Dugu Yan's Offensive!

Chu Men spoke very politely, but his tone was unmistakably polite—he was refusing her!

"Sure!"

Dugu Yan agreed without hesitation, the sort who'd consider even one second of deliberation a loss.

Chu Men pursed his lips. He couldn't tell whether this little Jade Phosphor Snake genuinely hadn't understood him or was just pretending.

Besides, Xiao Wu was at home. If he brought Dugu Yan back too, what would that look like?

It wasn't that he was worried about some kind of love-triangle showdown. It was Dugu Bo!

The existence of a Titled Douluo was a massive threat to Xiao Wu!

Even with the pink necklace that masked her aura, there was no guarantee nothing would go wrong.

In the original story, hadn't the Lovesick Heartbreak Red on Xiao Wu fallen off by accident on the last day of the Soul Master Tournament?

He had to be careful.

"Is your grandfather in Heaven Dou City right now?"

"What? Planning to make a move while my grandfather's away..."

Dugu Yan covered her chest with one hand while thrusting it out again.

Chu Men's eye twitched.

"Look, Student Dugu, you're very pretty, but it's not like every man who sees you turns into a beast, is it?"

"Then why are you asking about my grandfather's whereabouts? What are you plotting?"

"I'm researching Soul Tools, you know. I was thinking of combining Soul Tools with poison arts, like making a device that could automatically spray poisonous mist!"

"A sprayer? Oh! That sounds interesting..."

A watering can that sprayed her Jade Phosphorus Blue Poison immediately sprang to mind.

And that wasn't all. She could also mix her snake venom however she liked and store it away...

It would be so much fun!

Chu Men continued, "And there's also poisoning weapons. It's not exactly honorable, but Soul Tools are..."

And so, the two of them strolled along, chatting and laughing.

One went from the history of Soul Tools to Heaven Dou City's street food, while the other went from the traits of Martial Souls to the frustrations of cultivation.

"...Soul-Bewitching Grass is manageable. Bone-Corroding Flower is the real trouble. Of course, the most powerful thing I've ever seen is Illusion Butterfly Powder, which can make people hallucinate..."

Dugu Yan seemed to have opened the floodgates. The more she spoke, the more excited she became!

Chu Men listened with keen interest.

Dugu Yan might seem a little spoiled, but she knew a great deal about poisons.

He had to admit, chatting about knowledge with a beautiful girl really did lift his spirits.

After wandering this way and that, the two finally arrived at the secluded Star Soul Guidance Shop, only to find the door locked.

"This little shop of yours is really out of the way!"

"Living in Heaven Dou Residence isn't cheap!"

Chu Men gave her a perfunctory reply, but his heart gave a sudden lurch.

Was Xiao Wu not home?

After entering the shop, Chu Men headed straight for the surveillance room and found Xiao Wu on the Soul Tool screen.

As it turned out, Liu Erlong had taken Xiao Wu away. Chu Men let out a long breath of relief.

Meanwhile, Dugu Yan's little head was swiveling like a radar as she looked around.

Chu Men rolled his eyes, speechless.

Liu Erlong had done the same thing the first time she'd come.

At least she'd still had a little of a dean's dignity back then, though after spending these past few months together, she'd probably shed most of it.

As for Xiao Wu, she'd tried to run away when she first arrived. Now...

Well, it was hard to say!

Thinking about it, leaving Xiao Wu alone in the shop first thing in the morning had really been a mistake!

Chu Men sighed inwardly.

Like he'd said before, if you had no experience kidnapping someone, then you had no experience kidnapping someone!

"This Soul Tool screen of yours looks a lot like the one at the Great Soul Arena."

"I made it from an old screen the Great Soul Arena had discarded. I added a special Soul Power circuit, which made the picture four times clearer!"

"You're pretty capable!"

"That's nothing."

Chu Men changed the subject and asked as if it were an afterthought, "Your grandfather's the impressive one! I heard he has a medicine garden where he grows rare herbs. Is that true?"

"What, do you need herbs?"

"Yeah. There's an ancestor of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan named Yu Tianheng, and he's gravely ill, on his deathbed, with hardly any pus left to squeeze out..."

"Oh, give it a rest!"

Dugu Yan was almost laughing with exasperation. "When you talked about Yu Tianxin in class, I knew something was off. Yu Tianheng is my classmate! And you're calling him an ancestor? How do you come up with this stuff?"

"Fine, fine. I need the herbs, all right?"

Chu Men raised both hands in surrender.

"I was just borrowing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's name. Otherwise, what am I, a little Soul Ancestor, supposed to be in front of Poison Douluo?"

Dugu Yan nodded her little head, then frowned. "Are you sick, or have you been poisoned?"

"Well..."

Chu Men was at a loss for words for a moment. "I was born a little weak and need some herbs to strengthen my constitution and replenish my vitality."

"I heard you're already a Soul Ancestor. A Soul Ancestor at sixteen, and you were born weak?"

Dugu Yan's face plainly said, Are you kidding me?

"That's a long story..."

Chu Men could only hint at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

With time to spare, he spun her his story, three parts true and seven parts false.

[Streamer teaches a live lesson on how to deceive young women!]

[Spread the word: the streamer was born weak!]

[Spread the word: the streamer can't get it up!]

Before they knew it, the sun was already high overhead.

"Oh, it's noon already!"

Dugu Yan exclaimed, looking at Chu Men with even greater approval. "Teacher Chu, I got so caught up chatting with you that I lost track of time."

Chu Men rubbed his slightly rumbling stomach. "Lunchtime! There's a restaurant up ahead with especially good Braised Dragon Bone. Want me to treat you?"

"Sure, sure!"

Dugu Yan nodded, her eyes shining like stars.

She took two steps, then suddenly remembered something. Reaching into her clothes, she took out a small porcelain bottle and pressed it into Chu Men's hand.

"Here, this is for you!"

Chu Men held the warm porcelain bottle and looked puzzled. "What is it?"

Dugu Yan said proudly, "This is a Jade Scale Detoxification Pill my grandfather made himself. If you accidentally get poisoned, just take one and you'll be fine!"

Chu Men froze for a moment.

This was the first time a girl he'd just met had ever given him a gift.

"This is too valuable... Thanks!"

Dugu Yan nodded, satisfied, like a girl experiencing her first love. She urged him, "Come on, let's go. I'm hungry. If that Braised Dragon Bone you mentioned isn't good, I won't let you off!"

Sunlight fell across Dugu Yan's face, rosy as a freshly ripened apple.

[Yan-yan is so direct! Isn't this the first time these two have met?]

[Ahhh! Is that a detoxification pill? No, it's clearly a sweet little gift from the heart!]

[My Dugu Yan only needs to make the slightest move, and she's already topped the romance progress chart!]

Dugu Yan followed Chu Men to the restaurant they'd visited yesterday.

As soon as they entered, the waiter greeted him:

"Teacher Chu! Did you enjoy yesterday's Braised Dragon Bone? What'll it be today?"

"Your Braised Dragon Bone was really good! The same again today. One serving for each of us."

Chu Men said it with gusto.

Then he thought of a certain little white rabbit and added, "Pack up another serving for me to take home. Oh, no, make it two!"

Xiao Wu seemed to be a vegetarian. Never mind, it was the thought that counted.

Who cared whose stomach it ended up in?

Chu Men reached their usual spot and was just about to pull out a chair when the corner of his eye caught sight of the table by the window.

The menu in his hand fell onto the table with a slap.

At the window-side table, two beautiful women, one tall and one small, were staring straight at him.

Liu Erlong rested her chin on one hand, her black dress outlining her curvaceous figure.

But her beautiful eyes burned like blazing flames, and the air around her seemed to have risen several degrees.

With one pale hand, she casually bent an iron soup spoon into a twisted knot.

Xiao Wu sat across from her, half a carrot in her mouth, glaring at Chu Men just like Liu Erlong.

Her little cheeks were puffed up.

[The showdown is here!]

[A huge caught-in-the-act scene! The streamer's in danger!]

[Sister Erlong: Heh. You flirted with me just yesterday, and now you're chasing after another young lady today? What a ladies' man!]

Liu Erlong's eyes suddenly turned into blades tempered with lightning.

They swept across Dugu Yan one moment, then seemed ready to bore a couple of holes through Chu Men the next.

"Sister Erlong, Xiao Wu! You're eating here?"

Chu Men greeted them with a cheerful smile, walked over to Liu Erlong, and sat down beside her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Dugu Yan looked at him in surprise, then followed and sat beside Xiao Wu.

"Hello, you're Xiao Wu, right?"

"Hello, I'm Xiao Wu."

Xiao Wu quietly studied the older girl with purple hair beside her, then replied obediently.

The human world was so complicated!

"Teacher Chu sure is busy."

Liu Erlong's voice drifted lightly through the air. "You left my lovely disciple alone at home while you came out to keep a pretty young lady company over lunch?"

Xiao Wu also glared at Chu Men in agreement, but her little white-rabbit appearance was as harmless as a marshmallow. She didn't have much bite!

Liu Erlong turned to Dugu Yan, narrowing her phoenix eyes as she asked coldly, "And who might this young lady be?"

"Hello, Dean Liu Erlong. I'm Dugu Yan, a student at Heaven Dou Royal Academy."