Han Li pointed to the increasingly dark sky and reminded, "Alright, let's talk about this while we eat. First, we need to build a small cabin. Otherwise, you might have to sleep in the open tonight."
"Oh, right," said Dugu Yan, suddenly remembering the task at hand. She didn't want to be camping out in the wilderness.
Just then, Guang Ling descended onto the platform. All four of them were soul masters, and with ample materials around, they constructed a small cabin in just half an hour. Han Li even removed some smooth stones from his storage wristband to serve as beds and furniture.
With everything set up, Guang Ling brought out the prepared food, and the four of them chatted and laughed as they enjoyed their dinner.
Because of Dugu Yan's addition to the group, the other three had to explain some things in detail again, which often left her exclaiming in surprise, her eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Time flew quickly, and in the blink of an eye, six days had passed.
During this period, Dugu Bo's body, riddled with poison, had finally regained some vitality thanks to intensive care. It was now time for his martial soul evolution.
A deep sound emanated from Dugu Bo's mouth.
Seeing that he had calmed down considerably, they descended directly to the lower platform.
Nearly an hour passed. During this time, Dugu Bo's brow occasionally furrowed, and his face showed signs of pain. However, his vital signs seemed stable.
If there were still adverse effects afterward, he was prepared to abandon it, even if it meant losing some of his power. He had been terrorized by the poison for too long. Moreover, since Dugu Yan would also undergo martial soul evolution later, he wanted to ensure a safe path for his granddaughter, even if it wasn't the strongest one.
"Of course, if it's necessary and you can't suppress it, you can temporarily abandon it. Master will handle the subsequent issues, prioritizing your safety," Han Li sternly advised.
In these few days, Dugu Yan had become somewhat familiar with Han Li and Guang Ling, the master-disciple duo.
Although they spent most of their time cultivating, they would take breaks during meals and while checking on Dugu Bo's condition. During these times, she would join in and engage in conversations.
"Alright, let's begin."
Dugu Yan didn't mind this at all. She was quite interested in Han Li, and after several days of interaction, she had a vague understanding of how to get along with him.
Han Li was worried that if they missed this opportunity, Dugu Bo's body might not hold up. Any further complications would be problematic, as his medical knowledge heavily relied on rare medicinal herbs, which couldn't afford delays.
Having rehearsed this many times in his mind, Dugu Bo didn't hesitate. He nodded at the master and disciple duo, took out the leafless Nine-Grade Dragon Ganoderma (Water), chewed it quickly, and swallowed it.
"Little girl from the Dugu family, take some time to prepare and plate the food inside. We'll have lunch soon," Guang Ling said, tossing a small ring containing food.
After Han Li once again inquired about and checked Dugu Bo's physical condition, he released his grip.
He glanced at Dugu Yan, who seemed even more nervous than Dugu Bo and said, "Sister Yan, you stay on the platform for now. Master and I will accompany Senior Dugo Bo down. Don't worry, Senior will be fine."
"Okay, I'll wait here for you. Grandpa, you can do it."
Han Li had a strong desire to share and liked being praised. Although he always put on a calm demeanor, the smile in his eyes and the slight upward curve of his lips betrayed his true feelings.
...
"How is it?" Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan asked nervously, looking at him.
In Han Li's eyes, Dugu Bo was quite a peculiar existence. In the entire Douluo Continent, he was a unique character.
After a simple breakfast, the four of them gathered on the platform.
When speaking, Han Li often liked to build suspense, and then reveal the answer after stirring up everyone's emotions, seemingly enjoying the process.
However, this habit had saved him. The essence of the poison in his body had been locked inside, preventing it from spreading throughout his body. Otherwise, given his limited resistance to poison, he might not have survived.
The moment their auras touched, a phantom dragon roar emanated simultaneously from the Icefire Dragon God Bow and Dugu Bo's body, and the green giant serpent behind Dugu Bo seemed to become ferocious, opening its mouth and issuing an invisible hiss towards the two below.
Then, he closed his eyes and quickly began to refine the medicinal power.
Seeing the two of them, Dugu Yan's tense expression relaxed considerably, and she replied softly, "Now, merge."
The outer layer of the pill bead was still entwined with some dark green liquid, indicating that the stubborn poison he had expelled had not completely integrated.
The pill bead could be used as a one-time large-scale destructive force if necessary, a consensus he and Dugu Bo had reached after discussion.
On one hand, she was indeed worried about her grandfather's condition. On the other hand, this was also Dugu Bo's subtle hint. Since the grandfather and granddaughter were essentially tied to Han Li, building a good relationship through frequent interaction was beneficial.
Additionally, taking advantage of this martial soul evolution, Dugu Bo wanted to attempt adjusting the structure of his martial soul.
Dugu Bo patted his chest confidently.
The pill bead he condensed inside his body was very similar to a soul core from ten thousand years later, although it might have been an unconscious act, primarily intended to avoid poison.
"Martial soul possession."
"Alright, no problem." Dugu Bo nodded without hesitation.
The three of them each used different methods to comfort her, significantly easing Dugu Yan's anxiety.
Therefore, although the pill bead had established a certain connection with his body, it couldn't assist in cultivation and instead became a somewhat useless presence.
Dugu Bo muttered something under his breath, his eyes narrowing as his entire body emanated a cold aura. A phantom projection of a green phosphorus snake rose behind him, hissing.
Han Li and Guang Ling watched quietly from the side without interrupting. This was just the beginning, and they hoped everything would proceed smoothly.
This was the plan they had discussed over the past few days, though Han Li had reiterated it once more.
Suddenly, Dugu Bo opened his eyes. Simultaneously, his mouth opened slightly, and a green pill bead flew out.
Hearing his voice, Guang Ling and Han Li no longer watched passively. They summoned their martial souls, with one throwing a burst of icy light toward the bead in front of Dugu Bo, while the other fully mobilized his martial soul aura, pressing it hard against Dugu Bo himself.
Seeing that Dugu Bo was ready, Han Li said no more.
"Roar!"
Han Li had no intention of persuading him otherwise. Firstly, the martial soul evolution he proposed was essentially an alternative way to change Dugu Bo's development path. Secondly, he wasn't sure how soul cores were condensed. To him, he didn't like such ticking time bombs and preferred controllable power, even if it was temporarily weaker.
"Don't worry, Yan Yan, Grandpa will succeed."
"The condition is good, and the toxins are temporarily stable after suppression, which won't affect the upcoming process. When the time comes, you just need to seize the opportunity to merge these toxins with your pill bead."
Seeing this, Dugu Bo and Han Li were pleasantly surprised rather than alarmed.
Activating the martial soul's characteristics was something they had discussed beforehand.
Dugu Bo nodded to Han Li, feeling the surge of medicinal power within his body. Without hesitation, he leaped towards the open space behind him and directly activated his martial soul's true form.
A thirty-meter-long, barrel-thick green snake instantly appeared in the open space, actively guiding the subsequent changes.
Han Li did not follow; after a flash of red light in his right eye, he chose to stay where he was and put away his martial soul.
"Xiao Li? What's wrong?"
Guang Ling glanced at him; this wasn't what they had agreed upon.
"I seem to have overestimated the Nine-Grade Dragon Ganoderma. Perhaps because Senior's martial soul had already undergone evolution once and was a king among serpents, the situation is better than expected and doesn't require my help anymore," Han Li replied softly, looking rather pleased.
"Then what about the aura from your body?" Guang Ling frowned.
"Some of it still activated, making it much easier for me and speeding up my recovery. Besides, there's Sister Yan; she might need my help more," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Alright, then."
Guang Ling said nothing more and looked at the bead he had frozen in mid-air.
The bead's color was much darker than before. Although the soul power fluctuations were much more violent than before, they were still within controllable limits.
"Wait a bit longer; it should be soon. Look, Senior has already begun to restructure his martial soul," Han Li pointed to the distant figure of the Green Phosphorus Snake Emperor, now tinged with a layer of pale blue.
"He's quite ruthless. He destroyed all the venomous snakes around here. When he couldn't find any other venomous snakes two days ago, he even dismantled his little green snake," Han Li remarked.
Guang Ling looked at the distant open space where the large snake occasionally twitched and sighed.
"Yes, Senior Dugu Bo is indeed ruthless, especially towards himself."
Thinking of the crazy plan Dugu Bo had proposed earlier, Han Li couldn't help but nod in agreement.
Actually, according to his original idea, they could utilize the power of the immortal herb to strengthen the venom sac, enhance his control ability, and in the future, just pay attention to the activation mode of the venom to resolve the issue.
After all, Dugu Bo was already a Titled Douluo, and the potential for improvement in the toxicity of his martial soul was quite limited. As long as they used the immortal herb to suppress the backlash, they could simply readjust his body.
Rather than taking risks, it would be better to calmly study how to use the venom for offense without harming himself.
As for Dugu Yan, Han Li had originally planned to take her to obtain the Eight Spider Lances later. With the external soul bone, her bloodline inheritance problem would be directly resolved, and she could even turn it to her advantage, eliminating any future concerns.
But Dugu Bo had other ideas for Dugu Yan to achieve perfect evolution.
He wanted to retain as much of the Green Phosphorus Snake's toxicity as possible during the evolution process, strengthening the venom glands and sacs externally through the power of the immortal herb. Ideally, he wanted to separate them, preventing the toxins from participating in the body's circulation and changing the usual soul power flow path.
If it was impossible, he would then consider the lesser option of directly abandoning the venom glands for evolution.
His words left Han Li and Guang Ling exchanging glances, feeling a chill.
Even Han Li couldn't help but admire his thinking. Even with the immortal herb as a foundation, Dugu Bo's idea essentially involved artificially altering the structure of his martial soul. Wasn't he afraid of his martial soul collapsing?
After Han Li raised this point, Dugu Bo indicated it wasn't a big problem and told them he had already artificially altered his martial soul's structure before, though it wasn't very obvious externally. He also explained the origin of his idea.
When he was young, he met a soul master who, while absorbing a soul ring, passed out because his body couldn't withstand it, resulting in a similar change in his martial soul.
The original frog martial soul had developed toxin glands on its surface after merging with a failed absorption of a toad soul ring.
Unable to accept such a change in his martial soul, this soul master consciously altered the position of the toxin glands during his next soul ring acquisition, hiding them and even whimsically planning to acquire snake venom to defy fate and forge a new path.
However, he failed during a soul ring hunt and, before dying, encountered Dugu Bo, who was also there for a soul ring. He recounted his experience to Dugu Bo.
Inspired by his story, Dugu Bo later consciously strengthened and adjusted the Green Phosphorus Snake's toxin glands through soul ring acquisition, developing a unique cultivation and attack method different from other Green Phosphorus Snake soul masters.
Unexpectedly, he strengthened it too much, surpassing the martial soul's limits, leading to the tragedy of the Dugu family.
In summary, the Green Phosphorus Snake martial soul passed down in the Dugu family had already undergone significant internal changes from other Green Phosphorus Snake soul masters since Dugu Bo, which gave him the confidence to act again.
Perhaps this was why Dugu Bo could evolve his high-level martial soul into the Green Phosphorus Snake Emperor and become a Titled Douluo.
As the master and apprentice talked, there was finally a significant movement from Dugu Bo's side.
Amid the hissing of the emerald-green serpent, two enormous wings slowly grew from the upper side of its body, resembling large eagle wings but covered with feather-like green scales. (Refer to the form of Viper from Dota 2.)
"Release the Dan bead. I should be able to control it now."
The green serpent suddenly turned its head towards the two of them and spoke in human language.
"Alright."
Guang Ling didn't hesitate. Upon hearing his words, he controlled the Dan bead, which was wrapped in icy light, and pushed it towards the serpent.
As the Dan bead approached, this time Dugu Bo did not choose to swallow it. Instead, he used the newly formed wings to establish an energy cycle with it.
Very soon, the wings, which were previously light green, slowly turned dark green under the effect of the Dan bead, eventually becoming almost black, and the Dan bead completely disappeared.
"Xiao Li, does this mean he succeeded?"
Guang Ling looked somewhat puzzled at Han Li, who seemed a bit dazed.
"Sort of. Senior Dugu should have concentrated all the venom glands and toxic attack capabilities into the wings on his back, creating a separate cycle. His internal soul power cycle won't be involved in the venom's circulation, only temporarily merging with the wings when releasing soul skills. It's kind of an isolation method, so he won't be poisoned just by circulating his soul power anymore."
"But if he continues using his original attack methods, he will still be poisoned."
Han Li's right eye had already quietly lit up, observing the soul power circulation within the serpent, speaking with a hint of helplessness.
"So he ingested a near-immortal herb to extract the venom glands from his martial soul and transfer them to the wings? From now on, the wings are his venom sacs are his weapons. Whether he attacks others or himself, it still harms both, but his body and soul power are no longer toxic. Is that correct?"
Guang Ling bluntly summarized his understanding.
"Yes, Master, that's correct." Han Li nodded, confirming.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't put it that way."
The serpent not far away seemed to have heard their conversation, instantly dispelled its martial soul's true form, and transformed into a green light, flashing to their side.
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