Surviving Desperate Straits and Rising Anew! Dugu Yan's Agony!

"Heal!"

Ye Lengleng softly uttered, aiming the Nine-Heart Begonia in her palm right at Dugu Yan.

Soft pink light poured down like ripples of water, enveloping Dugu Yan's curled-up body.

Wherever the light passed, the minor scratches Dugu Yan had sustained during the recent sparring match healed swiftly at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming as smooth as before.

However...

"Ah—!"

Enveloped in the pink light, far from improving, Dugu Yan instead let out an even more shrill scream.

Her already painfully distorted face convulsed even more violently now on account of the excruciating pain.

"How could this be..."

The color on Ye Lengleng's face completely drained in a flash.

She stared at her close friend who was in even greater agony under her healing light, her pair of beautiful eyes filled with shock and incomprehension.

Beads of sweat the size of soybeans rolled down from her smooth forehead.

Why?

Her Nine-Heart Begonia was the universally recognized number-one supplementary-system martial soul on the Douluo Continent, possessing top-tier healing capabilities.

Why had it had not the slightest effect on Yanzi's pain?

Even... making her pain worse?!

Ye Lengleng was at a loss, for a moment actually not knowing whether she should continue the treatment or retract her martial soul.

Just as she grew anxious enough to almost cry, Dugu Yan's violent trembling slowly subsided.

Her hurried and painful gasps gradually grew long and steady.

After another moment.

Dugu Yan's whole body was drenched in cold sweat as if she had been fished out of the water, but that tormenting, excruciating pain had finally passed.

She slowly relaxed her tightly bitten lips, laborarily propped up her upper body, leaned against the nearby mimetic rock, and wiped the cold sweat from her face.

"Yanzi, you... you're okay?"

Ye Lengleng asked cautiously.

"An old ailment."

Dugu Yan's voice was still somewhat weak, but it had already regained its usual icy detachment.

She glanced at Ye Lengleng and twitched the corner of her mouth.

"I won't die."

"As my soul power continuously increases, the might of the Jade-Scale Serpent Poison grows stronger as well. This is the drawback of the backlash."

"Every once in a while, it hurts like this for a spell."

"It just got triggered ahead of time because I was fighting that fellow Yu Tianheng a bit too hastily."

She explained lightly.

"Once I pull through it, it's fine. Don't worry."

As she spoke, her gaze crossed Ye Lengleng and landed on the young man not far away who had maintained his composure from beginning to end.

The youth had an upright posture and deep dark eyes, and he was quietly watching them.

"Lengleng."

"Who is this?"

A hint of inquiry laced Dugu Yan's voice.

"Yo, you finally noticed him?"

Seeing that her close friend was all right, Ye Lengleng instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

She stood up, patted the dust off her body, and cast a sideways glance at Dugu Yan.

"Who else could it be? The one you provoked, of course."

"I just knew that you little temptress only knew how to flirt around outside."

She intentionally leaned close to Dugu Yan's ear, saying in a low, exaggerated voice that only the two of them could hear.

"Such a little brother, and you can actually bring yourself to make a move?"

"He specifically named you and came looking just for you."

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!"

Hearing this, Dugu Yan's pale face immediately flushed with a vexed red, and she raised her hand to gently tap Ye Lengleng's arm.

"Don't ruin my reputation!"

After scolding her, her gaze involuntarily glanced toward Tang Shuo again.

In her mind, the wretched scene of herself rolling around on the ground in pain just now, utterly lacking any composure, with tears and snot running down, flashed across instantly.

And all of this...

Had been seen from beginning to end by this strange youth, completely and clearly.

Dugu Yan only felt her cheeks burning fiercely.

At this moment, that youth moved.

Tang Shuo walked over unhurriedly.

He stopped in front of the two women.

"Your poison, I can remove."

Ye Lengleng opened her small mouth in surprise.

As for Dugu Yan, her beautiful eyes narrowed, and her gaze instantly turned sharp.

"You?"

Her red lips parted slightly, spitting out a single word filled with disdain.

"Even Lengleng's Nine-Heart Begonia is helpless against it, so what gives an unknown punk like you the right to talk such big talk?"

She sized Tang Shuo up.

He looked even younger than her.

Could it be... that this was yet another lame excuse he had come up with to get close to her?

Tang Shuo's expression remained calm.

"What I said was 'remove', not 'cure'."

He explained calmly.

"With my current soul power, I can only temporarily help you suppress the poison so that it doesn't flare up."

Pausing, he tossed out his true objective.

"If you want to completely eradicate the Jade-Scale Serpent Poison in you and your grandfather, you need to take me to see him."

"Pfft..."

Ye Lengleng at the side could no longer hold it in and laughed out loud.

She gently bumped Dugu Yan's arm with her elbow, blinking and winking as she bantered.

"Yanzi, hear that?"

"This guy's goal is clear enough. He hasn't even started pursuing you yet, and he's already skipped straight to meeting the elders!"

She leaned close to Dugu Yan's ear, lowering her voice, her tone full of amusement.

"Look, this fellow is still quite determined. Why don't you... consider it?"

"Shut your trap!"

Dugu Yan's cheeks flushed red again in anger, and she fiercely glared at her uninhibited close friend.

She turned her head and stared at Tang Shuo with those eyes that had regained their icy detachment.

"No need."

It was filled with a coldness that kept people a thousand miles away.

Tang Shuo shrugged indifferently.

"Fine."

He nodded.

"I've laid my words out here."

"The backlash of this Jade-Scale Serpent Poison will only grow fiercer with every increase in your soul power, one time more violent than the last."

"If it flares up again next time and you really can't bear the pain, you can come find me."

"Of course, if I make a move, there is a fee."

After saying that, Tang Shuo stopped looking at her and turned to leave.

He firmly believed that no one could endure that bone-deep, excruciating pain over and over again, especially a proud woman like Dugu Yan.

She would come looking for him.

Watching Tang Shuo's resolute departing figure, Ye Lengleng poked Dugu Yan, who was still sulking.

"Hey, what do you say?"

"You really didn't take a fancy to him at all?"

Ye Lengleng looked her close friend up and down.

"I think he's quite handsome, you know."

"Listen to me, this is definitely a potential stock. Look at his figure and that face; once he grows up a bit more, he'll definitely be a calamity-bringing super hunk."

She analyzed as if it were a serious matter.

"Take advantage of the fact that he's still a little brother and snatch him up quickly."

"Lest he gets snatched away by some outside vixen once he grows up, and you won't even have a place to cry!"

Dugu Yan watched Tang Shuo's distant figure without saying a word.

She admitted that the youth had hit the mark.

The pain when the Jade-Scale Serpent Poison flared up was bone-deep, making every single instance of it agonizing to the point of wishing for death.

Yet...

To display such a fragile appearance in front of another man, especially a youth even younger than herself?

She could not do it.

What was more, that youth's claim about being able to suppress the poison...

Was simply sheer fantasy!