A Chance Encounter with Dugu Bo

"Who are you?" The Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor spoke in a human voice.

"However you look at it, I'm a friend, not an enemy, right?" Jun Yan said with a smile. "Is this the Soul Beast you need?"

"Yes."

"Understood."

Jun Yan nodded, then steered the Wood Dragon at Medusa. Medusa charged head-on to meet it without the slightest fear.

Yet even a ten-thousand-year-old serpent as enormous as Medusa was a size smaller than the Wood Dragon.

Bang-

With a tremendous crash, dragon and serpent collided. A powerful shock wave burst from the point of impact and swept outward, bending every tree around them.

The Wood Dragon paused, but only for a moment. Then it sent Medusa flying, as effortlessly as crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood.

With a thud, Medusa slammed into the ground, leaving a huge crater.

Jun Yan pressed his hands together. The surrounding trees sent out a ceaseless stream of branches and roots, which swarmed toward Medusa to bind it.

Medusa rolled wildly, crushing the branches and vines that came close, but there were too many. As soon as it snapped some, more grew toward it.

Before long, Medusa was buried beneath countless branches. The movement within began to weaken, until it stopped altogether.

Jun Yan waved away the excess trees, revealing Medusa bound tight by countless branches and vines, with only its snake head exposed. Back in the daylight, Medusa hurriedly twisted its body, trying to escape, but it could not break free at all.

"It's over."

Jun Yan looked back and saw that the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor had also returned to human form.

Before him stood a thin, middle-aged man with dark green hair and eyes that glittered like emeralds. He wore a plain gray robe.

"I am Dugu Bo. Many thanks for coming to my aid. May I ask your esteemed name?"

"Jun Yan," Jun Yan said, cupping his fists.

As the two exchanged greetings, Medusa suddenly let out a roar. A wave of colorless energy swept out, engulfing both Jun Yan and Dugu Bo.

Dugu Bo had just opened his mouth to speak when he suddenly froze, as though someone had pressed a pause button.

Jun Yan also felt as though he had stopped for a second, but he came to his senses in the blink of an eye.

Time Freezing was considered the highest-level Soul Skill of the Medusa clan, the queens among snakes. An ordinary Medusa could not master it.

He looked toward Medusa and saw that, during the second he had been frozen, it had seized the chance to break free of Wood Release and flee into the distance.

"Trying to run?" Jun Yan shouted, leaping from the Wood Dragon. The Wood Dragon then pounced on Medusa at tremendous speed.

With a thud, the Wood Dragon crashed headfirst into Medusa, sending it tumbling several times. Then it coiled around Medusa and pinned its body with both wooden claws, preventing it from struggling any further.

The Wood Dragon then sank its teeth into Medusa's vital point, three inches behind its head, leaving it streaming with blood and sending flesh flying.

It took a while to describe, but only a short moment had actually passed. At that point, Dugu Bo, who had been frozen by Time Freezing, came to as well.

Dugu Bo looked at the scene before him and hesitated for a second before venturing, "This... was that Time Freezing?"

"It should be." Jun Yan nodded. "I've got the Soul Beast under control. Brother Dugu, do you want to use it as a Soul Ring?"

"Don't you want it, Brother Jun?" Dugu Bo asked.

Jun Yan laughed. "Of course not. I just obtained a Soul Ring."

Dugu Bo's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "You already obtained one... Did you just break through to Soul Saint?"

Seeing how formidable Jun Yan was, he had assumed that Jun Yan merely looked young and was actually quite old. He had also assumed that Jun Yan had come to Sunset Forest for his Eighth Soul Ring.

But now, it seemed Jun Yan had only just broken through to Soul Saint. How could he be so formidable?

Jun Yan smiled and nodded. "Yes! Surely you don't think I could have become a Soul Douluo at my age?"

That made Dugu Bo even more curious. "Your age? May I ask how old you are?"

"Twenty-seven!"

Dugu Bo's pupils shook. "Twenty-seven? You became a Soul Saint at twenty-seven! Monster, what a monster!"

Then he asked, with a hint of anticipation, "Do you have a sect yet?"

Jun Yan knew Dugu Bo wanted to recruit him, so he answered with a smile, "I'm from Spirit Hall."

Dugu Bo could hardly conceal his disappointment. "Spirit Hall. Of course, only a force like Spirit Hall could have raised a monster like you."

After Dugu Bo had called him a monster several times in a row, Jun Yan said, "Actually, I'm not quite a monster. There's someone in Spirit Hall with even greater talent."

"I've heard about her too. Spirit Hall's holy maiden, Bibi Dong! But I don't know just how monstrous she is," Dugu Bo said, eager for gossip.

Jun Yan thought for a moment, then said, "Let me put it this way. He's two years younger than me, but he broke through to Soul Emperor at the same time I did."

"Hiss-" Dugu Bo sucked in a breath of cold air. "That impressive?"

Since Jun Yan had not stated Bibi Dong's current Soul Power outright, Dugu Bo naturally thought, Jun Yan broke through to Soul Saint at twenty-seven, and Bibi Dong is even more talented than he is. She's probably a Soul Saint by now too!

Little did he know that Jun Yan's progress over the past year had been astonishingly rapid, and Jun Yan had already surpassed Bibi Dong once.

"As expected of Spirit Hall!" Dugu Bo exclaimed.

"All right, enough about that. Brother Dugu, since you've taken a liking to this Medusa, you should absorb its Soul Ring first! I'll stand guard for you."

"All right!"

Dugu Bo walked over to the Wood Dragon and killed the dying Medusa, then absorbed the deep-black Soul Ring.

A long time passed before Dugu Bo finally finished absorbing the Soul Ring.

"How does it feel?" Jun Yan asked.

Dugu Bo did not answer. He waved a hand, walked over to Medusa's head, and cut it open with a sharp implement, extracting a bloodstained bone.

Then he used Soul Power to remove the blood, revealing a skull the size of a human skull, with white energy flowing over it.

"A Head Soul Bone?"

To a Soul Master, a Soul Bone was an extremely precious thing.

Soul Bones, too, differed in quality and value, and their inherent quality was of paramount importance. The higher the level of the Soul Beast that produced one, the greater its effect. Even among Soul Bones of the same quality, their value differed depending on their location. The most precious was the torso bone, followed by the head bone.

Medusa was a high-ranking Soul Beast, known as the queen among snakes. This Medusa also had sixty thousand years of cultivation, so the Head Soul Bone it produced could already be called a priceless treasure.

Dugu Bo did not absorb it immediately, however. Instead, he forcibly restrained the temptation in his heart and brought it to Jun Yan.

"You put more effort into killing this Medusa than I did. I've already absorbed its Soul Ring, so this skull is yours."