Arriving in Heaven Dou City, Meeting Dugu Yan

After ten days on the road, Lin Hao's Clone One reached a small village about twenty li outside Heaven Dou City.

He planned to rest there, transfer his original body over, and create another clone that could last a month, just in case.

A capital was a capital, after all.

Even this little village twenty li from Heaven Dou City had three Soul Masters. The strongest among them, a middle-aged man, was a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor.

The Soul Ancestor was a minor noble. This village and the two beside it were his fief, and he had grown up here himself.

At the gate of the Soul Ancestor's estate, Lin Hao told the steward he wanted to rest there.

When the Soul Ancestor came out, he saw Lin Hao's age and sensed his cultivation. He immediately welcomed Lin Hao warmly, arranging a room for him and inviting him to a lavish meal.

Given Lin Hao's age and cultivation, he was bound to achieve great things. Befriending him could only be wise.

After dinner, Lin Hao returned to the room he had been given and transferred his original body over. He then spent Soul Power creating a clone that could last a month.

Once the clone was formed, Lin Hao spent an hour restoring his Soul Power, then transferred his original body back to Shrek Academy.

The next morning.

After getting up, Lin Hao said goodbye to the estate's owner, the middle-aged Soul Ancestor, and headed straight for Heaven Dou City.

Heaven Dou City was one of the three great cities of Douluo Continent, and one of its most prosperous.

Its walls rose a hundred meters high, built entirely from the hardest granite. Soldiers patrolled and stood guard atop and below the walls, each clad head to toe in armor and carrying a spear. The grim air about them spoke to their discipline.

Once inside, Lin Hao went to a rental agency and leased a three-bedroom home with a small courtyard near the Great Soul Arena.

The rent was steep at a hundred Gold Soul Coins a month, but to Lin Hao, that was nothing.

He had originally considered staying at a hotel. On second thought, a place with a courtyard was better. He could not rush his approach to Dugu Yan.

After lunch, Lin Hao made the rounds of several teahouses. He spent Gold Soul Coins asking the servers about the martial souls, Soul Power, and Great Soul Arena records of Heaven Dou Royal Academy's team members.

That information was public, so asking about it would not draw much suspicion.

After visiting four or five teahouses, Lin Hao learned Dugu Yan's current strength and soul skills.

It was much as he remembered from the original story. She had been level thirty-eight when she first appeared there; eight months earlier, she was now level thirty-six.

Her three soul skills still used red, blue, and purple Jade Phosphorous poisons.

Dugu Yan rarely fought one-on-one at the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena. Most of her matches were two-on-two fights alongside Yu Tianheng.

Lin Hao was not discouraged. If he climbed high enough in the one-on-one rankings, the arena staff would eventually match him against Dugu Yan.

He registered a new badge at the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.

The badge he had first registered in Suotuo City bore the name Heavenly Blade. This time, he chose Blade River King, in tribute to Lord Luo.

With his registration complete, Lin Hao began a ten-day winning streak.

On the day Lin Hao was aiming for his twelfth consecutive win, Dugu Yan and Yu Tianheng also came to the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena.

As a result, his opponent for that twelfth match was Dugu Yan.

When he stepped into the arena, Lin Hao looked at the spirited girl across from him, with her short, deep-purple hair and jade-green eyes.

The first thing out of his mouth was a bombshell.

"Hold on. That dark-purple hair and those green eyes are classic signs of poisoning. Is your Jade Phosphorous Serpent family really that reckless?"

Dugu Yan did not believe him for a second.

"Cut the nonsense! I'll let you taste my Jade Phosphorous poison in a moment."

Lin Hao smiled faintly. It seemed he would have to beat her before she would listen.

At the referee's signal,

"Begin!"

Lin Hao summoned his Heavenly Blade martial soul, while Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul possessed her.

Lin Hao's second soul ring flashed. Three clones appeared and charged at Dugu Yan together.

Dugu Yan seemed to have expected this. The instant his clones appeared, she used her second and third soul skills.

"Second soul skill: Jade Phosphorous Blue Poison!"

"Third soul skill: Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison!"

Two clouds of poison spread rapidly from Dugu Yan, soon swallowing Lin Hao's three clones.

At the sight, Lin Hao pulled out a large waterskin filled with strong liquor and realgar powder.

The liquor would help the realgar disperse. Once heated by flames, the vaporized alcohol could burn away Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison completely.

The flames were easy enough to arrange, too. He had one of the clones inside the cloud detonate itself.

The blast would ignite the alcohol and deal Dugu Yan another blow. Perfect.

Injured by the explosion, Dugu Yan clutched her arm and stared at Lin Hao in disbelief.

"No, that's impossible. How did you break through my Jade Phosphorous Purple Poison?"

"What's impossible about it? Fire naturally counters all poisons. Ice does too."

With that, Lin Hao charged in, Heavenly Blade in hand.

As the flat of the blade neared her head, Dugu Yan shut her eyes and surrendered.

"I give up!"

The flat of the Heavenly Blade stopped just five centimeters above Dugu Yan's head.

Only after the referee overhead declared his victory did Lin Hao withdraw his martial soul.

He then made a show of studying Dugu Yan's face closely.

Seeing his searching gaze, Dugu Yan abruptly covered her chest with both hands.

"What are you doing? I have a boyfriend! And my grandfather is Poison Douluo!"

Lin Hao scratched his head, speechless.

"Come on. Who at the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena doesn't know your Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul?"

Dugu Yan came to her senses. Right.

"Then why were you staring at me?"

"I took another close look at you just now," Lin Hao said. "Dark-purple hair, deep-green pupils, and even a faint poisonous smell on your nails."

"You really have been poisoned. From what you said at the start, I'd guess you don't know it. But your grandfather is Poison Douluo, so perhaps it's part of cultivating some special poison technique. You can ask him when you get back."

"I'll be going!"

Lin Hao turned and headed off the platform.

He had planted the seed with Dugu Yan. Now he just had to wait a few days for Dugu Bo to hear the news and come to him.

In the passage leading away from the platform, Lin Hao ran into Yu Tianheng, who had come to meet his girlfriend. Yu Tianheng had watched the match and wanted to test himself against Lin Hao. When they met, the two agreed to a one-on-one match at the arena the next day.