She wore a wicked smile. Across her exposed skin, thin blue-black lines had appeared, like tattoos. They looked perfectly natural, only making her more bewitchingly alluring!
But Tang San's pupils contracted.
As a Tang Sect disciple and an expert in poisons, he knew all too well what those black lines meant.
They were...
Poison!
Seeing the iron-gray venom gathering at Dugu Yan's fingertips, it was obvious how the Blue Silver Grass had been severed just now!
"Dugu Yan, the poison is attacking your heart. If you don't want to die a miserable death, get out of my way," Tang San said coldly.
"Heh... The poison is attacking my heart?"
Dugu Yan glanced at the blue-black lines on her skin and said with amusement, "I wonder if you've ever heard of... the Thousand Spider Poison Hand?!"
As soon as her voice fell, Dugu Yan planted a foot and shot toward Tang San like a ghost.
"The Thousand Spider Poison Hand?"
Tang San paused, feeling that the name sounded familiar. But at a time like this, he had no room to think about anything else...
"Foolish nonsense!"
Dugu Yan was already upon him. Tang San gave a cold shout, dipped low, and drove forward with both legs, executing a strange, nimble footwork technique as he charged at her even faster.
Tang Sect Secret Art: Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track—
As a control-type Soul Master and the soul of the team, he shouldn't have been the one leading the charge. But the Shrek Team had lost three people in a single exchange. He had to open up a path for his team!
He hadn't been confident he could counter Dugu Yan's poison without using any external tools. But now... this woman was foolish enough to draw the poison back into her body after detoxifying herself?
That was right!
As a Tang Sect disciple, he understood poison down to his bones. At a glance, he could tell the amount of poison accumulated inside Dugu Yan was abnormal—very abnormal!
After neutralizing the poison once, no matter how she used her Martial Soul or Soul Skills, she couldn't possibly accumulate such a vast amount of poison in so short a time. That reckless woman had to have drawn the poison back into her body!
He'd gladly take advantage of an opening handed to him like this!
"Dugu Yan, you brought this on yourself!"
Purple Demon Eye—
Mysterious Jade Hand—
He executed two Tang Sect Secret Arts in succession. Purple light gleamed in his eyes, and his hands took on a crystalline, jade-like sheen.
His Purple Demon Eye had reached the Mustard Seed Realm, granting him formidable powers of observation and dynamic vision. No matter what Dugu Yan did, no matter how slight an opening she revealed, nothing could escape his eyes.
As for the Mysterious Jade Hand, it was hard as iron, making it perfect for striking acupoints!
Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo had the same symptoms, though hers were less severe. Now that Dugu Yan had drawn the poison back into her body, he only needed to strike the acupoints on her body and trigger the poison. She would instantly lose her ability to fight!
Without Dugu Yan, the so-called Heaven Dou Royal Academy Second Team would be a tiger without teeth.
Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track—swift as the wind!
In just a few strides, Tang San reached Dugu Yan. He joined his fingers in a sword-finger gesture and thrust at her. His strike was as swift as the wind and as fast as lightning, but...
Dugu Yan merely slid aside with a sinuous twist, easily dodging his finger. The Second Soul Ring beneath her feet lit up.
"Second Soul Skill: Jade Phosphorous Blue Poison!"
She parted her red lips and exhaled a cloud of blue poison. She was positioned at the very front, with her teammates behind her. And since the opposing team had no wind-type Soul Master, she could unleash her poison without restraint.
But Tang San seemed to have anticipated all of it.
"I was ready for you!"
His body twisted at an unbelievable angle. He narrowly skirted the edge of the poisonous mist and slipped past it. For anyone else, this would have been a risky move. For Tang San, it was inevitable.
He stepped into Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and circled around behind Dugu Yan. That was where the acupoint he meant to strike was. As for his earlier attack...
It had only been bait to draw out Dugu Yan's Soul Skill. The poisonous mist would block both sides' vision, and he had already calculated the trajectory of his attack.
Tang San raised his hand and thrust, his finger as swift as the wind and his strike as fast as lightning. But to his surprise, Dugu Yan seemed to have predicted exactly where his attack would come from. She, too, raised her hand and thrust a sword-finger gesture at him.
Her fair finger was now coated in a layer of iron-gray poison. Her sinuous body sprang forward like a poisonous snake striking its prey, using its momentum to add even more force to the blow.
But Dugu Yan's attack was clearly out of range. She was neither as fast nor as agile as he was.
When Dugu Yan turned, Tang San shifted the point of his attack downward. If he couldn't strike the acupoint on her back, he would hit her Qi Sea acupoint first and disrupt her Soul Power!
Unexpectedly, the iron-gray venom on Dugu Yan's fingertip suddenly shot free!
It flew toward him like an arrow!
"What?!"
Tang San's pupils contracted, and his heart clenched. At this distance, there was no way to dodge!
Dugu Yan was more troublesome than he'd expected—far more so than when he'd encountered her in the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City!
In that case, then...
"Third Soul Skill: Spider Web Restraint!"
The Third Soul Ring on Tang San's body lit up. A web woven from Blue Silver Grass instantly stretched between them and swept toward Dugu Yan.
The Spider Web Restraint Soul Skill came from the Man Faced Demon Spider. It was a rare control-type Soul Skill that could be activated instantly. It took only a thought to release. Even though Tang San had no time to dodge Dugu Yan's attack at this distance, he still had enough time to cast the Spider Web Restraint.
The web woven from Blue Silver Grass swept toward Dugu Yan, but Tang San didn't stop there. He joined one hand into a sword-finger gesture and, right behind the Spider Web Restraint, continued to aim for Dugu Yan's Qi Sea acupoint.
But in the very next instant—
"Sizzle!"
A sound like quicklime reacting with water rang out. The tightly woven Blue Silver Grass web was instantly riddled with holes. First, the "poison arrow" pierced through the web. Before the iron-gray "poison arrow," his web was as flimsy as paper.
Tang San had been trying to take Dugu Yan down quickly and open up a path for the team, so his attack had been swift and forceful. Now his momentum was set, and he couldn't turn back. All he could do was open his palm and use the Mysterious Jade Hand to knock the "poison arrow" aside. But the poison clung to him like a bone-deep parasite; once it touched him, he couldn't shake it off.
What Tang San found hardest to understand was that the poison was actually eating away at his Mysterious Jade Hand?!
It was slow, but it was definitely eating away at it!
Strange—too strange!
Since the last time he'd seen her, this woman had gained such a fearsome ability!
No!
This can't go on. I have to break the deadlock!
As his thoughts raced, he rapidly circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Soul Power surged through his body, and the poison clinging to his Mysterious Jade Hand like a bone-deep parasite was shaken loose and forced out.
At the same time, he stared gravely at Dugu Yan...
Purple light flickered in his eyes as he examined every part of her, especially her hands...
That was...
The poison inside her body?!
In Tang San's eyes, the poison on Dugu Yan seemed to follow a specific route. It emerged from within her and continuously gathered in her hands.
The poison was moving through her body, rather than being applied to her skin like it was in ordinary poison-type Soul Skills!
He'd thought the poison was attacking her heart and that she didn't have long to live.
But he hadn't expected this woman to be storing poison inside her body, using it to give herself even more ways to attack!
How did she dare?
A madwoman!
She was nothing but a madwoman!
As a once-in-a-century genius of the Tang Sect, Tang San knew all too well what could happen if someone did this.
One wrong move, and she could drop dead on the spot.
"Mm..."
At that thought, inspiration flashed through Tang San's mind.
That was it!
No matter how daring this woman was, the poison inside her had to be in some kind of balance. All he needed to do was make her take another kind of poison. That would surely disrupt the balance within her body, and then...
Before you continue