Dugu Yan wore an impatient look. Of course, it wasn't directed at Ye Lingling. It was just that some irritating poser had made her hate everything here equally.
"What... A shabby bookstore like this—could it possibly have any treasures? You're the only one who treats those romance novels like they're priceless."
Though she grumbled, she still took a few steps over to Ye Lingling and snatched the finely bound thread-sewn book from her hands. The cover was indigo, with large gilt lettering. Dugu Yan couldn't help reading the title aloud: "Thousand Spider... Poison Hand?"
Poison?
Her willow brows rose slightly... It wasn't often she came across something related to poison. Spider venom, no less?
She opened the book and read the small print beneath the title: "The training is excruciating. One must have a venomous spider feed on one's blood, allowing the spider's venom to enter one's own bloodstream. Once the venom is exhausted, the spider dies, and a new one must be used. Repeat this cycle. Training with a hundred spiders is only a minor accomplishment. To achieve true mastery, one must train with thousands upon thousands of spiders... This art is immensely powerful. Once mastered, nothing can escape its wounds, and nothing can escape its poison..."
"Pfft—"
Dugu Yan couldn't hold back a laugh. Her expression immediately turned even stranger... Nothing could escape its wounds, nothing could escape its poison? What an outrageous claim!
So far, the only person she had ever seen reach the realm of "nothing can escape his wounds, and nothing can escape his poison" was her grandfather, Poison Douluo—Dugu Bo!
And this shabby little book actually thought it could rival a Title Douluo?
Rustle—
She flipped through the pages. She wanted to see what kind of nonsense this book contained!
Thousand Spider Poison Hand?
Hah, what kind of third-rate drivel dared to claim a connection to poison?
As she read further, word by word, Dugu Yan's expression changed. Doubt and alarm crept into her heart... Refine poison into the body and make it one's own?
How was that possible?
Refine poison into the body?
Wasn't that just asking to die?
Ever since birth, she had suffered from the poison in her womb and the poison of her Martial Soul. Whenever they flared up, the poison would backfire, leaving her in unbearable agony. It was only recently that her grandfather had wagered his Herb Garden to get that bastard Tang San to cure her.
Even after being cured, the reprieve was only temporary. As long as she continued cultivating her Martial Soul and using Soul Skills, poison would keep building up. That was why her grandfather was scouring the world for a suitable Soul Bone to serve as a container for the deadly poison.
As someone who had experienced it firsthand, she knew all too well what that pain was like!
It was as if the heavens had carved a curse into the bloodline of the Dugu Family!
But now... this book actually said one ought to deliberately refine poison into the body?
She had only just managed to escape the agony of poison devouring her from within, and now she had discovered that someone was advocating refining poison into the body?
And... this was a Self-Created Soul Skill, wasn't it?
Worst of all, even she, an heir of the Dugu Family, could tell at a glance that the reasoning in the book was coherent and the theory plausible...
Damn it!
If this wretched book really went into circulation, wouldn't it bring disaster upon countless Soul Masters?
At the thought, her expression darkened. She glared at the green-robed figure still making all sorts of strange movements. "Hey, you. I'm asking you: who wrote this harmful thing?"
"Refining poison into the body? I say it's a malicious scheme! You're actually selling something like this. Tell me, what are you up to? What's your real purpose?!"
Huff—
Li Jingzhe exhaled a breath of stale air, planted his feet, breathed out, and settled into his stance. He raised both hands level, then slowly pressed them down. His routine was finished.
Only then did he look properly at the two girls, sizing them up, yet still wearing the same indifferent expression. "I wrote it. What's the problem?"
"You?"
Dugu Yan's voice shot up an octave. "You've got the nerve to ask what the problem is? Do you know what poison is? Do you understand poison?"
"Heh—"
Li Jingzhe chuckled. "Poison? Mm... I really don't know much about it!"
But before Dugu Yan could sneer—
Li Jingzhe said evenly, "Still, I know more than you do."
"More than I do?"
Dugu Yan looked as if she'd just heard the biggest joke in the world. Apart from that bastard Tang San, no one had ever dared claim to know more about poison than someone from the Dugu Family!
She pointed to the open page of the Thousand Spider Poison Hand. "Refine poison into the body and use it to harm your enemies? It might seem feasible in theory, but in practice, it would torture a person until they wished they were dead."
"Do you know what it feels like to have deadly poison inside your body?"
"Have you ever felt pain so unbearable you wished you were dead?"
"Have you experienced the despair of being tormented day and night, with no peace ever in sight?"
"You haven't!!!"
"It's a corruption of the bloodline, a poisonous growth that inflicts harm on generations to come."
"You're a mere Soul Scholar. You're not even qualified to experience or understand it!"
"And you still dare spout such nonsense in front of me?"
Dugu Yan grew more and more agitated. No one understood the torment better than she did.
Beside her, Ye Lingling pressed her lips together and gently took Dugu Yan's hand, silently comforting her.
She knew exactly why Yanzi had lost control like this.
There was no other reason. This damn Thousand Spider Poison Hand was describing Yanzi's own experience. It was like rubbing salt in her wounds. How could Yanzi not get upset?
Her beautiful eyes glared at Li Jingzhe like a little tigress whose territory had been invaded... She was starting to hate him, too. Really hate him!
Li Jingzhe's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly... No, seriously, why were these two getting so worked up?
Come to think of it, the things that girl had just said—bloodline corruption, a curse, unbearable pain... Why did they seem so strangely familiar to him?
He couldn't help taking another look at the two girls.
During the era of Douluo I, someone he could meet in Heaven Dou City, with short purple hair and green eyes, not to mention those words she'd just said... Oh, Li Jingzhe suddenly understood. So it was her.
Dugu Yan had been tormented by the poison in her womb since birth, then by the poison of her Martial Soul after her Martial Soul Awakening. Her parents had also died because of Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison... No wonder she'd reacted so strongly, all bristled up like an angry cat. Knowing it was her, it made perfect sense!
Then there was the girl beside her, veiled in light gauze, cool and flawless, never leaving Dugu Yan's side. She had to be Ye Lingling, wielder of the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul.
Who would've thought the Scripture Depository's first visitors would be the two of them?
But then Li Jingzhe gave them both a look reserved for idiots. "You're the one pretending to know what you don't."
"Power isn't right or wrong. The only problem is people who don't know how to use it!"
"Who told you that having poison in your body means it harms you?"
"On the contrary, if used properly, the poison in your body—especially poison from the womb—won't harm you at all. It'll become an innate advantage that no one else can match!"
"Pfft—"
Dugu Yan had only just begun to calm down, and now she nearly laughed in disbelief again.
Poison doesn't harm you?
If you use it properly?
As if you could just decide to use it properly and make it so!
What kind of twisted logic was that?
Still, she could see what sort of person he was: the kind who could argue three parts reason out of nothing. She immediately gave up on the idea of debating him any further.
"Stubborn as a mule!"
"You say you know more than I do? Hah, back when I was playing with poison, you were probably still off playing in the mud!"
She stepped forward at once. Soul Power surged around her as four Soul Rings—two yellow and two purple—rose into the air. The phantom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul flickered behind her, and her beautiful eyes became vertical pupils, both alluring and sinister.
"Now, do you still think you know more than I do? You're only at Level Five... Huh? Level Ten?"
Dugu Yan froze. Shock was all that remained on her pretty face. Even the imposing Jade Phosphorous Serpent phantom and the four Soul Rings quietly faded away... Hadn't his Soul Power been at Level Five just a moment ago?
How had he suddenly become Level Ten?
Before you continue