Chapter 208: The Emergence of the Dominating Venom (Ba Du)
Dugu Feng acted according to the Dugu family's creed—hide, strike from the shadows, aim at the enemy's weakness, and kill in one blow.
Using such methods, even foes several times stronger could be silently assassinated.
Purple blood, tainted by white frost, splattered across the ground as the Human-Faced Demon Spider's life force rapidly ebbed away.
The Eight Spider Lances began to devour madly.
The eight purple spear-like appendages acted as conduits, channeling streams of white energy into Dugu Feng's back, where it converged along his bones and meridians.
Beneath him, the spider's massive body convulsed violently. As a forty-thousand-year-old soul beast, its vitality was formidable—it clung stubbornly to life even after repeated strikes.
But the longer it struggled, the more thrilled Dugu Feng became.
The more it resisted, the greater his reward would be.
The energy gathering at his back grew denser and soon spread forward to his chest, reinforcing his upper body's bones and flesh until they pulsed with extraordinary power.
The Eight Spider Lances gleamed with violet luminescence, each surface lined with countless tiny purple barbs—needle-like stingers capable of delivering devastating poison upon contact.
The lances were evolving, becoming mightier with every breath.
Dugu Feng stayed perfectly still, feeling the violent energy whirl within him. Above the spider's corpse, a purple halo slowly materialized.
He instantly recognized it—the soul ring signal of a beast's final death.
Reaching out, he summoned the energy.
The violet torrent poured down like a waterfall, crashing upon him in an overwhelming surge of power.
The wave engulfed him; his body, blood, bones, and even his soul bones were drenched in purple energy.
Within the sea of his consciousness, even the phantom of the slain spider appeared.
"Expansion!"
A surge of unbearable pressure erupted inside him.
The energy of a forty-thousand-year-old beast was simply vast beyond belief.
But Dugu Feng's eyes burned with resolve. His hardened physique opened like a bottomless abyss, every cell desperate to devour the surging energy.
His external soul bones acted like three dark vortices, swallowing the spider's energy without end.
Then came the spiritual pearl within his dantian—it too began to stir.
Something was wrong.
Normally, the pearl lay dormant, only intervening when he reached his limits during absorption. Yet now, it was greedily devouring energy alongside the soul bones.
The strain on his body vanished almost instantly.
"So easy?"
This was a forty-thousand-year soul ring. Normally, the upper limit for a fifth soul ring was around twelve thousand years.
He had tripled that threshold.
Dugu Feng had prepared to endure unimaginable agony, ready for a fierce internal battle against this torrent of energy.
Instead, his body withstood it effortlessly—its resilience, bolstered by his soul bones and immortal herbs, handled the pressure with surprising ease.
He turned his focus toward the spiritual pearl, realizing its energy had accumulated to eighty-four percent of capacity. Soon, it would reach full charge and split again.
But that could wait.
Right now, all his concentration centered on the rhombus-shaped scale between his brows.
Purple, green, gray, and blue glows flickered wildly there.
As the soul ring energy merged within him, Dugu Feng's body began to evolve.
Deep in his martial spirit, the various toxins he had cultivated—the Four-Color Mixed Venoms—started fusing with the purple poison of the Human-Faced Demon Spider.
The fusion was birthing a new entity: the Dominating Venom (Ba Du).
Suddenly, the light on the scale turned hazy, as if early sunlight broke through a storm cloud.
A misty rainbow aura radiated outward from his forehead, cascading down his body until every inch of him shimmered with iridescent color.
Then came agony.
A nauseating stench filled the air.
Dugu Feng forced his head down—and his eyes widened in horror.
Patches of rot were spreading rapidly across his body.
On his chest, his ribs were visible through decayed flesh. His arms and legs had exposed bone.
His aura visibly weakened—the corruption racing through his blood.
"Cold Poison Domain!"
He reacted instantly. Freezing energy erupted, sealing his body in a thick layer of frost.
Centered around the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, the domain's deep chill slowed his soul power fluctuations and the rampant fusion of poisons, buying him precious time.
With that buffer, his body began to desperately absorb the incoming soul ring energy, repairing what it could.
"Heal!"
A green glow burst from his right leg—the healing skill of the Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone.
Under that soft light, his wounds mended rapidly.
Dugu Feng gritted his teeth against the pain.
A moment's delay earlier, and only bones might have remained—perhaps even those would have dissolved.
The rainbow mist of toxins still flowed over him, clashing violently against the healing force within.
"So this rainbow poison must be the Dominating Venom," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Fused from the four colors—and it dares to strike back at me, its creator."
A cold smile crept across his face.
"You didn't kill me in the first instant. That means you'll never have another chance."
His preparations had not been in vain.
His body had reached its ultimate toughness, reinforced by soul bones and immortal herbs alike—enough to stabilize his condition, though barely.
Inside him, a war raged.
Rotting fumes continued to escape his pores as his aura flickered unpredictably.
The Dominating Venom felt infinite—ever-changing, endlessly breaking down his body's structure.
"What is the Dominating Venom?"
"Ba Du—the supreme fusion poison, the pinnacle of my Dugu family's toxin arts. It evolves endlessly through the refinement of soul rings.
By the Soul King stage, it can be fully formed.
Its name is truth—its poison holds dominion over the world. Even a Titled Douluo cannot cleanse it.
Only those of extraordinary constitution can cultivate it. Before it poisons others, it first poisons the self."
Those were his father's lessons since childhood.
Even Titled Douluo struck by this venom were doomed—unable to purge it no matter their might.
As a child, Dugu Feng hadn't understood. How could beings of such power, whose spirits defied the heavens, fail to dispel a toxin?
But over time, comprehension dawned.
The strength of the Dominating Venom lay in one principle— (fusion).
Through five toxins combined, each differing in type, potency, and quantity, it could spawn limitless permutations.
The poison was never static—it was constantly evolving.
Any attempt to interfere only accelerated that evolution, birthing new, unknowable forms.
Thus, no antidote could ever truly exist.
The only recourse was amputation at lightning speed—cutting away the infected area before the spread.
Yet even that granted barely a fraction of a second before the poison consumed the rest.
Just moments ago, he hadn't even had time to react before his flesh began to decay.
His thoughts raced.
How could he restrain it?
The venom refused to stop mutating—it devoured everything, even converting his soul power and healing energy into new poisons.
Compared to it, the "Seven-Colored Toxin" once used on Emperor Xue Ye was child's play.
He had already burned through every card he possessed—every soul bone, the Slaughter Domain, all energies working at full capacity to suppress it.
Despite the agony, Dugu Feng closed his eyes, his spirit unwavering.
He believed there had to be a way to master the Dominating Venom.
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Bankai10