Dugu Bo's guidance

"Kid, just what is your second Soul Skill?"

Dugu Bo looked at Gu Ping'an with a dark expression.

Asking about another person's Soul Skills without invitation was a grave taboo, but this boy was far too arrogant.

He had pointed right at Dugu Bo's nose and said he did not understand.

Dugu Bo wanted to see just what Soul Skill was beyond his understanding.

"Second Soul Skill: Clone Technique!"

Gu Ping'an wasted no time. His purple Soul Ring flashed, and an identical figure appeared beside him.

"Tch!"

"I thought it would be some incredible Soul Skill. So it's just a Clone Soul Skill!"

Dugu Bo looked disdainful. A Clone Soul Skill was nothing special. As a Titled Douluo, he had lived a spectacular life; it was hardly something he had never seen before.

False, illusory Clones could only confuse enemies and were of little use.

Physical Clones usually consumed enormous amounts of soul power. A few uses would exhaust the user completely, making them chicken ribs—too little meat to be worthwhile, yet a shame to discard.

"Ah! All you people know is how to use Soul Skills to fight."

Gu Ping'an glanced at Dugu Bo, then sighed and shook his head.

The people of the Douluo Continent were not only stupid, but rigid in their thinking.

Qian Renxue had spent nearly twenty years trying to seize the Heaven Dou Empire, only to fail at the final hurdle.

All Yu Xiaogang had done was devise a plan to burn provisions, and Ning Fengzhi had declared that whoever possessed the Grandmaster would possess the world.

"Try the Meditation Method first!"

Gu Ping'an spoke to his Clone.

The Gu Ping'an Clone immediately sat cross-legged and began practicing the Meditation Method obtained from Yu Xiaogang's book collection.

He remembered Tang San saying in the original story that this Meditation Method already involved the Meridians.

He had never dared practice it himself. Now he could let his Clone try first.

"The Meditation Method? What Meditation Method?"

Dugu Bo led Dugu Yan aside and stared at the Gu Ping'an Clone cultivating cross-legged.

He could not understand what kind of Meditation Method required a Clone to practice it.

Gu Ping'an, Dugu Bo, and Dugu Yan stood around the Clone, watching.

Before long, bulges began swelling up all over the Clone's body.

"Not good!"

Gu Ping'an's eyes suddenly widened. With a wave of his hand, he cast Spacetime Isolation, enveloping himself, Dugu Bo, and Dugu Yan.

"Yu Xiaogang, you really are use—"

Boom!

The Gu Ping'an Clone threw his head back and roared, but before he could finish, he exploded into ashes on the spot.

When Dugu Bo first saw the bulges swelling on Clone's body, he had intended to retreat with Dugu Yan.

But Gu Ping'an cast Spacetime Isolation before he could move, so he stayed quietly where he was with Dugu Yan.

Then he watched Clone explode into ashes with perfect clarity.

"So this is what you said I didn't understand?"

Dugu Bo turned to Gu Ping'an with a peculiar look. He said nothing, yet seemed to have said everything.

Dugu Yan stared blankly at the site of the explosion, stunned by the sudden blast.

"An accident!"

"That was an accident!"

Gu Ping'an scratched his head awkwardly.

He had wanted to show off, only to fall flat on his face.

Clone's experiences and memories flooded his mind, and Gu Ping'an immediately spotted the problem.

This cultivation method, cobbled together by Yu Xiaogang through repeated alterations to the Meditation Method of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect and Spirit Hall, did indeed involve the Meridians. What it failed to mention was that the Meridians flowed backward and contradicted one another!

"Watch. I'll try something else."

To salvage his dignity, Gu Ping'an created another Clone.

"This time, we'll test the Rasengan's stability after it leaves the hand."

He had developed his Douluo version of the Rasengan as a close-range attack. Once it left his palm, he lost control of it, and its rotation and compression immediately went haywire.

After developing the Rasengan, he had tried throwing it, only for it to explode the moment it left his hand.

He had never tried again after that.

He worried that a moment of carelessness might leave him dead or crippled from the blast. He had no desire to test the limits of his own Healing.

An injury would also severely slow his cultivation progress.

"Is that a Self-Created Soul Skill?"

Seeing the Rasengan in the Gu Ping'an Clone's hand, Dugu Bo cautiously pulled Dugu Yan back, having already witnessed one Clone explode.

"See if you can throw it a little farther."

Gu Ping'an took two steps back and instructed Clone.

"Mm!"

Clone nodded lightly and swung his hand, throwing the Rasengan outward.

Boom!

Another explosion rang out.

This time, Dugu Bo looked at the Gu Ping'an Clone with uncertainty in his eyes.

He could tell that this was a fully developed Self-Created Soul Skill. Gu Ping'an simply wanted to develop it further into a ranged attack.

The explosion occurred because its energy went out of control after the skill left his hand.

"Looks like I'll have to improve the Rasengan's stability further before I can throw it as a ranged attack."

Gu Ping'an glanced at Clone's blasted-off hand. The flesh inside his wrist was entirely composed of blue silver grass, which was constantly extending and weaving together into a new hand.

"Pure soul power disperses easily into the world without someone controlling it."

Dugu Bo suddenly spoke from beside him.

"If you want to throw that ball of light, you'd best add some other attribute to it, like my poison."

As he spoke, Dugu Bo flicked his hand and sent a stream of green, poisonous soul power onto the ground, which hissed as it corroded.

"Poison?"

Staring at the corroded ground, Gu Ping'an sank into thought.

Until now, he had always assumed his control over soul power was insufficient.

He had no poison, but although his earth-, wood-, fire-, and ice-attribute energies were weak, he could give them a try.

Gu Ping'an exchanged a glance with Clone, and a fiery-red Rasengan appeared in the Clone's hand.

With a swing of his hand, the fiery-red Rasengan became a red streak, struck the ground in the distance, and blasted out a crater two or three meters across.

It worked on the first try?

Farther away, Dugu Bo held Dugu Yan's hand and looked uncertainly between the Gu Ping'an Clone and the crater left by the Rasengan.

He had thought Gu Ping'an would need at least several attempts to achieve even rough stability. He had never expected him to succeed on the first try.

"Thank you, Your Excellency Poison Douluo."

Gu Ping'an thanked him sincerely.

Dugu Bo had offered only a single pointer.

But as the saying went, "A true teaching takes one sentence; a false teaching fills ten thousand scrolls."

That single sentence from Dugu Bo had saved him considerable effort. Otherwise, who knew how long it would have taken him to figure it out himself?

"It's nothing. Kid, helping Yanyan resolve her martial soul backlash is an immense kindness to me, Dugu Bo.

"A single word of advice is hardly worth mentioning."

Dugu Bo waved his hand. To him, this barely counted as guidance. Even without him, Gu Ping'an might well have discovered the problem himself before long.

"By the way, Your Excellency Poison Douluo, I've heard that you've cultivated a Poison Core. Could you tell me how you cultivated it?"

Gu Ping'an looked at Dugu Bo. The man had helped him solve the problem of using the Rasengan for ranged attacks.

He did not mind lending him a hand in return.

"Why are you asking about that?"

Dugu Bo frowned.

It was not that he was unwilling to explain. He was simply curious about why Gu Ping'an wanted to know how he had cultivated his Poison Core.

He had cultivated it through a fortunate coincidence. Telling Gu Ping'an would not be of much use.

"I've heard of something called a soul core, Your Excellency Poison Douluo.

"I suspect that if you could cultivate a Poison-Attribute Soul Core and gather all your toxins inside it, there would be a very good chance of resolving your toxin backlash."

"It would also greatly strengthen you."

"Hm? I can resolve my toxin backlash too?"

Dugu Bo's face lit up with delight. He flashed in front of Gu Ping'an and reached for his shoulders.

After resolving Dugu Yan's toxin backlash, he had already accepted that he would eventually die from his own.

He had even begun considering who should look after Dugu Yan for the rest of her life after his death.

Now that he suddenly heard he might also have a chance to resolve his toxin backlash and survive, he was naturally overjoyed.

To his astonishment, both hands passed straight through Gu Ping'an as he reached for his shoulders, like trying to scoop up the moon reflected in a mirror.

"My apologies. I lost my composure.

"Please tell me how to cultivate a Poison-Attribute Soul Core, my young friend. I am willing to accept any conditions you set."

Dugu Bo took two steps back and began apologizing.

He wanted so badly to live—to watch his granddaughter grow up safely, marry, and have children.

"What's the rush?"

Gu Ping'an rolled his eyes at Dugu Bo.

"I don't know how to cultivate a soul core either. I only know such a method exists.

"The reason I asked how you cultivated your Poison Bead is that it bears some resemblance to a soul core. I want to use it to work out a soul core cultivation method."

"You don't know?

"You want to work out a soul core cultivation method?"

Dugu Bo's face first fell, but then he rallied.

"All right. I'll tell you every detail of how my Poison Bead formed."

Dugu Bo then recounted everything, detail by detail, from his cultivation breakthroughs, hunting Soul Beasts, and absorbing Soul Rings, to his Jade Phosphorous Serpent evolving into a Serpent Emperor, and finally condensing his Poison Bead.

The only thing he left out was the color of his underwear.