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At this moment, Dugu Bo, standing inside Dugu Yan's sand domain, was smiling brilliantly, rubbing a small handful of flying sand in his hand.
"Yanyan's first spirit ability has quite good effects. The flying sand contains the stimulating properties of her previous first ability's red mist, but now the stimulation causes weakening—though the weakening effect is halved, it's still ten percent of the original!"
"I wonder how young Ignaz will handle this?"
After waiting a while without Ignaz making a move, Dugu Yan couldn't wait any longer:
"Second Spirit Ability: Earth Wave Swamp!"
The surrounding ground began to soften, rolling in waves like the ocean. A green liquid appeared on the swamp's surface.
But the second spirit ability, which should have slowed Ignaz's speed and paralyzed him with poison, had no effect whatsoever—Ignaz ran across it as if on solid ground.
This made Dugu Yan stomp her feet in anger, saying indignantly, "Are you going to attack or not? All you do is run away!"
However, the very next second after she spoke, Ignaz had already figured out her first and second spirit abilities completely. He immediately used his first spirit ability—War Spear Scaled Dragon Transformation.
Wielding his Blood Thunder War Spear, he rapidly charged toward Dugu Yan inside the sand domain.
"Little brother, don't worry—this match will end quickly! If you get hurt, I'll personally apply medicine for you, and also—"
Dugu Yan's imagination ran wild as she immediately mobilized her spirit power to use her first ability again. The flying sand became denser and fiercer.
Swoosh—
Ignaz's clothes were torn in several places by the fine sand particles. When Dugu Yan didn't hear any commotion, she jumped up excitedly, thinking she had won.
Little did she know that the next second, a chilling presence approached as the war spear's blade pressed directly against her neck. Ignaz said calmly:
"You lost."
"How is that possible? My sand poison had no effect on you?"
As the sand domain dispersed, Dugu Yan turned to look at Ignaz behind her, her expression even more astonished.
"You cheated! You must have worn protective armor beforehand. My sand domain can even cut through clothes—why couldn't it hurt your exposed skin?"
"Grandpa, this isn't fair!"
Dugu Yan ran to Dugu Bo's side, grabbing his right hand and speaking very indignantly.
Dugu Bo looked at his granddaughter acting spoiled beside him with a smile. "Yanyan, this kid didn't wear any defensive armor. You lost."
However, Dugu Bo was now even more curious about Ignaz. Under his observation, Ignaz hadn't used any spirit ring abilities yet had defeated Yanyan, who had two spirit rings. How did he do it?
"Kid, do you have a second spirit? Or do you possess a decent spirit bone with special abilities?"
Ignaz immediately answered Dugu Bo's doubts:
"Senior, I don't have a second spirit! Although my skin became whiter during my spirit evolution, its roughness hasn't changed. This is the result of years of body tempering."
"Miss Dugu Yan's first and second spirit abilities are both excellent, but what I cultivate is a basic leg technique. Combined with skin rougher than most people's, some flying sand and swamp can't cause me substantial harm."
"I see. I didn't expect you to practice other techniques in your spare time from spirit cultivation. Not bad!"
Dugu Bo found this kid increasingly unfathomable—not only did he have a detailed understanding of spirit research, but he also had two other techniques comparable to self-created spirit abilities.
Was this the kind of Spirit Master that Sea God Island could cultivate?
"Little sister, now that your spirit has evolved, it shouldn't be called Jade Phosphor Snake anymore."
Although Ignaz had won, Dugu Yan was quite displeased with him calling her "little sister"—he could clearly call her Yanyan, so why "little sister"?
But what he said made sense. This scaled dragon-type spirit deserved a new name. After thinking for a moment, she smiled at Ignaz:
"Brother Ignaz, why don't you help me choose one?"
Ignaz pondered briefly. "Your spirit and senior's are of the same lineage, so let's call it Rock Domain Poison Dragon."
"Good, I like this name."
Dugu Bo watched the two children, who had already become close, with his hands behind his back. He asked with great joy:
"Yanyan, young Ignaz, you've both reached the Spirit Master bottleneck. Tell me what spirit rings you need—Grandpa will catch them for you."
At this moment, Dugu Yan kept stealing glances at Ignaz, completely ignoring what her grandfather said. Only when Dugu Bo coughed angrily twice did she notice him.
"For my third spirit ring, I'll let Grandpa choose for me!"
"What about you, young Ignaz?"
Ignaz looked at the curious Dugu Bo but didn't give a precise answer. Instead, he mentioned a general location:
"Senior, could you take me to Thunder Canyon? I want to add a thunder-attribute spirit ring for my fourth ring. As for the specific spirit beast, I haven't decided yet."
In fact, Ignaz had already decided on the spirit beast for his fourth ring—the Thunder Hell Vine. Thunder Canyon was filled with violent thunder power, making it the most suitable place for thunder-attribute spirit beasts to cultivate. There must be traces of Thunder Hell Vine there.
Besides, Thunder Canyon was also one of his best body tempering locations. If he could absorb the Thunder Hell Vine's spirit ring and combine it with his indestructible vajra body, he'd be more confident about using thunder to temper his body.
However, he didn't know if the Thunder Hell Vine was actually in Thunder Canyon or if its age would exceed his expectations, so he didn't share this idea with Dugu Bo.
"Thunder Canyon? That's quite a good destination!"
Dugu Bo was very familiar with Thunder Canyon. It was perpetually covered by dark clouds with thunderstorm weather, and even the lakes in the canyon's inner forest were tinged with violent electric arcs.
It was an excellent habitat for thunder-attribute spirit beasts and was also very close to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan—one could say Thunder Canyon was the clan's hunting backyard.
"Grandpa, let's hurry to Thunder Canyon then!"
"Good. Thunder Canyon does have some sub-dragon species spirit beasts that should work as your third spirit ring!"
Immediately, Dugu Bo led the two eastward. Throughout the journey, he described the distribution of spirit beasts within Thunder Canyon in detail.
"Young Ignaz, have you decided what spirit beast you need?"
He wanted to see what kind of thunder-attribute spirit beast this kid would choose.
"Kid, Thunder Canyon is different from other places. Only by determining our target early can we save time."
...
After traveling for a day and night, the three arrived at a blue-black forest. Looking around, many trees showed signs of being struck by lightning, and a strong burnt smell filled the air.
"Yanyan, young Ignaz, the thunderstorms here are extremely chaotic, and the spirit beasts inside are more ferocious! When searching for spirit beasts here, you must stay close to me."
"Okay!"
Dugu Yan vigilantly watched the surrounding environmental changes, while Ignaz felt quite comfortable, without any sense of oppression or fear.
However, just as they entered the thousand-year spirit beast area, an earth-brown Flowing Rock Poison Python with three blue stripes on its back coiled around a black withered tree, its snake eyes staring intently at the three below.
Screech—
Three thunderballs directly bombarded them. Dugu Bo immediately used his first spirit ability, shooting a black poison ball at the creature. When the two energies collided and exploded, several black poison feathers scattered. Wherever they fell, flowers and grass withered, and tree branches broke.
The Flowing Rock Poison Python, lying on the tree, realized that the spirit power fluctuations from the green-clothed human exceeded its own. Just as it was about to flee:
"I'm a dignified Titled Douluo deliberately suppressing my spirit power fluctuations—how could I let you escape?"
Medusa's Gaze!
Dugu Bo's eyes shot out jade-green rays, directly petrifying the fleeing Flowing Rock Poison Python.
"This 1,200-year-old Flowing Rock Poison Python is quite good. If we really can't find a sub-dragon bloodline spirit beast, we can absorb this spirit ring."
As a petrification ability from the 70,000-year Snake Empress Medusa's head spirit bone, the effect lasted six full hours. If he didn't remove the ability in that time, the thousand-year spirit beast would certainly die.
That window should be enough for them to find a more suitable spirit beast.
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones