Wind-Poison Coordination, Dugu Yan's Serpent Venom Backlash

At that moment, footsteps echoed through the spirit fighting arena.

Qin Ming strode down the corridor and stopped at the center before the arena.

"Everyone, assemble!"

At his command, the players who had been fooling around immediately sobered up.

The nine team members, including Gu Feng and Ning Rongrong, quickly formed a neat line.

Qin Ming swept his gaze over the group, lingering briefly on Gu Feng and Yu Tianheng before opening the tactical notebook in his hand.

"Today is the Imperial Fighting Team's first group training session since its reorganization."

"You have all gained a preliminary understanding of each other's abilities. Now, I'll clarify the formation positions and specific duties for team battles."

Qin Ming picked up a marker and drew several circles on the whiteboard.

"Yu Tianheng will serve as the core assault-type Soul Master, taking the front of the formation and breaking through the enemy's defenses head-on."

"Shi Mo, Shi Mo, the two of you will guard the left and right flanks respectively. Your main task is to establish defensive barriers and ensure the safety of the support and control Soul Masters in the rear, while also maintaining the formation's cohesion."

The Shi brothers nodded in unison.

Qin Ming then pointed at the empty positions on either side.

"Yu Feng will provide aerial vision suppression and mobile support. Osler will roam the flanks, looking for opportunities to assassinate the enemy's vulnerable Soul Masters."

"As for the rear line, Ye Lingling will be responsible for the team's sustained healing, while Ning Rongrong will provide group boosts to strength and speed."

After assigning the standard positions, Qin Ming's gaze fell upon Gu Feng and Dugu Yan.

"Lastly, the core combination for control and breakthrough."

"Gu Feng, your command over the wind element is exceptionally precise. Not only can you unleash terrifying single-target destructive power, but you can also freely manipulate the flow of air around you."

"Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison is immensely powerful and lethally effective in group battles. However, her poison has weaknesses when it comes to range of dispersal and precise strikes."

Qin Ming connected Gu Feng's and Dugu Yan's names with a red line.

"If Gu Feng uses wind-attribute Soul Power to guide Yan's poison mist, opening a path for it, accelerating it, or even forcibly compressing it within a limited area, it will become a devastating weapon for splitting the battlefield and carrying out regional slaughter!"

"The two of you coordinating wind and poison will be our team's trump card tactic from now on!"

Hearing this tactical arrangement, Dugu Yan turned to look at Gu Feng.

After their sparring sessions over the past few days, she had become completely convinced of Gu Feng's strength and immediately nodded readily.

"Don't worry, Teacher Qin. My Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison can fully coordinate with Gu Feng's wind."

"As long as he can stabilize the wind direction, I guarantee that anyone touched by even a single drop will completely lose their ability to fight."

Gu Feng's expression remained unchanged as he calmly accepted.

"I'll follow Teacher Qin's arrangements and cooperate fully with Yan's poison techniques."

"Excellent!"

Qin Ming put away the whiteboard and clapped his hands.

"Now, we begin the first phase of tactical coordination training!"

"Yu Tianheng, the Shi brothers, press forward. Gu Feng and Yan, coordinate in the center and release your Martial Souls. Test the fusion trajectory of wind and serpent venom. Everyone, onto the arena!"

The team members moved at once, leaping onto the broad Black Ridge Rock arena.

The clouds overhead hung lower and lower, while the moisture in the air nearly condensed into mist.

Dugu Yan walked to the center of the arena. Just as she mobilized the Soul Power within her body, she suddenly staggered slightly.

Her right hand instinctively pressed against the meridians beneath her lower abdomen, and her brows drew tightly together.

The cold, damp air burrowed into her body through her pores. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison that had been suppressed deep within her meridians suddenly stirred violently, as if countless ants were gnawing at her bone marrow.

The intense twisting pain drained the color from her lips, and a layer of cold sweat instantly formed on her forehead.

Yu Tianheng noticed that Dugu Yan's steps had slowed and turned to ask with concern.

"Yan, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Dugu Yan took a deep breath, forcibly circulating her Soul Power to suppress the agony within her body, and barely managed a smile.

"It's nothing. Maybe I didn't sleep well last night. My meridians just feel a little sore."

"Don't mind me. Let's continue training."

She did not want to show weakness before the new members who had just joined the team, nor did she want Yu Tianheng to worry about her. She forced herself to stand straight.

However, Gu Feng, who stood only three steps away at her side, saw her subtle reaction perfectly clearly.

The wind element within Gu Feng's body was extremely sensitive to fluctuations in the surrounding airflow. At the instant Dugu Yan mobilized her Soul Power, he clearly sensed a severe disruption in the circulation of her Soul Power.

The jade-green poisonous aura leaking from her meridians lacked the smoothness of a normal Martial Soul. Instead, it carried obvious signs of corrosion and backlash.

The rainy weather had triggered the poison. The serpent venom had already seeped into her bone marrow.

Now, he only needed to wait for time to make the backlash erupt.

"Prepare!"

Qin Ming's voice rang out from below the arena.

"Alright, tactical training begins!"

At the command, Yu Tianheng gave a low shout. Blue-purple lightning flashed wildly around his body, and his right arm instantly transformed into a thick dragon arm as he pressed forward with overwhelming force.

The Shi brothers simultaneously revealed their Black Tortoise Martial Souls, and heavy earthen-yellow tortoise-shell shields instantly rose beside them.

Ning Rongrong stood at the rear of the formation. Seven-colored light blossomed from her fair palm as an exquisite Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda floated into view.

"Seven Treasures Have Names: First, Strength! Second, Speed!"

Two seven-colored halos landed precisely upon Yu Tianheng at the front and Gu Feng at the side, raising both of their auras once more.

At the center of the formation, Dugu Yan clenched her teeth, enduring the waves of twisting pain from her lower abdomen as she cried out.

"Jade Phosphorous Serpent, possess me!"

Two yellow and one purple Soul Rings rose beneath her feet.

The third purple Soul Ring on her body blazed brilliantly as she expelled a massive cloud of dense dark-purple poison mist, which swept toward the front.

"Third Soul Skill, Jade Phosphor Purple Poison!"

However, the disorder in her Soul Power caused by the agony in her meridians made the poison mist, which should have condensed into shape, disperse the moment it left her mouth. The poisonous gas drifted uncontrollably in all directions, and some of it even surged back toward her own team's rear line.

Dugu Yan was horrified. She tried to forcibly rein in her Soul Power, but the venom backlash within her meridians suddenly intensified. She let out a muffled groan as a trace of blackish-purple blood spilled from the corner of her lips, and she toppled stiffly backward.

"Yan!"

Yu Tianheng was both alarmed and enraged. He wanted to turn back and rescue her, but the momentum of his charge left him no time to retreat.

Just as the poison mist was about to spiral completely out of control, a cyan figure flashed sideways like lightning and appeared before Dugu Yan.

A fierce gale howled around Gu Feng as he threw both arms outward.

"Third Soul Skill, Eye of the Storm!"

The greenish-blue gale transformed into a massive vortex of airflow, forcibly drawing in all the spreading purple poison. It hurled the poison directly into the ventilation ducts above the spirit fighting arena, without injuring anyone present.

After resolving the poison mist crisis, Gu Feng turned around and reached out to catch Dugu Yan as she collapsed.

Gu Feng pressed his palm against Dugu Yan's back. His wind-attribute Soul Power turned into a gentle current that entered her body and severed the chaotic, rampaging flow through her meridians.

Dugu Yan lay in Gu Feng's arms, her face pale as paper. Cold sweat covered her forehead, her entire body trembled violently, and she was too weak even to speak.

Qin Ming below the arena and the team members on it all hurried over, their expressions anxious.

"What happened to Yan? Did her Soul Power suddenly backlash?" Yu Tianheng rushed forward, wanting to take Dugu Yan from Gu Feng.

Gu Feng did not let go. He had a gale protecting his body and would not be corroded by the poison, so he did not hand Dugu Yan over to Yu Tianheng.

He raised his head and looked at the anxious Yu Tianheng.

"Tianheng, you can't touch her!"

Yu Tianheng demanded urgently, "Why not?"

Gu Feng continued.

"Yan isn't suffering from an ordinary Soul Power backlash. She's been poisoned, and it's her own serpent venom!"