I Still Prefer You When You Were Rebellious!

"Yanzi!"

Ye Lingling's brows knit with anxiety as she tried to intervene... attempting to cultivate a poison technique of unknown origin on someone else's turf was hardly a wise move!

Dugu Yan squeezed Ye Lingling's hand and said, "Lingling, I've already decided!"

"Besides, with you here, what do I have to fear?"

If the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was the world's number one support spirit, then Ye Lingling's Nine Heart Begonia was the world's number one healing spirit!

Ye Lingling's presence was the very foundation of her confidence to let go and experiment.

As she spoke, she handed the Poison Bead to Ye Lingling, her snake-like, icy gaze fixed firmly on Li Jingzhe.

"If anything goes wrong, use this. Just inject your soul power to activate it."

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

Seeing her resolve, Ye Lingling knew she couldn't be dissuaded. She gripped the Poison Bead, casting a fierce glare at Li Jingzhe. Though she said nothing, the implication was clear... if anything happened to Yanzi, he was finished!

She stepped back, her Nine Heart Begonia spirit blooming in her palm. Two yellow and one purple soul rings pulsed around her as she signaled Dugu Yan that she was ready... since she couldn't stop her, she would face the consequences with her.

She remained highly confident in the healing capabilities of the Nine Heart Begonia... as long as the Nine Heart Begonia was holding the line, death was an impossibility. That was no mere boast.

Dugu Yan turned her attention back to the Thousand Spider Poison Hand. What had been a cursory glance before now revealed itself to be truly extraordinary upon closer inspection.

These narrow, minor meridians can actually be used to circulate soul power?

It was an angle she had never even conceived of.

Connecting thirty-two limb meridians, guiding soul power through them... allowing soul power to adhere to the sites of toxin accumulation like a water membrane... and then causing the soul power to vibrate like a tidal wave... to precipitate the toxins?

Before she knew it, she was completely absorbed, subconsciously guiding her soul power along the paths described in the Thousand Spider Poison Hand.

A membrane-like state? It's actually this simple? As long as the soul power flows through these meridians, it naturally shifts into that state...

What a miraculous method... these meridians actually serve to filter the soul power and draw it out into a membrane?

She was entirely unaware of how deep she had fallen into the technique, until...

Until a sharp, stinging pain accompanied by an intense itch suddenly struck, causing her face to drain of all color!

Ye Lingling instinctively tightened her grip on the Poison Bead, nearly injecting her soul power, but Dugu Yan stopped her with a sharp look.

At this moment, Dugu Yan's eyes were filled with excitement and fervor. The accumulated toxins lurking deep within her bones, organs, and body were truly being drawn out; that sensation was merely the normal reaction to the toxins being stirred.

Yet, she immediately grew tense. Most of the accumulated toxins had been drawn out, and while she had undergone detoxification before, the remaining amount was small. However, if all the toxins she had just mobilized were to erupt at once...

It would be a lethal strike, the kind even the Nine Heart Begonia couldn't save her from!

At that thought, Dugu Yan felt a pang of regret; she had been far too impulsive!

Fortunately, this feeling didn't last long, as she quickly flipped to the next page.

Contract the membrane-like soul power, condensing it into a single stream... guide it along the main meridian to the fingertips...

With only a slight attempt, Dugu Yan's eyes lit up. It worked—it actually worked! The membrane-like soul power locked the toxins inside, preventing them from contaminating the meridians along the way, from the main meridian to her arm, then to her palm, and finally her fingertips...

It was real!

It was all real!

That guy hadn't lied to her; the toxins in her body could truly be extracted and circulated...

Dugu Yan almost wept with joy.

The poison that had tormented her for so many years, the poison that even her grandfather couldn't eradicate despite paying a massive price to have Tang San intervene, finally had a hope of being completely resolved!

Dugu Yan immediately gathered her focus, concentrating on circulating her soul power.

Next should be the release of the toxicity... the soul power circulation path is...

While maintaining the membrane-like soul power, she flipped to the next page, but what met her eyes was a wordless book—completely blank...

It was gone?

Damn it, why did it have to cut off here...

She flipped the pages frantically, but they remained stubbornly blank!

The poison gathered at her fingertips was condensed but unreleased, unable to dissipate, while the remaining toxins continued to gather incessantly. A pain and itch far worse than any previous backlash spread through her, and her soul power circulation collapsed in an instant... Puff!

Dugu Yan spat out a mouthful of dark, stagnant blood that hissed as it hit the air, leaving behind trails of white smoke. Her face turned the color of gold paper, and she collapsed backward as if all her strength had been drained...

"Yanzi!!"

Ye Lingling had been prepared. With lightning speed, she caught Dugu Yan. Her two yellow and one purple soul rings pulsed as the Nine Heart Begonia bloomed, its soft, radiant light quickly merging into Dugu Yan's body. She reached to inject soul power into the Poison Bead, but...

Clap...

Just as her soul power touched the bead, a hand covered hers, stopping her.

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

She didn't even have time to speak to Ye Lingling, looking at Li Jingzhe with eyes full of fire: "What comes next? There's more, right?"

From the moment the toxins in her body were stirred, the authenticity of this Self-Created Soul Skill was beyond doubt... the path of soul power circulation... the steps and methods were all there... it even had protective mechanisms for emergencies. When the toxins erupted in her body earlier, she thought she was going to die, but at the critical moment, the membrane-like soul power had surged outward, carrying the toxins with it, forcing her blood to churn and compelling her to spit out that mouthful of poisonous blood;

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

Although she had suffered a backlash, it was lighter than any previous bout of toxic reflux!

Such a divine skill, yet it lacked the final, crucial step—the key step to releasing the poison...

At this moment, her mind was entirely consumed by the desire to master the Thousand Spider Poison Hand, to no longer suffer the agony of toxic backlash, and to stop living in fear of the toxins accumulating within her body.

She was desperate to see the rest of it.

To put it mildly, this was a Self-Created Soul Skill; to put it grandly, it was a supreme treasure capable of bolstering the foundation of the Dugu Family and allowing them to finally cast off their bloodline curse!

Li Jingzhe leaned back against his chair: "What's wrong? Weren't you going to make me taste the poison of a Title Douluo?"

"Heh, I actually prefer the way you looked when you were being arrogant and unruly before!"

Dugu Yan gritted her teeth, knowing he was using her previous behavior to hold her hostage. Yet, when she thought of the importance of the Thousand Spider Poison Hand, despite the resentment in her heart, she had no choice but to swallow her pride.

"I apologize. Before, it was... I was blind and offended you!"

She forced herself to bow her head toward Li Jingzhe, then picked up the Thousand Spider Poison Hand from the floor and said, "Such an exquisite method of soul power circulation... cough... it's impossible for this to be only the beginning. There must be more!"

"What price must I pay to obtain the complete volume of the Thousand Spider Poison Hand... name your price!"

"Yanzi, you..."

Ye Lingling wanted to stop her, but she hesitated... she truly couldn't understand what kind of magic that thing possessed to make Yanzi act so subserviently.

Dugu Yan patted Ye Lingling's hand, signaling her not to be anxious, and immediately turned her questioning gaze back to Li Jingzhe.

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

Li Jingzhe remained silent, merely tapping his fingers against the tabletop.

Name a price, huh...

How much was the Thousand Spider Poison Hand worth?

It wasn't that he hadn't considered selling the martial arts and techniques from the Scripture Depository—he certainly had—but he hadn't expected this moment to arrive so quickly. Who knew why Dugu Yan was still wandering around in the middle of the night, let alone why she had ended up here?

Hey, System, what should the value of this Thousand Spider Poison Hand be?

Li Jingzhe couldn't help but ask the system in his mind.

[Martial Art: Thousand Spider Poison Hand. Definition: Heterodox, Poison Art. Harmful to others and self, yet possesses immense power and a high growth ceiling. Threshold for second-rate martial arts... Reference Price: 500,000 Gold Soul Coin]