Wounding Dugu Yan

Dugu Yan moved in a serpentine pattern, barely dodging the sword before lashing her tail out in retaliation.

"Don't underestimate me. I can do more than just poison people!"

After Martial Soul Possession, Dugu Yan's snake tail was indeed capable of both offense and defense. But put another way, it meant that neither its offense nor defense stood out.

With a backhand slash, Lan Hong broke through Dugu Yan's defense. She cried out in pain, but also seized the opportunity.

"Third Spirit Skill, Jade Phosphor Purple Poison!"

As Dugu Yan unleashed her Third Spirit Skill, purple poisonous mist began spreading across the Soul Fighting Stage.

Lan Hong naturally knew how formidable this poison mist was. If he inhaled even a mouthful, he might not be able to withstand it.

Lan Hong immediately changed his move, using Purple Smoke Scatter to conceal himself.

"Hmph! Yu Tianheng told me about this move of yours. It's useless! Once my poison mist fills the entire Soul Fighting Stage, you'll be poisoned no matter where you hide!"

As Dugu Yan spoke, several streaks of purple sword light attacked her from different directions.

She was forced to dodge, yet one sword qi still sliced open a bloody wound on her body.

Showing mercy to a beauty? That didn't exist on the Soul Fighting Stage! Purple Bamboo Flying Immortal had merely been an appetizer. Now, Lan Hong was going to break Dugu Yan's poison mist.

At that moment, the purple smoke had already merged with the poisonous mist. Lan Hong swung the Purple Cloud Sword, stirring the airflow around him.

The sword technique Cloud Steaming and Aurora activated. Purple aurora light began shining within the mixture of purple smoke and poison mist.

"What is that?"

Dugu Yan immediately became vigilant. She had no desire to be injured again by sudden sword qi.

She finally understood the helplessness Yu Tianheng had felt during his first soul fight with Lan Hong, when he had been trapped in the purple smoke and unable to find his opponent.

As the purple aurora erupted, the poison mist seemed to churn, completely beyond Dugu Yan's control.

Then wind rose across the fighting arena. Drawn upward by the wind, the poison mist gathered in the air like a purple roaming dragon.

"What exactly is happening?"

Dugu Yan was utterly confused, but Lan Hong's figure had already appeared once more.

"Take it back!"

Lan Hong spat out those three words. Purple Qi Comes East carried the purple roaming dragon formed from the gathered poison mist back at Dugu Yan.

Dugu Yan tried to dodge, only to discover that she could not evade it at all. This sword was simply too fast.

She could only raise her snake tail to block it, but she could not stop it either. Her entire body was blasted off the Soul Fighting Stage. The victor had been decided!

What Lan Hong had not expected was that Dugu Yan would actually be poisoned by her own poison. Her purplish-black face was an obvious sign of poisoning. Moreover, she had already been badly injured after taking Purple Qi Comes East head-on.

Ye Lingling came over and used Nine Heart Begonia to treat Dugu Yan. It could heal her injuries, but it could not detoxify her.

With no other choice, the Great Soul Arena sent someone to take Dugu Yan back to Dugu Bo for treatment.

Lan Hong, meanwhile, left the Great Soul Arena at once. He feared that the arena would detain him and hand him over to Dugu Bo.

After leaving the Great Soul Arena, Lan Hong immediately used the Disguise Technique to alter his appearance and changed into another outfit.

"I probably won't be able to come to the Great Soul Arena for soul fights again. Fine. I'll spend more time researching Soul Tools and cultivating my Soul Power!"

Dugu Manor. As a guest official of the Heaven Dou Empire, Dugu Bo naturally had his own residence in Heaven Dou City.

Dugu Bo happened to be in the manor. When he saw Dugu Yan being brought back in her current state, he was furious enough to want to kill the Great Soul Arena staff who had escorted her back.

It was Ye Lingling who talked Dugu Bo down and had him detoxify Dugu Yan first.

"Strange. Yanzi was poisoned by her own poison. She shouldn't have been careless enough for that! Lingling, tell Grandpa what happened!"

"Grandpa Dugu, Yanzi went to the Great Soul Arena for a soul fight and lost!"

"She lost a soul fight? That person could break through Yanzi's poison?"

"I don't know exactly what happened. We couldn't see anything at all on the fighting stage. At the end, the poison mist was suddenly swept into the sky by the wind, and a streak of purple sword light knocked Yanzi off the Soul Fighting Stage."

Just as Ye Lingling finished speaking, Dugu Yan woke up.

"Grandpa? Why are you here?"

"Silly girl, what are you saying? Take a good look at where you are!"

"Eh! Wasn't I at the Great Soul Arena? Right! I lost. Damn it!"

"Sister Yan, do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"

"No!"

"That's good. Yanzi, do you want Grandpa to get revenge for you? Whoever dared hurt my precious granddaughter must be tired of living!"

"No! I'll get revenge myself. Otherwise, wouldn't that make me worse than that guy Yu Tianheng?"

"Ha ha! Yanzi has grown up. You know how to get revenge for yourself now. Not bad! Not bad!"

"Hmph! I haven't been a child for a long time, okay!"

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling stayed at Dugu Manor for the night, then returned to Heaven Dou Royal Academy the next day.

Afterward, Dugu Yan began rigorous training just like Yu Tianheng. Their defeat at Lan Hong's hands had made them more diligent.

Lan Hong spent the next year at Heaven Dou Royal Academy as an unnoticed nobody.

Early one morning, Lan Hong opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

"Level 39! A little faster than planned! I didn't take part in soul fights this past year, but sparring with Hong Mao kept my swordsmanship from growing rusty at all.

Once my Soul Power reaches level 40, I can start planning how to obtain the immortal herbs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!

But dealing with Dugu Bo is no different from seeking a tiger's skin. I need to prepare an escape route for myself first!"

"Little Hong, you said that among the Titled Douluo of Douluo Continent, aside from those with bird-type Martial Souls, the rest might be able to fly but aren't very fast."

"Mm! That's right! Brother Cat, do you have something in mind?"

"When you reach level 40, I'll condense my second Spirit Ring and let you summon Purple Crystal Cloud! With Purple Crystal Cloud's speed, I don't think most Titled Douluo will be able to catch you!"

"Mm, Purple Crystal Cloud is indeed fast enough! This is probably the only viable escape route at this stage!"

As usual, Lan Hong washed up, ate breakfast, and went to the library to read. He had already finished at least a third of the books there, and from scattered passages within them, he had pieced together one possible reason why Soul Guiding Technology had disappeared.

Twenty thousand years ago, humanity had developed a relatively mature Soul Guiding civilization, while the cultivation system for soul masters was still incomplete.

Humans used Soul Tools to compete with soul beasts for living space, but then a Beast Tide occurred and destroyed the Soul Guiding civilization.

Humanity then entered the Dark Age. During that time, two people rose to prominence: the future Angel God and Sea God.

The Angel God perfected the soul master cultivation system, established Spirit Hall, and became a god by gathering the continent's faith.

The Sea God lost the struggle for faith to the Angel God and could only spread faith across the seas, ultimately gathering the Sea God Position.

Lan Hong could not verify how much of this was true, but he did not believe that the gods of the God Realm had not intervened in the development of these events.

Therefore, before he had the strength to contend with the gods of the God Realm, he could not spread Soul Tools on a large scale and drive the development of civilization as a whole.

In the end, everything still came down to strength.

The first chapter is here. Thank you for your support and love. Please save it and send some recommendation votes my way—pretty please!