Chapter 27: Cutting Off at the Critical Moment—Are You Seriously Not Up to It?!
At this moment, the expressions on both girls' faces were extremely vivid.
Especially Dugu Yan.
She stared fixedly at the line of bold characters on the diary's cover—"Lin Yuan's Diary (Exclusive to Dugu Yan)"—her chest heaving violently, clearly furious beyond measure.
"Hmph! I'm so mad I could explode!"
Dugu Yan clenched her silver teeth. Since they were still in class, she didn't dare make a scene and could only lower her voice, her small face flushed bright red.
"That bastard Lin Yuan!"
"On what grounds does he say my grandfather is the weakest Titled Douluo?!"
"So what if his soul power is rank ninety-one? So what if his single-combat strength is at the bottom?"
"My grandfather is the Poison Douluo! His poison dominates the world!"
"If he really wanted to kill those three, they would've already been reduced to pools of pus!"
"Below the Titled Douluo level, who could survive more than three seconds inside his poison formation? Even other Titled Douluo wouldn't dare casually touch Grandpa's Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Poison!"
As Dugu Bo's granddaughter, Dugu Yan was famously protective.
In her heart, her grandfather was an invincible existence—her pride.
Yet now, this diary that had appeared out of nowhere was demeaning her grandfather to absolute worthlessness?
Even saying that he was only barely held back by the Golden Iron Triangle—three people who weren't even Titled Douluo?
"Lingling, be the judge!"
Dugu Yan turned her head, tugging angrily at her best friend's sleeve.
"This guy is completely spouting nonsense!"
"If my grandfather had truly wanted to kill those three, they'd have been dead long ago!"
Ye Lingling tilted her head slightly. Her cool, detached eyes swept over the diary's contents, a faint ripple flashing through them.
Compared to Dugu Yan's explosive anger, her focus was entirely different.
"Yan Yan, don't get angry just yet."
Ye Lingling's voice was clear and ethereal, as though it could soothe the restlessness in one's heart.
"Look at what he said about the theory of 'the host being unable to carry the martial soul.'"
"If that's true…"
She paused, a faint sadness surfacing in her gaze.
"Doesn't that mean that some martial soul defects aren't actually problems with the martial soul itself—but rather… that we're not strong enough?"
As the inheritor of the Nine Heart Begonia martial soul, she bore the curse of "a single lineage, with only two soul masters existing at the same time."
This diary's analysis of the nature of martial souls made her vaguely glimpse a different kind of hope.
Even if she was wrong, she couldn't shake the feeling that Lin Yuan might have a way to help her resolve this curse.
"Hey! Lingling, why are you still speaking up for that bastard?!"
Dugu Yan puffed out her cheeks and interrupted her angrily.
"We haven't even verified whether what he wrote in the diary is true yet. How can you believe something with such an unclear origin so easily?"
Ye Lingling's calm voice rang out again.
"But didn't both of us receive system rewards?"
"Is that fake too?"
The newbie gift packs they received were identical—a one-level increase in innate soul power.
Not only did this instantly raise their soul power by one level, but it also noticeably sped up their cultivation.
Both of them originally had rank 7 innate soul power, but now it has directly become rank eight.
Just as the two girls were lost in their own thoughts—
The text in the diary began scrolling again.
As if it had heard Dugu Yan's complaints, Lin Yuan actually started giving a detailed evaluation of that so-called Poison Douluo.
[Speaking of which, Dugu Bo, that old man, is quite a weirdo himself.]
[Although he really is weak in single combat, there's one thing in which no other Titled Douluo on the entire continent can compare to him.]
[That is—his god-level ability to clear mobs!]
Dugu Yan froze.
"Clear… mobs?"
[If a battlefield were set between two armies, and Dugu Bo were given enough time and a safe distance,]
[he alone could slaughter an entire city!]
[In terms of strategic deterrence, he's even more terrifying than Titled Douluo like Sword Douluo Chen Xin, who specializes in pure single-target damage!]
[Unfortunately, that old man is also a pitiful figure.]
[He spent his entire life playing with poison, only to poison his entire family in the end.]
[His son died. His daughter-in-law died. Now all that's left is his granddaughter, Dugu Yan.]
[And if nothing unexpected happens, judging by the vicious nature of that toxin backlash in their family, Dugu Yan probably won't live past thirty.]
[When that happens, the old man will truly become alone in the world.]
The "won't live past thirty" part was, of course, Lin Yuan's fabrication.
If Dugu Yan had access to this diary copy, she would definitely panic. That way, his importance could be fully highlighted.
Boom!
If the previous words had only made Dugu Yan angry—
Then these lines were like a bucket of icy water, pouring straight over her head.
Her once-flushed face instantly turned deathly pale.
"Won't live past thirty?"
Dugu Yan's pupils shrank violently, her body trembling uncontrollably.
She wanted to refute it.
But when the words reached her lips, she couldn't say a single thing.
Because she recalled her deceased parents, remembered her grandfather's bone-piercing cough every time it rained, and the occasional stabbing pain in her own meridians.
How did Lin Yuan know so much?!
She had once asked her grandfather whether there was something wrong with her body.
But her grandfather had told her it was probably because she cultivated too quickly, combined with the special nature of their martial souls, and that her body hadn't adapted to the poison yet—this phenomenon was normal.
As long as she slowed down her cultivation a bit, there wouldn't be any issues.
And naturally, she had never doubted her grandfather.
That was why, at thirteen years old, she was only at rank twenty-six.
And that was after the system boosted her by one level—otherwise, she would've only been at rank twenty-five.
Now it seems…
Her grandfather had lied to her.
This was martial soul backlash.
She was poisoned!
Seeing her friend like this, a trace of sympathy flashed through Ye Lingling's eyes.
Though usually cold and detached, Dugu Yan was one of her very few friends.
"Yan Yan…"
Ye Lingling reached out and gently held Dugu Yan's ice-cold hand.
"Don't panic yet."
"Since this Lin Yuan can expose your family's secret with a single sentence, that means he understands your situation extremely well."
"If he understands the cause… then he might also have the antidote?"
Ye Lingling's words were like a bolt of lightning, instantly tearing through the darkness before Dugu Yan's eyes.
That's right!
If Lin Yuan knew this was "toxin backlash," then he must know how to detoxify it!
Dugu Yan shot her head up like she'd grabbed onto a lifeline, staring fixedly at the diary.
"Write it already!"
"Bastard! Since you know, then write down the method to detoxify it!"
She screamed frantically in her heart.
However—
The diary's text, at that very moment, abruptly—
Stopped.
Gone.
What followed was a blank space so empty it inspired despair.
"AHHHH!"
"Lin Yuan! You bastard!"
"You did this on purpose! You absolutely did this on purpose!"
Dugu Yan was so furious that she almost went berserk on the spot. If not for Ye Lingling's quick reflexes in holding her down, she might've flipped the desk right in front of her.
Damn it!
Her expression turned incomparably ugly.
Cutting off right at the critical moment—Are you seriously not up to it or what?!
—
End of Chapter