Seeing the poison pill in Dugu Bo's hand, Tang San's eyes widened immediately.
"Is that... a soul core?"
It didn't seem like it.It wasn't even rotating.
The doubts in Tang San's heart were the same ones Dugu Bo voiced aloud.
He even explained to Xiao Lin how the poison pill had been refined.
It was made in this very valley, using the powerful Yin-Yang Ice-Fire energies.
Because these energies continuously invaded Dugu Bo's body—even though he was a titled Douluo—they still had an effect on him.
In the short term, it was fine. But over time, he noticed his toxic martial power being eroded by the Ice-Fire Qi.
And of course, Dugu Bo couldn't afford to lose his signature ability—his mastery of poison.
So under the pressure of the Ice-Fire energies, he forcibly condensed the poison into a solid form.
But in reality, this poison pill was just a part of his Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor martial spirit, unlike the soul core that Tang San imagined could be taken out of the body.
It only shared some similar characteristics.
A poison pill made by condensing toxin, soul power, and a part of his martial spirit—that alone made Dugu Bo a genius.
After all, even among Limit Douluo, soul cores were not common.
Dugu Bo had managed to create a half-finished product under immense toxic pressure—not bad at all.
Xiao Lin nodded and said:
"It's close enough. The next step is to use your spiritual power to make the poison pill attract the other toxins and soul power in your body. That's how you'll form a true soul core."
After observing the poison pill, Xiao Lin mentally outlined the three steps to forming a soul core:
Compress the soul power into solid form.
Enhance spiritual power so it can rotate the solid core at high speed with a stable rhythm.
Give it a gravitational pull, attracting surrounding soul power to form a true core.
It sounded simple, but it was anything but.
Xiao Lin thought that once he reached Soul Sage (Level 70), he could try forming a soul core. Ideally, he'd get a soul ring with strength or ice attributes—or even better, one with gravity manipulation.
Dugu Bo believed Xiao Lin and was determined to train accordingly, even if the instructions were vague. He knew he'd need to experiment through trial and error.
"I'll start working on forming a soul core. In the meantime, please help me and Yan Yan develop the antidote."
As he turned to leave, Xiao Lin stopped him again.
"Didn't I say? That's not the only method."
"I have another solution—let Dugu Yan's martial spirit evolve."
At that, Dugu Bo actually smiled confidently.
"I already thought of that. I've managed to evolve Yan Yan's martial spirit into the Jade Phosphor Serpent King."
He looked quite smug. In order to eliminate the threat of her poison, he had studied martial spirits extensively. He'd practically become a self-taught master—certainly more knowledgeable than Yu Xiaogang.
"Oh? Then tell me, how did you do it? By letting her absorb soul rings from snake-type soul beasts?"
Xiao Lin's voice dropped, and Dugu Bo instantly froze—his expression said, "How do you know?"
"Simple. You fell into a conceptual trap."
Xiao Lin answered his own question, not waiting for Dugu Bo to ask.
"Who told you the Jade Phosphor Serpent is purely a snake-type martial spirit? It's actually part of the dragon lineage. Did you know that?"
His words stunned both Dugu Bo and Tang San.
One was in disbelief; the other was amazed by Xiao Lin's knowledge.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent is dragon-type?!
No wonder he's Brother Lin—effortlessly achieving what I couldn't, Tang San thought.
Even though he was confident in detoxifying Dugu Yan, Xiao Lin's approach—evolving her martial spirit into a dragon-type—was on a whole other level.
Not only could she retain her powerful poison ability, but she'd also eliminate the self-harming side effects.
In Douluo Dalu, dragon-type martial spirits are revered—the strongest among beast spirits.
And with a soul core, Dugu Yan's future might hold not just the Titled Douluo rank but even Super Douluo potential.
Xiao Lin continued:
"I read about it in many texts. One book I borrowed from Heaven Dou Royal Academy called 'Soul Beast Chronicles' listed the true name of the Jade Phosphor Serpent."
"It's the Jade Phosphor Poison Dragon."
When Xiao Lin said the name, Dugu Bo's mind went blank. He kept repeating it:
"Jade Phosphor Poison Dragon… Jade Phosphor Poison Dragon…"
"Exactly! The Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor can still evolve. In fact, my martial spirit has always been evolving."
Dugu Bo used to think it was just due to his talent, but now he realized his martial spirit itself was high quality.
He, his son, and his granddaughter Dugu Yan were all the same.
Even though absorbing toxic soul rings led to internal poisoning, they weren't machines—they noticed.
Both Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan had taken precautions, but the toxins still backfired.
Why? Because the poison evolved too fast, while the martial spirit lagged behind.Instead of supporting the user, it became harmful.
Xiao Lin had seen this situation before—in a sea soul beast.
That sea soul beast was called a Frost Claw Shrimp. It evolved one claw extremely large, using the smaller claw to feed.
If it lost the small claw in a fight, the ten-year-old version couldn't feed and would starve.
Was that a failed evolution? No—it evolved too quickly, creating a fatal flaw.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent was the same. Its toxic evolution outpaced the martial spirit, turning it into a liability.
By contrast, Yu Xiaogang's martial spirit wasn't defective due to mutation, it was just that he himself was weak, and couldn't manifest its full form.
According to Xiao Lin's memories from his previous life, in the original timeline, Yu Xiaogang's martial spirit evolved into the Golden Holy Dragon after getting celestial herbs and reaching Soul Douluo level.
Dugu Bo asked urgently:
"Then how should Yan Yan absorb soul rings now?"
He had studied many snake-type martial spirits hoping for her to evolve into the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor. Now that he knew it was dragon-type, he was lost.
"Don't absorb overly domineering sub-dragons yet. Wait until she reaches Level 70 and gains her Martial Spirit True Body—then absorb pure dragon-type soul rings."
"For now, she can absorb sub-dragons with spiritual or life energy traits. If those are hard to find, try water- or earth-type sub-dragons closer to dragon lineage. Water dilutes toxicity. Earth embodies endurance—both help her tolerate poison."
"Alright. We'll do it your way."
Dugu Bo agreed readily. He'd received so many good revelations in one day, he was even feeling guilty about detaining Xiao Lin and Tang San earlier.
How would he face Master Xiao Yan in the future?
Not long after, Dugu Bo fled the valley in embarrassment, leaving behind Xiao Lin, Tang San, and a field full of celestial herbs and rare treasures.
Which now naturally belonged to Xiao Lin and his group.
(End of Chapter)