Chapter 26: with translation of chapter title, then ===GLOSSARY=== with list of named entities appearing in these lines

Gu Xuan and Du Gu Yan arrived at the Dou Hun Tai and stood opposite each other, twenty meters apart, gazing at each other from afar.

"Sister Yan, go easy on me later." Gu Xuan gave Du Gu Yan a faint smile.

Du Gu Yan had watched Gu Xuan's Dou Hun battles against Yu Tianheng yesterday and against graphite today, and already knew this kid was all talk, then would strike with the fiercest attacks.

This kid is vicious; if you truly listen to his words and underestimate him, the result will be completely unlike what you expected.

Du Gu Yan also smiled faintly and replied, "All right, stand there and let me beat you up, and I'll let you go."

Du Gu Yan had no friends as a child, and Dugu Bo, that old man, doted on her, so she also harbored a little devil inside; her bad ideas were no fewer than Gu Xuan's, only perhaps she didn't have his utter lack of scruples.

Gu Xuan stopped talking; three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rose slowly from his body, pulsing, and his hands turned into a pair of silvery-white bone claws, flashing with a sharp cold light.

"Gu Xuan, martial soul: Bone Dragon, thirty-third rank Strength Attack Battle Soul Lord, please."

Gu Xuan's gaze burned into Du Gu Yan, who didn't retreat an inch; emerald-green light shimmered over her body, a green diamond-shaped crystal appeared on her forehead, and her legs swayed into a snake tail nearly two meters long, each scale diamond-shaped, like gems inlaid.

Du Gu Yan's body likewise had three soul rings—two yellow and one purple—rising and spiraling around her, pulsing.

"Du Gu Yan, martial soul: Emerald Scale Snake, thirty-seventh rank Control Battle Soul Lord, please."

Du Gu Yan slightly opened her small mouth and spoke softly; as she spoke, the first and second yellow soul rings on her body lit up.

Having watched Gu Xuan's recent battles, she knew his close-combat prowess was unmatched, so she would not give him any chance at all.

"First soul skill: Emerald Scale Red Poison!"

Emerald Scale Red Poison excites and stimulates the meridians, making opponents more prone to rage, stagnating their soul power and thus disrupting normal thought; if applied to one's own soul master, it boosts attack and speed by thirty percent.

"Second soul skill: Emerald Scale Blue Poison!"

It stimulates the nerves, causing opponents to lose control of their thoughts, leading to sluggish movement; when used on one's own soul master, it eliminates pain and raises defense by fifty percent.

Du Gu Yan's two soul skills are both support-type, never unleashing the terrifying potential of her Emerald Scale Snake poison, because those who possess the Emerald Scale Snake martial soul have an innate toxic body; if they absorb too much toxin in youth, it backfires on them, worse than death.

Thus, when Dugu Bo initially chose Du Gu Yan's first two soul rings, he picked soul beasts with weak toxicity, focusing more on support and restriction abilities, so her two soul skills have only mild poison attributes.

As the soul skills were released, Du Gu Yan slightly opened her small mouth and exhaled two mists of red and blue, instantly enveloping the twenty-meter area before her.

Gu Xuan's eyes narrowed; frankly, he truly lacked the ability to counter poison-based power at present, but that didn't mean he had no way to deal with Du Gu Yan.

Of course, it's not the realgar wine that breaks snake poison from the original story.

After arriving in this world, anticipating contact with Du Gu Yan, Gu Xuan had experimented before; realgar wine indeed counters snake poison, but only ordinary snake poison.

However, as a soul master's martial soul, the toxin it releases contains not only snake poison but also the poison imparted to the soul skill by the soul beast.

Gu Xuan guessed that in the original story, Tang San could use realgar wine to counter Du Gu Yan's snake poison, the key likely being Ma Hongjun's Phoenix Flame; otherwise, his ordinary realgar wine could hardly counter the snake poison of a soul master near rank forty like Du Gu Yan—or perhaps Tang San's realgar wine then contained special ingredients enabling it to counter the poison of a snake martial soul master.

Gu Xuan had never actually seen Tang San use it, so it was merely speculation; his method for dealing with Du Gu Yan was simple and brutal.

"First soul skill: Bone Dragon Battle Body!"

All attributes increased by twenty percent.

"Second soul skill: Dark Gold Terror Claw!" Attack and strength increased by one hundred percent.

Gu Xuan's pair of silvery-white bone claws turned dark gold, becoming even sharper and unstoppable.

Gu Xuan held his breath and charged straight into Du Gu Yan's first and second soul skills; having read the original, he naturally knew the effects of those two soul skills.

Moreover, Du Gu Yan and they had each explained their soul skill effects yesterday; Gu Xuan knew he now only needed to hold his breath to defend against her first and second soul skills.

Gu Xuan was fast; the twenty-meter distance passed in an instant, but when he reached Du Gu Yan, her third purple soul ring on her body had already lit up.

"Third soul skill: Emerald Scale Purple Poison!"

Deadly poison; this soul skill combines Du Gu Yan's own Emerald Scale Snake poison with the poison of a violet toxic lizard, forming an even more terrifying toxin; even a soul master of the same rank caught in this Emerald Scale Purple Poison would be turned into a puddle of pus by the horrendous toxin within moments.

This time Du Gu Yan did not open her cherry lips to spit poison; instead she raised her right hand, and in her palm a purple poison mist condensed under the soul skill's effect, then she directly exhaled it toward Gu Xuan.

This was no surprise to Gu Xuan; Du Gu Yan had explained yesterday that her third soul skill can be sprayed from the mouth, emitted from the palm, or condensed in the palm to strike.

This is quite human-like, and it also makes Du Gu Yan's attack methods versatile, harder to defend against.

As Gu Xuan drew near, he was about to collide with Du Gu Yan's third soul skill; even Du Gu Yan herself began to worry he might be killed outright by her own poison.

But the next moment, Gu Xuan's right hand dark-gold bone claw transformed into five dark-gold talons, like Wolverine's claws, no longer bone claws.

"Sky-Tearing Claw!"

Gu Xuan gave a soft shout, swung his right hand, and five dark-gold energy blades shot out; the Emerald Scale Purple Poison just exhaled from Du Gu Yan's right palm was sliced into six pieces and scattered outward.

"What?!"

Du Gu Yan's heart startled; the next moment her snake tail swayed, trying to distance herself from Gu Xuan.

Yesterday Gu Xuan hadn't mentioned he had such ability, which is also why Du Gu Yan dared to stand her ground and attack.

"Is this kid hiding something?" That was Du Gu Yan's second thought.

These five dark-gold energy blades not only could cut through her Emerald Scale Purple Poison, but they flew at her with undiminished force.

Du Gu Yan could clearly sense the extraordinariness of this attack; given her defense, if she were hit, it would certainly be a severe injury.

And Gu Xuan, having sliced the Emerald Scale Purple Poison, pushed off with his feet and swiftly pursued Du Gu Yan through the gap.

He was still holding his breath, and although less than ten seconds had passed since the start, fighting an opponent like Du Gu Yan, the most important thing is to end the fight quickly.

Otherwise, if Gu Xuan inhaled the mist of Emerald Scale Purple Poison, even he now could not dispel it.

Du Gu Yan's snake tail swayed with speed and agility slightly greater than human legs, and her reflexes were quick; she actually dodged Gu Xuan's Sky-Tearing Claw at the first instant.

But Gu Xuan was faster; he pierced the Emerald Scale Purple Poison and came to within less than three meters of Du Gu Yan, her third purple soul ring lighting up, endless bone swords sealing off her dodging space.

Du Gu Yan had no choice but to jump off the Dou Hun Tai to evade Gu Xuan's third soul skill attack.

PS: Typos will be corrected later.

(End of chapter)