Although temporarily suppressed by the pressure, Dugu Bo did not believe he would lose.
What a joke. My poison is unmatched under heaven, and I'm supposed to avoid her edge?
"Do you really think I'm so easy to bully?!"
Dugu Bo gritted his teeth, preparing to withstand the pressure and fight Ye Xishui head-on.
Seeing Dugu Bo's unyielding attitude, Meng Chen could only sigh.
"Since Poison Douluo is unwilling to speak properly, then we can only let strength do the talking."
At Meng Chen's words, Ye Xishui immediately stepped forward.
Just as Dugu Bo exerted all his strength, he suddenly felt that terrifying pressure intensify. The Soul Power he had only just gathered was suppressed once more.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding!
Nine Soul Rings emerged in sequence—six black and three red. The black ones were profound, the red ones bewitching, arranged neatly in distinct layers.
Holy shit!
When Dugu Bo saw those nine Soul Rings, his pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with horror.
Was this even right?
Normally, the first Soul Ring could at most be a hundred-year one. Yet this woman could absorb a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring?
And she even had three hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings?
Since when had hundred-thousand-year Soul Rings become so cheap?
Dugu Bo felt his mind buzzing as it went completely blank.
This scene that defied all common sense was like following a soft, fragrant peerless beauty, only for that beauty to pull out a Christmas tree with two bells hanging from it and ask whether it was big.
Anyone who saw that would break down, with nothing left in their mind but jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
However, something even more terrifying came next.
After releasing her Soul Rings, Ye Xishui's already suffocating pressure surged like a mountain flood, sweeping across heaven and earth.
Dugu Bo felt dizzy and disoriented, as though someone had struck him on the head with a hammer.
He desperately mobilized the Soul Power within him to resist, but it was utterly useless.
Dugu Bo felt as if the entire sky had collapsed upon him. He let out an unwilling roar, then raised his old ass high into the air and knelt on the ground in an incomparably humiliating pose.
Meng Chen: "..."
That posture...
It was fortunate this was not Chengdu.
After being forced to his knees, Dugu Bo's gaze cleared up. Trembling, he said, "Y-you... you're... a Peerless Douluo!"
To crush him so effortlessly while possessing such a terrifying Soul Ring configuration—she was undoubtedly a rank ninety-nine Peerless Douluo.
That was a height he could never reach even if he spent his entire life pursuing it. As far as he knew, the only Peerless Douluo on the continent was the one from Spirit Hall.
Where had this terrifying woman come from?
Dugu Bo did his best to raise his head and look at Ye Xishui's bewitchingly beautiful face. Suddenly, a chill shot up his spine.
He had actually wanted to fight someone like her just moments ago. If she truly wished to kill him, it would be as easy as turning her hand over!
Seeing Dugu Bo drenched in cold sweat from lingering fear, Meng Chen knew the time was ripe.
He strolled over, crouched before Dugu Bo, and said with an innocent smile, "Poison Douluo, don't be so nervous. Look, I could clearly slap you to death, yet I'm choosing to reason with you. Tell me, where else could you find such a nice person?"
Reason with me? Making me stick my ass up counts as reasoning with me?
Ten thousand alpacas stampeded through Dugu Bo's heart.
"Besides, I was even thinking of helping you resolve the poison backlash in your body."
Resolve the poison backlash?!
Those words shocked Dugu Bo even more than Ye Xishui had.
How did this brat know?!
Over all these years of suffering poison backlash, Dugu Bo had endured endless pain. Worse still, he had lost his father in childhood, his wife in middle age, and his son in old age!
And now, his granddaughter was about to enter the grave in the prime of her youth because of that poison.
A problem that had plagued Dugu Bo and even the entire Dugu Family—now some wet-behind-the-ears brat was suddenly saying he could solve it?
When an opportunity to escape suffering was placed before someone, a human's first reaction was doubt.
Thus, after hearing Meng Chen's words, Dugu Bo froze for a moment before bursting into wild laughter.
"Hahahaha... Help me detoxify? What arrogance! My Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Poison has long seeped into my bones and marrow. You think you can resolve the chronic affliction that has tormented me my entire life?"
Meng Chen said disdainfully, "Oh, really? Then let me ask you: when it rains, do you feel numb and itchy all over, like you have gout? Let me ask you this: every midnight, does your head ache? Let me ask you this: do your entire body convulse?"
Meng Chen could not remember how the original work had described it. He only vaguely remembered the symptoms being something like this.
But even if he failed to bluff Dugu Bo, it did not matter. Ye Xishui would take action.
Dugu Bo was greatly alarmed. His late-night melancholy was his deepest secret; not even Dugu Yan knew of it.
It seemed this brat truly had some skill.
At once, he believed Meng Chen's claim that he could resolve the poison backlash.
But... there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
Still, to cure this chronic affliction, Dugu Bo was willing to pay any price.
And if he could be cured, it meant his granddaughter could live on with a smile as well.
Thus, Dugu Bo gritted his teeth and said, "Then... what do you want from me?"
Good, they had finally reached the main point.
"It's easy talking to smart people." Meng Chen smiled gently, before his voice suddenly turned cold. "From this day on, submit to me!"
Considering that it was inconvenient for Ye Xishui to show herself openly, Meng Chen felt it was necessary to subdue Dugu Bo. That way, he would have a Titled Douluo backing him in public.
Hearing Meng Chen's words, Dugu Bo's eyes widened in fury. "Impossible! You're just a wet-behind-the-ears child, yet you dare dream of making a Titled Douluo submit to you?!"
"Even the current emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire has to treat me with courtesy!"
"Poison Douluo, you need to understand that you are in no position to bargain with me. Only if I give you an opportunity can we negotiate properly. If I don't give you one, you should be begging me to detoxify you!"
Meng Chen's tone was icy. Even more frighteningly, he suddenly leaned close to Dugu Bo and whispered, "You wouldn't want your granddaughter to be poisoned to death alive, would you?"
The strong always had their pride, so Meng Chen had no choice but to use both carrot and stick on this stubborn old mule.
Those words instantly crushed the last of Dugu Bo's dignity.
Dugu Yan was the last blood his son had left behind.
At that moment, Dugu Bo finally understood that he had never had a choice from the very beginning.
"Fine... I understand."
Dugu Bo gritted out those words and completely abandoned resistance, allowing his ass to rise even higher as a sign of submission.
Meng Chen nodded in satisfaction, and Ye Xishui immediately withdrew her pressure.
A wave of accomplishment surged through Meng Chen's heart. He discovered that subduing a Titled Douluo felt this good.
No wonder Tang San had trained Huo Yuhao into Dai Yuhao in the original work.
Now that Dugu Bo had submitted, Meng Chen no longer needed to keep up that arrogant demeanor. He reached out and helped Dugu Bo to his feet.
"There's no need for Poison Douluo to be so humble. Just call me Young Master Chen."
If he had not truly needed a Titled Douluo to protect him, Meng Chen really would not have wanted to subdue Dugu Bo this way.
Although Dugu Bo was still unconvinced by Meng Chen in his heart, he had no choice but to yield outwardly. "Yes... Young Master Chen."
Meng Chen nodded. "Although Poison Douluo has submitted to me, you are not some servant. From now on, Poison Douluo, you will serve as an elder of the Holy Spirit Cult and protect me."
With a Peerless Douluo by your side, you still need me to protect you?
And what exactly was this Holy Spirit Cult?
Although his heart was filled with questions, old fox Dugu Bo kept them hidden and respectfully said, "Yes. Young Master Chen, since I have accepted your terms, then regarding this detoxification...?"
Hearing Dugu Bo say this, Ye Xishui interjected, "As for detoxification, our Holy Spirit Cult has a secret art that uses poison to nourish poison. It is perfectly suited to you."
There was such a thing?
Dugu Bo was overjoyed. It seemed becoming an elder of this Holy Spirit Cult was actually quite good.
Seeing Dugu Bo's delighted expression, Meng Chen felt something was a little strange.
Was he making a righteous elder fall to evil?
No, that was not right. Dugu Bo did not count as righteous either—he was not even an elder of Spirit Hall.
Before you continue