How arrogant! What unbelievable arrogance!
That was what everyone present thought after hearing Ling Yun's words.
But why was this kid kind of handsome? Huo Wu wondered to herself.
At the same time, Dugu Yan bowed slightly and thanked him sincerely. "Thank you for holding back just now. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'd be seriously injured by now."
As she spoke, Dugu Yan glanced at Yu Tianheng, who was covered in dust and whose upper-body clothes had been burned to shreds.
If Ling Yun hadn't held back against her, she'd probably have ended up as miserable as Yu Tianheng. If she'd only suffered some flesh wounds, that would've been fine.
But if her clothes had all been burned to ashes in front of a crowd, she'd never be able to show her face again.
At that, Ling Yun shrugged and said casually, "You're welcome. It was only a sparring match, after all. There was no need to take anyone's life."
"I heard you talking about the Soul Master Tournament just now. Are you entering the tournament two years from now, too?"
Yu Tianheng asked Huo Wu, then pointed at Ling Yun and continued, "Including this kid."
"That's right. We're all planning to enter the Soul Master Tournament two years from now."
As soon as she said that, Yu Tianheng's lips curled up. His eyes shone with fierce fighting spirit, and he laughed excitedly. "Heh, that's great! When the time comes, I'll wipe away this humiliation in the finals and beat Blazing Academy until you're utterly crushed."
Seeing how arrogant Yu Tianheng was, Huo Wushuang's temper flared. He snorted. "You sure talk big. Bring it on, then. The final victory will be ours. You'd better work hard, or you might get eliminated in the qualifiers."
"Heh, you don't need to worry about that." Yu Tianheng's lips curled up. "We're the seeded team from Heaven Dou Royal Academy, so we get to go straight to the finals. You're the ones who should be careful. Other teams might eliminate you in the qualifiers, hahahaha!"
"What an irritating guy..."
As Huo Wushuang and Yu Tianheng, two hotheads, traded barbs, everyone else on both sides could only shake their heads helplessly.
Seeing that the time was right, Ling Yun suddenly looked at Dugu Yan and asked, feigning confusion, "By the way, Miss Dugu, there's something I've been meaning to ask. Were your eyes green from birth?"
"No. When I was little, my eyes were brown, just like yours. But after I awakened my Martial Soul, my irises gradually turned blue-green."
Dugu Yan answered with some sadness, and couldn't help recalling her childhood. She remembered being popular when she was young, with lots of good friends she used to play with.
Unfortunately, after she awakened her Martial Soul and gained a pair of eyes like a venomous snake's, those friends gradually drifted away out of fear.
Even now, the only people she could call friends were her classmates on the Imperial Fighting Team.
Ling Yun didn't know what Dugu Yan was thinking. He merely dropped a hint, indirectly reminding her, "Miss Dugu, have you ever considered that... you might be poisoned? That could be why your eyes gradually turned green."
"Poisoned? That can't be right, can it?"
Dugu Yan laughed. "My Martial Soul is a Jade Phosphorous Serpent, one of the best among poison-type Martial Souls. My grandfather is the famous Poison Douluo. I'm the only one who poisons others in this world. There's no way anyone could poison me."
As she spoke, Dugu Yan pointed at her eyes and smiled. "As for my eyes, I asked my grandfather about them when I was little. He told me they were the result of a Martial Soul Mutation.
"Something unexpected happened when my Martial Soul awakened, and my eyes turned green. It happened to everyone in my family. My father, my mother, and my grandfather all have green eyes."
"..."
After Dugu Yan finished speaking, even Huo Wu and Ye Lingling could sense that something wasn't quite right, let alone Ling Yun.
Huo Wu murmured, "Martial Soul Mutations are incredibly rare. How could all four people in one family have their Martial Souls mutate? And all in the same way, with their eyes turning green..."
Ye Lingling rested her chin on her hand and analyzed, "Generally speaking, Martial Soul Mutations are innate. Mutations that happen later in life are extremely rare.
"Yan Yan, you said your eyes gradually turned green after your Martial Soul awakened. That sounds as if your Martial Soul is eroding your body. And since your Martial Soul is a Jade Phosphorous Serpent, it's possible that its poison is affecting you."
"Hey, don't scare me!" Dugu Yan said with a bitter expression. "My eyes just turned green. You're letting your imaginations run wild!"
"Regardless, Miss Dugu, you should get yourself checked out. It'd be bad if this was affecting your health."
Ling Yun offered the timely reminder, then looked at the setting sun and began bidding the three farewell.
"All right, it's getting late. We should head back. I hope we meet again at the Soul Master Tournament. Then we can settle things in another match!"
"Sure!" Yu Tianheng's fighting spirit blazed. He pointed at Ling Yun and challenged him, "When the time comes, I'll beat you."
"Then you'd better work hard."
With that, Ling Yun left the Great Soul Fighting Arena with the Huo siblings and rode back to Blazing Academy in a carriage.
On the way back, Ling Yun gazed at the evening glow on the horizon and thought to himself, I've warned Dugu Yan. Whether I get to meet Dugu Bo next is up to fate.
After Ling Yun left, Yu Tianheng and the other two said their farewells and went their separate ways.
Dugu Yan immediately returned to her residence. As soon as she stepped inside, she saw a white-haired old man sitting in the main hall, happily sipping tea with a thoroughly contented look.
The old man was her grandfather, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo.
When he saw Dugu Yan return, Dugu Bo smiled. "Yan Yan, you're back? Go wash your hands. Dinner will be ready soon."
"Got it, Grandpa."
Dugu Yan walked into the main hall. Thinking about what Ling Yun had said and the analysis from Huo Wu and Ye Lingling, she asked nervously, "Grandpa, is my eye color turning green because I've been poisoned?"
Pfft!!!
At that, Dugu Bo, who had been drinking tea, suddenly spat out the tea in his mouth, startling Dugu Yan. She hurriedly asked, "G-Grandpa, what's wrong? Why such a big reaction?"
At that moment, a bold thought began to form in Dugu Yan's mind. Could she have been right?
"Cough, cough. It's nothing, nothing. I was just curious. What made you ask that?"
"Today I fought a Soul Master named Ling Yun. Afterward, he suddenly asked why my eyes were green, then said I might have been poisoned..."
Dugu Yan told Dugu Bo everything that had happened. When he learned that Ling Yun's Second Soul Ring had already reached the thousand-year level, Dugu Bo was astonished.
But what surprised him most was that Ling Yun had guessed she might be poisoned just by seeing Dugu Yan's green eyes.
Although Dugu Bo thought Ling Yun had probably just been a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—making a lucky guess—even so, such powers of observation and knowledge more than deserved the title of genius.
Before you continue