I Still Prefer the Way You Used to Be, So Arrogant!

"Yanzi!"

A flicker of worry crossed Ye Lingling's brow as she tried to stop her. Trying to cultivate an unknown poison art on someone else's turf was absolutely not a wise move!

Dugu Yan squeezed Ye Lingling's hand. "Lingling, I've made up my mind!"

"Besides, you're here. What do I have to be afraid of?"

If the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was the best support Martial Soul in the world, then Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia was the best healing Martial Soul!

With Ye Lingling here, Dugu Yan had the confidence to give it a try.

As she spoke, she handed the Poison Bead to Ye Lingling, her snake-cold gaze settling on Li Jingzhe.

"If anything goes wrong, use this. Just inject Soul Power to activate it."

"Yanzi, you... sigh..."

Seeing how things stood, Ye Lingling knew there was no talking her out of it. She clenched the Poison Bead in her palm, then glared fiercely at Li Jingzhe. She said nothing, but the meaning was clear: if anything happened to Yanzi, you were finished!

Then she stepped back. The Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul blossomed in her palm, and three Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple—circled her. She gave Dugu Yan a look, telling her she could begin whenever she was ready. If she couldn't stop her, then they would face it together!

Ye Lingling had great confidence in the Nine Heart Begonia Martial Soul's healing ability. With the Nine Heart Begonia keeping someone alive, even death itself couldn't claim them—that was no idle boast.

Dugu Yan continued reading the Thousand Spider Poison Hand. She had only skimmed it before, but now that she read it closely, she was stunned by its brilliance.

These narrow branches can actually be used to circulate Soul Power?

It was an angle she had never imagined.

Connect thirty-two minor branches and circulate Soul Power through them... Let the Soul Power cling to the places where poison has accumulated like a film of water... Then make it surge like the tide... to draw out the poison?

Before she knew it, she was completely absorbed. Almost unconsciously, she began circulating her Soul Power along the route described in the Thousand Spider Poison Hand.

A film of water? It's actually this simple? As long as Soul Power circulates through these branches, it naturally takes on this form...

What a miraculous method of circulation... These branches filter the Soul Power and draw it out into a thin film?

She didn't notice how utterly engrossed she had become until...

Until a faint ache and tingling suddenly struck, making her face turn deathly pale!

Ye Lingling instinctively tightened her grip on the Poison Bead, almost injecting Soul Power into it, but Dugu Yan stopped her in time with a look.

At that moment, excitement and fervor filled Dugu Yan's eyes. The accumulated poison that had settled in her bones, organs, and deep within her body had actually been drawn out. That sudden pain was simply the normal reaction to the poison in her body being stirred up.

But then she grew nervous. Most of the accumulated poison in her body had now been drawn out. She had already been detoxified once, so there wasn't much left inside her—but if all the poison now gathered together erupted at once...

It would be a lethal poison, the kind that could kill with a single drop of blood—too fast even for the Nine Heart Begonia to save her!

At the thought, Dugu Yan couldn't help regretting her decision. She had been too impulsive!

Fortunately, the feeling didn't last long. She quickly turned to the next page.

Contract the film-like Soul Power and gather it into a single stream... circulate it along the main meridian to the fingertips...

She only needed to try it briefly before Dugu Yan's eyes lit up. It worked! The film-like Soul Power trapped the accumulated poison inside, keeping it from contaminating the meridians along the way. It flowed from the main meridian to her arm, then her palm, then her fingertips...

It was real!

All of it was real!

That man hadn't lied to her. The poison in her body really could be drawn out and circulated...

Dugu Yan nearly cried with joy.

The poison that had tormented her for so many years, the poison even her grandfather couldn't eradicate despite paying a tremendous price to have Tang San help—there was finally hope of getting rid of it for good!

Dugu Yan immediately gathered her thoughts and focused on circulating her Soul Power.

Next, I should release the poison... The Soul Power circulation route is...

She maintained the film-like Soul Power as she turned to the next page, only to find a Wordless Heavenly Book: it was completely blank...

That was it?

Damn it, why did it have to end right here...

She flipped through the pages with a rustle, but all she saw was blank paper!

The poison gathered at her fingertips but wouldn't come out, and she couldn't disperse it either. More poison continued to gather without end. A searing pain and numb tingling, worse than any previous bout of poison backlash, spread through her body. Her Soul Power circulation instantly fell into disarray... Pfft!

Dugu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood. It was black, and it scorched the air, sending wisps of white smoke rising. Her face turned the color of gold paper, and she slumped backward as if all her strength had been drained away...

"Yanzi!!"

Ye Lingling had been prepared. She caught Dugu Yan in a flash as the three Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple—circled her. The Nine Heart Begonia blazed with light, its gentle Soul Power swiftly flowing into Dugu Yan's body. At the same time, Ye Lingling injected Soul Power into the Poison Bead, but then—

"Smack..."

Her Soul Power had only just touched the Poison Bead when a hand covered hers first.

Ye Lingling froze. Dugu Yan's face was pale, but her eyes blazed with a fervor Ye Lingling had never seen before!

Dugu Yan didn't even have time to say anything to Ye Lingling. She stared at Li Jingzhe, eyes burning. "What comes next? There's more after that, right?"

The moment the poison in her body had been stirred, the authenticity of this Self-Created Soul Skill had become beyond question. The Soul Power circulation route, the steps and method—they were all there. It even included safeguards for unexpected situations. When the accumulated poison had erupted inside her just now, she had thought she was going to die. But at the critical moment, the film-like Soul Power had wrapped around the poison and forced it outward, roiling her blood and making her spit out a mouthful of poisonous blood.

If not for that, she might already be a corpse.

Though she had suffered backlash, it had been milder than any previous bout of poison backlash!

Such a divine skill, yet it was missing the one crucial final step: how to release the poison...

At that moment, all Dugu Yan could think about was mastering the Thousand Spider Poison Hand, escaping the agony of poison backlash, and no longer living in fear of the poison accumulated inside her.

She was desperate to see what came next.

On a small scale, it was a Self-Created Soul Skill. On a grand scale, it was a treasure that could enrich the Dugu Family's legacy and free them from their bloodline curse!

Li Jingzhe leaned back against his chair. "What happened? Weren't you going to let me taste the poison of a Titled Douluo?"

"Heh. I still prefer the way you used to be, so arrogant!"

Dugu Yan bit down on her silver teeth. She knew he was using her earlier behavior to get the better of her. But when she thought of how important the Thousand Spider Poison Hand was, she could only swallow her anger, however unwillingly.

"Sorry. I was... I was blind before and offended you!"

She forced herself to bow her head slightly to Li Jingzhe, then picked up the Thousand Spider Poison Hand from the ground. "Such a refined method of circulating Soul Power—cough... it can't possibly stop at the first part. There must be more!"

"What price do I have to pay for the complete Thousand Spider Poison Hand? Name it!"

"Yanzi, you..."

Ye Lingling wanted to stop her, but hesitated. She truly couldn't understand what made that thing so irresistible that Yanzi would humble herself like this.

Dugu Yan patted Ye Lingling on the back of her hand, signaling her not to rush. Then she turned an inquiring gaze toward Li Jingzhe.

Tap... tap... tap...

Li Jingzhe said nothing, only tapping the tabletop with his finger.

Name a price?

How much was the Thousand Spider Poison Hand worth?

It wasn't that he'd never thought about selling the martial arts techniques from the Scripture Depository. Well, he had thought about it, but he hadn't expected the moment to come so soon... Who knew why Dugu Yan was still wandering around outside in the middle of the night, let alone why she had come here?

Hey, System, how much should the Thousand Spider Poison Hand be worth?

Li Jingzhe couldn't help asking the System in his mind.

[Martial art: Thousand Spider Poison Hand; classification: unorthodox, poison art, harms others and oneself, yet possesses tremendous power and high growth potential; a second-rate threshold-level martial art... Reference price: 500,000 Gold Soul Coins]