Word Count: 3,236 Words
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Silken hair scattered loose, jade-smooth skin glowed, and sultry eyes gathered light into clear, bright pupils. Dugu Lin's emerald gaze burned with unrestrained hunger, its allure sharpened by desire. Her bare feet traced sinuous patterns across the melting ice, the hem of her dress fluttering like a moth's wings against the trembling air.
Ling Bai reclined against the ice bed, having long since abandoned restraint. His gaze devoured the sight of the serpent goddess riding him with hypnotic rhythm. A low hiss escaped her lips as she descended, her mouth tracing a searing path along his jaw while her nails raked down his shoulders. Wave after wave of ecstasy rolled through them, and each undulation of her hips drew increasingly desperate sounds from their throats.
The bed of condensed Ultimate Ice groaned under their passion. Fine cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Reality narrowed to the bruising strength of Ling Bai's hands gripping her soft curves and to her relentless, almost cruelly controlled movements. Her voice crescendoed into a choked sob-song as her back arched until she seemed to dissolve into pure sensation, yet she still maintained that maddening rhythm. The inner muscles of her body clenched and released with deliberate, irresistible intent.
She bent close until their noses brushed, then whispered in a trembling, melodious voice:
"Darling, are you satisfied with my performance?"
"Keep going."
Psychological satisfaction and physical pleasure filled Dugu Lin's eyes with infatuation and devotion. To her, the handsome young man before her radiated a strange, irresistible charm.
She finally collapsed atop him, shuddering with aftershocks, and their lips met in a searing kiss. Dugu Lin slowly pulled herself free and slithered into his embrace like a languid, pale serpent. The pools of fluids beneath her were ample proof of how fierce their battle had been. Even the ice bed formed from Ultimate Ice had melted significantly.
She caught his hand and guided it over the firm swell of her rear, his fingers sliding across that proud curve as her gaze turned smoky with wild longing:
"When will you brand your mark here? I'll go mad with joy…"
Ling Bai closed his eyes as if to rest. "Aren't you afraid someone might see?"
"Whoever dares to look, dies!"
A flash of ruthless light shot through those jade-green eyes, only to melt into watery brilliance under the soothing caress of his warm palm.
Ling Bai savored the memory of Dugu Lin's exquisite performance. She could only be described with three words: born for seduction. Her talent in the bedroom was unmatched.
After painstakingly sculpting this Ultimate Poison beauty, and with her baring her heart and actively seeking him out, playing the chaste saint sitting untouched beneath a plum tree would have been far too lacking in appreciation.
"Darling, what are your plans for me?"
Warm, tempting breath brushed his ear as Dugu Lin murmured.
"If you want to come to Nine Treasure City with me, I'll take you along. If you prefer freedom and would rather settle in Heaven Dou City or some other place, that's fine too. I'll provide for your food, clothing, and everything else."
Dugu Lin tilted her head. "I think I'll stay here by the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. That way I won't annoy Junior Sister Ning Tian at the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. A concubine who earns the main wife's resentment easily falls from favor."
"Concubine…? You've settled on your position rather quickly." Ling Bai was half amused, half helpless.
"Someone like me—my heart twisted and rotted away long ago under countless serpent poison backlashes."
Dugu Lin lay back on the ice bed and gazed at the sky with a hint of empty loss. "Sometimes I feel their disgust is only natural. After all, who would really like a deadly serpent saturated with lethal poison?
I'll never be a virtuous wife or loving mother in this life. Fortunately, my face and figure aren't bad. They're more than enough for a beautiful little concubine."
She flipped over and sat astride him again, her low voice humming like a song. "Concubines have their advantages, you know. Carefree and unburdened. We don't have to guard against every outside woman the way a wife does.
Let go of possession, enjoy the right of use!
The night is short, and I want more!"
Ling Bai smiled faintly and cooperated with the dance of her lithe body.
He had no intention of locking all the women in his life in cages like orioles. He hoped each of them would have her own path and strive for her own goals.
Ning Tian's wish was to revitalize the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan. Ma Xiaotao's dream was to inherit the position of Sea God Pavilion Master. He would support them both.
Indulging in pleasure, Dugu Lin still found the breath to hum and murmur, "Now that I've broken through to Ultimate Poison, all poisons in the world are mine to command. The Jade Phosphor poison mist will serve as nourishment, supporting my cultivation for a long time. I just can't indulge with you every day anymore… Remember to miss me."
"I won't forget."
Ling Bai wrapped an arm around her supple waist. "By the way, I sensed a matured Jade Phosphorous Flower inside the Jade Phosphor Poison Array. It's hidden very deeply, but it still leaked a trace of aura. We'll go have a look in a bit."
"Mm-hmm, I'll listen to whatever you say."
Only when even Dugu Lin's seductive bones felt utterly weak and soft did they finally cease their battle, dress properly, and walk toward the flower king's location.
They were in the sweetest period of their relationship. Dugu Lin's gaze toward Ling Bai was as sticky as drawn silk, and she felt a surge of wild excitement. The innate Jade Phosphor Serpent poison she had carried since the womb was now completely under her control from the moment her poison core had condensed.
From this day on, she no longer had to fear an outburst of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison. As she continually tempered her poison core in the future, once her spirit power broke through Rank 90, that poison core could directly evolve into her first spirit core.
An Ultimate Poison-level Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor was undoubtedly the strongest bloodline in Dugu Clan history. She had already surpassed her ancestor, Poison Douluo Dugu Bo.
That said, when it came to cultivation, Dugu Lin had, in truth, cheated. She hadn't endured the hardship others had, yet she enjoyed blessings others had bled for.
She hadn't tasted any of the bitterness of an Ultimate Martial Spirit's slow cultivation before Rank 70, yet could fully enjoy the formidable combat strength that came afterward.
"Sigh, darling, why didn't Tang San leave a direct bloodline behind on the Douluo Continent? Having to take revenge on the Tang Sect instead feels so meaningless."
Dugu Lin toyed with her seductive jade-green nails, quietly reciting the Dugu Clan's ten thousand years of suffering she meant to repay. "The Tang Sect's Master seems to have disappeared. The sect was rebuilt in Shrek City under Shrek Academy's protection, with Bei Bei—a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon descendant of Elder Mu—as acting master…
Taking revenge like this is no fun at all. Maybe Tang San secretly left behind a bloodline, but we just don't know who it is."
Ling Bai gave Dugu Lin a meaningful look. She immediately noticed the complicated expression in her lover's eyes, hugged his arm, and swung it back and forth.
"Do you know something?
Tell me! I want them to taste ten thousand poisons devouring the heart!"
"Reach Titled Douluo first if you want to know more," Ling Bai said flatly. "I won't stop you from seeking revenge, but at the very least, you'll need that level of strength."
"Fine!"
Dugu Lin pouted, her lips forming a perfect curve of displeasure.
'She's lost her memories and doesn't even know her true identity. Is she still Tang San's precious daughter in this state, or just a pitiful puppet dancing on someone else's strings?' Ling Bai mused silently.
Either way, her guardians were formidable. That place likely housed double-digit Titled Douluo, with Spirit Saints and Spirit Douluos beyond counting.
Poison was a weapon for slaughtering low-rank Spirit Masters. High-rank Spirit Masters could rely on their Martial Spirit's resistance to neutralize most toxins, but Ultimate Poison was different.
As long as cultivation wasn't far beyond Dugu Lin's level, Ultimate Poison's lethality ranked first on the continent. Ultimate Holy, Ultimate Ice, Ultimate Strength—none could match Ultimate Poison's killing speed or the terror it inspired.
Especially on battlefields, Ultimate Poison fully unleashed became death incarnate, harvesting lives like autumn wheat.
Following the source of that will, pale human skeletons appeared before their eyes one after another.
"The aura of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison…"
Dugu Lin's expression instantly turned dark as water. Traces of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison clung to these bones. Every one of them was a Dugu ancestor!
"Hiss—"
Seven spirit rings rose around her—two yellow, two purple, two black, and one red. The blood-red seventh spirit ring blazed as Dugu Lin soared into the air and transformed into the massive Avatar of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. Her thick serpent tail swept through the flowers surrounding the ancestral remains as she roared in fury:
"Jade Phosphorous Flowers of the Nine Absolutes, get out here!"
A Jade Phosphorous Flower of the Nine Absolutes, its color far more vivid than its kin, leapt up to block the frenzied Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. A wronged female voice rang out:
"Every injustice has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor! It was all You You and the others! It had nothing to do with me!"
A 100,000-year Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King!
The Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's icy serpent eyes locked firmly onto the flower king as her pressure spread unchecked.
Feeling the superior oppression of Ultimate Poison and glancing at the Seraphim observing from the side, the Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King simply wanted to burst into tears.
When the pair had forced their way through the Jade Phosphor poison mist earlier and Ling Bai's Divine Skyfire had come crashing down, it had immediately understood it was no match and had gone into deep hiding.
Not long after, the two had left the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well unharmed. The flower king had guessed that the immortal herbs had likely fallen into their hands and had become even more afraid to show itself.
Then the Snow Swan Kiss had been forced into sacrifice and the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor had advanced to Ultimate Poison, swallowing a massive gulp of poison mist in the process. The Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King had been so shocked that, like a human gasping unconsciously under extreme tension, it had let out a tiny sound, only to be captured alive on the spot.
"Big Brother Angel, Big Sister Serpent Emperor, I'm just an innocent little guard! I never attacked you!" the flower king wailed pitifully. "Back when Lord Poison Douluo set up the Jade Phosphor Poison Array to protect the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, I was the first Jade Phosphorous Flower of the Seven Absolutes he planted.
When Lord Poison Douluo passed away, he willingly gave me the lifetime of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison he had condensed. The fact that I could break through to 100,000-year cultivation is something I should be grateful to him for!"
"That's not being entirely honest."
Ling Bai leaned lazily against a trembling Jade Phosphorous Flower. "The Dugu Clan ancestors' remains are all around you, and you absorbed most of the energy from their bodies.
You're rooted at the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. At most, you receive half the benefits that immortal herbs like the Aromatic Silk Beauty enjoy. To break through to 100,000 years in just ten thousand years… that has everything to do with this millennia-long, ceaseless feeding."
"Well… um… they were all delivered to my doorstep by You You, and I couldn't resist," the Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King stammered. "Just like when the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor offered herself to you earlier… weren't you enjoying what was served up?"
"What?!"
Ling Bai's tone sharpened instantly. Dugu Lin flushed with fury and humiliation and spat a pillar of emerald poison at the flower king, terrifying it into a series of high-pitched screams.
"I didn't say anything! I didn't say anything! Don't hurt me!"
The creature immediately submitted. A branch fumbled underground for a while before producing a piece of bone wrapped in flowing luminescence. It offered the bone to Dugu Lin with trembling eagerness and begged for mercy:
"After absorbing Lord Poison Douluo's lifetime of Jade Phosphor Serpent poison, I evolved to the 10,000-year level and awakened some intelligence. He instructed me to hand this spirit bone to a Dugu Clan descendant."
Dugu Lin reverted to human form and accepted the spirit bone with both hands. It was a skull bone, its surface pulsing faintly with spiritual fluctuations, as if serpentine hisses echoed from deep within.
"Medusa Skull Spirit Bone!"
The flower king said miserably, "The Medusa spirit bone was originally a 10,000-year spirit bone. After I nurtured it for ten thousand years, its level is now infinitely close to a 100,000-year spirit bone. I contributed to that!"
Medusa, queen among serpents, was the most suitable spirit beast for snake-type Spirit Masters to absorb. This skull carried a solidified signature skill: Medusa's Gaze. Gazing at this ancestral spirit bone of the Dugu Clan, Dugu Lin's heart filled with complex emotions.
"Darling, let me speak with it alone for a while. You go to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and collect the immortal herbs." Dugu Lin's peripheral vision slid toward the Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King.
Ling Bai inclined his head slightly. With Ultimate Poison, the flower king couldn't harm her. Besides, Dugu Lin had clearly taken an interest in it. Whether she chose to coax, deceive, threaten, or entice it would depend on her own ability.
"What's mine is yours. Take any immortal herbs you fancy." Dugu Lin licked his cheek affectionately.
Greedy mouths choke. She had already absorbed the 100,000-year Snow Swan Kiss and now had set her sights on the 100,000-year Nine Absolutes Jade Phosphorous Flower King nurtured by Jade Phosphor Serpent poison. Adding yet more immortal herbs into the mix would only backfire.
Ling Bai returned alone to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. With his past-life memories and the descriptions in the Tang Sect's Pharmacopoeia, he easily identified the various immortal herbs.
"Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Eight Petal Immortal Orchid, Daffodil Jade Flesh Bone, Star Luo Holy Pearl, Origin Energy Immortal Grass…"
Can't eat all the immortal herbs? Pack them up and take them!
Unfortunately, these 100,000-year immortal herbs had their spiritual intelligence suppressed by the six great plant-type spirit beasts. They couldn't produce 100,000-year spirit bones.
Taking one immortal herb after another, Ling Bai left seeds in their original locations. He deliberately chose the Aromatic Silk Beauty's position for the Blue Silver Emperor. That spot lay at the junction of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well's twin springs and was most suitable for neutral herbs to grow.
After this visit, he wouldn't come again. This place still belonged to Dugu Lin. It would take ten thousand years for the immortal herbs to fully mature again. By then, who knew how many generations of descendants would have passed? There was no need for him to rely on his status as the Dugu Clan's son-in-law to forcibly occupy the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Beyond the Douluo Continent lay countless vast planets and galaxies. Why cling to a single Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?
Rather than occupying it, it would be better to create an 'Asura Sea God Well' of his own in the future, with effects surpassing it by far.
Think big—much bigger!
At last, Ling Bai came to a large, pitch-black boulder. Before it grew a frail white flower that looked as though a single breeze could topple it.
The white blossom resembled a peony but was more delicate, without fragrance or leaves. Only a faint smear of blood-red tinged its form.
King of immortal herbs, the Yearning Heartbroken Red.
Ling Bai doubted himself for two and a half seconds, clicked his tongue, then flipped his palm and struck himself heavily in the chest.
A mouthful of blood tinged with pale gold sprayed out, splattering across the Yearning Heartbroken Red's petals.
The Yearning Heartbroken Red trembled slightly, shook once, then slowly stilled and returned to its original posture. Ling Bai fell into brief contemplation.
No problem. I'll just change targets and try again!
"Pfft!"
Another mouthful of old blood!
Still wouldn't come off!
Try again!
Still wouldn't come off!
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Don't underestimate the Bloodsea Heart's blood-producing capacity, damn it!
"Seriously, other than spraying blood all over me, what else can you do?"
An incredulous, elegant voice rang out from within the Yearning Heartbroken Red. "I'm ignoring you. Why won't you stop?!"
"You can talk?" Ling Bai wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"This flower is a divine-grade immortal herb. If I wanted, I could become the strongest 100,000-year plant-type spirit beast. But I don't want power, nor do I care to deal with scoundrels like you who aren't loyal to love. I exist to wait for my destined person."
The Yearning Heartbroken Red's tone dripped with disdain.
"So I haven't gained your approval?" Ling Bai asked again.
"Do you truly have no understanding of your own nature?"
The Yearning Heartbroken Red was stunned. In those eight mouthfuls of blood, Ling Bai's mind had cycled through eight different women. For the first time, it understood what a peerlessly scummy man truly was.
"I am an immortal herb that guards love, born only for the truest love and destined to perish for that same love.
If you can't pick me, put me back where I was. Stop pawing at me!"
"You take guarding love as your sacred duty. What if someone defiles love?"
"It depends on the situation. True love is exceedingly rare in this world, but those who defile love are as numerous as the sands." The Yearning Heartbroken Red's tone was lofty and cold.
"Suppose—and I'm only supposing—there was someone who has lived for over ten thousand years. In order to control the Son of Destiny and the Destiny Beast, he forcibly split his own daughter's soul in half. One half disguised herself as a man and entangled herself with the Son of Destiny. The other half fused into the Destiny Beast's soul.
Later, the Son of Destiny fell in love with the cross-dressing half, but the old villain still wasn't satisfied. Under the guise of testing true love, he set up a trial that tormented them until one person committed suicide and the Destiny Beast sacrificed itself out of love. Then the two women fused into a new woman who had lost her memories, continuing to torment the Son of Destiny…
If such a person existed, what do you think should become of him?"
"Beast… truly a beast…"
The Yearning Heartbroken Red ground the words out between clenched petals, its voice trembling with fury as it forced out eight words:
"He has already found his path to death!!!"