"Yue Guan, all my preparations weren't in vain—turns out you were careless after all!"
Seeing his strike succeed, Dugu Bo laughed heartily. At some point, a dark green armguard had appeared on his right arm, glowing faintly. It was the right arm Soul Bone that Ning Fengzhi had once given him. He raised his arm, aiming it straight at Yue Guan.
"So your ultimate move wasn't the usual Medusa's Gaze, but those two tiny iron balls?"
Yue Guan gritted his teeth against the searing pain, constantly channeling Soul Power to suppress the spreading toxin inside his body. His face was twisted with disbelief. He hadn't expected that just two little iron balls could injure him this badly. The steel needles embedded within were laced with a potent venom—a kind he had never seen Dugu Bo use before. It drained marrow and had powerful corrosive properties. Just a small amount had severely damaged his meridians.
"Who told you those balls were my trump card?" Dugu Bo sneered. "Those things are just toys that brat made for me. I've spent all this time laying the groundwork for one thing only: to kill you. What do you think I made this whole toxic battlefield for? What do you think the poison needles inside your body were for?"
Yue Guan's expression finally cracked. His eyes flicked to the battlefield around him. Even the shallowest pools of venom were at least two centimeters deep; the deeper areas were more than ten. He still didn't know what Dugu Bo was planning, but the intense sense of dread made him desperate to escape.
Without another thought, he gave up trying to suppress the toxins and activated every ounce of his remaining Soul Power, turning into a streak of light and launching himself skyward—trying to flee the poisoned field.
"Trying to run now? Too late!"
Soul Bone Skill: Poison Explosion Art!
As Dugu Bo twisted his wrist, his Soul Bone glowed dark green.
Boom! Boom! Boom!…
Far off, Yue Guan felt the venom inside him suddenly surge—then explode.
His already-weakened meridians were shredded in an instant.
He tried to keep flying, but his Soul Power was completely destabilized by the internal detonations. His body plunged helplessly into the poison swamp below. At the same moment, the swamp began to boil, as terrifying energy gathered at its core.
"Old Ghost! Save me!" Yue Guan screamed in despair.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the sky and earth. A massive, dark green mushroom cloud rose hundreds of meters high, instantly drawing the attention of every Soul Master nearby.
Dark green lightning crackled wildly through the blast zone, as if the end of the world had come.
"He really pulled it off!"
Xu Yang stabilized himself midair and looked toward the rising mushroom cloud, a slight smile forming on his lips. But then his expression changed.
Circles of dense white air currents were forming around the cloud, becoming visibly solid.
"Not good!"
Pouring the last of his Soul Power into his wings, he darted forward in a golden flash, reaching Dugu Yan in an instant. Wrapping her in his arms, he turned his back to face the incoming shockwave.
At the same time, he channeled all remaining Soul Power into his armor. The scarlet-gold patterns ignited like flame, solidifying into a blazing second layer of protection over his body.
The explosion struck a heartbeat later.
Everything in its path was destroyed. Even the ground was blasted into a crater more than ten centimeters deep. Many Spirit Hall Soul Masters were caught in the blast and ripped to shreds before they could escape.
Xu Yang felt like he had been hit by a speeding truck. His internal organs shuddered violently, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Crack!
His armor shattered instantly. Before he could even be blown away, it dissolved into Soul Power and vanished. His Spirit withdrew instinctively, but he was still swept off his feet by the force of the shockwave, tumbling through the air.
And that wasn't even the end.
The next wave of force was even stronger—too much for Xu Yang to survive in his condition.
Just then, dozens of spatial vortexes opened in the air.
Gu Rong (Bone Douluo) appeared in front of Xu Yang, nine Soul Rings glowing brightly beneath his feet. He was carrying the unconscious, heavily injured Ning Haiyan, and his expression was grim as he turned to face the massive blast.
"That old freak really doesn't know how to hold back…"
Seventh Soul Skill: Bone Dragon True Body!
Third Soul Skill: Bone Shield!
Bone Douluo's seventh and third rings flared at once. He thrust his right hand forward, summoning a hideous Bone Shield, and planted it firmly between them and the blast.
The shockwave hit—and stopped.
Not a single shred of the force touched Xu Yang, Dugu Yan, or Ning Haiyan. Clearly, Bone Douluo no longer considered this kind of explosion a threat worth worrying about.
The impact continued for nearly a minute before finally fading. As it ended, a blue-gray spatial tunnel opened behind Xu Yang and the others.
Bone Douluo activated his Bone Dragon Spirit's innate spatial travel ability and moved instantly to the center of the explosion.
What awaited him was desolation.
No living creature could be seen. Only a massive crater, nearly a hundred meters across, remained.
If Gu Rong hadn't sensed the faint life auras of Dugu Bo, Yue Guan, and Ghost Douluo, he would have thought they had all perished together.
Back on the edge of the battlefield, Xu Yang slowly regained consciousness, only to find himself in Dugu Yan's arms. His whole body ached, and he couldn't summon a trace of strength.
Looking down at the crater, Xu Yang's pupils shrank.
"How much poison did he release to cause an explosion like that? It's like a missile strike…"
He was familiar with Dugu Bo's Soul Bone Skill—the Poison Explosion Art. Its effect was simple: detonate any toxin marked with his spiritual imprint.
But its power was terrifying.
The more poison involved, the greater the destruction—scaling exponentially. To create devastation on this level, the amount of venom Dugu Bo had released was beyond imagination.
"He'll be fine... he has to be!"
Dugu Yan was frantic, her eyes brimming with tears as she scoured the area for any sign of her grandfather.
But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him—and finally burst into tears, convinced that Dugu Bo had died in the blast.
Gu Rong closed his eyes and extended his Spiritual Power. Moments later, he located Dugu Bo and used space traversal to take the group to his location.
Dugu Bo's condition was dire.
Although he was immune to poison and could control both the placement and force of the Poison Explosion Art, the sheer volume of toxins he had detonated was overwhelming. Even though he had positioned himself in the area with the weakest impact, he was still gravely injured. His face was ghostly pale.
"Grandpa, are you alright?!"
Dugu Yan passed Xu Yang to Gu Rong and rushed forward, dropping to her knees beside Dugu Bo, not even knowing where to place her hands as she cried out in panic.
"Cough... Cough…"
Dugu Bo stirred weakly, regaining consciousness. Seeing Dugu Yan beside him, he struggled to sit up and gave a faint smile.
"Yan'zi, don't worry. Grandpa's fine... I just misjudged how much venom I used. Didn't think it'd be that powerful…"
PS: Read Advance Chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/ReadJin