Chapter 124: The Ten-Thousand-Year Fourth Ring, Four-Colored Mixed Poison
During spirit ring absorption, most soul masters could only passively endure, waiting for the ring to settle and form. They rarely perceived the bloodline essence behind the resulting soul skill.
But Dugu Feng was different—he could distinctly feel two opposing forces within the flow: ice and fire.
Months spent refining cold poison at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had given him unmatched sensitivity to such elements.
His Scorpion Claw external spirit bone had grown twice as strong over that time, while his Eight Spider Lances had gradually adapted to fire poison, gaining a fiery attribute.
Now, as the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad's dual powers coursed through his body—one icy, one blazing—their energies spiraled endlessly until a dark halo formed around him, pulsing with rhythm.
His fourth ring was finally taking shape.
At that moment, Dugu Feng caught a glimpse of the true strength of the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad's bloodline.
Though an ice-type beast, its overwhelming frost energy was stimulated by the fire in its eyes. The power of its toxins came not from harmony, but from fire enhancing ice—flame sharpening frost, magnifying its venom to terrifying levels.
A bloodline potent beyond words.
As he realized this truth, his fourth spirit ring took full form.
Yellow, purple, purple, black—four rings rose and fell around him, marking his official entry into the Soul Sect realm.
His soul power surged straight to level forty-three, gaining three levels instantly—partly fueled by the energy of the two immortal herbs still lingering within him.
Before consuming them, he had been level thirty-six. After months of steady training, he'd reached level forty, but some of the herbs' medicinal energies had remained stored in his body.
Now, merging with the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad's ring had triggered all of it at once.
For comparison—Tang San, after absorbing his own ten-thousand-year ring, had only reached level forty-one.
This made Dugu Feng's achievement all the more exceptional, especially since every increment past Soul Sect was notoriously difficult to attain.
His body, mind, and soul power foundation now felt rock solid.
Real progress, he knew, came not from shortcuts or forced leaps, but from balanced growth—mastery of both internal strength and external understanding.
Today, he could proudly say his grasp of martial skills, cold poison, and fire poison already surpassed that of most soul masters.
This was his capital—the foundation for one day becoming a Title Douluo.
Yet even as the spirit ring stabilized, the transformation within his toxins was far from over.
In truth, the most crucial change had just begun: the fusion into Mixed Poison.
Combining four distinct poisons would take him one step shy of the legendary Tyrant Poison.
His father, Dugu Shuo, had only reached the Four-Colored Mixed Poison stage himself—and even that level could block mental detection from Titled Douluo.
Such power left no doubt of its significance.
Inside Dugu Feng, the three poisons of his earlier rings merged with the cold poison from the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad.
Ripples flared invisibly from his body, distorting the very air around him.
On his brow, purple, green, gray, and blue lights flashed erratically, brightening and dimming like dying embers.
If his will faltered even once, those colors would extinguish—and his poison would devour him whole.
Agony struck from every corner of his being.
Compared to absorbing a spirit ring, this was an even deeper torment.
Every nerve, every drop of blood screamed in pain as the poison corroded his body from within.
Still, Dugu Feng endured, gritting his teeth till his jaw ached.
His belief was absolute—if he, with his current strength, couldn't forge the Four-Colored Mixed Poison, then no one ever would.
His skin flushed through shades of pale green and blue, occasionally glowing faintly from within.
Then, slowly, like dawn chasing away darkness, a shimmering rainbow hue coursed beneath his skin.
The pain eased from a peak to a tolerable hum. His body had adapted.
The fusion lasted two full days before finally settling.
When Dugu Feng opened his eyes again, the valley was quiet except for the gentle flutter of the two Emerald Dragon Snakes circling joyfully around him.
He raised his hands, calling them back to coil around his wrists, before standing up with a satisfied sigh—only to realize that all his clothes had been burned away during the process.
"...Well, good thing no one's here," he muttered dryly, retrieving a fresh set of robes from his storage soul tool and dressing quickly.
Refreshed, he glanced toward the Eight Petal Ice Crystal Grass—and to his surprise, felt a faint sense of kinship from it.
Understanding dawned instantly. The evolution of his cold poison had reached a new height; the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad's bloodline had made him attuned to the herb's aura.
Eager to test his advancement, he activated Martial Spirit Possession.
The rhombic scale at his brow shone in four hues—purple, green, gray, and blue—its brilliance deeper than ever before.
Around him floated one yellow, two purple, one black spirit ring—four total—and the pressure of the ten-thousand-year ring rippled outward like invisible waves, pushing the valley's vegetation outward.
"The black ring of ten thousand years… like a void, calm yet overwhelming, devouring all light and attention."
Dugu Feng admired it quietly.
And this wasn't just any ten-thousand-year ring—it was fifteen thousand years old, taken from the Crimson-Eyed Ice Toad itself.
Abruptly, the fourth ring lit up.
He released his new ability.
At first, nothing in the valley changed.
But when Dugu Feng extended his spiritual sense outward and flew toward a cliff face, he saw it—a faint, needle-sized hole piercing straight through the rock.
"Ice-Fire Corrosive Venom."
His fourth soul skill—at once an offensive and assassination technique.
Harnessing the principle of fire empowering ice, it generated a near-invisible toxin that ignored most defenses, striking directly at the target's vitals.
In his perception, the venom's trace shot through the mountain with almost no resistance, only dissipating when it struck a tree far beyond.
Closing his eyes, Dugu Feng smiled.
This skill was exactly as he had sensed during absorption—the perfect embodiment of the ice-fire bloodline fusion.
His joy wasn't due to its destructive power but its harmony with his growth—it would allow him to deepen his understanding of both cold and fire poisons.
A soul skill, after all, was the crystallization of a beast's bloodline essence fused with a soul master's own nature.
Yet beyond that lay something greater—self-created techniques born from comprehension and will.
As someone who understood the world of Douluo more deeply than most, Dugu Feng already knew—by the time one reached Title Douluo, true combat no longer depended solely on pre-defined soul skills.
At that level, battles were waged through Essence—the mastery of energy, law, and the very origin of one's martial spirit.
Soul skills were only the surface. The true power lay beneath.
(END CHAPTER)
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