Dugu Bo watched Dugu Yuan lying there, already twitching, and couldn't help twitching at the corners of his mouth.
Fortunately, Yu Tianshuo had held back. They were all superficial injuries; Dugu Yuan just looked a little worse for wear. Nothing serious.
When Yu Tianshuo approached and formally clasped his hands in greeting, calling him Master, Dugu Bo couldn't bring himself to scold the boy.
What a good kid. So what if Dugu Yuan got beaten? A 72nd-level Soul Saint who couldn't beat a newly advanced Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster deserved to get thrashed.
Dugu Bo smiled and nodded at Yu Tianshuo, then turned and headed straight for his foolish son.
He walked over to his still-twitching fool of a son and kicked him twice before asking, "How's that? You slacked off before, and now you can't even beat your junior brother. And you still think you can protect Yanyan?"
The taunt hit its mark. Dugu Yuan sprang to his feet in an instant and grabbed his father by the shoulders, shaking him back and forth. Not only that, but he stubbornly insisted, "What are you talking about, Dad? Trust me, I was going easy on Junior Brother. If he didn't have such strong poison resistance, he'd never have beaten me..."
Listening to Dugu Yuan's litany of excuses—that he'd made mistakes, hadn't performed well, had only been testing his junior brother, and so on—the hash marks above Dugu Bo's head were about to overflow.
He yanked his right hand free and delivered a loving iron fist to Dugu Yuan's head.
Bam—!
Once the sound and smoke had cleared, Yu Tianshuo could only see Dugu Yuan sticking straight out of the ground like a giant scallion.
Dugu Bo, meanwhile, stood with his hands behind his back, facing away from Dugu Yuan as he looked at Yu Tianshuo.
Seeing the scene, Yu Tianshuo swallowed. As expected, a master was still a master—powerful and terrifying beyond compare.
Seeing that Yu Tianshuo had been cowed, Dugu Bo nodded in satisfaction.
He looked at Yu Tianshuo, then at Dugu Yuan. Honestly, he'd spoiled Dugu Yuan far too much. He'd have to make Dugu Yuan train harder from now on.
"Ahem. Tianshuo, take your senior brother to rest in a bit. Tomorrow, I'll take you along while I search for my ninth Soul Ring. It'll be a good chance for you to broaden your horizons and see how the strong fight."
With that, he turned around in a flourish and headed toward their temporary camp.
But one sentence from Yu Tianshuo nearly made him stumble.
"Master, I still need to find a third Soul Ring. After I formed my Second Soul Ring, the excess Soul Power pushed me to level 30. I still need a third Soul Ring now."
Dugu Bo didn't look back. He simply waved a hand with great composure to show he understood, then strode toward the camp, forcing himself to stay calm.
Yu Tianshuo was still marveling that his master had grown so much—that news like this no longer surprised him—when laughter rang out from inside the camp and shattered his illusion.
Yu Tianshuo's mouth twitched. He shook his head, then laughed too.
After all, anyone would be delighted to take in a genius like him.
He pulled his senior brother out of the ground and found that he'd passed out. Yu Tianshuo couldn't help but remark, "It really is your own people who hit the hardest."
Then he smiled, wiped his senior brother's face with a damp towel, and tucked a blanket over him. After that, he spread his own bedding on the ground nearby.
Looking up at the stars, Yu Tianshuo couldn't help remarking that it was a good thing Douluo Continent had no mosquitoes. Then he drifted off to sleep.
What he hadn't expected was that his spirit would once again enter his sea of consciousness.
Seeing the two of them still fighting, Yu Tianshuo pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. Their Soul Skills were powerful, all right, but the two fellows they came with were far too rowdy.
He said nothing, only lightened his steps and slowly approached them.
He wasn't eavesdropping. Comrade Yu Tianshuo simply wanted to understand what had happened and resolve a neighborly dispute.
As Yu Tianshuo drew closer, the two dragons' argument reached his ears.
"You're talking nonsense! That female dragon followed me because she was moved by my devotion. How could she have gone to your cave on her own? You must have forced her!"
The Fire Dragon King angrily squeezed the Ice Dragon King's neck as he spoke.
The Ice Dragon King wasn't one to take that lying down. He raised his leg high and struck the Fire Dragon King's weak spot again. When the Fire Dragon King fell, he launched into a furious assault on the same spot, kicking as he said, "I'm telling the truth, and you still don't believe me."
As he spoke, he kicked even harder.
"And you're taking her side?"
The Ice Dragon King looked utterly exasperated. He increased the force of his kicks and cursed, "Have you been a dragon so long that you want to join the Green Turtle Clan?"
After saying that, the Ice Dragon King put all his strength into one final kick at the Fire Dragon King.
Then he greeted Yu Tianshuo, who looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't. "Yo! You're here, Unknown Dragon King."
That title left Yu Tianshuo even more speechless, so he shot back, "What do you mean, Unknown Dragon King? If you don't want to call me Brother Tianshuo, you can call me Golden Scale Dragon."
As he spoke, Yu Tianshuo sat down cross-legged on the spot. He wanted to have a proper chat with the two Dragon Kings.
Seeing Yu Tianshuo settle down, the Ice Dragon King smiled and said, "It's all the same, it's all the same. The only ones who can suppress our bloodline are Father and the Crown Prince, along with the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King."
As he spoke, he kept working. He gathered his spiritual power into a rope and used it to bind the Fire Dragon King, in case that fellow tried to launch a sneak attack or something.
Once he'd tied him up securely, he continued explaining.
"Besides, although you have the same build as the Golden Dragon King, you're not nearly as hot-tempered, and I can't sense the slightest bloodline connection."
"Of course, the most terrifying thing is that you're a member of the dragon clan, yet you have no bloodline connection to us at all."
At this point, the Ice Dragon King rarely grew serious. He spoke in a low voice.
"You should know that our father—the Dragon God—is the origin of the entire dragon clan. Apart from the Crown Prince, the Golden Dragon King, and the Silver Dragon King, no dragon that powerful should exist on this planet."
The Ice Dragon King's eyes were grave. He continued in a low voice, "So what exactly are you?"
Yu Tianshuo listened silently to the Ice Dragon King's interrogation, staring back at him with a cold gaze.
Beneath his seemingly icy exterior, Yu Tianshuo was still thinking about how to hoodwink the fellow.
That was right. He wasn't staying silent because the Ice Dragon King had offended him and made him angry.
He was thinking up a story to fool the fellow with.
After all, as sons of the Dragon God and pillars of the dragon clan, the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King must know where Dragon Valley was.
They might even know where the other Dragon Kings were. After all, he still had plenty of Soul Ring slots open.
Time slowly passed in the tense silence.
Just as Yu Tianshuo had settled on what to say and was about to start spinning his tale, the bound Fire Dragon King moved!
"Hahaha! Didn't see that coming, did you, Third Brother? Take this—Dragon King Headbutt!"
Before the Ice Dragon King could react, a pair of dragon horns formed on the Fire Dragon King's head, and he slammed his head into the Ice Dragon King!
"Aaaahhh!"
Before you continue