"This is the wondrous work of heaven and earth, a rare marvel of the world!"
Ling Xiao spoke slowly, his tone tinged with mockery.
"When did this become your medicinal garden?"
"Because you planted a few weeds in it? Because you're so short-sighted that you're sitting on a treasure mountain without recognizing its worth?"
"If you know what's good for you, leave on your own. I won't hold it against you."
"Otherwise—"
He paused, and his voice suddenly turned cold.
"Not just you—even your granddaughter will get tossed out with you!"
Inside the sea of consciousness, Qian Renxue's mouth fell open.
Although the whole point of taking this treasured land was to help her recover her cultivation,
she was still thoroughly stunned by her teacher's behavior.
Honestly...
He was so shameless, so arrogant, so utterly brazen...
He had none of the dignity of a powerful expert. It was too embarrassing to watch!
If Ling Xiao had known what she was thinking,
he would surely have sneered—
I worked my tail off and survived countless brushes with death to reach my current level.
And now I'm supposed to worry about what people think and fret over this and that?
Wouldn't all that cultivation have been for nothing?
If even Qian Renxue couldn't stomach it, just imagine how the person he was addressing felt.
"You—are asking for death!"
Dugu Bo's triangular eyes narrowed to slits. His withered hand, like an iron claw,
suddenly grabbed at Ling Xiao.
He had always been extreme and volatile. Just because the Spirit Hall's way of recruiting him didn't suit his fancy, he had gone straight to war with them.
And now Ling Xiao was being so arrogant,
threatening the lives of both him and his granddaughter?
Ling Xiao might be mysterious,
and Dugu Bo might not be able to figure out his true strength, but he wasn't afraid of the Spirit Hall. Why should he fear Ling Xiao?
Yet as the sharp claws came down,
Ling Xiao's figure swayed lightly like a phantom, and he drifted aside,
so effortlessly that they didn't even brush his clothes.
"If you don't give this old man an explanation today, you won't take a single step out of here!"
Ling Xiao's behavior only fanned the flames of Dugu Bo's anger.
He unleashed his Martial Soul in an instant.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—
Nine Soul Rings pulsed around him.
A translucent giant serpent appeared behind him, coiling upward until it towered several yards high.
Its body was dark green, and three bone spikes rose from its head,
like a crown.
A frigid, bone-piercing aura enveloped the entire valley.
Hissssss—
It sounded like a mountain breeze, yet also like the giant serpent's hiss.
Then,
the Sixth Soul Ring on his body lit up.
The dark green poisonous fog rising around them connected with the poison formation that had already been laid outside the valley,
sealing off the entire valley.
Beneath the poisonous fog,
ordinary flowers, plants, and trees withered at a visible speed, while green smoke sizzled up from the ground.
Of the two powerful experts fighting, Tang San was the one suffering most.
Though he carried countless memories from his previous life and had many trump cards at his disposal,
he was still starting from scratch, and nowhere near the level of a Titled Douluo.
One mistake could leave him gravely wounded—or dead.
Before the two men turned their attention to him,
Tang San rolled behind a boulder.
Faced with the poisonous fog,
he remained fairly calm and scattered a cloud of realgar powder with a wave of his hand.
The two gradually neutralized each other.
But Dugu Bo's Soul Skill was clearly more than that. Tang San could feel his Soul Power rapidly draining away.
"Teacher, Poison Douluo isn't one of the strongest Titled Douluos, but he has a precious Soul Bone that can petrify people in an instant. It's impossible to guard against."
Though she was still angry with Ling Xiao, Qian Renxue told him everything she knew,
afraid he might make one careless move and be caught off guard.
"Don't worry. Your teacher knows what he's doing. A little worm like him can't turn the world upside down."
Dugu Bo's poison was the only thing he had going for him.
Unfortunately,
below the Titled Douluo level, he couldn't beat anyone; above it, he couldn't beat anyone either.
Ling Xiao didn't take him seriously at all.
He gave a light shudder.
The poisonous fog surging toward him vanished without a trace.
Dugu Bo wasn't surprised.
He had never expected this little bit of poison to take Ling Xiao down.
His real purpose was to use the poisonous fog as his eyes.
Wherever the fog reached,
his opponent's strange movement technique would have nowhere left to hide.
He snorted,
and the Eighth Soul Ring on his body suddenly flashed.
A strange spatial fluctuation spread across several hundred meters, making even the flow of time seem to slow.
Then the three bone spikes on the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor behind him suddenly gleamed,
and a third eye on its forehead snapped open.
A beam of purple light fanned out and shot toward Ling Xiao.
Between those three bone spikes,
a Soul Power attack was also faintly glimmering, poised to strike.
Knowing his opponent had a strange movement technique, Dugu Bo had already readied a second attack.
Even if it meant he couldn't use his Soul Bone Skill for a year, he would make sure that if his opponent dodged the first attack,
he wouldn't dodge the second.
But to Dugu Bo's surprise—
Ling Xiao didn't use that strange movement technique. He simply stood where he was, completely motionless.
Dugu Bo sneered inwardly.
His Soul Bone Skill was a powerful control skill. Even Chrysanthemum Douluo, whose cultivation was far higher than his,
would be held fast if struck by it.
If Ghost Douluo hadn't been there to hold him back at the time, and if Dugu Bo hadn't only been able to "scratch an itch,"
Chrysanthemum Douluo would have been gravely wounded at the very least.
And this brat dared to get so cocky when he was all alone!
"Teacher, look out! Dodge!"
Seeing this, Qian Renxue panicked.
She had just warned him!
Why was her teacher still stupidly walking right into the line of fire?
"Such a paltry trick, and you think it can make me retreat?"
Ling Xiao said disdainfully.
Qian Renxue was utterly dumbfounded.
"What's wrong with Teacher?"
"Could it be... that saving me earlier injured his soul, and now the injury is flaring up, leaving him out of his mind?"
At the thought, an overwhelming sense of guilt welled up inside her.
"Teacher has done so much for me, and now he's in grave danger. And I was still speaking ill of him in my heart?"
"I deserve to die!"
The sea of consciousness suddenly fell quiet. Ling Xiao assumed his domineering words had stunned his little disciple, and he felt rather pleased with himself.
But he wasn't doing all this just to show off.
More importantly, he wanted to teach by example,
so she could understand the fundamental rules of the Douluo World sooner!
So he continued:
"Control Soul Skills, attack Soul Skills—they only seem different because your level is too low to see the truth.
"Ultimately, it all comes down to controlling Soul Power."
"It's like water. Heat it, and it becomes vapor; cool it, and it becomes ice."
"The form can change, but the essence remains!"
"So whether it's a control Soul Skill or an attack Soul Skill—"
Ling Xiao raised his hand, holding it like a blade,
"I only believe in the power of a mighty blow!"
As his words fell, he slashed through the air.
Soul Power condensed into a blade—
The purple light sweeping toward him split cleanly down the middle, like a thin veil,
then scattered into streaks of light without making a sound.
Dugu Bo had been waiting for Ling Xiao to be controlled so he could unleash his finishing blow without hesitation!
But he had never imagined that his opponent would actually cleave through his Soul Bone Skill!
He had cut through the light...!
Dugu Bo's perpetually grim, sinister face was covered in shock.
For a moment, he stood rooted to the spot.
He couldn't believe his eyes—and he was frightened, too.
His Soul Skill had form but no substance. He could have accepted it if Ling Xiao had dodged it,
or even deflected it.
But to simply cleave it apart—
That was something he absolutely couldn't accept!
Was he even human?
Before you continue