Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor! Ten Thousand Year Spirit Bone!

Dugu Yan stood before the Self-Cultivation Furnace and took a deep breath. She turned to look at Dugu Bo, her gaze resolute.

Dugu Bo said nothing. He took a jade case from his storage soul tool.

When the lid opened, a fist-sized skull floated up. The soul bone was pitch-black throughout, its surface rippling with a dim sheen. Dark-purple poisonous mist could faintly be seen seeping from the gaps between the bones.

Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Skull.

It had come from the ten-thousand-year sea soul beast, the Phantom Demon Sea Ghostfish. It shared the same origin and species as Sea Ghost Douluo of Sea God Island's martial soul. It was a sea soul beast possessing powerful hallucinogenic poison, making it highly suitable for Dugu Yan.

"This is what you asked me to prepare earlier." Dugu Bo handed the soul bone to Lin Ya.

"I traded a favor to the Heaven Dou Imperial Family for it. I thought I could at least get a thirty-thousand-year soul bone, but that stingy Emperor Xue Ye only gave me this ten-thousand-year one. What a miser."

Lin Ya was speechless. Be grateful—a ten-thousand-year soul bone was already good enough. Even Uncle Xue Xing had yet to get one for himself.

At this moment, Xue Xing was still on horseback, making his way over...

Lin Ya handed the soul bone to Dugu Yan. She received it with both hands. It felt icy cold to the touch, and poisonous mist crept upward from her fingertips, making her Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul instinctively let out a joyful cry.

Both were intensely poisonous, and they naturally resonated with each other.

"Get in." Lin Ya's voice came from beside the Self-Cultivation Furnace, as calm as if he were commenting on the pleasant weather.

He was using that tone to tell Dugu Yan not to be nervous. This was easy for him, so she did not need to be afraid.

Holding the soul bone in her arms and tightly gripping the faintly glowing Snow-White Swan Kiss in her other hand, Dugu Yan leaped into the Self-Cultivation Furnace.

Lin Ya pressed both hands against the furnace wall and released his Outcast martial soul. Soul power surged into the furnace like a tide.

With his other hand hovering in the air, he carefully drew out the Snow-White Swan Kiss's energy, sending it into Dugu Yan's body strand by strand.

This was the Snow-White Swan Kiss. It was not something an eighteenth-level Soul Master like Dugu Yan could endure directly, so Lin Ya used this method to strengthen her little by little. If she could not withstand it, he could stop immediately, and her life would not be endangered.

The instant the first strand of Snow-White Swan Kiss entered her body, Dugu Yan shuddered violently.

Lin Ya's voice rang beside her ear. "Focus on absorbing the soul bone. Leave everything else to me."

Only after hearing Lin Ya's words did Dugu Yan calm down and silently begin absorbing the soul bone in her hands.

As the Snow-White Swan Kiss entered her body, the Jade Phosphor Serpent Venom within Dugu Yan immediately began multiplying madly.

"Ah—!!"

Dugu Yan let out an uncontrollable scream. She writhed violently inside the Self-Cultivation Furnace as dark-green poisonous mist seeped from every pore on her body, dyeing the entire furnace a thick, murky jade-green.

Dugu Bo moved his foot, nearly rushing forward.

But he forcibly stopped himself.

His fists were clenched tight, his nails digging into his palms.

Trust the boy, Lin, Dugu Bo told himself.

Lin Ya's face remained expressionless, but a sharp gleam flickered in his eyes.

His spiritual power had transformed into Blue Hand, completely enveloping Dugu Yan's meridians and dantian. The path of every trace of poison within her body was under his control.

The poison was multiplying thirty percent faster than Lin Ya had expected, but it was still within controllable limits.

Lin Ya abruptly flipped his right hand, guiding the wildly proliferating poison within Dugu Yan toward the origin of her martial soul.

The Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul greedily devoured the surging poison. Its body continued swelling within Dugu Yan's dantian as it shed its skin—

Once.

Twice.

The instant its third molt was complete, the Jade Phosphor Serpent's formerly dull scales burst with dazzling jade light. Its body nearly doubled in length, and a diamond-shaped crown mark faintly appeared atop its head.

Martial soul! Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor!

Dugu Bo could not see any of this from outside, but he could clearly sense it—his granddaughter's aura was rising.

"Did... did it succeed?"

Her martial soul had evolved, but it was not over yet.

The Snow-White Swan Kiss was an immortal herb capable of destroying an entire Slaughter City with just one flower. Of course, its medicinal power did not end there.

Lin Ya simultaneously activated his left hand, precisely injecting a portion of the Snow-White Swan Kiss's energy into the Ten-Thousand-Year Demon Skull.

The soul bone already contained Sea Ghostfish venom, and now it had been infused with Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Venom. Its quality was already no weaker than that of a twenty-thousand-year head soul bone. And now, the Snow-White Swan Kiss had been added as well!

The poison within the soul bone reacted violently under the catalysis of the Snow-White Swan Kiss's life energy. The dark green on the soul bone's surface abruptly deepened. After the dark-purple poisonous mist churned for several breaths, it suddenly contracted—

Its quality broke through.

The originally ten-thousand-year soul bone now surged straight to fifty thousand years!

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted.

Though he could not see the details inside the furnace, he could sense the resulting energy fluctuations with absolute clarity as a Titled Douluo.

"What exactly is that boy Lin planning to do?!"

Inside the furnace, Dugu Yan gritted her teeth.

The soul bone fusion and martial soul evolution were happening at the same time. The two forces rampaged through her body, and the pain had already exceeded the limit of what she could endure.

But she did not cry out.

She bit down hard on her lips, blood trickling from her chin. She could not let her grandfather and Lin Ya down!

Yet the Snow-White Swan Kiss still had energy remaining.

The immortal herb was of far too high a grade. Dugu Yan's body was like a small cup, while the poison was an entire river.

The poison was still multiplying, already exceeding the rate at which the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor could devour it.

The excess poison began eroding her meridians.

Dugu Yan's face visibly turned deathly pale, her lips darkened, and her breathing grew ragged.

Lin Ya frowned.

"Has she reached her limit? Should I store the remaining Snow-White Swan Kiss for now and give it to her after she levels up?"

Lin Ya had already raised his hand, preparing to withdraw—

At that moment, his spiritual power caught a change.

Deep within Dugu Yan's dantian, the phantom of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor coiled inward. At the center of its body, a thumb-sized jade-green inner core was condensing into shape.

The Serpent Emperor Inner Core.

A poison core that formed naturally after a martial soul evolved to the Serpent Emperor level.

Not only did it contain formidable poison that could be used as an offensive method, it could also increase a soul master's cultivation speed, equivalent to a soul core!

Lin Ya instantly changed his mind.

Rather than withdrawing the Snow-White Swan Kiss's energy, he increased the rate of transmission, pouring all the remaining energy into that newly formed inner core in one go!

Outside, Dugu Bo paced anxiously back and forth. The energy fluctuations within the Self-Cultivation Furnace grew ever more violent, and he was beginning to regret—

BOOM!!

A muffled blast rang out from the Self-Cultivation Furnace. A jade-green pillar of light shot into the sky, blasting a huge hole through the ceiling.

Fortunately, the Self-Cultivation Furnace was made from special materials, so it would not be shattered by a mere level-twenty soul master.

Dugu Bo instinctively shielded himself from the falling rubble and looked up. Within that jade light, an illusory giant serpent coiled upward, its eyes like two pieces of jade—cold and imposing.

The might of the Serpent Emperor blanketed the entire area.

The pillar of light lasted for three breaths before slowly receding.

The Self-Cultivation Furnace opened. Dugu Yan sat cross-legged at its bottom, drenched from head to toe, her face pale but her eyes bright.

A faint jade-green glow lingered around her. A Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Inner Core floated above her head, radiating a terrifying aura.

"It worked."

Lin Ya withdrew his hands and exhaled a breath of turbid air. Smiling at Dugu Bo, he said, "I have fulfilled your trust."

Whoosh!

Dugu Bo crossed the distance in two strides and grabbed his granddaughter's arm, sending soul power into her body to examine her—

A moment later, Poison Douluo's hand began to tremble.

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Martial Soul: Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor.

Soul Bone: Fifty-Thousand-Year Demon Skull.

Level: 20

The Snow-White Swan Kiss was not an immortal herb that increased one's strength, but the Fifty-Thousand-Year soul bone and the martial soul evolution had still raised Dugu Yan's soul power by two levels, bringing her to level twenty exactly.

"I stored the remaining essence of the Snow-White Swan Kiss in her inner core. Once she levels up, she can absorb it herself."

"Thank you, kid Lin!" Dugu Bo looked at Lin Ya gratefully. In his entire life, he had thanked only two people.

One was Prince Xue Xing, who had stepped forward with an army when Dugu Bo was being hunted by the two Douluo, Ghost and Chrysanthemum.

The other was Lin Ya, standing before him—the one who had given both him and his granddaughter a second life.

Feeling the terrifying aura within his granddaughter's martial soul, Dugu Bo could finally say with confidence:

"Our Dugu family has finally produced an Ultimate Poison!"