"Your Excellency!" Dugu Bo stepped forward, releasing his Martial Soul, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, along with the aura of a level-90 Titled Douluo.
"I discovered the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well first, and I need it to suppress my poison! My granddaughter needs it too. If you just take it away, won't you cripple us? You'd be destroying the very roots of our family!
"Is this kind of banditry really acceptable?" Dugu Bo hoped he could appeal to Di Tian's sense of morality, at least to buy some time. The problem was, Di Tian wasn't buying it.
"Why should I, a human, have to reason with you?"
Di Tian found the whole thing ridiculous. He might look human now, but he was a dragon by nature. Did dragons care about humans?
In Di Tian's eyes, only the strong had the right to speak in this world. Take Medicine Elder, for example. He came from another world, and he was one of the strong in that world.
At his peak, he could probably have beaten the Creation God to a pulp. That was why Di Tian respected Medicine Elder so much. What's more, thanks to Medicine Elder, Di Tian had already begun to break through. Perhaps one day, he might even return to the god level.
Besides, Medicine Elder didn't need to hunt Soul Beasts to grow stronger.
So, even though Medicine Elder was human, Di Tian respected him and held no ill will toward him.
But Dugu Bo wasn't Medicine Elder. In Di Tian's eyes, Dugu Bo was just a low-level Titled Douluo. What gave him the right to negotiate?
Besides, Di Tian didn't even know who Dugu Bo was.
"Human?... You're—" Dugu Bo immediately realized that the man before him might not be human—or rather, that Di Tian wasn't human at all. He was a "Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast"!
"You're a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, aren't you? I'm warning you, even if you've taken human form, we're both Titled Douluos. If we fight and destroy the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, neither of us will benefit!"
Dugu Bo hoped Di Tian would back down. He wanted to find some other way to make him stop for now, buying time to figure out how to handle the situation.
And, in Dugu Bo's view, Di Tian was indeed at the Titled Douluo level. He was a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form, but Dugu Bo was a Titled Douluo too. What did he have to fear?
"It seems you misunderstand the strength of Soul Beasts. In your human eyes, we Soul Beasts can reach the Titled Douluo level at most, and that means around ten thousand years. But you seem to have it wrong. The strongest Soul Beasts aren't limited to ten thousand years."
Di Tian immediately released an overwhelming aura, pressing Dugu Yan flat against the ground.
Dugu Bo quickly released his Soul Power to shield Dugu Yan, but even he could barely withstand the pressure. The gap in strength was simply too vast.
He was only a level-90 Titled Douluo.
"This aura is...!" Dugu Bo immediately recognized it as the aura of a level-99 Limit Douluo. Only a Demigod-level powerhouse could wield such terrifying power. The Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast before him had taken human form as a Demigod-level powerhouse.
"When Soul Beasts reach ten thousand years, they all face a heavenly tribulation. Those that don't survive it die. But those that do surpass the ten-thousand-year limit and reach an even higher level."
Di Tian had nothing more to say. He could simply kill Dugu Bo and his family.
"Wait! Please, spare my granddaughter. You can have the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, but please let her live! I'll do anything you ask!"
Dugu Bo chose to bow his head. He had no other choice. His granddaughter was the last of the Dugu family bloodline. He was old and couldn't have any more children.
"So you think you're in a position to bargain with me? If you'd handed over the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well from the start, I would have spared your life. But you brought this on yourselves, so don't blame me."
Di Tian found it laughable. They hadn't listened when he warned them, but now that he was about to act, they were willing to obey. Humans really were ridiculous.
"I'll do anything you ask, as long as you spare my granddaughter. I'm a level-90 Titled Douluo, a rare figure on the mainland. I can do any dirty work for you. Just spare her. I'll do anything!"
Dugu Bo even began kowtowing, hoping to secure a way out for his granddaughter.
"My Martial Soul can unleash poison on a massive scale. I could wipe out everyone in an entire city. Even at Spirit Hall, anyone below the Titled Douluo level—even a level-89 Soul Douluo—would die from my poison."
"..." Di Tian began to consider it.
Di Tian did sometimes run into a lot of trouble when operating in the human world. At times, letting a human handle things was the best solution. With Dugu Bo's formidable ability to poison an entire town with ease, Di Tian could make him a Soul Beast weapon for mass slaughter—a meat grinder. That should work.
And after witnessing Medicine Elder's power, Di Tian had to admit that humans were indeed formidable. He had let go of his prejudice.
"Please spare my grandfather! I'll do anything you want!" Dugu Yan looked at her grandfather. She would rather give up her dignity than let him suffer, knowing that he was truly doing this for her. But she couldn't understand why she had never heard of a transformed Soul Beast powerhouse like this in her previous life.
Besides, they had never encountered Di Tian in her previous life. So why had they run into him now?
"I can spare you, but you must serve as my slaves for the rest of your lives and work for the cause of Soul Beasts. Otherwise, you'll all die. Swear on your Martial Souls: if you betray me, your Martial Souls will shatter, your meridians will break, and you'll die."
Di Tian had learned to make use of humans to deal with humans.
"I, Dugu Bo, swear! If I break my oath..."
"I, Dugu Yan, swear!..."
The two of them quickly finished swearing their oaths, and at last, they could breathe a little easier.
"From now on, you're my slaves. If you dare betray me, you can imagine the consequences. And there are even stronger people behind me. I'm not afraid of even god-level powerhouses."
After speaking, Di Tian immediately entered the spring of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. He could already sense his uncle and aunt inside.
That is, the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings, among the Nine Children of the Dragon God. They might be inside this spring.
Before you continue