Daily Face-Slapping, Knock You Out With One Paw

On the granite arena in the afternoon.

Usually, this place was packed with noble students sparring, but this afternoon, the entire Arena No. 1 had been cleared out.

Inside the empty venue, only three young figures remained.

"Hey! Xue Yao, are you ready yet? Stop dawdling, are you afraid of this young lady?"

In the center of the arena, Dugu Yan stood with her arms crossed, a spark of eagerness flashing in her eyes.

She had specifically chosen a tighter, sleeker dark green combat suit today, which outlined her youthful, energetic body in an explosive way.

At the edge of the arena, Xue Yao leaned lazily against the railing.

He hadn't even taken off his coat, merely undoing the top button.

Beside him, Ye Lingling held a cup of freshly brewed premium black tea, gently bringing it to his lips.

"I say, Senior Sister Yan, it's just a spar, no need to be so impatient."

"I just got back to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy and haven't even touched my bed yet, and here you are dragging me out to be your sparring partner. If outsiders saw this, they'd think I was bullying you."

"Enough talk! Don't even think about finding an excuse to slip away today!"

Dugu Yan rolled her eyes at Xue Yao, though a hint of pride she couldn't hide flashed in the depths of her gaze.

"Xue Yao, don't think I'm still the same Dugu Yan you could push around two years ago! These past two years, to stop being unilaterally crushed by your unreasonable speed, this young lady has been meditating and cultivating even in her sleep!"

At this, Dugu Yan stomped her foot, and an incredibly fierce wave of soul power erupted from her body.

"Hiss--"

Accompanied by a hair-raising snake hiss, Dugu Yan's deep purple short hair instantly grew longer, swaying without any wind.

Her eyes turned into vertical pupils, and a layer of fine, emerald-green diamond-shaped scales spread from her cheeks to her neck, causing her to radiate an extremely dangerous, cold, and venomous aura.

Beast Soul, Jade Phosphor Snake, possess!

At the same time, two bright yellow century-old soul rings rose slowly from beneath Dugu Yan's feet, pulsing with powerful pressure.

"Level 21! Soul Grand Master!"

Dugu Yan lifted her fair chin, looking at Xue Yao like a proud White Swan.

"How about that? This young lady's soul power has broken through to level 21! Even in the entire history of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, those who reached the Soul Grand Master realm at my age can be counted on one hand!"

Watching Dugu Yan's tsundere expression as she begged for praise, Xue Yao and Ye Lingling exchanged a glance and couldn't help but laugh.

They knew exactly how hard Dugu Yan had been training during her three months of closed-door cultivation.

It was precisely because she had been stimulated by Xue Yao's monstrous talent that this granddaughter of the Poison Douluo, who used to be a bit playful, had forced herself into a cultivation fanatic, finally breaking through the level 20 barrier at such a young age.

Compared to the original story, she was much faster.

"Congratulations, Senior Sister Yan, you really are impressive." Xue Yao clapped perfunctorily, his tone lacking much surprise.

"Hmph, perfunctory! But it doesn't matter, once I pin you to the ground and rub your face in it later, you'll know how powerful this young lady is!"

A confident curve appeared on the corner of Dugu Yan's mouth as she began to show off the "perfect strategy" she had racked her brain to devise.

"Xue Yao, I admit that your Griffin is ridiculously fast; that is the core of your 'Flash Strike' tactic. However, I have already seen through your weakness!"

"No matter how fast your speed is, it still requires space to move! As long as I use my poison mist to seal the entire arena, your summoned beast will be a sitting duck the moment it dares to charge in, and your Flash Strike will be broken without a fight!"

Listening to Dugu Yan's reasoning, which she deemed flawless, Xue Yao shook his head helplessly.

The tactic was a good one, and theoretically, it wasn't wrong.

However, Dugu Yan had miscalculated one thing—the absolute gap in strength.

She only knew she had broken through to level 21, but she didn't know that the eight-year-old boy standing before her had already reached a terrifying level 31!

"Since you're so confident, then come on."

Xue Yao lazily extended his right hand and snapped his fingers in mid-air.

"Screech--"

A cyan vortex of wind appeared out of thin air in front of Xue Yao, hovering in the sky.

Its sharp eagle eyes curiously sized up the glowing green Dugu Yan opposite, even tilting its head in a human-like fashion.

"You aren't even releasing your soul rings? Xue Yao, you are too arrogant!"

"First Soul Skill! Jade Phosphor Red Poison!"

In an instant, a dense, almost tangible red toxic miasma surged wildly from Dugu Yan's body!

This poison mist not only had a strong nerve-paralyzing effect but also carried intense corrosive properties.

Dugu Yan's figure vanished into the poison mist, leaving only a pair of snake eyes flickering with green light.

"Come on! If you have the guts, let it charge in!" Dugu Yan taunted triumphantly from within the mist.

The Jade Phosphor Snake's poison was unique; within the Jade Phosphor Red Poison, friendly units gained a 20% boost to attack and speed, and Dugu Yan herself was strengthened within the mist.

"As you wish."

Xue Yao's lips curled upward slightly as he softly uttered one word: "Go."

The moment the words fell, the Little Griffin hovering in mid-air moved.

There was no howling gale, no majestic, overwhelming impact.

The Little Griffin merely gave a gentle flap of its cyan wings, leaving behind a gradually fading afterimage where its body had been.

Too fast!

Bolstered by thirty-one levels of soul power, the Little Griffin's speed had reached an inconceivable realm.

"Hum—"

Dugu Yan only heard an extremely faint vibration of the air beside her ears.

Her Jade Phosphorus Poison Mist, which she took such pride in, was forcibly torn open from the center by what seemed like an invisible sharp blade!

The terrifying sonic boom generated by the Little Griffin's flight carved a path of absolute vacuum directly through the poison mist!

The so-called toxin-induced sluggishness and paralysis effects couldn't even touch a single feather on the Little Griffin in the face of such absolute speed and wind pressure!

"What?!"

Dugu Yan's pupils constricted violently.

Before she could even make a defensive move, that streak of cyan lightning had already crossed a distance of over ten meters and stopped steadily right in front of her.

The Little Griffin hovered less than half a foot from the tip of Dugu Yan's nose, its sharp eagle eyes seemingly carrying a hint of playful amusement.

The Little Griffin leisurely raised one of its front right claws, revealing only the furry paw pad, and then gave a light tap against Dugu Yan's smooth, fair forehead.

"Pat."

An extremely crisp, almost cute little sound.

The Little Griffin's paw pad landed accurately on Dugu Yan's forehead.

Although the Little Griffin had tried its best to restrain its strength, this impact was still overwhelmingly irresistible for a level twenty-one Soul Grand Master.

"Ugh..."

Dugu Yan felt a wave of warmth on her forehead, followed immediately by an intense sense of dizziness that flooded her brain like a tide.

Her vision began to spin, and all the poison mist, the arena, and the Little Griffin blurred into overlapping images.

"You... cheating again..."

Dugu Yan muttered unresignedly before fainting cleanly.

Right in the center of her forehead, a perfectly clear plum-blossom-shaped paw print remained.

"This girl, she knows she can't win but still insists on pushing herself."

"You, you never know how to go easy on her during sparring, knowing full well that Yan-yan has such an unyielding temper."

Ye Lingling, who had been standing to the side, rolled her eyes at Xue Yao, though her eyes were filled with smiles.

She moved with lotus-like steps, walked over to the fainted Dugu Yan, and crouched down.

A layer of dreamlike powder-blue light condensed in Ye Lingling's palm, and then, a beautiful, crystal-clear flower that looked as if it had been carved from pink crystal bloomed quietly in her hand.

Nine Heart Begonia.

Accompanied by the rise of two bright yellow soul rings, several pink petals radiating vibrant vitality drifted down and merged into Dugu Yan's body.

It wasn't just Dugu Yan who was influenced by Xue Yao; Ye Lingling was the one most deeply affected.

After all, since ancient times, dragons do not dwell with snakes. Given Xue Yao's current strength, he was destined to become a Title Douluo in the future, so his other half could not afford to lag too far behind; that was why Ye Lingling had been training like a madwoman.

She had finally succeeded in hunting her second soul ring yesterday, becoming a Soul Grand Master.

Within a few seconds, Dugu Yan's tightly furrowed brows smoothed out, and her breathing became steady.

"Ugh... it hurts..."

Dugu Yan opened her eyes groggily and instinctively reached up to cover her forehead.

When her fingers touched the slightly raised plum-blossom print on her forehead, she froze for a moment before suddenly realizing what had just happened.

"Xue Yao, you jerk! You actually let your bird hit my face! And you left a mark!"

Dugu Yan leaped up from the ground, pointing at Xue Yao's nose in a fit of rage.

"Correction, that's a griffin, not a bird. And I didn't hit your face, I tapped your forehead."

Xue Yao spread his hands, looking at the glaring red plum-blossom mark on Dugu Yan's forehead with an innocent expression, though he couldn't help but let his lips curl upward wildly.

"You're still laughing! I'm disfigured! I'm going to kill you!"

Seeing Xue Yao's gloating expression, Dugu Yan was so angry that she lunged at him, claws bared.

"Alright, alright, Yan-yan, stop messing around. Yao just got back and hasn't even eaten yet."

Ye Lingling hurriedly stepped forward to pull back the rampaging Dugu Yan, gently trying to mediate.

But if one looked closely, the corners of her mouth, hidden behind her veil, had long since curved into the shape of a crescent moon.

"Lingling! Whose side are you on anyway! He's bullying me and you're still protecting him!"

"I'm obviously on your side, but you really can't beat him..."

"Ahhh! I'm so mad! Xue Yao, you just wait! This young lady is going to challenge you again tomorrow!"