The Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King's mismatched wolf eyes swept over the ancient tree for an instant.
"!!!"
Ye Qing felt as though an invisible hand had viciously clenched his heart.
It was the instinctive reaction of being targeted by a top predator.
Fortunately, the giant wolf merely cast a cold glance before turning its gaze back into the depths of the canyon.
A low whimper rumbled from its throat, as if warning something.
At the same time, its eyes burned as it stared into the canyon, filled with intense desire!
Dugu Bo's expression had already darkened enough to drip ink.
He lowered his voice, speaking noticeably faster than usual. "Kid, I'll tell you the truth. If it were only the Crimson Flame Ancient Tree, I'd have a hundred percent chance of taking it down."
"The combat strength of a ninety-thousand-year top-tier soul beast has already surpassed that of a newly advanced Titled Douluo."
"With the Crimson Flame Ancient Tree added in, I can at most ensure that you retreat unscathed."
Ye Qing caught the unspoken meaning behind Old Poison's words.
He began to hesitate.
For Dugu Bo to say something like, "ensure that you retreat unscathed,"
meant that, in his eyes, the odds of winning this battle had already become too low to risk.
But Ye Qing did not respond immediately.
He stared at the massive wolf wreathed in ice and fire atop the cliff, the light in his dark eyes flickering uncertainly.
After a moment, he suddenly said, "Senior, don't rush."
"We might still have a chance."
Dugu Bo frowned. "What do you mean?"
"The Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King couldn't possibly appear in the territory of another seventy-thousand-year soul beast for no reason."
Ye Qing's tone was so calm that he did not sound like an ordinary Soul Ancestor at all.
Instead, he sounded like an old hunter who had spent half his life struggling through the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Soul beasts older than ten thousand years all possess intelligence. Those at the seventy- and ninety-thousand-year level need no explanation."
"They possess extremely strong territorial instincts. This canyon should be the Crimson Flame Ancient Tree's territory."
"If its territory has been invaded by a powerful soul beast, it couldn't possibly remain indifferent."
The moment his words fell,
a thunderous boom suddenly erupted from the depths of the canyon.
A circular wave of flaming shockwaves exploded from the canyon floor.
Crimson flames swept in every direction with crushing force, instantly melting every rock they passed into dark red liquid.
The entire canyon shook violently.
Ye Qing instinctively raised his hand and released Chaos Green Flame, absorbing the oncoming heatwave.
Facing the towering sea of fire, the Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King merely let out a low snort.
An icy-blue barrier appeared out of thin air before it.
Extreme cold collided head-on with the fiery shockwave, and hissing white mist rose into the sky.
The flames dispersed.
"Awooo!!!"
The Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King threw back its head and released a long wolf howl.
It leaped forward, its enormous nine-meter-long body plunging from the cliff and crashing into the depths of the canyon.
"They're about to fight."
Dugu Bo's brows shot up.
Ye Qing watched the churning two-colored radiance of ice and fire deep within the canyon, and a scorching glint flashed through his dark eyes.
He remained silent for several breaths, then turned and looked at Dugu Bo with a seriousness the latter had never seen from him before.
"Senior, this Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King is also suitable to become my Soul Ring."
Dugu Bo froze briefly, then shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Kid, do you take me for a god?"
"One seventy-thousand-year beast and one ninety-thousand-year beast—if I could handle them, I wouldn't have said all that just now."
"Not necessarily."
Ye Qing cut him off, his tone resolute.
Dugu Bo's brows knitted tightly.
This kid usually talked nonsense without restraint, but at crucial moments, he never said anything he was not confident in.
Could he really have some kind of plan?
"Senior, I want these two soul beasts to become my sixth and seventh Soul Rings respectively."
Ye Qing raised two fingers.
As if afraid Dugu Bo had not heard clearly, he repeated himself.
"I want them both."
Dugu Bo nearly laughed in anger. "Do you know what you're saying?"
"Even if I risk this old life of mine, I—"
"I'm not asking you to go up there and fight them head-on."
Ye Qing interrupted him.
A mysterious smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"I'm asking you to use your poison."
The moment the word "poison" was mentioned, Dugu Bo's expression changed.
After pondering for a moment, he slowly shook his head. "My poison works fairly well against soul beasts around sixty or seventy thousand years old, but against eighty- or ninety-thousand-year soul beasts comparable to human Titled Douluo, their Soul Power will suppress most of its potency."
"It can poison them to death, but it will take a long time, and time is what the battlefield lacks most."
Ye Qing did not reply.
He reached into the Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch and took out a plant.
It was an immortal herb, crystalline and snow-white from stem to leaf.
Every blade was slender and curved.
Its graceful lines resembled a swan's neck.
Dugu Bo stared at the immortal herb for two breaths, his brows twisted into a deep frown. "This is an immortal herb too?"
"Yes. It is called the Snowy Swan Kiss."
Ye Qing softly spoke its name, then said something that left Dugu Bo utterly stunned.
"With it, Senior could even poison a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to death."
"What?!"
In an instant, Dugu Bo's expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to suspicion.
He stared fixedly at the immortal herb in Ye Qing's hand, which appeared harmless aside from its beauty.
"If I eat it, can I break through to Rank 95 or above?"
"Of course not."
Ye Qing shook his head. "This immortal herb isn't meant to be eaten."
"If you eat it, Senior, you'll probably be poisoned to death by your own poison instantly."
At those words, Dugu Bo's face immediately turned black as the bottom of a pot. "You brat want to murder me?!"
Ye Qing gave a wry smile and hurriedly explained, "Senior, you misunderstand."
"It is not poisonous itself. It could even be said that it offers no direct benefit to cultivation."
"But it possesses a characteristic that can only be described as heaven-defying."
He paused, then said each word distinctly. "It can amplify the toxicity of any poison it comes into contact with by hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times."
"Moreover, this amplification is irreversible, and no antidote can counter it."
"!!!"
Dugu Bo's pupils suddenly contracted.
Within those jade-green eyes, disbelief and shock flashed first, followed by the frenzied gleam unique to the foremost poison user of the age.
Ye Qing did not need to explain anything further. As the person who understood poison best, Dugu Bo instantly grasped what this immortal herb represented.
Catalyzing poison!
Hundreds or thousands of times!
Irreversible!
To any poison-using Soul Master on the continent, those three phrases combined were no different from a miracle.
His Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor poison could already threaten opponents at the Titled Douluo level.
If its toxicity were amplified tenfold or a hundredfold,
forget the ninety-thousand-year Ice and Fire Demon Wolf King.
Even against the legendary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, he was confident he could show them what true lethal poison was.
"You mean—"
Dugu Bo's voice trembled slightly with excitement. "Use this immortal herb to catalyze my Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor poison..."
"Then poison both soul beasts in one stroke."
Ye Qing picked up his words and gently held out the Snowy Swan Kiss before Dugu Bo.
"Kill two birds with one stone."
"I'll take both my sixth and seventh rings at once!"
The glow of the Snowy Swan Kiss reflected in Dugu Bo's jade-green eyes.
Within those old eyes, usually cold and proud, long-lost fighting spirit and fanaticism now burned.
A dangerous, confident smile rose on his lips.
"Kid, you should know that in anyone else's hands, this immortal herb is merely a rare curiosity."
"But in my hands, it is no less than a divine artifact."
Dugu Bo carefully placed the Snowy Swan Kiss into his own Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch.
Then he turned toward the canyon surging with flames,
"I've played with poison all my life, but I've never looked forward to anything like this."
"Let those two seventy- and eighty-thousand-year soul beasts taste the catalyzed Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor poison together."
Deep within the canyon,
flames and frost continued to collide madly.
The deafening explosions came without end.
Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back, a sharp light flashing through his jade-green eyes.
"Kid, I'll be back shortly."