Dugu Yan Gets Spanked, Only Three Years Left to Live

"You really are... impossible to reason with."

"I'm so young and full of life. How could I possibly be some sickly invalid?"

Dugu Yan seriously suspected there was something wrong with Li Qinglian's eyes.

"Three years."

Li Qinglian raised three fingers on his right hand.

"What do you mean, three years?"

Dugu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

Looking at Li Qinglian's face, she was instantly seized by a sense of foreboding.

"At most, you have three years left before you're gone."

Li Qinglian crossed his arms over his chest, a smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Ah!"

"Don't think I'll be afraid of you just because you're the Holy Son of Spirit Hall!"

Dugu Yan completely snapped.

Three years later, she would only be twenty.

That would be the prime of a woman's youth and beauty.

And she would wither away then?

"I'm very accurate when it comes to judging people."

"Especially when it comes to seeing people die. That's my trade."

Li Qinglian found Dugu Yan's breakdown rather amusing.

As the Death Divine Tree, even without Pure Heart Eyes, he could easily sense that the life force within Dugu Yan's body was being corroded.

The poison within Dugu Yan's body was locked in a tug-of-war with her own life force. But poison grew stronger as it accumulated over time.

Three years from now would be the critical point when the poison completely overwhelmed her life force.

In truth, if Dugu Bo had not been helping her suppress it, she might already have died suddenly.

"You!"

"How dare you bully me like this? I haven't even provoked you!"

Dugu Yan exploded completely.

She abruptly summoned her martial soul. A jade-green serpent phantom rose behind her, its vertical pupils icy and its venomous tongue flickering.

A thick, dark-green poisonous mist suddenly spread out from her, carrying a sickeningly sweet, pungent stench as it surged toward Li Qinglian like a tide.

Sizzle!

The instant the dust in the air came into contact with the poisonous mist, it let out faint corrosive sounds. Its toxicity was clearly extreme.

"You fiery woman, I kindly warned you."

"Yet you refuse to appreciate it. You need to be taught a lesson."

He raised a hand and summoned his martial soul.

The pitch-black tree phantom, like dark jade, silently rose behind him as an invisible aura of deathly stillness spread outward.

The overwhelming poisonous mist seemed to have all its vitality drained away the instant it touched the Death Domain.

The green poison mist abruptly turned gray and lifeless, froze in place, then drifted down like fallen leaves, losing all its lethality.

Dugu Yan's pupils suddenly contracted.

She had never seen her poisonous mist be so effortlessly dismantled.

That was the Jade Scaled Snake Venom she had always been proud of, something even Soul Elder-level experts feared.

Yet the youth before her had not even moved, and the entire cloud of poison had turned into dead ash across the ground.

"What kind of monster are you..."

Her voice trembled slightly.

But rage and fear robbed her of reason.

She lunged at Li Qinglian, opened her mouth to reveal a pair of sharp venomous fangs, and viciously bit down toward his arm.

Then she bit nothing but air.

Li Qinglian merely turned his wrist slightly and evaded her fangs.

The next second, he hooked his hand back, flipped Dugu Yan over, and pressed her across his knee.

Then he brought his hand down hard.

Smack!

A crisp sound echoed through the quiet courtyard.

Dugu Yan's entire body froze.

A burning pain came from behind her, accompanied by an indescribable sense of humiliation and shock.

She—

She had been spanked?!

"Y-You... let me go—!"

She struggled violently, her voice full of shame and fury as her dark-green hair scattered over her shoulders.

"Have you calmed down yet?"

Li Qinglian did not let go, his tone still calm.

"No! Let me go—!"

Smack.

Another hit.

Dugu Yan was completely dumbfounded.

Ever since childhood, as Poison Douluo's beloved granddaughter and a genius student of Heaven Dou Royal Academy, who had ever dared lay a finger on her?

Much less press her over their knee and spank her!

Her eyes instantly reddened as humiliation, anger, grievance, and confusion all came flooding in.

"You... you bastard..."

Her voice dropped, carrying a slightly aggrieved nasal tone.

Seeing that she had finally stopped struggling, Li Qinglian released her and helped her sit upright from his knee.

"Calmed down now?"

Dugu Yan covered her butt, her eyes red as she glared at him.

Her dark-green eyes held both anger and grievance. Her lips were pressed tightly together, but she did not dare attack again.

"When I said three years—"

"I wasn't trying to scare you. Your Jade Scaled Snake Venom has already invaded your internal organs. Your grandfather's suppression methods have held up this long, which is already impressive, but at most three years from now, the poison will erupt completely."

Seeing her like this, Li Qinglian softened his tone somewhat, no longer speaking with his earlier teasing manner.

Dugu Yan froze.

She opened her mouth, wanting to refute him, only to find her voice stuck in her throat. She could not say a single word.

Because she suddenly realized—

What Li Qinglian said might be true!

Her body did indeed sometimes suffer from vague discomfort. Her chest occasionally felt tight and painful, and her limbs sometimes turned cold... but she had always thought it was simply because training was exhausting.

And when Grandpa suppressed the poison in her body, did that mean...

Every so often, Grandpa would come guide her cultivation.

Could that have been him helping her suppress the poison?

"Y-You... can see the poison inside my body?"

"I told you, this is my trade."

"If you want to live, have your grandfather come find me. I have a way."

Li Qinglian looked at her, paused, and his tone suddenly turned more serious.

Dugu Yan stood where she was, covering her butt, which still faintly burned, and looked at Li Qinglian with red-rimmed eyes.

Her mind was a complete mess.

Humiliation, anger, shock, and a trace of belief she herself was unwilling to admit.

She could tell that Li Qinglian's words just now had not been casually made up.

That calm, certain tone of his, along with those eyes that seemed able to see through everything, made the ominous feeling in her heart grow stronger and stronger.

"Y-You're telling the truth?"

"The poison in my body... I really only have three years left?"

Her voice lowered, carrying a barely noticeable tremble.

Li Qinglian nodded without saying anything more.

Dugu Yan bit her lip and remained silent for a long time.

Her dark-green hair hung over her shoulders, obscuring most of her face and revealing only one faintly reddened eye.

"I... I'll go back and ask Grandpa."

"If you dare lie to me—I may not be able to beat you, but I still won't let you off."

She finally spoke, her voice muffled and carrying a stubborn refusal to yield.

She sounded fierce, but there was an unmistakable panic in the end of her voice.

"Mm."

Seeing her outwardly fierce but inwardly weak appearance, Li Qinglian unusually did not continue teasing her.

"Just you wait. I'll be back."

Dugu Yan glared at him once more, then turned and left.

Her steps were somewhat unsteady. When she reached the courtyard gate, she even tripped over the threshold, staggering before she managed to steady herself.

She did not look back. Her dark-green hair swayed in the evening light, then disappeared around the corner of the alley.

Li Qinglian watched her leave, slowly withdrew his gaze, and looked down at his palm.

"Poison Douluo... Dugu Bo."

He quietly murmured the name, a faint flicker passing through his eyes.