Chapter 33

Dugu Bo withdrew his Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor, glanced down, and told the Spirit Hall Soul King who was still conscious, "You won't die. Go back and stay in bed for three months. Just don't use your Soul Power."

He turned to head back, but stopped after two steps. He had sensed the Soul King behind him forcibly driving his Soul Power through the meridians throughout his body!

"You!"

Dugu Bo rushed over, trying to seal his Soul Power.

But it was already useless.

The Soul King's meridians had first been sealed by his poison. Now, forcibly mobilizing his Soul Power to batter through the blockade was no different from having a heavy truck rampaging through his body.

Dugu Bo pressed a hand against his back, trying to seal his Soul Power, but it was too late. He felt as though the Soul King's body was a sieve riddled with holes, unable to hold any of his Soul Power at all.

Blood was now flowing from the Soul King's seven orifices. Even his breathing had become unsteady, and blood kept spilling from the corners of his mouth. His lips curved cruelly as he looked at Dugu Bo. "Poison Douluo, I told you. If you don't let me in, it won't just be a Soul King who comes next time."

With that, he stopped breathing. Dugu Bo tried every means at his disposal, but could not save him.

In his fury, he kicked the corpse a thousand feet away. "What is it about Spirit Hall that deserves such loyalty from you, that you'd trade your life for it?"

Looking at the six remaining unconscious people, he recalled the Soul King's final words, his expression dark and shifting. "This Soul King used his own death to give Spirit Hall a reason to send troops. How... damnable!"

The mark of his Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul lit up and went out, then lit up and went out again. After this repeated three times, he said, "Don't blame me, either. Whether one dies or a whole group dies, they're still deaths. Spirit Hall won't let this rest anyway."

With that, he summoned the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor again. It hissed at the sky, opened its enormous jaws, and swallowed the remaining people one by one.

Dugu Bo followed the path back to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, but its dreamlike scenery did nothing to ease the anger on his face.

Ah Yin seemed to sense it too. The seedling, which had already grown half a meter tall, swayed, the golden patterns on her body flickering as though she were calling to Dugu Bo.

He came to the spring and leaned against the large rock.

"Ah..." He sighed, then fell into a long silence.

Only when Ah Yin strained to twist her body did she gently touch him with a branch.

"Poison Douluo, what's wrong?"

Dugu Bo smiled, though his smile was stiff. "Don't be so formal. Just call me big brother."

"All right, Brother Dugu. Did something happen outside?"

Dugu Bo did not hide it from her. He recounted his encounter with the Spirit Hall squad, all the way through to the Soul King's suicide.

When he finished, he paused. "Before your brother left, I promised him I'd keep you safe. But now..."

"Why don't we move somewhere else?" Ah Yin suggested.

"No! The Life Divine Power your brother left is here. It's the key to preserving your soul's memories."

"But I can still come back to life."

"But would that still be you? I have a family too. I know the pain of losing a loved one. You have a chance to reunite!" Dugu Bo shouted those words.

In the end, Ah Yin offered no more persuasion. She merely swayed her branches gently, as though comforting Dugu Bo.

"Don't worry. I've spent years fortifying this valley, and its natural terrain makes it easy to defend and hard to attack. With the arrangements your brother left behind too, we'll be fine. I'll go leave some more poison around the area."

Having decided, Dugu Bo wasted no more time and strode out of the valley, preparing to strengthen its defenses.

Starting from the middle reaches of Sunset Forest, he added at least three layers of defenses in all, with countless poisonous gases, Poison Flowers, and poisonous grasses.

Finally, he crouched before the natural fissure at the valley entrance, his palm pressed to the ground. His Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul appeared, its scales gleaming coldly in the moonlight. With a low shout, his first soul ring lit up, and dark green poisonous mist poured from his palm, spreading along the fissure to either side.

He spent four full hours laying a fresh poison formation along the entire path between the valley entrance and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. By the time he withdrew his hand, a thin sheen of sweat covered his temples, but he had no time to wipe it away. He could be said to have used everything he had collected in recent years.

Just as he finished and looked back over his preparations, he discovered that the Poison Flowers and poisonous grasses were growing unusually fast, and their toxicity had become much stronger.

Realizing what had happened, he hurried to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, only to find that Ah Yin's seedling had shrunk from half a meter to barely more than ten centimeters. Meanwhile, a droplet shimmering with seven-colored light had condensed before her.

Ah Yin's leaves swayed gently, as though she were smiling. Just moments earlier, she had extended her roots outward from the bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, crossing rocks, passing through soil, and climbing over tree roots. Like countless fine threads, they had woven a net into every corner of the valley, connecting every plant within range.

Her consciousness attached itself to every plant, sensing every whisper of wind, every tremor in the ground, and every unfamiliar fluctuation of Soul Power, as though the entire valley had opened its eyes at once.

Then, through her connections with the immortal herbs, under Lan Changsheng's guidance and with the aid of Life Divine Power, she had concocted a drop of extraordinary poison.

"Ah Yin!" He hurried to the spring and said to her, "Stop, stop right now! This will consume your essence! How am I supposed to answer to your brother?"

"It's all right, Brother Dugu. You're doing this to protect me too." But Ah Yin's voice was already noticeably weary, and more than half the Life Divine Power Lan Changsheng had left here had now been consumed.

Dugu Bo did not know how to answer. He could only turn away, stifled.

"Big brother, are you angry?"

"I'm not."

"You are. Even the way you're standing is wrong, and your fists are clenched."

"Ah..." Dugu Bo could only sigh helplessly. "I'm afraid that, in the end, I won't be able to keep my promise to your brother."

"It's all right, Brother Dugu. You've already done your best. I know that. Look." Ah Yin passed the droplet shimmering with seven-colored light to Dugu Bo.

"What is this?"

"Poison."

"Poison?" Dugu Bo, known as the old poison monster, had not recognized the dazzling droplet before him as poison at all. He could smell a delicate fragrance from it that left him feeling refreshed and at ease, nothing like poison.

"I made this cold ember severed thoughts from the pure extracts of octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot, supplemented with crushed flameheart vermilion fruit and snow silkworm ice ganoderma. Upon contact, it can sever a Soul Master's connection to their Martial Soul. If it isn't neutralized within three days, they will lose their Martial Soul forever."

Had a great battle not been looming, Dugu Bo would certainly have immediately studied the cold ember severed thoughts in his hand in depth. A poison like this, one he had never even heard of, held enormous appeal for someone who had spent his life pursuing the ultimate truths of poison.

"Don't worry, big brother. These immortal herbs need time to recover. We can't drain the pond to catch all the fish. I've already learned how to make it. Once this battle is over, I'll make more."

"Just leave the rest to me." There was a rare trace of gentleness in Dugu Bo's voice.