"Tang San, you'd better think this through. The poison I'm about to use is one even I can't control. If you want to back out, there's still time. I still won't kill you — I'll even let you try to help me with the toxin's backlash."
Tang San looked at Dugu Bo's hand, his expression growing solemn. He tucked the Nine-Jointed Jade into his bosom. He knew that what Dugu Bo was about to unleash was his innate venom — the toxin of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. Given the other man's cultivation, such a lethal poison would be extremely difficult for him to withstand in his current condition.
But Dugu Bo's words had also ignited the pride within Tang San's heart. Born into the Tang Sect, facing an opponent's threat of poison — was he supposed to simply back down? No. As a disciple of the Tang Sect, if he couldn't even triumph over poison, he didn't deserve the name Tang.
With that thought, Tang San paused to consider for a moment, then reached his right hand into the large bloom of the Delicate Fairy Fragrance before stepping up to Dugu Bo and raising his left arm. "Come."
Dugu Bo frowned. "Are you certain?"
Tang San gave a firm nod.
A cold gleam flickered in Dugu Bo's eyes. You think I'm a sickly cat just because I don't bare my teeth? After all these years of cultivating my poisons, am I really unable to deal with a mere junior? His finger flicked lightly, and the tip pierced into Tang San's arm.
In the span of an instant, a wisp of black qi surged from the puncture point and spread rapidly, a dark line racing upward along his arm.
Tang San quickly pressed his right hand over the wound on his left arm. Seizing the last moments he could still move, he retreated several steps, returning within the protective radius of the Delicate Fairy Fragrance. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and silently circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
At this moment, he wasn't circulating the Mysterious Heaven Skill to force the poison out — forget the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's venom he'd just been struck with; even the earlier Nine-Jointed Jade's toxin was far beyond what the Mysterious Heaven Skill at his current level could neutralize. The reason he was channeling his internal energy was to accelerate the flow of his blood.
For most people, doing this after being poisoned would only hasten death. But Tang San was doing it to stimulate the medicinal properties of the Eight-Pointed Frost Herb and Blazing Apricot Herb already inside his body.
Just as all poisons retreated within the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eye, the greatest benefit of consuming the Eight-Pointed Frost Herb and Blazing Apricot Herb was that their extreme ice and fire energies would gradually transform his constitution. If Tang San could fully absorb both, he would possess a body immune to all poisons.
Of course, he still had a long way to go before reaching that goal. When the Nine-Jointed Jade had bitten him earlier, it was the two herbs working inside his body that had neutralized the toxin. The reason the Nine-Jointed Jade had fallen unconscious was that it had ingested some of Tang San's blood, which carried traces of the herbs' medicinal properties. Fortunately, the blood had already been purified — otherwise, even a rare venomous creature like the Nine-Jointed Jade would have burst apart and died instantly.
If Tang San could fully absorb the properties of both herbs, he would have nothing to fear from Dugu Bo's Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor poison. But that was still far from possible at this point. To resist the lethal toxin Dugu Bo had released, he would need to rely on external assistance.
Tang San certainly wouldn't gamble with his own life. He'd already had a plan in mind when he made his decision.
Though the Delicate Fairy Fragrance couldn't counter toxins once inside the body, its properties could certainly slow their onset and provide a degree of suppression. When Tang San had reached into the bloom earlier, he had coated his fingers in its pollen — and after being poisoned, he had immediately applied it to his wound.
The pollen of the Delicate Fairy Fragrance had the power to neutralize a hundred poisons. Though its own strength wasn't enough to fully dissolve the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's venom, it was sufficient to weaken it. Combined with the joint action of the Eight-Pointed Frost Herb and Blazing Apricot Herb inside his body, Tang San's own form became a battlefield where several deadly poisons waged a desperate war.
Dugu Bo watched Tang San in silence. Even he wasn't confident he could neutralize his own Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor poison. Seeing Tang San collapsed there with a face blackened by toxins, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. He'd been famous for so many years — what was he doing squabbling with a child? If the boy died here, the trouble would be enormous. At the thought of the man behind Tang San, Dugu Bo felt a headache coming on. Just as Flandre had said, Tang San's father — that man named Tang Hao — was someone even he couldn't afford to provoke.
Just as Dugu Bo was locked in an internal struggle, a sudden change came over Tang San's body before his eyes. A faint red glow seeped through his skin, followed by white light — the two colors alternating clearly as the rapidly spreading black qi was checked within the red-and-white radiance, unable to advance any further.
The Eight Spider Spears erupted from Tang San's back. Fighting poison with everything he had, he could no longer control his Martial Soul and soul bones.
The Eight Spider Spears blazed with vivid color — but they weren't the only things radiating brilliance. The Blue Silver Grass within Tang San's body was released as well. The originally blue-violet Blue Silver Grass retained its thickness, but its color had transformed — overlaid on the blue-violet were the same patterns that adorned the Eight Spider Spears, rendered in alternating red and white. The effect was dazzling yet eerie, almost blinding, as if writhing venomous serpents were spreading across his body, coiling around him to form a cage-like shape.
If all of this surprised Dugu Bo, then when a small, pitch-black hammer slowly materialized from Tang San's left hand, his surprise became utter shock.
They hadn't been lying. The hammer was small, but wasn't it the legendary Clear Sky Hammer, famed throughout the world?
Under the full force of Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Skill and the combined power of the two herbs within his body, the stalled poison was slowly forced out. What even Tang San himself didn't realize was that he had turned disaster into blessing.
The medicinal properties of both the Eight-Pointed Frost Herb and the Blazing Apricot Herb were extraordinarily potent. Individually, neither was the most exceptional spiritual herb around the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eye, but when combined, they were absolutely top-tier. For Tang San to fully integrate their properties into his body, he would need to reach at least the seventieth rank of Soul Power.
But now, stimulated by the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's venom, the two herbs had mounted their own resistance, which dramatically accelerated Tang San's absorption rate.
By the time the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's poison had been completely expelled from Tang San's body, he had absorbed over thirty percent of the two herbs' potency. Of course, this was also inseparably linked to his having soaked for an entire night in the supreme divine spring of the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eye.
Dugu Bo watched Tang San with an unsettled expression. Famous for his mastery of poison, he had moved past his initial shock and was beginning to understand why this young man had been able to withstand his lethal venom.
When Tang San had first been captured, he clearly hadn't possessed this ability. Both his Martial Soul and his external soul bone had undergone changes after arriving here — evidently, he had consumed something that granted resistance to poison.
Ever since discovering the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eye, Dugu Bo had found that many of the herbs here were ones he couldn't identify. He had once tried experimenting with their properties, but that attempt had taught him a pain he would never forget. Had his own strength not been exceptional, he would have died of poison long ago.
After that, Dugu Bo had limited himself to gathering only the herbs he recognized. He simply refused to believe that a teenager standing before him could identify herbs that even he couldn't. He knew these herbs might contain precious treasures, but as a Titled Douluo, he was unwilling to take risks.
Looking at Tang San, Dugu Bo could only think that this boy was truly blessed by heaven. Perhaps everything Tang San currently possessed was nothing in Dugu Bo's eyes — still someone he could crush at will. But Tang San's age was his greatest advantage. At his current age and level of strength, his potential was limitless.
What a pity, Dugu Bo sighed inwardly. His granddaughter's age was just too far off from Tang San's. Otherwise, he would have found a way to match them up — even if it meant cooking the rice first, so to speak.
The red and white glows gradually faded beneath Tang San's skin. The small, pitch-black hammer was the first to dissolve back into his body, followed by the external soul bone Eight Spider Spears, and finally the Blue Silver Grass. Tang San's complexion gradually returned to normal.
"Thank you for showing mercy, Senior." Tang San sprang to his feet, a faint smile returning to his face.
Though he had neutralized the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's poison, Tang San knew that Dugu Bo had used only a tiny amount. The potency of any poison was proportional to its quantity — no matter how lethal the venom, an insufficient amount couldn't pose a real threat. Dugu Bo had clearly shown restraint. Of course, Dugu Bo didn't know that this, too, had been within Tang San's calculations.
When Tang San had seen Dugu Bo willing to give the Great Master and the other two the antidote and let them leave, he had known that Dugu Bo wouldn't kill him easily — and that was one of the key reasons he had risked trying to resist the Jade Phosphor venom.
With this first confrontation, his own resistance to poison had improved dramatically. The next time Dugu Bo tried to incapacitate him with the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's venom, it wouldn't be so easy.
(End of Chapter)