Three days had passed since the Second Team's impossible victory in the Great Spirit Arena.
The atmosphere at the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy had shifted fundamentally. Before, the Second Team were the garbage nobles. Now, they were celebrities. Huang Yuan couldn't walk to the cafeteria without junior students asking for his autograph. Jing Ling had suddenly become very popular with the female students.
And Arthev?
Arthev had become a myth.
The Science Sect rumor had spiraled out of control. Students whispered that he was the secret disciple of a hidden hermit clan that cultivated the "Dao of Physics." They said he ate iron for breakfast to increase his density.
Arthev ignored it all.
He sat in the back of Teacher Bai's Advanced Theory class, spinning a pen between his fingers. His face was calm, but his mind was elsewhere.
Still Heart Village.
The name lingered in his thoughts. The library had been a dead end. The books claimed the village was destroyed by a boar stampede. It was a lazy, bureaucratic lie to cover up the truth: the theft of the Stone of Serenity.
The locals had worshipped that stone. They believed it kept the spirit beasts away. They didn't know it was one of the Seven Artifacts. When the Broken Circle took it, the anchor
tore free, and the village was swallowed by a time loop.
'We need a lead,' Isobu whispered in his mind. 'The books are empty.'
'We need someone who knows the legends before they were erased,' Arthev thought. 'Someone old. Someone dangerous.'
---------
The Garden Walkway
Classes ended for the day. Arthev walked through the manicured gardens, heading toward the lake. He needed quiet to plan his next move.
As he passed the ornamental fountain, he stopped.
Sitting on the edge of the fountain was Dugu Yan.
The Vice-Captain of the Royal Team didn't look like the confident, lethal snake she had been in the arena. She was hunched over, her hands gripping her knees. Her skin was paler than usual, with a faint, unhealthy purple tint around her neck veins.
She was trembling.
'Matatabi,' Arthev projected. 'Analyze.'
'Analyzing target,' the Two-Tails purred instantly. 'Heart rate elevated. Arrhythmia detected. Blood toxicity levels are critically high. The neurotoxin from her martial soul is backwashing into her marrow. It appears the stress of the match accelerated her condition.'
Arthev adjusted his uniform and walked over.
"Vice-Captain Dugu," Arthev said softly.
Dugu Yan flinched violently. She whipped her head around, her green eyes flashing with hostility.
"You," she muttered . "Come to gloat? Or did you come to give me another lecture on dilution?"
"You look like you are in pain," Arthev stated, ignoring her aggression.
"I'm fine," she snapped, standing up. But her legs staggered, and she had to grab the fountain's stone rim to steady herself.
"Just... soul exhaustion. Your water attack was heavy."
"It has been three days," Arthev said, stepping closer. He didn't offer to help her stand, he knew her pride would reject it.
"Soul exhaustion recovers in twelve hours. What you have is not exhaustion. It is poisoning."
Dugu Yan froze. "What did you say?"
"The Jade Phosphor Serpent is a potent spirit," Arthev began, slipping into his Scholar persona.
"Its venom dissolves nerves and corrodes bone. But a serpent is immune to its own venom because it stores the toxin in a poison sac."
Arthev pointed to her chest, then her arm.
"Humans do not have poison sacs. So where does your body store the toxin you cultivate?"
Dugu Yan's eyes widened. This was the secret of the Dugu family. The tragedy of her lineage. Her father had died from it. Her grandfather was suffering from it.
"You... you don't know what you're talking about," she whispered, but the fear in her eyes betrayed her.
"I see the purple lines in your neck," Arthev observed clinically.
"The toxin is accumulating in your bloodstream. When you used your Third Skill in the arena, you pushed your output to the limit. Now, the residue is flooding back into your system. It hurts, doesn't it? Like hot needles in your joints?"
Dugu Yan slumped back onto the fountain edge. The pain was excruciating today. It felt like her ribs were dissolving.
"So what if it does?" she bit out, tears of pain pricking her eyes. "It is the price of power. My grandfather says we must endure it."
"Endurance is noble," Arthev said. "But dying from your own weapon is inefficient."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, glass vial. It contained clear water.
Before she could react, Arthev channeled a tiny amount of Isobu's soul power into the water. Isobu's energy had purification properties, it wasn't a cure, but it was a powerful neutralizer.
"Drink this," Arthev offered.
"You want me to drink something from a rival?" Dugu Yan scoffed, though her hand shook.
"It is just water," Arthev said. "But I have adjusted the molecular structure to act as a magnetic sponge. It will bond with the free-floating toxins in your stomach lining and flush them out."
"Molecular... structure?" Dugu Yan stared at him. "Is that more Science Sect nonsense?"
"Call it what you want," Arthev placed the vial in her hand. "But if you want the pain to stop for a few hours, drink it."
Arthev bowed slightly and turned to walk away.
"Wait," Dugu Yan called out.
She looked at the vial. Then at the pain radiating through her arm. She uncorked it and downed the water in one gulp.
Almost instantly, a cool sensation washed over her chest. The burning acid feeling in her joints receded. It wasn't gone, but the sharp edge was dulled. For the first time in days, she could breathe without wincing.
She gasped, looking at her hands. The purple tint in her veins had faded slightly.
"How?" she whispered, staring at Arthev's back. "My grandfather... even he can only suppress it with soul power. How did water do this?"
Arthev stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
"You are treating it like a curse, Vice-Captain. It is not magic. It is chemistry. If you understand the poison, you can control it."
He resumed walking.
"If you want a permanent solution, tell your grandfather that his method of suppression is flawed. He is building a dam. Eventually, the dam will break."
Dugu Yan sat there, stunned, clutching the empty vial.
Her grandfather, the Poison Douluo, was the most terrifying man she knew. No one dared to question his methods. Yet this boy, this Level 30 student, had just called the Title Douluo flawed.
And the terrifying part was... the pain was gone.
"Arthev," she whispered to herself.
She stood up, her strength returning. She needed to go home. She needed to find her grandfather immediately.
------
The Dormitory
Arthev returned to his room and sat on the bed.
'Bait planted,' Arthev thought.
'That was risky,' Matatabi noted. 'If she tells him, Dugu Bo will come for you. He is known for being paranoid and vicious. He might just kill you to keep the family secret.'
'He won't kill the only person who offered a solution,' Arthev replied calmly. 'He loves his granddaughter more than his pride. He will be angry, yes. He will be violent. But he will be curious.'
'And curiosity,' Shukaku cackled, 'is how the cat gets caught.'
Arthev closed his eyes to meditate. The Stone of Serenity was lost in time. The Broken Circle was a ghost.
But Dugu Bo can be a living encyclopedia of the dark world. And Arthev was about to get a very private audience with him.
To be continued...