Kong Deming, Man of Action

Dark green light slowly flowed over Du Busi, then gradually intertwined with a seven-colored glow. His breathing grew steadier and his expression calmed, but Kong Deming could clearly sense the violent change taking place in Du Busi's Soul Power.

No, "change" did not seem quite right.

More precisely, it was an improvement.

The Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower's poisonous fumes in the air and the poison clouds overhead seemed drawn by an unseen force. They converged on Du Busi, surging into his body as though they had finally found a home.

The pressure on Kong Deming eased sharply.

There was finally far less of the corrosive venom and nerve toxin in the air. He no longer had to constantly channel Soul Power to transfer those poisons into the Silver Moon Divine Light Shield's separate space.

Kong Deming quietly breathed a sigh of relief, though a strange look remained in his eyes.

Poison that would kill an ordinary person on contact was now being greedily absorbed by Du Busi like a welcome rain.

But amid his amazement, Kong Deming also felt a flicker of wariness. Strictly speaking, Du Busi had strayed from his proper path by cultivating such potent innate poison. In the future, Kong Deming would have to make sure Du Busi did not teach Tiance how to wield poison like this.

Seeing that Du Busi would not wake anytime soon, Kong Deming took the opportunity to continue broadening Xu Tiance's and Ye Guyi's theoretical knowledge.

What he taught them was none other than ranked engraving knives.

Xu Tiance's eyes lit up at once.

He had been worrying about how to bring up the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade with Kong Deming. To his surprise, Kong Deming had raised the subject of ranked engraving knives himself.

"That covers what you need to know about ranked engraving knives. To a Soul Engineer, one is undoubtedly a precious treasure. Sometimes, the only thing standing between a Soul Tool array and a successful engraving is a ranked engraving knife. Of course, they are not quite as useful to you two."

After listening carefully to Kong Deming's detailed introduction to the ranked engraving knives, Xu Tiance asked as if the thought had just occurred to him, "Teacher, that Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade you mentioned—the cursed one. If there were no curse on its blade, where would it rank?"

Kong Deming did not understand why Xu Tiance was interested in that particular knife, but he considered the question before answering. "The Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade is an unusual case. It currently ranks ninety-ninth, at the very bottom of the list. Without its curse, though, I would conservatively place it in the top thirty, perhaps even higher."

"Then could you find it for us, Teacher? My Sun-Moon Radiance Martial Soul possesses Ultimate Light, while Guyi's Angel Martial Soul has the power of holy Purification. Perhaps the two of us could lift the curse. It would be a shame for a ranked engraving knife of such quality to remain lost out there."

Ye Guyi looked a little bewildered, but she still gave a slight nod in support of Xu Tiance's words.

A thoughtful look appeared on Kong Deming's face.

Indeed.

Ultimate Light and Ultimate Holiness were both the bane of Evil Soul Masters. Tiance and Guyi might not be able to do it now, but once their cultivation advanced, they might someday be able to purify the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade.

Even Kong Deming found the idea tempting.

A ranked engraving knife that could place in the top thirty on its own merits would be a fine treasure even to a Level 9 Soul Engineer.

Even if Tiance and Guyi failed to purify it, they would lose nothing. He only had to make sure neither of them touched the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade directly or fell under its influence.

With that thought, Kong Deming made his decision on the spot. "After the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade's last owner died, it never found a new one and has wandered ever since. It was last seen in the Star Luo Empire. Once we leave the Sunset Forest, we'll head there and see if we can find it."

"If we can't find it there, I'll send people to continue the search after we return to the Sun Moon Empire."

Xu Tiance could not help marveling inwardly at Kong Deming's decision.

The older generation really are people of action. No sooner said than done. But that suited him. The sooner they obtained the Spirit Devouring Fierce Blade, the sooner he and Ye Guyi could find out whether they could purify it and restore it to its original form as Gold of Life.

If they could, then even if the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well held no Immortal Herbs suited to Du Busi and Kong Deming, the Gold of Life should still help the two of them break through.

If they could not, they would have to hurry and search for that huge golden turtle in the Star Dou Great Forest.

After roughly half an hour, the seven-colored glow around Du Busi finally began to recede, and he opened his eyes.

With Du Busi absorbing it all this time, the dense poison clouds overhead had grown much thinner. The Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flowers themselves were still there and would continue releasing poison; before long, new poison clouds would form. But for now, at least, the threat of the poison was gone.

"How did it go?"

Kong Deming's eyes shifted slightly as he asked in a low voice.

Du Busi rose and stretched, feeling the surging power within him. A smile slowly spread across his face. "Better than I expected. The Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower's poison really is vicious. It was dangerous, but I held on. And it's thanks to Tiance's suggestion. Without him, I might never have thought of this method."

As he spoke, Du Busi reached out and rubbed Xu Tiance's head. His satisfaction with this disciple only grew.

Taking him as a disciple was a windfall!

Not only did the boy possess a top-tier Body Martial Soul, but he had also given the Body Sect a brighter future. Now he had even helped Du Busi grow stronger! The only pity was that Tiance was destined to become the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire and could not inherit the position of Body Sect leader.

Du Busi grinned and suddenly raised his right hand. A mass of dark green light appeared in his palm, its surface threaded with seven-colored strands that radiated a terrifying aura.

"I haven't formed a Second Soul Core, but the quality of my poison core has risen by at least one grade."

Du Busi's eyes shone, and his delight was plain on his face. "In other words, I'm still a Level 98 Super Douluo, but I've grown stronger again. Of course, forming a Second Soul Core in the future will probably be much harder."

"But it was worth the price. Now that the poison clouds have cleared, the true Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well should reveal itself."