Meng Shenji: The Fifth Ring at Seventy Thousand Years? Your Eminence, Please Think Carefully! Dugu Bo: Get Lost!

In their eyes, although Dugu Bo had a strange temperament and was neither wholly good nor evil, he treasured his only granddaughter so much that he feared she might melt in his mouth or break in his hands.

But now?

He was asking a Soul Ancestor who had just reached level fifty to absorb a seventy-thousand-year-old Soul Ring?

How was that doting on her? It was murder!

"Your Eminence Dugu!

Forgive this old man for speaking out of turn!"

Meng Shenji took a deep breath. Braving Dugu Bo's suffocating Soul Power pressure, he forced himself to take a step forward.

His voice sharpened with urgency:

"You are a Titled Douluo, with far greater knowledge than the likes of us.

But surely you haven't forgotten the ironclad laws of the Soul Master World?"

"The maximum limit for a fifth Soul Ring, verified through the blood and tears of countless predecessors, is no more than twelve thousand years!"

Meng Shenji pointed at the Medusa's corpse on the ground, radiating a monstrous aura of ferocity. His fingers trembled.

"This is seventy thousand years!

More than five times the limit!"

"The energy surge alone would be enough to burst a Soul Saint's body in an instant!

And the Soul Shock left behind by a seventy-thousand-year Ferocious Beast's death would directly destroy Yan Yan's Sea of Consciousness!"

"You're not helping Yan Yan by doing this. You're pushing her into a pit of fire!"

Meng Shenji was heartbroken. If he hadn't feared Dugu Bo's strength, he would have rushed forward and dragged Dugu Yan away long ago.

Behind the three board members, Qin Ming had remained silent until now, but at last he couldn't hold back.

As the Imperial Fighting Team's lead instructor, Dugu Yan was one of his proudest students.

How could he stand by and watch his student go to her death?

"Your Eminence!"

Qin Ming suddenly charged out of the crowd and, with a thud, dropped to one knee before Dugu Bo!

His action left everyone present stunned.

"Teacher Qin!"

The Imperial Fighting Team students behind him cried out in alarm.

Qin Ming raised his head and looked straight at Dugu Bo, his expression earnest and urgent.

"This junior, Qin Ming, dares to speak up!"

"Yan Yan is the Imperial Fighting Team's vice-captain and a prodigy of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Her future is limitless. If she cultivates steadily, she is sure to become a Titled Douluo!"

"There's no need for her to take a risk that's all but certain to kill her!"

Qin Ming turned toward Dugu Yan, standing behind Dugu Bo with an eerily calm expression, and shouted:

"Yan Yan!

Say something to your grandfather!"

"Have you been blinded by the temptation of this Soul Ring?

It's seventy thousand years!

Not seven thousand!

You'll die!

You really will die!"

Yet in the face of Qin Ming's anguished cries, Dugu Yan merely pressed her lips together.

A hint of apology flashed in her eyes, but determination outweighed it.

She couldn't explain.

She couldn't explain Yu Nan's existence or the secrets of the Ice and Fire Golden Body.

"Teacher Qin, thank you for your concern."

Dugu Yan finally spoke, her voice so calm it was frightening.

"But I've made up my mind.

Grandfather hasn't gone mad, and neither have I.

I'm determined to obtain this Soul Ring."

"You..." Qin Ming froze. He hadn't expected Dugu Yan to react like this.

"They're mad... every last one of them..."

A tall, handsome young man, his face now pale as paper, staggered out from the crowd.

It was Yu Tianheng.

Yu Tianheng stared at the black, ten-thousand-year Soul Ring above Medusa's corpse.

Then he looked at Dugu Yan, her face set with resolve, and his eyes instantly reddened.

"Yan Yan! What are you thinking?!"

Yu Tianheng charged forward, trying to grab Dugu Yan by the shoulders, but an invisible barrier of Dugu Bo's Soul Power ruthlessly sent him flying back.

"Ugh!"

Yu Tianheng grunted, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. But he seemed not to feel the pain. He got back up and roared again:

"That's a seventy-thousand-year-old Medusa!

Even my grandfather wouldn't dare try for a Soul Ring of that age as his fifth!"

"Are you really willing to throw your life away just to get stronger?!"

"If you die, what am I supposed to do?

What about the Imperial Fighting Team?!"

Yu Tianheng's voice broke with a sob. He was truly afraid.

The terror of losing the person he loved made him forget family etiquette and the dignity of a Titled Douluo.

Behind him, the other members of the Imperial Fighting Team were all deathly pale.

Ye Lingling covered her mouth, tears of terror filling her eyes;

The Shi Brothers exchanged glances, their bodies trembling with fear;

Yu Feng and Osler were so frightened they hardly dared breathe.

In their eyes, Dugu Bo was no longer a doting grandfather. He was a demon forcing his granddaughter to kill herself!

"Enough!"

Dugu Bo looked at the chaotic scene before him, and the last of his patience ran out.

He knew they were acting out of concern for Yan Yan.

But time was short, and the Soul Ring's energy was draining with every passing moment. He had no time to explain to these "frogs at the bottom of a well" what a miracle was.

Boom!

A more terrifying, even chillier storm of emerald-green Soul Power erupted around Dugu Bo.

The temperature plummeted to freezing in an instant, and a suffocating, sickly-sweet poisonous miasma filled the air.

"Ugh..."

Meng Shenji and the other two board members blanched. They hastily joined forces to release their Soul Power and raise a barrier, shielding Qin Ming and the students behind them.

But even so, under the absolute pressure of a Titled Douluo, their barrier began to crack and groan under the strain.

"Why should I explain myself to you for doing as I please?!"

Dugu Bo's hair whipped about, his eyes glowing an eerie green. He was like an enraged Poison God.

"Because you're Yan Yan's teachers and classmates, I'll let your earlier offense pass.

But if you dare make another peep and delay Yan Yan's absorption of the Soul Ring..."

Dugu Bo stepped forward, his killing intent locking onto everyone like a tangible force.

"Then this Sunset Forest will be your burial ground!"

"Get lost!!!"

His roar, infused with surging Soul Power, exploded in their ears like thunder.

The weaker ones, like Yu Tianheng, were shaken until their blood and energy churned, and they nearly fainted.

Even the three board members were deathly pale. They had to stagger back several steps before regaining their footing.

The scene fell instantly silent.

Only the black Soul Ring continued to pulse slowly above Medusa's corpse, its sheen alluring and deadly.

Although Meng Shenji and the other two were filled with indignation under the sweep of that terrifying storm of Soul Power,

they knew that if they didn't retreat now, the unpredictable Poison Douluo might truly go on a killing spree.

"Fall back! Quickly!"

Meng Shenji gritted his teeth, forcing down the churning blood in his chest.

With a sweep of his hand, he used Soul Power to carry Yu Tianheng and the others, whose legs had already gone weak with fear, as they retreated in disarray.

Only after they had withdrawn several miles did the deadly threat hanging over them begin to ease.

"Board members!

We can't leave!

Yan Yan, she..."

The moment they landed, Yu Tianheng struggled to charge back, his eyes bloodshot and his expression frantic.