Chapter 42: Rescue

After both Spirit Beasts were killed, Gu Can and Tie Xiluo came from not far away to a spot near everyone.

"Alright, this practical training is now complete. Everyone, prepare to return to the academy," Gu Can said, looking at the students who were panting heavily with exhaustion in their eyes.

Upon hearing they could return to the academy, everyone cheered and jumped for joy.

Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling huddled together, looking at Zhou Heng not far from them, both of their eyes filled with curiosity and probing expressions.

"Sister Yanyan, have you taken a fancy to that guy too?" Seeing the probing look in Dugu Yan's eyes, Ye Lingling did not hide her own intentions and stated her meaning directly to Dugu Yan.

She also asked Dugu Yan what her opinion of Zhou Heng was.

A flash of brilliance crossed Dugu Yan's eyes as she thought of Zhou Heng's formidable combat power and the special life force he controlled.

Dugu Yan said with firm conviction: "If I can survive, I will definitely seek him out to be my husband."

However, as if thinking of something, Dugu Yan's tone turned low: "But the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison brought by our family's martial soul is too hard to resolve; I fear I will be unable to have any connection with him."

Ye Lingling had known since childhood that the Jade Phosphorus Snake martial soul inherited by Dugu Yan's family would bring a backlash of snake poison to the awakened, and those who suffered the backlash basically did not live past fifty.

It was only twenty years ago that one Dugu Bo appeared, becoming a Title Douluo and living past fifty, becoming the only exception.

Ye Lingling placed one hand on Dugu Yan's shoulder and comforted her softly: "Don't worry, Sister Yanyan, you will definitely be able to resolve your family's Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison backlash just like Grandpa Dugu Bo and become a Title Douluo."

Just as Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were communicating on the side, Yu Tianheng stood among the group of students, avoiding the attention of Zhou Heng and the others.

Everything he had done before had dealt a blow to his reputation; it was best for him not to move at all now, so as not to let others' attention gather on him again.

Just as Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling were talking about the matter.

Ye Lingling suddenly let out a cry, followed by words choked with sobs: "Sister Yanyan, is your old injury acting up again? Don't scare me."

Following the source of the sound, everyone looked at Dugu Yan, who had collapsed to the ground, and Ye Lingling, who was shaking her to try and wake her up.

Upon seeing Dugu Yan fainted on the ground, everyone retreated, not wanting to get involved in Dugu Yan's problems.

They all knew Dugu Bo's temper; he was completely unreasonable.

Once Dugu Yan died here, if they had any connection to her, regardless of whether they had anything to do with her death, Dugu Bo might storm their homes and demand their lives in compensation.

For now, it was better not to get involved with Dugu Yan; there was still a chance to survive Dugu Bo's subsequent purge.

The moment Zhou Heng saw Dugu Yan fall to the ground, he knew it was the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison backlash, not an old injury acting up.

Ye Lingling likely had little soul power left now and could no longer release her soul skill.

Zhou Heng stepped forward, his Element Spirit Tree martial soul gathering Yi Wood Power, and injected pure, lingering life force into Dugu Yan's body.

Inside Dugu Yan's body, the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison belonging to the Bilin Snake Martial Soul was absorbing her life force, especially within her internal organs, where the poison was most concentrated.

If the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison could not be neutralized, Dugu Yan would likely not survive this time, and he himself would likely be targeted by Dugu Bo as the first objective and be killed.

The Yi Wood Power Zhou Heng injected into Dugu Yan's body was currently contending with the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

Gu Can and Tie Luoxi also discovered the three's movements and walked over.

Just as they arrived, they saw Zhou Heng placing his hands on Dugu Yan's hands, injecting a special power into her body.

The two had long heard the rumor that Dugu Yan had been plotted against as a child, leaving behind sequelae (a false rumor spread by Dugu Bo). Now, seeing her fainted on the ground, they naturally associated it with her sequelae.

Seeing Zhou Heng by Dugu Yan's side, exerting his ability to treat her, they naturally could not hold them back and began to manage the surrounding students.

Gu Can even found a few Support-type Spirit Masters and had them apply buffing soul skills to Zhou Heng.

Zhou Huan was applied with soul power recovery and mental enhancement soul skills.

While contending with the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison in Dugu Yan's body, he became more adept.

Ten-plus minutes later, sweat dripped from Zhou Heng's forehead onto his and Dugu Yan's clothes from time to time; Ye Lingling felt that the soul power in her body had recovered quite a bit and she could once again use her soul skill.

Without a word, Ye Lingling released her Nine Heart Begonia martial soul; the pink begonia flower, composed of white and pink petals, was colorful and graceful, causing everyone to look sideways.

Seeing Ye Lingling release her martial soul, Zhou Heng immediately knew her intention, though Ye Lingling's soul skill could also save him a lot of effort.

"First Soul Skill, Begonia Revival."

The First Soul Ring at Ye Lingling's feet flashed, and the Nine Heart Begonia in her hand released petals, one of which scattered onto Zhou Heng, causing his physical strength to recover rapidly.

At the same time, Zhou Heng felt that the erosion speed of the stubborn Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison in Dugu Yan's body against her body was also curbed slightly.

However, a few minutes later, the curbed Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison returned to its original erosion speed.

Time passed second by second, and no one dared to leave; now, whoever dared to leave would be the first target for shifting blame later.

Gu Can and Tie Luoxi were incomparably worried; if anything happened to Dugu Yan, the two of them would definitely have Dugu Bo storming their doors to kill them.

Now only Zhou Heng and Ye Lingling could treat Dugu Yan; neither of them dared to leave and could only wait here for news of Dugu Yan.

Another ten-plus minutes later, Zhou Heng had less than thirty percent of his soul power left.

Zhou Heng's expression sank bit by bit; his soul power was now insufficient to contend with Dugu Yan's Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

Zhou Heng's method of contending with the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was to use the life force of the Yi Wood Power to counter the poison's devouring of Dugu Yan's life force.

This confrontation consumed a great deal of energy; Zhou Heng now had thirty percent soul power remaining, but his mental power was down to less than twenty percent.

"It seems I must use some special means," Zhou Heng said to himself in his heart.

Xin Metal Power and Gui Water Power were gathered under Zhou Heng's control, then, together with the Yi Wood Power he had gathered, were injected into Dugu Yan's body.

With Xin Metal Power as the foundation, Gui Water Power took root upon it, then, the Gui Water Power grew and strengthened at an incredible speed, and subsequently, the Xin Metal Power was completely devoured by the Gui Water Power.

Finally, the Gui Water Power grew to more than three times its original size, and immediately after, the Gui Water Power was devoured by the Yi Wood Power.

In the end, the Yi Wood Power had grown to five times what it was when first injected into Dugu Yan's body.

At this point, Zhou Heng's actions were not yet over; he began to mobilize his mental power.

He injected his mental power into the Yi Wood Power inside Dugu Yan's body, directly using his mental power to manipulate that Yi Wood Power within her to contend with the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

Previously, Zhou Heng had always used the minimum amount of mental power to manipulate the Yi Wood Power outside Dugu Yan's body to contend with the poison, which was the least taxing on his mental power.

Now that he was nearly exhausted, he could only give it his all.

With the super talent in mental power brought to him by his Battle Instrument Martial Soul, Zhou Heng's current mental power was at least comparable to a five-ring Soul King.

If not for the fact that Zhou Heng lacked direct mental attack methods, he could have directly controlled those five Spirit Beasts that charged them and used them as pets.

Inside Dugu Yan's body, Zhou Heng used the Yi Wood Power as a body to battle the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison, bit by bit surrounding the poison and strangling it.

Bit by bit, he suppressed the rampaging Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

Time passed bit by bit, and after half an hour, the last bit of rampaging Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was completely strangled by Zhou Heng.

However, Zhou Heng saw that at Dugu Yan's dantian and heart, the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was slowly gathering.

The speed at which the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison gathered was extremely slow; watching these gathered traces of Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison, Zhou Heng had no good way to solve the problem of the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison's backlash.

Looking at the remaining Yi Wood Power, he did not keep it, instead casually merging the Yi Wood Power into Dugu Yan's body to mend her internal organs after they had been eroded by the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison.

It nourished Dugu Yan's body.

After consuming all the Yi Wood Power, Zhou Heng's spiritual power returned to his own body through the point of physical contact between himself and Dugu Yan.