Dugu Yan's heart still carried one shadow—that of her father's death.
Before he passed away, he had endured years of poison torment.
The sight of his pained struggle was burned into her memory.
And often, she wondered… was her grandfather also suffering in silence?
As for herself, she sometimes suspected she too carried the same curse. But her grandfather never told her, and she dared not ask. She was afraid of making him sad.
These worries pressed heavily on her heart, leaving little room for trivial matters.
Ye Lingling glanced at her friend and sighed.
Their eyes met for a moment, two orphans, each raised by their grandfathers.
That bond of shared sorrow was what made them like sisters.
Back in the cafeteria.
With Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling gone, the noisy chatter quickly returned.
But Dugu Feng was now the center of every conversation.
His duel earlier, followed by the clash with Dugu Yan, made sure everyone remembered his name.
And his words had caused many students to misunderstand their relationship.
Ah… so it's just the classic case of an older sister scolding a younger brother.
Plenty of students who had bossy sisters of their own looked at Dugu Feng with sympathetic eyes.
Dugu Yan was known throughout the Academy. She was not exactly tyrannical, but definitely domineering.
Many had witnessed it firsthand.
Ge Ying grinned and clapped Dugu Feng on the shoulder. "Brother Feng, your luck with women is really something."
"Teacher, you're just making fun of me now."
"In private, don't call me teacher. Call me Brother Ge, or just Ge Ying. And let me give you some advice...keep a low profile. Both your cousin and Ning Rongrong have a lot of admirers." Ge Ying chuckled.
You're supposed to be my teacher, but you act like anything but…
Dugu Feng was speechless. For a moment, memories from Earth bubbled back up, memory of his elementary school, where childish fights and petty rivalries were the norm.
If they push me too far, I might as well let my snakes loose on them. I'm only six years old anyway...and wouldn't that be age-appropriate mischief?
After lunch, Ge Ying brought the class to the Mimicry Training Grounds.
It was massive. It was several football fields wide, half-forest, half-hill, nestled by a lake at the mountain's foot.
He assigned students to different areas based on their martial spirits.
Those without spirit rings were told to meditate and cultivate soul power.
Those with rings were to train their first spirit skills.
Dugu Feng was placed at the edge of the forest, close to the water. Brightly colored plants and shrubs grew thick there, many with faint poison attributes, it was perfect for his training.
Surveying the area, he realized this would be his regular practice spot for some time.
Conveniently, it was far from others. A good place to refine his poison without prying eyes.
Violet mist began to curl around him, spreading over a hundred square meters.
Even from a distance, students instinctively stepped back to avoid being poisoned.
That was exactly what Dugu Feng wanted.
Hidden within the toxic haze, his secrets would remain safe.
He opened his mouth slightly. Two streaks of green light emerged, condensing into his palms as twin beads of white and emerald.
Two Poison Pearls.
Two-thirds white, one-third green.
"The Pearls… that's my true trump card."
Turning the beads over in his hands, he focused.
If its full capacity is one hundred, right now it's only at thirty-six. Sixty-four short of being full…
Too slow. From my martial spirit awakening until now, three months have passed, and it's only risen from thirty-three to thirty-six. Barely one point a month. Slower than cultivating soul power. Unacceptable.
The growth of the pill wasn't only about quantity. Quality, purity, and mysterious new powers came with it.
He recalled the battle where Dugu Bo fought the Golden Sacred Dragon and how he had used the pearl to amplify his eighth spirit skill to terrifying levels.
Dugu Feng's eyes hardened.
The pearls dissolved back into green light, which he guided toward his two jade serpents.
They swallowed the light in one gulp.
Over time, he had realized the pearls could be shared.
They could nourish his body, but also feed on his blood and poison in return. It was an endless cycle.
Now, he intended to loop his two Nine-Section Jade Snakes into that cycle as well.
Together, they would feed the beads, while the beads empowered them.
A symbiosis of human, beast, and treasure.
"One month," Dugu Feng told them sternly. "Within one month, you two must grow into hundred-year spirit beasts. And you'd better learn to fly. You can't just freeload, you've got to work for it. Train hard, and raise the Poison Pearl with me."
"Hissss…"
The snakes slithered, as if protesting.
"I know, I know...you've been working hard."
They crawled up a flower tree taller than a man, then leapt down, flapping their bodies clumsily in mock flight.
They hit the ground, climbed up, and leapt again.
Dugu Feng smiled. Perfect little worker snakes.
With the beads' energy sustaining them, their progress would be much faster.
He tossed some prepared snake feed under the tree so they wouldn't go hungry while training.
Satisfied, he turned back to his own practice.
He inhaled deeply, swallowing back all the violet mist into his lungs.
His first spirit ring glowed faintly.
He guided the toxin along his meridians, pushing it toward his hands.
Pain shot through his arms as the channels tore under the corrosive force.
He quickly used soul power to mend them.
Then again. And again.
Poison running, injury, repair.
Over and over, hardening his meridians until they could withstand the venom's surge.
His goal: to one day launch the Jade Phosphor Violet Poison from his ten fingers like blades of light.
Doesn't this sound exactly like the Six Meridian Divine Sword?
The longer he practiced, the more convinced he became.
When he'd obtained his spirit ring, Old Snake had already taught him the basics of finger-force venom projection.
It required twelve channels in total, that was every hand meridian of the human body.
The Twelve Primary Meridians carried blood, energy, linked the organs and limbs, and were naturally open at birth.
Not like the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, which were closed and had to be broken open through effort.
The legendary Six Meridian Divine Sword used six hand channels.
But Old Snake's version used all twelve - ten fingers, plus both pinky meridians.
When fully mastered, both hands could fire jets of venom like invisible swords, piercing defenses and killing with poison.
Just imagining the scene made Dugu Feng's blood quicken.
The Six Meridian Divine Sword, reborn on the Douluo Continent… in a poisonous form!