Knock First

Early the next morning, Tang Hao left Heaven Dou City.

Ah Yin remained in the rented courtyard for the time being.

To keep anyone from wandering in, he left a wisp of spiritual power around the courtyard and asked the landlord to deliver a bucket of clean water every day.

The landlord looked a little puzzled when he heard the water was for the grass.

"One bucket every day?"

"Yes."

"Just for that Blue Silver Grass in the courtyard?"

"It drinks a lot."

The landlord clearly did not believe him, but had the sense not to ask further.

The rent of ten Gold Soul Coins was enough to make anyone respect another person's habits.

Forget delivering water to the Blue Silver Grass every day. If Tang Hao had asked him to bow to it, that might have been negotiable too.

After leaving Heaven Dou City, Tang Hao followed the map east.

Sunset Forest was different from the Star Dou Great Forest. It was not especially large, but Soul Beasts lived there in great numbers.

Because it lay close to Heaven Dou City, Soul Masters frequented its outskirts year-round. Nearly every medicinal herb worth anything had long since been picked.

Along the way, Tang Hao encountered three Soul Hunting teams.

One tried to invite him along.

The other two took him for a madman heading into the forest alone to die.

Tang Hao offered no explanation.

An ordinary-looking, pale-faced middle-aged man heading alone into the depths of Sunset Forest hardly looked like a proper Soul Master.

He looked more like a kind soul who had lost all hope in life and decided to improve a Soul Beast's dinner.

Once inside the forest, Tang Hao gradually spread out his spiritual power.

He avoided every Soul Beast and Soul Master within several hundred meters before they could cross his path.

It taxed his mind, but it was easier than fighting his way in.

The hidden injuries in his body responded worst to sustained use of Soul Power.

Flicking a few stones was no trouble. In a prolonged fight, though, the foreign Soul Power near his heart meridians could turn on him at any moment.

Tang Hao was like a gunpowder storehouse with cracks in its walls.

It could still kill people when it exploded.

It just might not distinguish friend from foe.

According to the map, Dugu Bo's poison zone lay in the northwest of Sunset Forest.

An ordinary Soul Hunting team would need three days to reach it. Tang Hao took less than one.

Toward evening, a faintly rank smell began to seep into the air.

The vegetation around him changed as well.

The trees were still lush, but not an insect or ant could be seen on the ground.

The occasional animal carcass bore no obvious wounds, yet its fur had an unnatural bluish-purple sheen.

He had reached the poison fog.

Tang Hao stopped and took out the antidote he had bought in advance from his Soul Tool.

The apothecary had sworn that it could neutralize more than a dozen common poisons.

It was expensive, but its effectiveness, he insisted, was beyond doubt.

As for whether the fog before him counted as a common poison, Tang Hao had no idea.

He swallowed a pill and stepped into the poison zone.

Before he had gone a hundred meters, dizziness warned him of trouble, and his chest began to feel tight.

Tang Hao immediately retreated.

The apothecary had not disappointed him after all.

The high-grade antidote that had cost him two Gold Soul Coins did little besides prove the fog was indeed poisonous.

When he returned to Heaven Dou City, he would have to suggest that the man turn his pharmacy into a coffin shop.

With medicine like that, the transition between the two businesses ought to be smooth.

An ordinary antidote could not withstand the Poison Formation Dugu Bo had set up.

He could force the fog back with Soul Power, but that would not only cost too much—it would also alert the Poison Formation's owner.

If Dugu Bo mistook him for an intruder and attacked on sight, Tang Hao would have to waste more strength.

Standing outside the poison zone, Tang Hao lowered his head to study the map.

According to the information from the one-eyed old man, the perimeter of the poison zone was not entirely impassable.

If he found a section of the Poison Formation where the poison was relatively weak, he could use less Soul Power.

Tang Hao walked along its edge for half an hour.

He found nothing.

He walked another half hour.

The poison fog still churned before him.

At last, Tang Hao was certain: either the map was wrong, or Dugu Bo had left outsiders no path in.

The old poisoner cultivated the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul. Ordinary poison fog had little effect on him.

When he entered and left the Poison Formation, he had no reason to worry about anyone else's convenience.

Tang Hao put away the map, his expression darkening.

Wonderful. I've been cheated again.

He had finally found the place, only to be stopped at the door.

He could hardly circle the Poison Formation for days, waiting to see when Dugu Bo went out to buy groceries.

If he could not find the door, he would call the owner out.

Tang Hao bent down, picked up a stone, and weighed it in his hand.

A shout might not carry into the depths of the Poison Formation.

Releasing the aura of a Titled Douluo would be direct, but it might alert nearby Soul Masters.

A Titled Douluo who had been hidden for years, suddenly releasing his aura near Heaven Dou City?

Within three days, Spirit Hall would hear of it.

Better to keep a low profile.

Tang Hao closed his eyes and slowly extended his spiritual power through the poison fog.

The deeper it went, the denser the fog grew.

His spiritual power could not be poisoned, but it met fierce interference.

Only after reaching several miles in did he detect a cold, powerful surge of Soul Power.

The person was cultivating deep within the poison zone.

That Soul Power had reached the level of a Titled Douluo, and its aura carried a distinct sickly-sweet taint of poison.

Across the whole Douluo Continent, there could hardly be a second Titled Douluo willing to live in a place like this.

Looks like I found the right place.

Tang Hao pinned the stone beneath his thumb, aimed toward that source of Soul Power, and flicked it.

Whoosh!

The fist-sized stone instantly broke the sound barrier. It tore a brief gap through the poison fog and vanished into the depths of the forest.

A moment later...

Boom!

A tremendous crash came from deep within the Poison Formation.

Countless bird-type Soul Beasts took fright and scrambled into the sky.

Tang Hao stood where he was with his hands behind his back and waited patiently.

He had come calling but could not find the door. Naturally, he had knocked loudly first. Perfectly reasonable.

In less than ten breaths, a terrifying surge of Soul Power erupted from the depths of the poison zone.

The green fog churned violently, parting down the middle as though pushed aside by an invisible force.

A tall, thin figure strode through the air. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the Poison Formation and landed before Tang Hao.

The newcomer was an old man.

His hair and beard were green, his cheeks gaunt, and his eyes resembled those of a cold-blooded snake.

His skin had a sickly gray-green cast, and a faint, sickly-sweet scent clung to him.

Two yellow, two purple, five black.

Nine Soul Rings rose one after another beneath his feet, and a terrifying pressure instantly enveloped the area.

A Titled Douluo: Dugu Bo.

The old man first glanced at the cliff face deep within the Poison Formation, where the stone had broken it. Then he slowly turned his cold gaze on Tang Hao.

"Were you the one who did that?"

"Who else? Did the mountain collapse on its own?"

Tang Hao was studying him too.

A bluish face, purpling nails, and a sickly-sweet scent he could not conceal.

The poisoning was worse than Tang Hao had imagined.

When other people used poison, they hurt their enemies. When Dugu Bo used it, friend and foe suffered equally.

The fact that he had lived to become a Titled Douluo meant either he was remarkably hard to kill, or his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul could take a remarkable beating.

He had called the man out.

Now it was time to talk about the future—and life.