At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Ling Xuqing sat cross-legged at the edge of the spring. The Golden Dragon King's essence intertwined with the power of ice and fire around him as he entered a state of deep cultivation.
Gu Yuena quietly stood guard beside him, her violet eyes full of tenderness and focus.
"Young Master, we'll head back to Heaven Dou City first, then."
Dugu Bo glanced at Ling Xuqing, then turned to the two girls.
"Mm, go ahead. Come back as soon as you're done."
Ling Xuqing didn't open his eyes. His gentle voice echoed through the valley.
"Don't worry, Young Master. Grandpa's with us!"
Dugu Yan playfully stuck out her tongue and took Ye Lingling's hand. Then, following Dugu Bo, she turned into one of three streaks of light and sped toward Heaven Dou City.
Heaven Dou City, the Ye Clan estate.
As a renowned healing Soul Master family in Heaven Dou City, the Ye Clan's estate wasn't as extravagant as the imperial palace, but everywhere exuded a quiet elegance and vitality.
When Dugu Bo entered the Ye Clan's main hall with the two girls, the Ye Clan head—Ye Lingling's father, Ye Qing—and her mother were waiting anxiously.
"Lingling!" The moment Mother Ye saw her daughter, her eyes reddened. She hurried forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Feeling her mother's warm embrace, a current of warmth flowed through Ye Lingling's heart.
"Dad, Mom, I'm fine."
Ye Lingling spoke softly as she deliberately released a trace of her Soul Power.
When that exquisitely pure life aura, carrying the essence of the Emerald Swan, spread through the hall, Ye Qing's eyes flew wide open.
"This... this is the aura of the Nine Heart Begonia?"
"No, that's not right!"
"This is purer, more sacred than the Nine Heart Begonia!"
Ye Qing stared at his daughter in disbelief, his voice trembling.
As a successor of the Nine Heart Begonia, he knew all too well what this aura meant.
"Dad, the flaw in my Martial Soul has been healed by the Young Master." Ye Lingling looked at her father and spoke earnestly. "And my Martial Soul has evolved."
"Not only that, I'm already a level forty-three Soul Ancestor."
"F-forty-three?!"
Ye Qing and Mother Ye both sucked in a sharp breath, their faces filled with shock.
Ye Lingling was only eleven!
An eleven-year-old Soul Ancestor was unheard of in the history of the entire Douluo Continent!
"Not only that," Dugu Bo said with a smile as he stroked his beard. "Lingling has already decided to follow the Young Master and cultivate."
"So she's planning to withdraw from Heaven Dou Royal Academy."
At the words "withdraw from school," Ye Qing froze for a moment.
But when he saw the unprecedented confidence and resolve in his daughter's eyes and felt the surging power within her, the last trace of concern in his heart vanished.
"Good!" Ye Qing nodded firmly, his eyes full of relief. "Now that Lingling has found her own path, I'll support her all the way as her father!"
"Heaven Dou Royal Academy can't teach what the Young Master can!"
"Lingling, go for it!"
"Thanks, Dad!" Ye Lingling smiled brightly.
Afterward, Dugu Bo took the two girls to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and completed their formal withdrawal procedures.
The whole process went exceptionally smoothly. After all, with a Titled Douluo like Dugu Bo handling things in person, how could the academy's three board members dare to stop them? They practically wanted to bang gongs and drums as they sent the two young ladies on their way.
However, just as Dugu Bo and the others had left Heaven Dou Royal Academy and reached a deserted street outside, several sharp whooshes suddenly came from behind them.
"Stop!"
A furious, bewildered shout rang out.
Dugu Bo stopped and turned around.
Yu Tianheng was charging toward them with Osler and Yu Feng, his face full of anger.
Yu Tianheng's aura was extremely volatile. He unleashed the full force of his level-thirty-nine Soul Elder Soul Power and stared fixedly at Dugu Yan, his eyes filled with accusation and resentment.
"Yan Yan! Why are you withdrawing from school?!"
Yu Tianheng gritted his teeth. "How has Heaven Dou Royal Academy wronged you?"
"You made this decision on your own without even discussing it with me?!"
In Yu Tianheng's eyes, Dugu Yan was his childhood sweetheart and the fiancée he had long since chosen. Everything about her should have been under his control. How could she possibly slip out of his sight?!
"Yu Tianheng, what do you think you are?"
"Since when have you had the right to meddle in my affairs?" Dugu Yan stopped and turned around, looking at Yu Tianheng coldly.
"You..." Dugu Yan's icy gaze made Yu Tianheng's heart quiver, but he still put on a brave front and shouted, "I'm doing this for your own good!"
"You're my childhood sweetheart, the fiancée I, Yu Tianheng, chose. Your business is my business. Why shouldn't I be able to interfere?!"
"Shut up!" Dugu Yan's gaze turned icy.
"Big brother, don't waste your breath on him. Let me teach this ignorant fool a lesson!"
Yu Feng gave a cold snort, activated Martial Soul Possession, spread his wings, and swooped straight at Dugu Yan.
"Looking for death."
Dugu Yan didn't even activate her Martial Soul, much less use her Soul Power.
After tempering her body with Whale Rubber and undergoing the baptism of the Golden Dragon King's essence, her physical strength was now practically on par with that of a high-level Soul Ancestor!
She flickered forward and appeared in front of Yu Feng in an instant.
Yu Feng's vision blurred. The next moment, an irresistible, terrifying force struck his chest.
"Bang!"
Dugu Yan drove a simple, direct whip kick into Yu Feng's chest.
Yu Feng didn't even have time to scream. He flew back more than ten meters like a battered sack struck by a catapult, slammed into a wall, and passed out cold.
"Yu Feng!"
Osler was horrified and started forward, but Dugu Yan struck him precisely on the neck with the edge of her hand.
Osler's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled to the ground.
"You..." Watching his two companions get taken out in an instant, Yu Tianheng's pupils shrank.
At last, he realized the Dugu Yan before him was no longer the Dugu Yan he had known!
But as the direct heir of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, his pride wouldn't let him back down.
"Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Martial Soul Possession!"
Yu Tianheng roared. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul possessed him, and purple arcs of electricity crackled around his body.
His third Soul Ring lit up—Thunderous Might! He turned into a bolt of blue lightning and, carrying the force of a raging storm, slammed toward Dugu Yan.
"Just what I wanted!"
A trace of disdain flashed through Dugu Yan's eyes.
She didn't even dodge. She merely raised her right hand slightly, curled her fingers into a claw, and reached for the raging lightning.
"Boom—!"
The lightning struck Dugu Yan's arm, but it couldn't even pierce her skin. Instead, the terrifying strength of her body shattered it outright!
"That's impossible!" Yu Tianheng was horrified.
"There's nothing impossible about it."
Dugu Yan gave a cold smile, shot out her left hand, and clamped it around Yu Tianheng's neck, lifting him into the air.
"You..." Yu Tianheng kicked wildly at empty air, his face turning purplish red, his eyes filled with terror.
"Smack!"
Dugu Yan turned her hand and slapped him hard across the face.
"This slap is for your insolence!"
"Smack!"
Another slap.
"This slap is for your arrogance!"
"Smack! Smack! Smack!"
Dugu Yan showed no mercy, slapping him back and forth more than a dozen times.
Every slap carried terrifying physical force, leaving Yu Tianheng seeing stars, his mouth full of blood.
"Now, do you know who I am?"
Dugu Yan let go, and Yu Tianheng fell to the ground like a pile of mud.
Yu Tianheng's once-handsome face had swollen like a ball of risen dough. His face was bruised and battered beyond recognition—not even his own mother would have known him.
He lay on the ground, his eyes unfocused, too weak even to get back up.
"Tianheng!"
Just then, two terrifying auras descended from above and landed heavily on the street.
It was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's sect master, Yu Yuanzhen, and its second-in-command, Yu Luomian, who had rushed over as soon as they received the news!
When Yu Yuanzhen saw Yu Tianheng lying on the ground, beaten beyond recognition, his eyes nearly split with rage. A towering blaze of fury surged into the sky.
"Who did this?! Who dared beat the direct heir of my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan into this state?!"
Yu Yuanzhen roared, unleashing the full pressure of a level-ninety-five Super Douluo and locking onto Dugu Bo.
"Old Poison, was this your doing?!" Yu Luomian's expression was equally grim, his eyes brimming with killing intent.
"Gentlemen, calm yourselves." Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back. Facing the pressure of two Super Douluos, he wasn't the least bit afraid. Instead, he smiled faintly. "It was just a spar between youngsters. We elders shouldn't stick our noses into it, should we?"
"A spar?!" Yu Yuanzhen pointed at Yu Tianheng, who lay on the ground on the verge of death, and laughed in fury. "You call this a spar?!"
"Old Poison, you're going to give me an explanation today!"
"An explanation?" Dugu Bo let out a cold laugh. Dark green Soul Power rose slowly around him, and a terrifying pressure no weaker than Yu Yuanzhen's erupted, forcing his pressure back.
"Boom—!"
The two terrifying auras collided in midair. The air around them warped instantly, and even the trees lining the street trembled beneath their pressure.
"Dugu Bo, you're courting death!" Seeing this, Yu Luomian activated Martial Soul Possession and prepared to attack.
"Enough."
Dugu Bo gave a cold snort as his nine Soul Rings slowly rose.
A terrifying aura, surpassing that of an ordinary Titled Douluo, swept across the entire area.
Feeling that aura, Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian both changed expressions.
"This... this aura..." Yu Yuanzhen stared at Dugu Bo, his eyes filled with disbelief and shock. "Dugu Bo, when did you break through to level ninety-three?!"
Level ninety-three!
That was the realm of a Super Douluo!
And judging by how concentrated his aura was, Dugu Bo's Soul Power was more than twice as powerful as before!
"It's nothing." Dugu Bo reined in his aura and stroked his beard with a faint smile, his tone utterly unconcerned. "I was lucky enough to come across an opportunity and happen to break through."
Lucky?!
Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian exchanged glances, both seeing profound shock and astonishment in the other's eyes.
How vast was the gap between levels ninety-one and ninety-three?
So many people were stuck at level ninety-one their whole lives, unable to advance even an inch, and he was saying... he just happened to break through?!
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