infused with realgar wine really did block Dugu Bo's poison mist.

The moment the poison mist touched Lu Yi's water shield, it instantly scattered in every direction.

Thirty seconds passed quickly. Using Tang San's methods from the original story, Lu Yi successfully endured Dugu Bo's poison mist for thirty seconds.

"Kid, you could have lived, but now you must die!"

Before Lu Yi could even breathe a sigh of relief, Dugu Bo's cold voice sounded by his ear.