Even among Soul Saints, Tuoba Lan and Huyan Lie were known for their durability.
Their defenses against soul power attacks were exceptional.
But against the Jade Phosphor's Crimson Poison, which targeted the mind, cracks began to show.
The first to falter was Huyan Lie, who was fleeing in panic.
His thoughts grew sluggish as the toxin eroded his spirit. His steps became uneven.
"Huyan Lie is finished. It's only a matter of time," Old Snake whispered, his tone cold. "But Tuoba Lan… as expected of the White Armored Holy Dragon. His willpower is firm, his strength formidable."
He released Dugu Feng and vanished into the haze, body melting into a shadow.
Tuoba Lan felt his nerves fray.
Enemies like this were the worst—unseen, intangible, yet suffocating.
The crimson mist pressed around him, an endless domain of poison.
"Roar!"
A torrent of white breath erupted from the dragon's maw, detonating through the trees with thunderous force. Again and again he unleashed, explosions ripping across the forest, desperate to flush out his hidden foe.
Finally, he made a decision. With a violent push, his claws tore into the earth, and with a mighty heave, his massive body vaulted into the sky.
If I can't fight him here, I'll escape the mist itself!
In the open air above the canopy, the red haze thinned.
Relief flickered in Tuoba Lan's dragon eyes. He can't maintain such a wide domain forever. His soul power must be running dry. Once I break free, the tide turns.
But then—
A figure appeared above him.
Tiny, almost laughably small compared to his titanic dragon form.
A gnome, no bigger than an insect against an elephant.
Yet that gnome raised one hand.
"Poison Burst."
A violet-red sphere erupted, slamming into the dragon's skull and exploding outward.
Old Snake's voice followed, mocking and cruel.
"White Armored Dragon, you should have stayed below. Let the toxin seep into your spirit, let death come quietly. Like Huyan Lie—look at him. His arms, his legs, already rotting, yet his mind cannot comprehend he's doomed. He still runs. He still believes he'll escape. He will die thinking he had a chance."
"And you? You thought you could flee. Now taste regret. The kind of pain that makes you wish you'd never been born."
The voice faded, lost in the trees.
Tuoba Lan howled. Black light spread across his draconic head, toxin gnawing through scale and flesh.
As Old Snake had explained countless times, once the Jade Phosphor venom breached the body, death was only a matter of time.
The sixth soul skill—Poison Burst—combined violet and crimson toxins into an explosive orb. The blast tore open a weakness, and the poison rushed in.
Even the dragon's thick armor couldn't shield the senses, the eyes, the nostrils, the ears. The poison seeped deeper with every breath.
Agony arrived.
It was the kind of agony no warrior could endure.
The massive dragon writhed, thrashing madly, demolishing trees and stone alike.
In mere breaths, his martial soul avatar collapsed.
The once-proud dragon crashed to the ground, reverting to human form.
Moments later, his body darkened, flesh dissolving into rancid black liquid until nothing remained.
Huyan Lie's end had been swifter, dying in confusion, never realizing the truth. Tuoba Lan's end was agony itself.
Silence fell across the forest.
Only after a long while did Old Snake and Dugu Feng reveal themselves, slipping from the canopy.
Four green eyes gleamed faintly in the dark, savoring the victory.
Old Snake exhaled with pride.
"Do you see, young master? This is why the Dugu family stands among the seven who rule the Great Spirit Arenas. No clan dares provoke us. Unless they can slaughter us to the last, they face endless, invisible death. Killing is our craft."
Dugu Feng rolled his eyes. "Enough boasting. Sunset Forest hides Titled Douluo. I wouldn't be surprised if Dugu Bo himself is nearby. We need to clean up and leave."
Old Snake sighed as if robbed of his stage, then began his work.
Poison swept outward. Flesh, blood, corpses—all reduced to ash. The toxins themselves were then reabsorbed, leaving not a trace.
He knew as well as Feng that their kills were no small matter. Tuoba Lan of the Sacred Dragon Clan, Huyan Lie of the Elephant Armored Sect—both tied to Spirit Hall. And Xiahou Mang, once of the Clear Sky Sect's vassals.
This affair had to vanish without a sound.
Moments later, both were gone from Sunset Forest.
This time, Old Snake did not summon a carriage.
He hoisted Dugu Feng onto his back and darted through the trees, speed like lightning.
The soul bone was theirs. Now only a fool would linger.
Inside his storage belt, Feng sifted through loot. A ring and a pendant, soul-guided devices from Tuoba Lan and Huyan Lie.
Soul power surged, revealing the spaces within.
Medicinal herbs. Healing elixirs. Piles of gold soul coins. Rare metals forged into weapons by master craftsmen.
Valuable, yes—but little that truly mattered.
Until his hand brushed against something golden.
A crystalline shard, palm-sized, glowing faintly like a golden diamond.
Feng's eyes widened. Whale Rubber!
He held it up, soul power shimmering across its surface. At least three thousand years in age.
Old Snake's eyes twinkled with knowing mischief. "Young master, that piece is fine quality. Leave half for Little Snake. He's reached the age to pass on our line. You wouldn't understand. I married at twelve, worked hard for twenty years before fathering him. Every child of the Dugu clan… born from blood, sweat, and tears."
Feng nearly choked.
Cold, lethal Little Snake—marriage and children? The image was absurd.
But he knew. This was the clan's fate. Even his own mother, whom he had never met, had died from poison. His father had taken eight wives to produce him.
Every birth in the Dugu family was a victory snatched from the jaws of death.
The true final test of survival.