Douluo Continent: Simulating Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, Setting Traps for Tang San

After hearing Gong Yu's words, Gong Lan instinctively looked toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, then swallowed hard.

"R-really go into the spring?" Gong Lan felt a little dazed. Just looking at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well made her feel uneasy.

Gong Yu said, "You don't have to go in. You've eaten an Immortal Herb, so your potential is already very high. It's just that your body isn't strong enough yet. Besides a Soul Master's potential, many gods also care whether the Soul Master's body is strong enough to withstand their divine power.

"Clearly, your body isn't strong enough, but I won't force you. Whatever you choose, I'll support you."

Gong Lan looked at Gong Yu, then back at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Clearly, she was still struggling with the decision.

Gong Yu continued, "With your current potential, some Second-Level Gods might choose you if they saw you. But to put it bluntly, Second-Level Gods just run errands for others. Only becoming at least a First-Level God is meaningful.

"That's because a First-Level God can take two people to the Divine Realm in the future. Even if those two are ordinary people, they can live forever once they reach the Divine Realm.

"But to inherit the godhood of a First-Level God or even a God King, you must be outstanding enough to catch their eye. Right now, you aren't outstanding enough, so you need to do your best to improve yourself."

Gong Lan's eyes lit up. She had been hesitant, but when she heard Gong Yu say that a First-Level God could take two people to the Divine Realm, she thought that if Gong Yu failed to become a god in the future and she became a First-Level God, she could take him there. She immediately made up her mind.

"Let's do it, young master!" Gong Lan breathed out heavily. "I'll hold on, no matter what."

"Are you sure?" Gong Yu asked Gong Lan again.

Gong Lan nodded. "I'm sure," she said firmly.

"All right, wait here." With that, Gong Yu burst forward, leaving only a few afterimages on the ground. In an instant, he reached the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.

He used Mysterious Jade Hand and coated his right hand with the presence of the Domain of Ice granted by the Ice Dragon King's Soul Bone, then plucked the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.

He sped over to the Infernal Delicate Apricot next. In the same way, he coated his left hand with the presence of the Domain of Fire and plucked it as well.

Enveloped by the presence of the two domains, the two Immortal Herbs did not harm his hands in the slightest.

Even more surprisingly, with the presence of the two domains enveloping them, neither herb showed any sign of losing its efficacy.

Normally, after the two Immortal Herbs were plucked, there were only ten breaths in which to consume them. If they were not consumed within that time, they would lose all their medicinal effects.

Gong Yu brought the two Immortal Herbs, one white and one red, to Gong Lan and said, "The white one is the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass. It's a flower of extraordinary cold that can chill the heart and numb the central nervous system. Its cold is oppressive within ten meters. Stand beside it a little too long, and the cold poison will attack your heart, leaving you beyond cure.

"The red one is the Infernal Delicate Apricot, an immortal-grade herb with a deadly, top-tier fire poison. Its attribute is the complete opposite of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass."

Gong Yu placed the two Immortal Herbs together, and their energies mingled. Strangely, the instant they met, both the extreme heat and the extreme cold vanished.

A faint red glow now enveloped the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, while a faint white vapor enveloped the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

It seems I misunderstood all along. The ten breaths only apply once the two medicinal effects meet. There's no time to wait. After silently reminding himself, Gong Yu kneaded the two Immortal Herbs into a mass of intertwined blue and white energy.

"Open your mouth," Gong Yu called to Gong Lan, and she instinctively did as he said.

Gong Yu flicked his finger, sending the intertwined blue and white energy flying into Gong Lan's mouth. She swallowed it with a gulp.

"Circulate your cultivation technique, then jump into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well," Gong Yu said. But when the moment came to jump, Gong Lan hesitated again, if only briefly.

In just a few breaths, Gong Lan's body began to tremble violently.

An ice-blue color rose from his feet, and in the blink of an eye, his entire body had turned blue. Then a layer of red rose over her, making Gong Lan look like a freshly cooked shrimp.

Blue and red alternated across her face, a most bizarre sight.

Gong Yu said, "Now you have no choice but to jump. After taking the two Immortal Herbs, if you don't enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to neutralize their medicinal power, it won't be long before the two powers ravage you to death."

Gong Lan gritted her teeth, shut her eyes, and jumped in with a splash.

"You haven't taken off your clo...thes... Never mind." Gong Yu sighed to himself, thinking he had missed his chance for an eyeful. But after Gong Lan's jump, her clothes would surely have melted away by the time she came back up. The Soul Tool on her hand would have melted away as well.

Inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, however, Gong Lan felt little else. The sensations brought on by the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot had instantly erased all her perception of the outside world.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would greatly enhance the effects of the two deadly herbs she had consumed, helping her absorb them and transform their ice and fire energy into her own.

But the medicinal power contained in the immortal-grade herbs was terrifying. Ice and fire clashed, and the energy erupting in an instant gave Gong Lan no chance to resist with her willpower. Moments after plunging into the alternating cold and heat of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, she fell unconscious.

The spring water churned as Gong Lan fell in. Before long, amid the surging water, she quietly sank beneath the surface.

The surface grew calm again. Milky white and crimson remained as distinctly separated as ever, vapor still filled the air, and everything returned to silence.

Gong Yu sat cross-legged on the ground, took the box containing the Primordial Immortal Herb from his Soul Tool, and removed the herb. He plucked off a leaf, put it in his mouth, and chewed, then circulated his cultivation technique and began absorbing its medicinal power.

The Primordial Immortal Herb had to be consumed one leaf at a time. After taking each leaf, one absorbed it through meditation, gradually increasing one's Soul Power.

Gong Yu continued taking the leaves one by one. The whole Primordial Immortal Herb had seven leaves, and he spent a full seven hours refining it completely. His Soul Power reached the level-fifty bottleneck.

Seeing that Gong Lan had yet to emerge from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Gong Yu covered the surface of his body with the Ice and Fire Domain and jumped in after her.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had formed because of the divine power of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King. Since Gong Yu possessed both ice and fire domains, neither the Yang Spring nor the cold spring could harm him.

After diving into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Gong Yu quickly found Gong Lan. At that moment, however, she was a vision of snowy white, without a stitch on her. Everything that could melt had been melted away by the well.

Chapter 78: Tempering the Golden Body with Ice and Fire (Part Two)

"Lan'er, wake up." Gong Yu swam over to Gong Lan. Unable to be overly mindful of propriety now, he pulled her into his arms and extended the Ice and Fire Domain to envelop her.

Enveloped in the red and blue colors of the Ice and Fire Domain, Gong Lan looked as though she had put on new clothes, no longer a vision of snowy white.

"Young... young master." Gong Lan slowly woke, but her voice was weak. "I almost thought I wouldn't make it."

Holding Gong Lan, Gong Yu whispered in her ear, "The medicinal power of two Immortal Herbs with Ultimate Attributes was a little too much for a girl like you, but you held on in the end. You haven't finished refining their medicinal power yet, though, so I'm here to help."

With that, Gong Yu expanded the Ice and Fire Domain into a red-and-blue barrier of light that enclosed them.

The inside and outside of the barrier were like two separate worlds. Inside it, Gong Yu also took off everything he needed to.

Besides using the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to neutralize the two medicinal powers, the union of yin and yang would work too. The goal was to refine the medicinal power, and achieving it was all that mattered.

Besides, at thirteen, mm-hmm was already possible.

Before they knew it, a pale, fish-belly white appeared on the horizon. The women waiting above were growing anxious.

Since the previous night, Gong Lan had jumped into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well first, and Gong Yu had jumped in when dawn was approaching. Neither had come out. Even if something had happened, surely the two would have struggled in the spring a little, but neither had struggled at all or even shown their heads. It left the women baffled.

Fortunately, Gong Yu finally surfaced a short while later. With the Ice and Fire Domain covering his entire body, his clothes had remained intact, not melted in the slightest.

Gong Lan was another matter. Shortly after Gong Yu surfaced, her head appeared too, but all her clothes had melted away. Gong Yu had to carry her out and conjure the Ice and Fire Domain to cover her whole body.

After placing Gong Lan in a secluded corner, Gong Yu had Gong Xi'er bring her a set of clean clothes. The two women had similar figures, so either could wear the other's clothes.

Gong Yu insisted that the remaining girls go practice Purple Demon Eye. It was just beginning to grow light, the perfect time.

After changing, Gong Lan joined Gong Xi'er in practicing. But when she looked at Gong Yu, she was a little bashful, her cheeks rosy as though two red apples hung on her face.

More than an hour later, the sky was fully bright, and everyone finished practicing.

Only then did Gong Yu look at Dugu Bo, who was hanging from a tree. The old fellow's Soul Power had been sealed, and he had hung there all night. Gong Yu wondered how he had endured when the poison throughout his body flared up the previous night.

But after glancing at Bi Ji, Gong Yu understood. Her gaze was fixed on Dugu Bo. Presumably, she had helped him when his poison flared up the previous night because she was kindhearted.

"Dugu Bo, who gave you permission to occupy my family's medicinal garden?" Gong Yu shamelessly claimed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well as his own. As he spoke, he pulled the handful of grass out of Dugu Bo's mouth.

Dugu Bo's eyes went wide. But recalling all the things Gong Yu had done over the past day and night, he instead came to think the place might really belong to him. Besides, when he had first found it, he had not been sure whether it already had an owner.

But as a dignified Titled Douluo, how could he admit to forcibly occupying someone else's territory? So he said, "How can you prove this place belongs to your family?"

"Does it need proving?" Gong Yu said, being somewhat unreasonable. "I recognize all the medicinal herbs around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well because my family planted them. I can use the hot and cold spring water too. If it didn't belong to my family, do you think I'd be able to touch it? Go on, try using it if you can!"

Dugu Bo was struck speechless. He had no ability to use the hot and cold spring water unless he wanted to die. He immediately said, "So that hot spring is called the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. When I found this place all those years ago, I didn't know it already had an owner. I thought it had formed naturally!"

"Naturally, my foot! The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was built using two divine dragons with Ultimate Attributes, one of ice and one of fire. It was made by human hands!" Gong Yu shouted.

"Th-th-then... I'll just move away," Dugu Bo stammered. "As long as you let me go, I'll never set foot here again."

Gong Yu sneered. "If you don't set foot here again, how will you suppress the poison in your body? Without the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to suppress it, you'll be poisoned to death within a few years.

"It doesn't matter if you die, but I hear you have a granddaughter named Dugu Yan. The poison from your Martial Soul can be passed down to your descendants. I don't believe your granddaughter isn't poisoned. Even if the poison hasn't taken a deep hold yet and hasn't threatened her life, what about the future?"

At the mention of Dugu Yan, Dugu Bo instantly wilted. Since his son's death, his granddaughter was all he had left, and they depended on each other. He valued her more than his own life.

"Then tell me," Dugu Bo said. "What do you want me to do?"

Seeing Dugu Bo back down, Gong Yu said, "I can teach you how to control the poison in your body, but on one condition: you have to be my gardener and protect this place for me. It won't be for long-ten years will do. What do you think?"

Dugu Bo was shocked. "You have a way to control the poison in my body?"

"Yes," Gong Yu said firmly.

Dugu Bo let out a heavy breath, as if he had made a momentous decision. "All right. As long as you can help me control the poison in my body, I swear on my Martial Soul that I'd willingly guard this place not just for ten years, but for the rest of my life. But the work of guarding the garden applies only to me. It has nothing to do with my granddaughter."

Seeing that Dugu Bo knew when to yield, Gong Yu smiled happily. "As you like. I only asked for ten years anyway. If you really want to stay here after that, you can."

Dugu Bo promptly asked, "Then how do you plan to control the poison in my body?"

Gong Yu smiled faintly and released a strand of Soul Power, cutting through the rope holding Dugu Bo up. Dugu Bo fell to the ground with a thud.

"Sister Zi JI, please undo the seal on this old man's Soul Power first!" Gong Yu called to Zi JI, who stood nearby.

Zi JI nodded and came over. After she jabbed at Dugu Bo's body a number of times, his Soul Power was finally restored.

Gong Yu then said to Dugu Bo, "There are three ways to control the poison in your body. One treats the symptoms, and two treat the root cause. Which would you choose? But let me warn you first: each one comes with a corresponding price!"

Chapter 79: Methods of Controlling Poison

"Tell me about them first." Dugu Bo understood that the poison in his body was no ordinary poison. If it could be controlled without paying any price, he would have found it hard to believe.

Gong Yu nodded. "I'll start with the method that treats the symptoms. It's simple enough: find a Soul Bone and absorb it, then slowly force the poison in your body into it. When you need to use poison afterward, you can draw it directly from the Soul Bone."

Dugu Bo slapped his thigh. "What a great method!" he said excitedly. "Why didn't I think of it all these years? Sigh... If I'd thought of it sooner, my poor son wouldn't have died so young..."

Dugu Bo then looked at Gong Yu and asked, "It's such a good method. Why does it only treat the symptoms?"

Gong Yu sighed. "Sigh... You don't even understand that. No wonder your use of poison only ranks you as an old sixth among the Soul Masters of the Douluo Continent."

Dugu Bo was unwilling to accept that. His expression soured as he said, "Impossible. When it comes to using poison, if I dared call myself second on the continent, no one would dare call themselves first."

Gong Yu pointed to a small pit not far in front of them. "There's a pit over there. Go piss in it and take a look at your reflection. Look at the state of you, and you still have the nerve to call yourself the best poison user under heaven. A frog at the bottom of a well always thinks the sky is only as big as the mouth of the well."

After Gong Yu's scolding, Dugu Bo was even less willing to accept it. "I don't believe my use of poison is so poor that I can't even rank in the top five. Go on, tell me who's better at using poison than I am."

"All right. If you want to know, I'll tell you." Gong Yu smiled faintly. "First place belongs to Spirit Hall's Pope, Bibi Dong. Her Soul Devouring Spider Emperor Martial Soul poison has reached the Limit level. It's not something the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor poison of a mere level-ninety-one like you can compare with."

Bibi Dong had indeed reached the Limit level. It was only because of the Rakshasa God Trial that she could use no more than level-ninety-eight strength. But she had truly reached the Limit, so her poison naturally counted as Limit level too.

Gong Yu continued, "Second place belongs to Yang Wudi, the current patriarch of the Breaking Clan. The Yang family started out making medicines, and they're a family of poison users too. You can't compare with him.

"Third is Yang Wudi's younger brother, Yang Wushuang. Back then, the Clear Sky Sect had no choice but to go into seclusion because Tang Hao killed Spirit Hall's Pope. The Four Great Attribute Clans, as subordinate sects of the Clear Sky Sect, were abandoned, but they continued to resist Spirit Hall. In the end, Yang Wushuang was captured and pledged allegiance to Spirit Hall."

Yang Wushuang's poison had shown its effects on Emperor Xue Ye, and in the end it took Yang Wudi to cure him. From this, it was clear that Yang Wudi's use of poison was superior to Yang Wushuang's.

Hearing this, Dugu Bo muttered, "So that's how the Clear Sky Sect went into seclusion. I never thought that fellow Tang Hao would dare kill Spirit Hall's Pope. Hmph... As expected, anyone with a hammer for a Martial Soul has a screw loose."

Gong Yu continued, "Fourth is Tang San, the son of Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao. This person's body is Tang San's, but his soul belongs to a man in his thirties. Although he was also called Tang San, he's not the original. He forcibly occupied the body of Tang Hao's son.

"Precisely because he isn't Tang Hao's real son, he brought memories of his previous life with him. He spent that entire life studying poison. Now that he's combined two lifetimes, his poison skills can only have risen to another level. He can control the poison in your body."

Tang San ranked below Yang Wushuang in the use of poison because he had been unable to cure Xue Ye. In the end, they had still needed Yang Wudi.

"People really can forcibly occupy someone else's body?" Dugu Bo's eyes widened. He was as shocked as if he had heard some earth-shattering secret.

Suddenly, Gong Yu heard a ding in his mind. He knew the Simulation Device had probably given him another simulation attempt because he had exposed Tang San's identity. But after several years, he had grown used to life without the Simulation Device, so he could not be bothered to check its data display.

"Yes. Isn't Tang San an example?" A meaningful smile appeared on Gong Yu's face. "But we're talking about the use of poison right now, so there's no need to dwell on other irrelevant matters."

Gong Yu continued, "Fifth is Spirit Hall's Porcupinefish Douluo."

"Porcupinefish Douluo?" Dugu Bo frowned. He had never heard the title Porcupinefish before, so he knew nothing about this Titled Douluo's abilities.

"That's right, Porcupinefish Douluo," Gong Yu explained. "His use of poison actually isn't all that impressive, but the Pufferfish Martial Soul itself carries a very potent poison, and it's a direct counter to your Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor poison.

"He can also freely absorb poisons weaker than his own without harming himself, so naturally he ranks above you. Only after him does your turn come, so you're an old sixth."

Dugu Bo's expression darkened. Although he did not know what "old sixth" meant, he knew it was nothing good. Still less had he expected that he really was this poor.

"You still haven't said why using a Soul Bone to store poison only treats the symptoms!" Dugu Bo did not want to continue arguing about the use of poison, so he returned to the subject.

Gong Yu nodded. "Because a Soul Bone's capacity is limited. Even if you obtain a full set of Soul Bones, one day they'll be filled with poison. Wouldn't the poison then invade your body again? Unless you can find a growth-type External Soul Bone to use as a container."

"That sounds somewhat reasonable." Dugu Bo had to admit that Gong Yu had a point, but he had not realized it himself, leaving him embarrassed. He asked, "What about the methods that treat the root cause?"

"There are two methods that treat the root cause," Gong Yu said. "For the first, I give you a heavenly treasure that can purge all the poison from your body. Once you take it, all the poison will be cleared away. The benefit is that you won't have to suffer the pain of the poison flaring up every day anymore."

"What's the price?" Dugu Bo asked. He knew there had to be one.

Gong Yu said, "The price is that once the poison in your body has been completely purged, your poison cultivation will naturally be destroyed too. And because it's destroyed, your strength will decline to a certain extent. You'll have to slowly cultivate it back afterward."

Dugu Bo shook his head. Clearly, this method was impossible for him to accept. "You'd better tell me the other method."

But Gong Yu said, "No hurry. Let's talk about your granddaughter first. I think this method would suit her very well."