Xiao Yin! Where Are My Clothes?!

"You... How did you know so clearly?"

Dugu Yan's voice trembled.

"Because I can 'see' it." Xiao Yin did not elaborate. "Now, relax your mind and don't resist. The process may be painful, but trust me—this is the only way to survive."

He said no more. The black Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring beneath his feet suddenly lit up!

Buzz—!

Reflected in Dugu Yan's suddenly constricted emerald eyes, a massive black cauldron over three meters tall materialized out of thin air.

"This is... a Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring!"

Dugu Yan cried out in shock. All color drained from her seductive face, leaving only overwhelming disbelief!

"This is my third soul skill—Cauldron Cook. It can refine all things, and it can strip all things away!"

Xiao Yin's voice boomed like a great bell, carrying unquestionable authority as it echoed through the valley.

"Dugu Yan! Enter the cauldron!"

At his low shout, the Black Cauldron trembled slightly. The Chaos vortex at its mouth abruptly accelerated, unleashing a powerful suction force!

An irresistible force instantly enveloped Dugu Yan!

Dugu Yan felt her body grow light, as though an invisible force had lifted her.

As she looked at that bottomless Chaos vortex, immense terror instantly seized her heart!

Instinctively, she wanted to resist, wanted to scream!

But in that instant, Xiao Yin said calmly:

"Trust me."

Though his voice was not loud, it was like a stabilizing pillar, piercing through the fog of fear in Dugu Yan's heart.

Dugu Yan gritted her teeth fiercely, closed those bewitching green eyes, and forcibly suppressed all resistance!

For the sake of living! She gambled!

Whoosh—!

Her body was drawn in by that force and plunged into the cauldron without the slightest resistance. In an instant, she was swallowed by the roiling Chaos mist and vanished!

Buzz—!

The instant Dugu Yan disappeared, the entire Black Cauldron blazed with light!

The Taotie totem on the cauldron walls seemed to come completely alive!

Its dragon head let out a silent roar, while the patterns of its coiled ram-like body flickered as though breathing!

Within the cauldron, Chaos surged, forming a space of its own!

Dugu Yan floated in an endless, strange void.

Just then, Xiao Yin's steady voice rang out within the Chaos space, reaching directly into the depths of her soul:

"Dugu Yan! Guard your mind! Look within at your origin! Activate your Martial Soul! Do not resist the power inside the cauldron!"

As Xiao Yin's words fell, the gray currents filling the entire Chaos space abruptly became violent!

They no longer flowed aimlessly. Instead, like countless living tentacles, they instantly Entangled Dugu Yan's body!

"Argh—!"

Her miserable scream echoed through the Chaos space, only to be erased by an invisible force.

Behind her, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul writhed madly. From its dark-green serpentine body, deep-black poisonous lines that had once coiled like blood vessels were forcibly pulled away by the Chaos currents!

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!

As the poison left her body, Dugu Yan convulsed violently, as if some supporting force had been torn away from her.

The dark-green poison patterns that had long surfaced faintly across her skin rapidly faded at a visible rate!

An unprecedented weakness swept through her entire body!

The stripping process was long and perilous.

Outside the cauldron, Xiao Yin's mental power was stretched taut. Sweat rolled down from his brow, and his face had gone slightly pale.

He controlled every wisp of Chaos current with complete focus. He had to ensure the stripping was thorough while carefully avoiding Dugu Yan's fragile life essence.

Xiao Yin the surgeon!

Finally!

The instant the last stubborn dark-green poison line, entrenched deep within Dugu Yan's heart meridian and nearly fused with the core of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, was viciously ripped out by the Chaos currents!

Buzz—!

The Black Cauldron gave a long, clear hum. The radiance flowing over its body suddenly withdrew, and the Taotie totem on its walls slowly concealed its savage presence, as though it had fallen asleep.

The violent Chaos currents within the cauldron also calmed instantly, once more becoming gently flowing gray mist.

The stripping was complete!

"Pfft!"

Dugu Yan spat out a mouthful of blood. Her body went limp, and like a kite with its string cut, she fell from where she had been floating.

The searing pain receded, replaced by a dizzy sensation as though she had been completely hollowed out.

She barely opened her heavy eyelids. The bewitching glow had vanished from her emerald eyes, leaving only deep exhaustion.

However, the next moment!

An icy sensation instantly swept through her awareness!

She looked down—

At some point, the currents around her had become thin and gentle, like the clearest stream, wrapping around her body.

And the carefully tailored combat outfit she had been wearing... along with every piece of close-fitting clothing... had somehow vanished without a trace during the violent stripping process!

She was now completely exposed... within this void!

Her exquisite, curvaceous figure, fair and delicate skin, faintly flushed pink from weakness and her earlier struggle... every inch of her was laid bare!

"Ah—!"

A shriek filled with humiliation and fury burst from Dugu Yan's throat!

She instantly curled up, wrapping both arms tightly over her chest and pressing her legs firmly together, trying to conceal the last of her exposed body!

Her seductive yet cool face had flushed scarlet, like a ripe peach. Even her ears and neck were tinged with an alluring rosy hue!

Her emerald eyes were wide with round, filled with incredulous shame!

She, Dugu Yan—the proud daughter of heaven, granddaughter of the Poison Douluo—had never been exposed like this before a stranger... no, before a man she had only met twice!

A flash of light.

Dugu Yan felt the scene before her shift and a sensation of weightlessness wash over her. The next moment, her feet landed on the warm rocky ground of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well valley.

She still remained curled up with her arms wrapped around herself, her entire body rigid. Her head was lowered, and her purple hair fell over most of her deeply flushed face.

She could feel an unprecedented lightness in her body. The bone-piercing chill that had tormented her for more than a decade had completely vanished!

The realization filled her with wild joy!

But that joy was instantly drowned by the unbearable embarrassment and humiliation of her current situation!

"Xiao Yin! Where are my clothes?!"

At that moment, a moon-white robe was extended before her, blocking her view.

"Ahem... Put it on."

Xiao Yin coughed lightly. His tone was calm and even, as if nothing had happened.

"You... you..."

Dugu Yan snatched the robe and quickly wrapped herself in it. Her voice trembled with shame and anger as she stammered,

"You saw everything?! You... you..."

"My Black Cauldron Power refines things back to their origin. It strips away all poisons and also breaks down external objects."

Xiao Yin's voice remained steady, as if he were merely stating an objective fact.

"The process was dangerous. There could not be the slightest obstruction. Clothing... was also an obstruction, so it was broken down. It was not my intention.

Besides, in a healer's eyes, there is no distinction between men and women—only patients."

Xiao Yin himself almost believed that explanation.

There was no helping it. He had not expected this situation either, since it was his first time.

Still, Dugu Yan's... figure... truly lived up to the woman the system called the "Serpent Concubine"!