Dugu Bo struck, Tang San was gravely wounded

"Delay breeds trouble. Let's see whether an attack works first!"

Dugu Bo looked at the two kinds of spring water a short distance before him. Soul Power circulated throughout his body, and nine Soul Rings appeared around him: two yellow, two purple, and five black.

After his Seventh Soul Ring flickered with an eerie light, an enormous jade-green serpent silhouette rose behind him.

Its body coiled and its head reared high. The serpent's entire body measured well over thirty meters, making it a colossal creature within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

This was Dugu Bo's Seventh Soul Skill, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor.

Dugu Bo's feet left the ground, and in an instant, he appeared at the serpent's head.

But as he swept his gaze around, his brows furrowed slightly.

He discovered that although the deadly poison produced by his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor spread through the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, it could not come within fifty meters of the springs, firmly suppressed by the two forces of Heaven and Earth Yuan Power within their waters.

At this sight, Dugu Bo abandoned even the thought of probing them.

He controlled his Martial Soul Avatar and approached the spring water. When he saw Tang San's figure, he gave a cold laugh.

He tilted his head slightly upward, and a jade-green Soul Bone lit up between his brows.

This was one of his trump cards: a Soul Bone from a ten-thousand-year-old Medusa Soul Beast. It had granted him a terrifying Soul Skill-Medusa's Gaze.

This Soul Skill had only one effect: petrification.

This petrification could turn even energy to stone, making it his best means of dealing with Tang San.

After all, serpent venom alone would be dissolved before it could penetrate deep into the spring water.

But Medusa's Gaze was different. It could petrify even energy.

After confirming Tang San's position, Dugu Bo entered the serpent's head and merged with his Martial Soul Avatar. This way, the Soul Bone Skill he unleashed would also receive the Martial Soul Avatar's enhancement.

As the Soul Power surrounding Dugu Bo gathered toward the serpent's head, two petrifying beams, each over a meter in diameter, shot straight toward Tang San in the spring water the next instant.

In the blink of an eye, the beams plunged into the spring water.

At first, the two types of Heaven and Earth Yuan Power—ice and fire—were petrified by Dugu Bo's beams. But the surrounding power was so abundant that even as some of the spring water turned to stone, the water around it rapidly eroded the petrifying beams.

In just one or two breaths, the petrifying beams shrank considerably under the spring water's assault.

But those moments also allowed the petrifying beams to penetrate another two or three meters.

Meanwhile, deep within the spring water.

Tang San's expression changed drastically as he cultivated. He sensed danger approaching, but his cultivation had reached a critical stage. If he interrupted it now, would all his efforts over most of the day not go to waste?

More importantly, he was deep within the spring water. If his Ice and Fire Golden Body failed, he would not only suffer the backlash of the two Immortal Herbs, but would also be unable to withstand the spring water for long.

But compared with his life, these dangers were still insignificant.

Thus, Tang San forcibly interrupted his secluded cultivation and opened his eyes.

Yet when he opened his eyes, he saw beams as thick as arms rapidly approaching him. Wherever they passed, the two types of Heaven and Earth Yuan Power turned directly to stone, only to quickly return to their spring-water form.

At this sight, Tang San's pupils trembled, and fear appeared on his face.

Petrification!

What would become of him if those two beams struck him? He did not dare imagine it.

But before his body could react, the beams landed on him.

In an instant, petrification spread outward from the center of Tang San's chest.

Tang San immediately felt as though the front of his chest no longer belonged to him. Fortunately, the two beams vanished extremely quickly, affecting only an area twenty to thirty centimeters across his chest.

"I'm not dead. Thank goodness!"

Just as Tang San was about to rejoice, he suddenly discovered that the petrified portion of his body, no longer covered by the medicinal power of the two Immortal Herbs-the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot-had been instantly dissolved by the two kinds of spring water.

As a result, a wound twenty to thirty centimeters in diameter appeared in his chest.

Agonizing pain instantly surged from his chest, twisting Tang San's entire face.

Blood now spurted from the wound dissolved by the spring water. But because his blood contained some medicinal power, it was not dissolved by the water.

For a time, Tang San was in utter agony. He could only mobilize all his Soul Power to seal the wound.

But how could he seal such a vast area completely?

Thus, his blood continued to drain away. At this rate, he would bleed to death in just a minute or two.

Even if he managed to survive that stretch of time, his Soul Power would not hold out any longer. Then death would still be the only road before him.

"What... exactly... is... going on? Dugu Bo... how did... he find... me? And... does he no longer... want to cure... the serpent venom... in his body?"

Tang San raised his head and looked at the enormous jade-green serpent above the spring water. He already knew that Dugu Bo was attacking him.

But his heart was filled with questions. How had Dugu Bo found him? And how had he timed it so perfectly?

If he had been given another incense stick's worth of time, his Ice and Fire Golden Body would have been complete. Then he could have stayed hidden in the spring water indefinitely, and Dugu Bo would have been powerless against him.

But everything was too late. It seemed he was going to meet his end here.

Unless a miracle happened.

Above the spring water, Dugu Bo looked at the blood that had appeared after his Soul Skill vanished, somewhat puzzled.

Didn't his Soul Skill petrify things? How had it made someone bleed?

Moreover, the spring water's weakening effect on his Soul Bone Skill was extremely pronounced. Those petrifying beams, over a meter thick, had actually been dissolved by the water in just one or two breaths.

But he could be certain that his petrifying beams had indeed struck Tang San. It merely seemed that Tang San had not died.

"Should I fire another shot?"

Dugu Bo looked at the spring water below, stained red with blood, and hesitated.

He did not know how much damage his last attack had inflicted on Tang San. If he unleashed another petrifying beam, would it take Tang San's life just like that?

Just as he hesitated, he suddenly sensed that someone seemed to have broken through the Poison Formation he had laid down.

Moreover, the newcomer was extremely powerful, with a keen, cutting aura. Clearly, he possessed a Power Attack System Martial Soul.

Dugu Bo's brows lifted slightly, and unease began to stir in his heart:

"Could Tang Hao have come? He only has one son. Perhaps he's been following Shrek Academy all along, but didn't notice Tang San's disappearance immediately because he was in secluded cultivation.

"Then he saw the introduction on this Light Screen and came looking?"

Thinking this, Dugu Bo assessed the Soul Power he had expended and the Immortal-grade Herbs he had obtained, and decided it would be better to flee first.

As for Tang San...

Dugu Bo glanced at the spring water again, then gave a cold laugh:

"Even if this Little Scumbag survives by luck, he'll be severely crippled if he isn't dead. He's nothing to worry about."

Then he directly controlled his Martial Soul Avatar and fled in another direction.