Er Bidong: Why Does My Neck Feel So Cold?

"I think he spotted us," Bai Cangyue told Toji through Soul Power Transmission.

Toji sneered and drew a finger across his throat.

The meaning was clear: ambush him.

Why didn't he use Soul Power Transmission? Because he had too little Soul Power to manage it.

The moment Dugu Bo heard something cutting through the air behind him, he scattered the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor poison he had prepared and activated his Martial Soul Avatar.

"Seventh Soul Skill: Martial Soul Avatar!"

Toji charged with a vicious grin.

Dugu Bo met those cold eyes, and his pupils trembled.

"Tyrant Douluo! I've done nothing to you! Why are you trying to kill me?" Dugu Bo roared.

But he would never get an answer.

Poisonous gas billowed around him as he transformed into a massive Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor and opened his jaws wide.

Toji held a great blade in his hand. With a grin, he swung it down hard!

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's defenses were formidable, yet its enormous jade-green scales parted instantly, like butter beneath a hot knife.

The Special Grade Cursed Tool, the Soul-Eater Blade, ignored physical hardness and struck directly at the soul.

Toji had once used this Cursed Tool to dispatch Suguru Geto's Rainbow Dragon with a single slash.

"How is that possible?"

Horror gripped Dugu Bo. He tried to stop Toji with his Eighth Soul Skill, Time Freeze, but dizziness washed over him and his mind grew weary.

In that single second, his chance of survival vanished.

By the time Dugu Bo came to his senses, the blade had already passed through his neck.

Poison Douluo, who would one day have dominated with poison—the unluckiest man on Douluo Continent—died then and there!

Toji stared at Dugu Bo's corpse and fell into thought.

"Was Dugu Bo really that weak...?"

He had planned to wound Dugu Bo first, then taunt him a little to farm Emotion Points...

"You could've killed him with one punch, but you still had to be so cautious." Bai Cangyue emerged from the shadows. She had not even had a chance to fight, and her teasing sounded less wooden than before.

"..." Toji's face fell. Was it his fault for being cautious?

How was he supposed to know this guy was so weak as a Soul Douluo? Or perhaps Toji himself was simply too strong.

Toji dispersed the surrounding poisonous mist, then forced the toxins from his body.

Bai Cangyue searched Dugu Bo's corpse and soon pulled out a Head Soul Bone glowing faintly green—the Ten-Thousand-Year Medusa Skull. She then took the Wishful Treasure Pouch from his waist.

The two had intended to clean up the scene, but Dugu Bo's poisonous mist had already corroded away every trace of the attack. There was nothing left to clean.

That saved them the trouble.

The two Titled Douluo sped straight toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Seeing the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in person was far more spectacular than seeing it in animation or comics.

The hot spring in the valley was not large. It consisted of two oval pools, one milky white and the other vermilion. Stranger still, though they shared the same basin, their waters remained sharply divided, neither encroaching on the other.

Steam rolled upward and slowly dispersed at the mouth of the valley.

"The Ice and Fire Mandarin Duck Pot!" Toji landed and clicked his tongue as he looked at the Immortal Herbs around him.

He could not identify a single Immortal Herb, but that was no great problem. If necessary, he could find a chance to kidnap Yang Wudi and make him identify them.

"The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum channels energy through the limbs and blood through the eight meridians, forging a body as tough as diamond. It would suit you." Bai Cangyue pointed to a chrysanthemum nearby.

The flower was huge and a gorgeous purple. Its petals were downy, yet it gave off no fragrance. A golden light gleamed at its center.

Toji's eyes lit up. "You know Immortal Herbs?"

"Yes. In the backstory I gave myself, I once had a poison specialist as a mentor. He studied Immortal Herbs extensively." Bai Cangyue kept her explanation brief.

Toji nodded without dwelling on it. Why worry about how the system worked when he was the one benefiting?

"The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew can greatly strengthen Mental Power. Once Bai Ranmo takes it, he'll be able to use Limitless more smoothly. The Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone would pair well with it."

"The Darknight Netherworld Grass is mine."

"There's another one here. Hei Ranbai can have it."

"The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot would be good for tempering Li Bai's body."

"..."

With Bai Cangyue as a walking guide to Immortal Herbs, Bai Ranmo's Clones had nothing to worry about.

Bai Ranmo's original body had just reached level twenty, and Qian Daoliu had sent people to capture a Hundred-Year Soul Beast for him. Since Bai Cangyue's martial soul, Dark Shadow, could come and go without a trace, she slipped into Spirit City and brought Bai Ranmo to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Bai Ranmo had suggested absorbing a Thousand-Year Soul Ring as his second ring, since he planned to take Immortal Herbs afterward. Qian Daoliu knew that a Soul Master with a strong enough body could absorb a higher-age Soul Ring, but he refused to take the risk, especially with the first few rings.

What if his own child could not withstand it? The Angel God Trial could raise a Soul Ring's age anyway. A few hundred years less on the early rings would make little difference. That was also why he had not let Qian Renxue take thousand-year rings as her first or second.

Even Qian Xunji's Ninth Soul Ring had been black. That was because he had not yet undergone the Angel God Trial and raised the ages of his Soul Rings.

What good was a showy Soul Ring if its owner was dead? Staying alive mattered most.

That day, one of Qian Daoliu's Soul Masters finally captured a Soul Beast capable of sealing space. Qian Daoliu prepared to send someone to bring Bai Ranmo back to the Worship Hall.

Bai Ranmo had recently been staying in a Spirit Hall Academy dormitory. He said he could not be bothered with the trip back and forth, and Qian Daoliu had let him be.

About fifteen minutes later, a subordinate hurried in, panic written across his face. "Great Enshrined, Young Master Bai... Young Master Bai, he... he..."

"What happened to Ranmo?" Qian Daoliu, who had been praying before the Angel God's statue, spun around. Soul Pressure from the level ninety-nine Limit Douluo surged outward, and the entire Worship Hall seemed to tremble.

The subordinate swallowed and said in a shaking voice, "Young Master Bai... has disappeared."

"What did you say?" Qian Daoliu could no longer contain his fury.

Killing intent surged within him. His first thought was that Er Bidong had turned her hatred of Spirit Hall and the Angel Clan on Bai Ranmo and killed him.

There could be no other explanation!

"Bi! Bi! Dong!"

Qian Daoliu could no longer restrain his rage. His reasons for sparing Bibi Dong had been simple. First, she was Xue'er's birth mother, and Ji'er had been the one who wronged her. Second, she was undergoing the trial for the Rakshasa God's Godhood. Hoping Spirit Hall would gain another God, he had elevated her to Pope.

But Bai Ranmo was his disciple—his only disciple! How dare Bibi Dong?

Qian Daoliu was a gentleman, but to put it less kindly, he was a pushover!

He had set aside the murder of his son and spared Bibi Dong. He had also honored his agreement with Tang Chen: after the Clear Sky Sect withdrew from the world, he did not storm its gates and slaughter everyone there.

People like him were the easiest to push around.

But push a patient man too far, and disaster was sure to follow.

For some reason, Bibi Dong, busy with her duties as Pope, suddenly felt a chill, as though disaster were about to strike.

She also felt an inexplicable weight on her back, as though someone had pinned a terrible accusation on her.

Strange. Why does my neck feel so cold?