Final Thoughts

Gu Han returned to Karma Pavilion after dealing with Lin Xi's affairs, but the faint unease in his heart still hadn't faded.

Withered Bone Forest...

He had never learned anything about Withered Bone Forest before. He had only read a little about it in Spirit Hall's records:

Thirty miles west of Spirit City, it was shrouded in miasma year-round, and Soul Beasts often appeared there. Low-ranked Soul Masters were advised to stay away.

But today, he had sensed an aura among the resentment of the Soul Beasts that gave him a strange feeling. It wasn't mere resentment. It felt as though it had something on its mind.

"Looks like I'll have to make the trip myself."

Gu Han stood by a third-floor window, gazing west. Xiao Wu sat nearby. Hearing him, she looked up. "Are you going to Withered Bone Forest?"

"Yeah."

The resentment that had appeared around Lin Xi didn't seem simple. For some reason, I keep feeling there's something else hidden there.

After saying this, Gu Han turned around, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"And for the lingering remnants of Soul Beasts to have lasted hundreds, even thousands, of years, that battle must have been enormous."

"I want to go with you," Xiao Wu said.

Gu Han shook his head.

"The miasma in Withered Bone Forest can corrode Soul Power. You should stay here."

"If anyone comes with a commission, you can handle them the way I taught you. I'll be back soon."

Xiao Wu wanted to say something else, but seeing how serious Gu Han was, she could only nod. "Then be careful. Come back soon."

The next morning, Gu Han left Spirit City alone and headed west.

For a Soul King like him, thirty miles was only a short journey.

But the closer he got to Withered Bone Forest, the more desolate the surroundings became.

The trees grew sparse, replaced by stretches of strange rock. A smell of corrosion began to fill the air.

Half an hour later, a forest shrouded in gray-white mist appeared before Gu Han.

Withered Bone Forest.

Even from outside the forest, Gu Han could feel its oppressive aura.

The mist wasn't still. It churned slowly, with the shadowy outlines of trees faintly visible within it.

Bones of unknown creatures littered the ground. Most had weathered until they were white.

Gu Han activated Karma Sight, and the scene before him changed at once.

Countless threads of karma in different colors drifted through the mist. Most had snapped completely, but some still connected to certain focal points.

He slowly entered the forest.

His feet sank into damp earth mixed with bone fragments.

The mist flowed slowly, bringing a chill whenever it brushed his skin.

The deeper Gu Han went, the denser the threads of karma became.

He followed the thickest thread, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings.

It was deathly quiet here. No insects chirped, no birds called; only the wind stirred around him.

After walking about three miles, he came upon an open area.

The sight made Gu Han's pupils contract.

At its center was a massive crater, more than a hundred zhang across, its far end nowhere in sight.

The crater walls weren't naturally formed. They were covered in all kinds of gouges, like the remnants of a battlefield—and of fierce fighting.

Gu Han also spotted a huge skeleton lying on the ground.

They weren't human bones, but the remains of various Soul Beasts.

Some skeletons were as large as hills. Though they had been dead for countless years, they still exuded a faint pressure.

Some of the bones shimmered with a peculiar luster, clearly belonging to some kind of Soul Beast. Most were ordinary bones, piled up like mountains.

Gu Han walked over to the largest skeleton.

It seemed to be the remains of a dragon-type Soul Beast. Its skull alone was a zhang long, and its vertebrae stretched down into the crater, one after another.

Gu Han reached out and gently touched the skull.

Karma Sight stirred again, tracing the threads of karma on the bones back through time.

Fragmented scenes flashed through Gu Han's mind:

An ancient battlefield, the sky dyed in countless colors by Soul Skills.

Soul Beasts and human Soul Masters slaughtered each other. Blood stained the earth. A Dark Gold Dragon Beast threw back its head and roared, spitting golden flames that reduced dozens of human powerhouses to ash.

But then, three figures rushed in from different directions. One wielded a spear, its tip piercing the dragon beast's reverse scale...

The scene shattered.

Gu Han withdrew his hand, his heart shaken.

Judging from the Soul Masters' clothing and fighting styles, this battle hadn't taken place in recent years. It had to date back a very long time.

He continued examining the other skeletons.

Similar fragments of battle memories lingered on the remains of every powerful creature:

Furious roars, desperate counterattacks, and final falls. But the human Soul Masters' faces were all blurred. He could only sense their resolute killing intent.

"This was a war of extermination..." Gu Han murmured.

That Soul-Devouring Miasma had likely formed from the rotting corpses of Soul Beasts, mixed with the ley lines here.

As Gu Han pondered this, his body suddenly tensed.

In Karma Sight, the scattered threads of karma around him abruptly began converging in an orderly fashion toward him.

"Wooo—"

A whimper came from deep within the mist, neither quite beast nor human.

Then came a second, a third... Within seconds, all of Withered Bone Forest seemed to come alive. Countless whimpers, roars, and angry shouts tangled together.

Gu Han saw countless translucent figures emerge from the mist.

Some were Soul Beasts, others humans.

They weren't true souls, only lingering resentment, but there were an astonishing number of them.

The "gaze" of every shadowy figure fixed on Gu Han.

The next moment, they suddenly moved.

Countless remnants rushed toward him.

They had no physical bodies, and their attacks weren't physical either.

Instead, they struck directly at the mind. If his will weren't firm, the overwhelming resentment would crush his mind in an instant, leaving him a walking corpse.

"Hmph!"

Gu Han snorted and summoned the Heavenly Frost Sword into his hand.

Ultimate Ice naturally countered them.

He swept his sword across, unleashing a frost-white sword aura. The remnants at the forefront froze instantly, then shattered.

But the figures behind them seemed to have no intelligence. They kept charging.

Gu Han knew he couldn't afford to linger here.

Fighting as he retreated, he cleared a large area with every slash.

The battle lasted several minutes.

Gu Han had already destroyed most of the remnants, but the ones that remained were becoming more solid. In particular, the few remnants at the hundred-thousand-year level had begun to consciously engage him.

Suddenly, a thread of karma belonging to a living person appeared, colored a poisonous, inky green. It lay behind a rock face, where someone was watching the battle.

Someone else?

Gu Han was startled, but his hands kept moving. Using the light of his sword as cover, he glanced toward the thread of karma.

Behind the rock face, a tall, lean old man with green hair and green eyes appeared.

His eyes, like a venomous snake's, were warily fixed on Gu Han.

"Dugu Bo."

Gu Han was startled. In the original story, the reclusive Poison Douluo should have been near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in Sunset Forest. Why had he appeared in Withered Bone Forest, a thousand miles away?

Their eyes met in midair.

Dugu Bo clearly hadn't expected to run into anyone here. Seeing a young man remain at ease despite being besieged by Soul Beast remnants, he flashed a hint of surprise.

"Troublesome," Dugu Bo muttered.

He had come to Withered Bone Forest to gather several unusual poisonous ingredients. Ancient battlefield ruins steeped in miasma often gave rise to rare poisonous insects and plants.

Dugu Bo was suspicious by nature. When he saw Gu Han looking his way, he attacked without hesitation.

Without a word, a streak of dark green Soul Power shot toward Gu Han at incredible speed. Even Gu Han barely had time to react.

Gu Han was already dealing with another wave of Soul Beast remnants. When Dugu Bo suddenly attacked, he couldn't understand why, but he reacted swiftly.

He raised the Heavenly Frost Sword to block. Cold and poison collided, and the two currents of Soul Power canceled each other out.

"Senior, what is the meaning of this?" Gu Han asked in a deep voice.

Dugu Bo stepped out from behind the rock face, his voice hoarse.

"Boy, you've seen something you shouldn't have."

"I was only passing through to investigate. I meant no offense," Gu Han explained, still fending off the remnants. "If you don't want anyone to see you, I'll leave right now."

"Leave?"

Dugu Bo sneered. "Who knows whether you'll tell anyone?"

He gave Gu Han no chance to explain further. Nine Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.

Dugu Bo pressed his hands together, and his third Soul Ring lit up.

"Third Soul Skill: Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison!"

A cloud of dark green poison suddenly surged out, covering not only Gu Han but the surrounding Soul Beast remnants as well.

Gu Han's gaze sharpened.

He knew Dugu Bo's mastery of poison was second to none and didn't dare underestimate him. He thrust the Heavenly Frost Sword into the ground, forming a barrier that stopped the poison cloud.

One attacked while the other defended. For the moment, neither could gain the upper hand.

The Soul Beast remnants vanished in droves amid the shockwaves of their battle.

The longer they fought, the more alarmed Dugu Bo became.

He had assumed the young man was at most a Soul King and that his poison arts would let him take him down with ease.

But only after they exchanged blows did he realize that the quality of his opponent's ice-attribute Soul Power was terrifyingly high. It could actually freeze his Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

"Who are you, boy?" Dugu Bo asked coldly as his fifth Soul Ring began to glow.

"Spirit Hall. Gu Han." Gu Han replied calmly, the Heavenly Frost Sword in his hand shining ever brighter.

At the words "Spirit Hall," Dugu Bo was suddenly startled.

He had no ties to Spirit Hall, but it still filled him with a mixture of fear and loathing.

Then Dugu Bo continued to unleash Soul Skills at Gu Han.

His poison cloud was several times thicker than before. Even the rocks began to melt where it passed.

The Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was so vicious that even the Heavenly Frost Sword was having trouble holding it back.

As the poison cloud surged toward him again, the Heavenly Frost Sword pointed into its depths. A speck of cold light gathered at the tip, then burst forth.

There was no earth-shaking noise, only a silence in which time seemed to stop.

The Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison froze in midair, forming a field of purple ice.

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted. He leaped backward, but even so, a trace of cold clung to his sleeve and froze it instantly.

He hurriedly shattered the ice. When he looked at Gu Han again, his expression had completely changed.

The power of that strike had far exceeded Gu Han's current Soul Power.

What was more, the Ultimate Ice in Gu Han's Soul Power made the Jade Phosphorus Serpent Emperor Martial Soul in Dugu Bo's body instinctively wary.

"Good, good! A genius of Spirit Hall indeed," Dugu Bo said coldly. "But you won't be leaving today."

Gu Han furrowed his brow.

He didn't want to fight Dugu Bo to the death, but the other man clearly had no intention of letting this go.

Just as he was wondering whether he should reveal his Twin Martial Souls, Karma Sight suddenly caught an unusually distinctive thread of karma on Dugu Bo.

The thread was nearly black, stretching from Dugu Bo's heart. Its far end was riddled with fine cracks and signs of corrosion.

"Poison... backlash?"

Gu Han instantly understood.

In the original story, Dugu Bo had spent his life cultivating poison arts, only to suffer the backlash of his own poison. Whenever the weather turned rainy, he had to endure the agony of ten thousand poisons gnawing at his heart, and the poison even affected his descendants.

An idea flashed through Gu Han's mind.

Just as Dugu Bo was about to release his eighth Soul Skill, Gu Han suddenly lowered his sword and stepped back. "Senior Dugu, please wait."

"Oh? Want to beg for mercy now? Spirit Hall's people aren't much to speak of either," Dugu Bo sneered, though he eased the buildup of his Soul Skill slightly.

"I'm not begging for mercy. I want to make a deal with you."

Gu Han looked at him calmly. "I can solve the poison backlash afflicting you."

At his words, the poison cloud roiling around Dugu Bo abruptly stilled.

His eyes locked onto Gu Han, flashing with shock, doubt, and a glimmer of hope.

"What did you say?" Dugu Bo's voice suddenly turned eager.

"I said I can solve the backlash from the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison," Gu Han repeated, one word at a time. "Not just yours. I can completely purge the poison inherited by your descendants as well."

The mist of Withered Bone Forest drifted slowly between them. At some point, the remnants' whimpering had gradually faded.

Dugu Bo stood motionless, the poison cloud around him gathering and dispersing as his emotions surged. After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice tight with restrained feeling.

"Boy, do you know what it'll cost you to lie to me?"

Gu Han met his gaze, calm and steady. "Three days from now, outside Withered Bone Forest. I'll bring a solution, and you can verify it for yourself. If a single word of what I've said is false, we can fight then."

Dugu Bo fell silent.

At last, the poison cloud around him slowly receded, and his nine Soul Rings vanished one by one.

"Fine. I'll give you three days." He gave Gu Han a long, searching look. "If you dare play tricks... not even Spirit Hall can protect you!"

As his voice fell, Dugu Bo's figure transformed into a streak of green light and vanished into the depths of the fog.

Gu Han stood where he was and quietly let out a breath.

The secrets of the Withered Bone Forest, Dugu Bo's appearance, and the deal to end the backlash—this trip had yielded far more than he'd expected.

He took one last look at the vast battlefield, then turned and left.

Three days later, he would return here. Naturally, he also had a way to completely resolve Dugu Bo's backlash.