Chapter 45: I Told You I'd Make You Meow!
With Gui Mei's departure, the Black Tiger Sect slunk away from the Grand Battle Arena in humiliation.
The air around the dueling platforms instantly lightened. Members of the Ge Clan, Thunder Academy, the Zhu family, and the Dai Clan all wore smiles of relief.
Only the Holy Dragon Sect's Tuoba Xi still looked displeased, though he maintained a veneer of calm civility.
The tide had turned decisively.
The profits left behind by the Clear Sky Sect's withdrawal would now belong to the Six Great Families.
What came next would be negotiation—how to cut and divide that enormous pie.
The Dugu Clan, having slain two members of the Black Tiger Sect, would certainly claim a substantial share.
Such matters were for his father and Old Snake to handle.
Dugu Feng, in high spirits, returned to his room.
His true joy came from within—his inner energy beads had finally evolved.
The two had divided into four.
Sitting cross-legged, he sank his mind inward, watching in his dantian as four jade-green energy pearls formed a revolving square, spinning slowly in harmony.
The stored energy within them had decreased—each held about a quarter of its previous volume.
"Only a quarter?" he murmured in surprise. He had expected the total to be halved, but this was better. The quality of the beads had clearly advanced—the energy was now denser, semi-solid, hence the reduction in quantity.
Then—boom!
A surge of scorching power erupted from each bead, flooding his meridians and bones.
His soul power surged upward—breaking through to level seventeen.
Normally, such progress would have taken at least two more months, but now it came instantly.
Dugu Feng was overjoyed.
All those sleepless nights of training, all the relentless eating and cultivating, had finally paid off.
The torrid power coursed through him, strengthening bones, muscles, and even blood—fortifying every cell in his body.
"Wait… what's this?"
He sensed two streams of energy departing through his arm meridians, flowing into his twin Nine-Segment Emerald Snakes.
Their crimson eyes flickered violently as their strength began skyrocketing.
A thousand years—
Twelve hundred—
Thirteen hundred—
Finally halting past the two-thousand-year mark.
Dugu Feng sighed. "Those little freeloaders got more benefit than I did!"
Still, it was fine—after all, they were his tools. Their tiny bodies required little energy for such leaps.
Most of the strengthening, he realized, had gone into his own physique.
His body was now perfectly prepared for a second soul ring above the thousand-year level—the only question was how high he could push it.
Four flashes of green light appeared as the beads emerged into his hands.
The evolved beads shimmered with strange power, their size shifting fluidly—now large, now small—beyond comprehension.
As they revolved once more within his body, they absorbed every last trace of residual poison in his bloodline.
Their hunger for toxins had grown drastically.
"So this means… no more poison outbreaks?"
With four beads absorbing toxins at such a rate, even his inherited venoms couldn't build up fast enough to harm him.
The ancestral poisons from his father's mixed line—the root of the Dugu bloodline's curse—were now being drawn out, refined, and contained.
This was revolutionary.
As long as the beads continued to evolve, the pace of purification would always exceed that of the body's toxicity.
Smiling contentedly, Dugu Feng realized he had finally escaped the fear of poison backlash.
A day passed.
It was time for the final round.
With the Black Demon Sect gone, the remaining battles would surely be more peaceful.
Dugu Feng stepped toward the stage, anticipation in his eyes. His opponent was Zhu Zhuqing—and he couldn't wait to see if she really had the courage to face him.
The deafening cheers from the stands answered his question.
Zhu Zhuqing appeared, graceful and stunning, drawing an uproar from the excited crowd.
She leapt lightly onto the platform, her movement elegant and fluid—the picture of agility and beauty.
No sooner had she landed than her Martial Soul burst forth.
One eye turned emerald, the other bright orange-blue, while a pair of feline ears twitched adorably atop her head.
"You actually dared to come up here," Dugu Feng said, intrigued.
Her icy gaze didn't waver. "You're strong—but not so strong as to inspire fear."
"Is that so? Then allow me to make you meow." He grinned brilliantly.
This little kitten was too competitive for her own good—it was time to teach her the gap between them.
Releasing his Martial Soul, his soul power condensed in an instant.
Across from him, Zhu Zhuqing's body tensed as she entered her explosive state.
Her ten fingers flexed gracefully, unleashing sharp, claw-like blades of light. She crouched low like a predator preparing to strike, then sprang forward with astonishing speed.
"Heitian tried this too—attacking first. Didn't work for him, won't work for you."
Dugu Feng tracked her movements calmly, his eyes following the illusions of her speed.
She was faster than Heitian—her footwork lighter, her figure flickering like a phantom.
Determined, Zhu Zhuqing's first soul ring flared. "Nether Thrust!"
Her speed spiked again, closing the distance almost instantly across the limited platform.
Using multiple afterimages to distract him, she concealed her true body until, at the very last instant, her velocity doubled.
To an outside observer above the ring, her dash looked like a sharp angular strike from the edge of the stage.
Her claws gleamed, aiming right for Dugu Feng's vital point.
"Clang!"
Sparks flashed at the contact point. The impact halted her midair, forcing a stumble.
"Bang!"
A second clash followed. This time, Zhu Zhuqing instantly realized—her moves had been completely read.
She looked up.
Dugu Feng was smiling at her, amusement dancing in his eyes as twin streams of violet soul power shot from his hands, each striking with deadly precision at her claws.
Each hit drove her back another step.
Frustrated, Zhu Zhuqing gathered soul power again, twisting midair as she sidestepped, trying once more.
But each attempt ended the same way—violent clashes, repelled every time.
"He's toying with me!" Rage flared inside her chest.
For all her skill, she knew—she couldn't touch him.
Am I really going to lose this easily?
Refusing to yield, she snarled and struck again.
"I told you," Dugu Feng said coldly, "I'll make you meow."
"Ah!"
A startled cry escaped her lips. A wave of dizziness hit her, her control faltered, and the next moment she collapsed onto the platform, her Martial Soul vanishing.
"Little kitten," Dugu Feng said, looking down at her fainted form, "you're far too naïve. Did you think I was only using soul power?
The poison has already entered your body. In a few minutes, you'll melt into sludge."
He smiled faintly, his tone somewhere between mockery and admiration.
(END CHAPTER)
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