You're Just a Level Five... Huh? How Are You Level Ten?!

Dugu Yan wore an expression of utter impatience. It was certainly not directed at Ye Lingling; she simply hated everything here equally because of a certain detestable person.

"What is this... a dumpy bookstore like this? Do you really think you can dig up some treasure here? Only you would treat these cheap novels like gold."

Dissatisfied as she was, she still walked over to Ye Lingling in a few strides and snatched the well-bound, thread-stitched book from her hands. With its indigo cover and gold-stamped characters, Dugu Yan couldn't help but read aloud: "Thousand Spider Poison Hand?"

Poison?

Her willow-leaf brows arched slightly... it was rare to see something related to poison, and spider venom at that?

She flipped open the pages and read along the small print: "The pain during cultivation is unbearable. One must use venomous spiders to suck one's own blood, drawing the spider venom into one's own bloodstream. Once the venom is exhausted, the spider dies, and a new one must be used. This cycle continues; mastering a hundred spiders is only the beginning. To achieve true depth, one must refine thousands of spiders... This technique possesses immense power. Once mastered, nothing can escape its injury, and nothing can escape its poison..."

Pfft—

Dugu Yan couldn't hold it in and let out a scoff, her expression turning increasingly bizarre... claiming nothing can escape its injury or poison? What a load of nonsense!

There was only one person she had ever met who could reach the realm of "nothing can escape its injury, nothing can escape its poison," and that was her grandfather, Poison Douluo Bo!

Did this measly, trashy book actually think it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a Title Douluo?

Swish—

She continued to flip through the pages, determined to see what kind of garbage this book was actually peddling!

Thousand Spider Poison Hand?

Heh, did any third-rate trash dare to try and associate itself with poison these days?

As she read on, word by word, deeper and deeper, Dugu Yan's face changed, her heart filled with suspicion and disbelief... Refining poison into the body to make it one's own?

How could this be possible?

Refining poison into the body?

Wasn't this just asking for death?

Since birth, she had been deeply affected by the congenital poison and the toxins of her own martial soul, suffering from the constant backlash of virulent poison and agonizing pain. It wasn't until recently that her grandfather had sacrificed his own herb garden to get that bastard Tang San to detoxify her.

Even though she was detoxified, it was only temporary. As long as she continued to cultivate her martial soul and use her soul skills, the poison would continue to accumulate. Because of this, her grandfather was scouring the world for a suitable soul bone to act as a container for the virulent toxins.

As someone who had experienced it firsthand, she knew that pain all too well!

It was as if it were a curse carved by the heavens into the very bloodline of the Dugu family!

But now... this book actually claimed that one should intentionally refine poison into the body?

She had finally managed to escape the agony of poison devouring her body, only to turn around and find someone advocating for refining poison into the body?

And... this was a Self-Created Soul Skill, right?

The most infuriating part was that even she, a descendant of the Dugu family, felt at first glance that the logic in the book was self-consistent and the theory feasible...

Damn it!

If this wretched book were to circulate, wouldn't it harm countless soul masters?

At this thought, her face darkened, and she looked coldly at the green-clad figure still performing various strange movements: "Hey, kid... I'm asking you, who wrote this harmful thing?"

"Refining poison into the body? I think you have ulterior motives! To actually bring this kind of thing out to sell—tell me, what is your intention? What exactly is your goal!!"

Hoo—

Li Jingzhe exhaled a breath of turbid air, steadied his feet, finished his breathing exercise, raised his hands, and slowly pressed them down, concluding his practice.

Only then did he look at the two women, sizing them up, yet maintaining that same indifferent attitude: "I wrote it. Is there a problem?"

You?

Dugu Yan's voice rose an octave: "You have the nerve to ask if there's a problem? Do you know what poison is? Do you understand what poison is?"

Heh—

Li Jingzhe chuckled: "Poison? Hmm... I suppose I don't understand it very well!"

But before Dugu Yan could sneer, she heard Li Jingzhe add calmly: "But I understand it better than you."

"Better than me?"

Dugu Yan felt as if she had heard the greatest joke in the world. Aside from that bastard Tang San, no one dared to claim they understood poison better than the Dugu family!

She pointed to the open page of the Thousand Spider Poison Hand: "Refining poison into the body to injure the enemy? It might look feasible in theory, but in reality, it would torture a person to the point of agony."

"Do you know what it feels like to have virulent poison inside your body?"

"Have you ever felt the taste of agony?"

"Have you ever experienced the despair of being tortured day and night, with no end in sight?"

"You haven't!!!"

"That is a pollution of the bloodline, a tumor that brings disaster to future generations."

"You, a mere soul master, aren't even qualified to experience or feel it!"

"And with that, you dare to speak so boastfully in front of me?"

Dugu Yan's emotions grew increasingly agitated; no one knew the torture of it better than she did.

Beside her, Ye Lingling pursed her lips and gently took Dugu Yan's hand, offering silent comfort.

She knew exactly why Yanzi was so distraught.

It was obvious; this damned Thousand Spider Poison Hand was describing Yanzi's own experiences. It was like rubbing salt into her wounds—it would be a miracle if Yanzi wasn't agitated!

Her beautiful eyes glared at Li Jingzhe like a provoked little tiger... She had started to hate this person too, and quite intensely at that!

Li Jingzhe frowned almost imperceptibly... Wait, why are these two getting so worked up?

Come to think of it, what this person just said—bloodline contamination, curses, excruciating pain... why does it feel so strangely familiar?

He couldn't help but re-examine the two women.

During the Douluo I era, someone he could meet in Heaven Dou City, with short purple hair, emerald eyes, and the context of those words... Oh, Li Jingzhe suddenly realized. So it was her.

Dugu Yan had been tormented by congenital poison since birth, and after her Martial Soul awakened, she was plagued by the poison of her own Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul. Her parents had also died because of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent poison... No wonder she reacted so strongly, like a cat with its fur standing on end. Since it was her, it all made sense!

Looking at the one beside her, face veiled in light gauze, cold and flawless, and inseparable from Dugu Yan—this must be Ye Lingling of the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul.

He hadn't expected the first visitors to the Scripture Depository to be them.

But immediately after, Li Jingzhe cast a look at the two women as if they were idiots: "Pretending to understand when you don't—that's exactly what you're doing."

"Power is neither right nor wrong; there are only those who don't know how to wield it!"

"Who told you that having poison in your body is harmful?"

"On the contrary, as long as it is utilized properly, the poison within, especially congenital poison, will not only cease to harm you but become an innate advantage that no one else can match!"

Pfft—

Dugu Yan, who had just begun to calm down, was almost laughed to anger again.

Poison doesn't harm people?

Utilized properly?

Is that something you can just decide to do?

What kind of twisted logic is this?

However, she realized this person was just a contrarian who would argue for the sake of it, so she immediately extinguished any thought of continuing the debate.

"Stubborn as a mule!"

"You say you know more than me? Heh, when I was playing with poison, you probably didn't even know how to play in the mud!"

She stepped forward immediately, her soul power surging. Four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple—rose up, and the phantom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul flickered. Her beautiful eyes turned into vertical slits, filled with charm and malevolence.

"Now, do you still say you know more than me? You, a level five... hm? Level ten?"

Dugu Yan choked, her pretty face frozen in shock. Even the menacing Jade Phosphorous Serpent phantom and her four soul rings quietly faded away... Hadn't he just had a soul power fluctuation of level five?

How did he reach level ten in the blink of an eye?