"Examine my physical condition?"
Dugu Bo looked at the young sect master standing before him with a strange expression.
Although Yu Xiaogang was already quite tall for his age, he was still only twelve years old. To Dugu Bo, he was nothing more than a child—a little brat, as he often liked to say.
Yet this very child was proposing to examine his body.
A Spirit Elder wanted to inspect the condition of a Spirit Douluo.
The situation was absurd enough to make him laugh.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"Go ahead, Young Sect Master," Dugu Bo said with a smile as he extended his arm. "Examine whatever you wish."
"Thank you for your trust, Elder Dugu."
Yu Xiaogang stepped forward respectfully and placed his hand on Dugu Bo's wrist.
A stream of spirit power flowed from his palm and entered Dugu Bo's body.
The moment his spirit power circulated through Dugu Bo's meridians, Yu Xiaogang's expression became serious.
The condition inside Dugu Bo's body was even worse than he had imagined.
Every meridian, every organ, every corner of his body contained traces of terrifying toxins.
Those poisons had accumulated over decades.
They had become deeply integrated into his flesh, blood, and spirit power.
To put it bluntly, Dugu Bo was walking around with a disaster hidden inside him.
If those toxins were ever to erupt completely, the resulting catastrophe would be unimaginable.
Entire regions could be transformed into lifeless dead zones.
After carefully completing his inspection, Yu Xiaogang slowly withdrew his spirit power.
"How is it?"
Yu Yuanzhen stepped forward immediately.
His eyes were filled with anticipation.
If anyone in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan could solve this problem, it would most likely be his son.
Yu Xiaogang thought for a moment before speaking.
"Elder Dugu, if my understanding is correct, the toxins in your body originate from the spirit power you cultivate. Through your Martial Soul, that spirit power is transformed into poison and gradually accumulates within your body."
"Am I right?"
Dugu Bo's eyes widened slightly.
"Remarkable."
"You are absolutely correct."
He nodded in approval.
"The poison accumulated in my body is indeed produced through that process."
"Furthermore, each spirit ring I absorb grants my Martial Soul a new poisonous property."
"The first seven spirit rings each introduced a different deadly toxin."
"When combined with the venom naturally produced by my Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Soul, I possess a total of eight unique poisons."
"These poisons mix together in countless proportions, creating even more lethal combinations."
"That is the foundation of my poison arts."
As he explained, a trace of pride appeared on Dugu Bo's face.
This was the greatest strength of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Soul.
Over the years, he had encountered many Poison-Attribute Spirit Masters.
However, most of them could only strengthen their existing toxins after obtaining new spirit rings.
Some required several spirit rings just to gain a single new poison.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Soul was entirely different.
Every spirit ring granted a brand-new toxin.
It was a unique and terrifying ability.
This was one of the reasons Dugu Bo had always been proud of his Martial Soul.
It was also why he was unwilling to abandon his poison techniques despite the dangers they posed.
"I see."
Yu Yuanzhen nodded with admiration.
"The Jade Phosphor Serpent truly deserves its reputation."
Yu Xiaogang remained thoughtful.
"Toxins transformed from spirit power..."
He paused briefly.
"Have you ever attempted to reverse the process?"
"To convert the toxins back into spirit power?"
Dugu Bo laughed bitterly.
"Of course I have."
"If such a method were possible, would I still be suffering from this problem today?"
Over the years, he had explored every conceivable solution.
If he could convert the accumulated toxins back into spirit power, the amount of poison within his body would remain under control.
Unfortunately, every attempt had ended in failure.
"I see."
Yu Xiaogang nodded slowly.
Inwardly, he crossed that possibility off his list.
Fortunately, Elder Dugu wasn't foolish enough to overlook such an obvious solution.
The reason Yu Xiaogang asked such a simple question wasn't because he expected success.
Rather, his experiences had taught him a painful lesson.
The overall scientific understanding of the Douluo Continent was shockingly primitive.
Many problems remained unsolved simply because nobody had bothered to think about them carefully.
The fact that a poison user's own poison could kill them was already an absurd phenomenon.
Normally speaking, a poisonous creature or a poison-based Martial Soul should possess some mechanism that prevents self-harm.
Otherwise, such a bloodline would have gone extinct long ago.
According to Yu Xiaogang's understanding, there were generally two ways poisonous creatures avoided being poisoned by themselves.
The first method was selective toxicity.
For example, some snake venoms only targeted biological structures that the snake itself did not possess.
As a result, the venom was harmless to its owner.
The second method was poison storage.
Venomous snakes possessed venom glands.
Scorpions stored toxins within specialized sacs located in their tails.
The principle was simple and effective.
Yet after examining Dugu Bo's body, Yu Xiaogang discovered something strange.
The toxins were everywhere.
They existed throughout his body.
There was no dedicated storage organ.
No poison gland.
No venom sac.
Nothing.
The poison simply accumulated inside him.
It was a completely irrational biological structure.
The more Yu Xiaogang thought about it, the stranger it seemed.
A creature capable of producing such powerful toxins should logically possess a place to store them.
Yet the Jade Phosphor Serpent appeared to have none.
Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.
"Elder Dugu."
"Do the Jade Phosphor Serpents living in the Spirit Beast Forest immediately use the poison they produce?"
Dugu Bo blinked.
Then his expression turned complicated.
"That is actually the greatest mystery of our Dugu Family."
"What do you mean?"
Yu Yuanzhen asked curiously.
Dugu Bo sighed.
"The Jade Phosphor Serpents found in the wild possess no visible poison-storage organs either."
"Yet they can accumulate enormous amounts of venom without suffering any harm."
"Meanwhile, every member of the Dugu Family who inherits the Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Soul eventually dies from toxin accumulation."
"We have spent generations studying Jade Phosphor Serpents."
"We dissected specimens."
"We observed their habits."
"We compared them with other snake-type Spirit Beasts."
"And yet..."
"We found no meaningful difference."
His expression darkened.
That was the most frustrating part.
If the Spirit Beasts suffered from the same problem, at least there would be a clear explanation.
But they didn't.
Only the human descendants inherited the flaw.
Yu Xiaogang fell silent.
His fingers tapped lightly against his chin.
"If that's the case..."
"There must be a toxin-storage mechanism inside the Jade Phosphor Serpent that remains undiscovered."
The room grew quiet.
Everyone waited for him to continue.
Yu Xiaogang organized his thoughts carefully.
One fact was already certain.
Jade Phosphor Serpents could store poison safely.
Jade Phosphor Serpent Martial Soul users could not.
Therefore, there had to be a crucial difference between the two.
What exactly was that difference?
A Spirit Beast possessed a physical body.
A Martial Soul existed through the body of a Spirit Master.
But that explanation didn't fully work.
During Martial Soul Possession, Spirit Masters gained many of the characteristics of their Martial Souls.
If the solution relied purely on physical structure, the problem should not exist.
Then what about the soul?
Yu Xiaogang immediately dismissed the idea.
Poison had nothing to do with spiritual or mental abilities.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent was not known for soul-related talents.
That left only one possibility.
Energy.
Spirit power.
His eyes narrowed.
"The Jade Phosphor Serpent stores poison through spirit power..."
The more he considered the possibility, the more reasonable it seemed.
On the Douluo Continent, Spirit Masters followed a system remarkably similar to the principles of Body, Energy, and Soul.
Whenever Yu Xiaogang analyzed a problem, he naturally approached it from those three perspectives.
Body.
Soul.
Energy.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent transformed from a Spirit Beast into a Martial Soul.
There was no significant difference in physical characteristics.
The soul aspect was equally unlikely.
That meant the answer had to lie in energy.
Specifically, the way spirit power functioned.
Yu Xiaogang began comparing Spirit Beasts and Spirit Masters in his mind.
What was the greatest difference between them?
What was something so common that everyone accepted it without question?
Then suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
His pupils contracted.
A possibility emerged.
A possibility so obvious that countless people had overlooked it.
Yu Xiaogang slowly raised his head.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Could it be..."
"The spirit rings?"
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)