Dugu Yan

Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the leaves of the tall ginkgo trees beside the training grounds, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across the bluestone pavement.

Several students were practicing their soul skills on the training grounds. Shouts and collisions rose and fell one after another, and from time to time, someone was sent flying only to climb back up and continue.

Dugu Yan sat beneath a ginkgo tree at the edge of the training grounds, propping up her chin with both hands as she watched the busy figures in the field, her gaze somewhat unfocused.

She was twenty-one this year, tall and slender with delicate features. Her long dark-green hair was tied into a neat ponytail behind her head.

Cultivating the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul had given her an air of coolness and sharpness, making her something of a renowned genius student at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

But at this moment, she looked listless. A trace of exhaustion lingered between her brows, and faint shadows lay beneath her eyes.

They were the marks of Backlash Poison.

Although her condition was not yet as severe as her grandfather Dugu Bo's, the toxins she had carried since birth had grown increasingly active along with her Soul Power. Whenever her cultivation reached a bottleneck, they would flare up, leaving her in pain and drained for days before she could recover.

"Yan Yan."

A gentle voice came from behind her.

Dugu Yan turned around and saw a girl in a light-green dress walking toward her.

The girl was slender and fair-skinned, with soft, tranquil features. The hem of her dress swayed gently as she walked, like an orchid swaying in the breeze.

Ye Lingling.

A famous beauty at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, and Dugu Yan's closest friend.