Chapter 31: A Year of Rapid Progress
Time flies, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.
In this year, the relationship between Long Chen and Dugu Bo has taken a step forward.
With Long Chen's help, Dugu Bo gradually controlled the toxins in his body, and his soul power broke through the bottleneck of level 91, reaching level 92.
After a soul master reaches level 90 and becomes a Titled Douluo, each level becomes a significant bottleneck.
Dugu Bo had been stuck at level 91 for a long time but finally made a breakthrough.
He was very grateful to Long Chen, who not only helped control the toxins but also assisted him in improving his soul power.
During this period, Dugu Bo also guided Long Chen in his cultivation.
To reach the level of Titled Douluo, one must have extraordinary abilities, and Dugu Bo certainly did.
Long Chen humbly accepted his guidance.
Soaking in the ice and fire Yin-Yang Eye spring water day after day, Long Chen absorbed the medicinal properties of the eight-angled black ice grass and Fiery Apricot Jiaoshu more effectively.
Coupled with the effect of Dugu Bo's guidance on cultivation methods, Long Chen's soul power made rapid progress, increasing by five levels to reach level 47.
At less than fifteen years old, level 47 is unprecedented on the entire Douluo Continent.
With only a little more than a year left before the Soul Master Competition, Long Chen felt that it was time to return.
He knew that according to the development of the timeline, the Tiandou Royal Academy team would face the Shrek Seven Devils in the Soto City Great Soul Fighting Arena and lose to them.
Ye Lingling would be threatened by Tang San during the competition.
Long Chen was determined to stop all of this and prevent Tang San from succeeding.
"Xiaochen, what are you thinking about?" Dugu Bo suddenly descended from the sky.
Long Chen snapped out of his thoughts and saw that Dugu Bo was in high spirits. He smiled and said,
"Brother Bo, the toxins in your body are finally under control. Although they haven't been fully forced into the soul bone, they're no longer a threat to your life."
Dugu Bo replied, "With your help, my body has adapted to the poison to a certain extent. It's fine to have a little toxin. Without it, I wouldn't be used to it."
Long Chen pointed to a herb.
"That Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone has grown well and can be picked."
"Really? That's great, it can help Yanyan detoxify," Dugu Bo said with a smile.
Long Chen frowned slightly and sighed.
"After picking the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, we need to keep it active. Unfortunately, I don't have a device to store living things for long periods. If it doesn't work, I'll have to bring Dugu Yan here to detoxify. But there's only a bit over a year left before the Soul Master Competition. She is so strong-willed that she may be reluctant to come here for detoxification before the competition ends."
Dugu Bo laughed.
"I thought you were worried about something more serious, but it's just this. How difficult is this? I'll give you something."
Dugu Bo took out a blue leather bag from somewhere and threw it to Long Chen.
The leather bag was about the size of two adult palms, the kind typically hung on a belt.
Long Chen recognized it as a soul guide that could store living things, the Ruyi Baibao Bag.
"Brother Bo, this is a soul guide, right? You're giving it to me?" Long Chen asked.
Dugu Bo nodded and explained,
"This is no ordinary soul guide. It can store living things—animals, plants—anything that's alive."
"Great. This way, you won't need to worry about storing the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone," Long Chen said with relief.
"Exactly. You can take the herb out to detoxify Yanyan," Dugu Bo responded.
Long Chen smiled and locked his gaze on the herb garden.
"Brother Bo, in addition to the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, I'd like to pick a few more herbs for later use. Is that alright?"
"How many do you want to pick?"
"Not many, just seven or eight."
"Alright. As long as you'll use them and not waste them."
"Such precious herbs? How could I waste them? Thank you!" Long Chen replied gratefully.
Dugu Bo was quite generous.
Long Chen wasn't greedy, though.
In addition to the Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone, he picked Acacia Heartbroken Red, Black Jade Bamboo, Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, Wonderful Chrysanthemum, Aromatic Silk Beauty Beautiful Silk Tulip, Eight-petal Fairy Orchid, and Snow Swan Kiss.
Though Dugu Bo felt a little distressed, he allowed Long Chen to choose the herbs.
After picking the herbs, Long Chen had to leave the medicine garden.
He glanced at the Yin-Yang Eyes of Ice and Fire one last time, feeling reluctant to leave.
"I've been soaking in this bath for over a year. It's hard to leave."
"Haha, only you can handle the extreme hot, cold, and poisonous spring water. I'll continue practicing in this mountain. If you ever get bored, you can come to visit me anytime," Dugu Bo said with a laugh.
"Brother Bo, accompany me for a while. The Soul Master Competition is coming soon. Don't you want to see Dugu Yan's performance?" Long Chen asked.
Dugu Bo stroked his beard thoughtfully.
"To be honest, I'm more looking forward to your performance in the Soul Master Competition. Your current soul power is level 47. With the speed at which you're improving, you'll likely break through level 50 before the competition and participate as a Battle Soul King.
No one in the previous Soul Master Competitions, whether from Spirit Hall or the two empires of Tiandou and Star Luo, has ever had a Battle Soul King contestant. Your appearance will definitely cause a sensation."
"So, I need you even more. With your escort, no one will dare to harm me," Long Chen teased.
"Okay, I'll go with you then."
"Great. Let's go find Dugu Yan first."
Long Chen knew that the Tiandou Royal Academy's main team, being one of the three seeded teams, didn't have to participate in the Tiandou Division's preliminaries and would directly enter the finals.
This meant that his strength wouldn't be exposed too early and would only be shown in the finals.
Long Chen could have left the Yin-Yang Eyes of Ice and Fire earlier and returned to the academy, but he deliberately delayed his departure.
He didn't want to get too close to his teammates.
While at the Tiandou Royal Academy, Long Chen often requested leave to return to Guang'an Hall to develop medicine.
To address this, a new member, Shi Mo, was added to the team.
Over time, Shi Mo spent more time training with everyone, and Long Chen began to feel like an outsider.
Long Chen knew that Qin Ming would lead the Royal Dou Team to conduct actual combat training in the large fighting spirit field in Tiandou City, where they would earn the silver fighting spirit badge.
After returning, his position in the team might become awkward.
However, to protect Ye Lingling, he was determined to participate in the Soul Master Competition.
He knew that the prize for the champion of the Soul Master Competition was three soul bones, specially prepared by Pope Bibi Dong for the three young talents of the Spirit Hall.
One of them was a wisdom skull, over 50,000 years old, capable of greatly improving mental strength.
Of course, Long Chen wanted that soul bone, but taking it from the Spirit Hall wasn't easy.
The condition for obtaining it was winning the championship and having a strong backing behind him.
That's why Long Chen wanted Dugu Bo to accompany him.
The two first returned to Tiandou Royal Academy. When they learned that Qin Ming had taken the team to the Soto Great Soul Fighting Arena, they hurried to Soto City.
Read 80+ Advanced Chapters at Pa Treon
patreon.com/FicTonic1
(End of this chapter)