Invitation from the Nobles of Suotuo City

"Suxing, can I ask you a question?"

In the evening, Yu Tianheng approached Suxing, his expression somewhat hesitant.

"Sure," Suxing nodded.

"Although this might be a bit presumptuous, I still want to ask. If you can't answer, just pretend I never asked; after all, it's my fault for being rude."

"How did you create a self-made soul skill that lets you condense lightning into your body? Wouldn't it hurt you?"

Yu Tianheng had wanted to ask this for a while, and he quickly blurted out his question.

"That has to do with a fortuitous encounter I had."

"I once ate a mysterious fruit, and after that, I found that I could become immune to lightning! However, I can only fully resist my own lightning, not the lightning of others."

Hearing Yu Tianheng's question, Suxing smiled slightly and explained.

He had already prepared this answer! Suxing knew well that soul masters on Douluo Continent couldn't be immune to their own lightning. He had gradually adapted through lightning tempering his body, which allowed him to merge lightning into his flesh and develop the Thunder Armor technique.

However, Suxing had no intention of revealing the secret of lightning body tempering, so he had thought up this explanation in advance.

After all, this world already had strange plants. Even Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial spirit could be immune to both fire and water!

"A fortuitous encounter, huh? I see..."

Yu Tianheng sighed in disappointment but then accepted it. Without some sort of extraordinary opportunity, no soul master could fuse lightning into their body without being harmed.

"Do you still have that fruit?" Yu Tianheng, though not holding out much hope, still asked eagerly.

"No. After realizing how valuable it was, I went back to search for it, but I couldn't find any more," Suxing shook his head. It was something that didn't exist in the first place, so how could there be any more?

Yu Tianheng could only leave, disappointed.

Suxing felt a little sorry. His lightning tempering technique was one of his greatest assets, and he wasn't about to share it with anyone.

Even if he had, Yu Tianheng might not have believed him or dared to try, because mastering lightning tempering required destroying one's own soul rings first.

...

"Tianheng, how did it go? Did he tell you?"

After Yu Tianheng left, Dugu Yan, who had likely been waiting outside for him, asked.

"He did, but it was all due to some fortuitous encounter," Yu Tianheng shook his head with a trace of regret.

Yu Tianheng then explained to Dugu Yan what Suxing had told him.

"A mysterious fruit?"

"My grandpa has lots of strange herbs in his garden, but most of them are highly toxic. Even he doesn't dare touch them casually!"

"There are some non-toxic ones, but we don't know what they do if eaten. Do you want me to take you to see them sometime?" Dugu Yan thought of her grandfather's secret herb garden.

"Your grandfather's herb garden? No thanks!"

At the mention of Poison Douluo Dugu Bo's garden, Yu Tianheng instantly lost interest, assuming it was filled with poisonous plants.

"Fine, whatever. Most people wouldn't even be able to enter without an antidote, since my grandfather set up a poisonous miasma around it!" Dugu Yan huffed, knowing Yu Tianheng wasn't keen on meeting her grandfather.

Yu Tianheng awkwardly laughed and quickly changed the topic.

After all, meeting Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan's grandfather, still made him nervous. Who knew if he would approve of his granddaughter having a boyfriend?

...

"As expected, Dugu Yan knows about the location of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and she's been there!"

"Well, it makes sense. For someone like Dugu Bo, who practices poison skills, that place would be beneficial. Since he dotes on his granddaughter, it's only natural he would take her there."

After Dugu Yan and Yu Tianheng left, Suxing emerged from the shadows where he had been hiding.

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but he had been on his way out when he overheard their conversation.

This confirmed what Suxing had suspected: Dugu Yan indeed knew the location of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He also learned that the area around it was guarded by a dangerous miasma set up by Dugu Bo, making it extremely hazardous.

"If I tried to enter without preparation, I wouldn't even know how I died."

"It's a bit tricky. I don't practice poison skills, so I can't make antidotes."

Suxing realized that even if he found the location of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he wouldn't be able to enter easily.

"But it's not too difficult. I could just get a protective suit and gas mask."

"Or, I could get the antidote from Dugu Yan."

Where there's a problem, there's a solution. Identifying the problem was the first step.

...

Over the next few months, Suxing experienced life at the academy once again.

However, it wasn't as pleasant as he'd hoped. The discrimination against commoners at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy was still pervasive, and those looks never left Suxing. Even after joining the academy's first team of the Wuhun Battle Squad, the prejudice remained.

Suxing soon gave up trying to fit in and focused on his own training.

In his spare time, aside from cultivating, he spent most of his time reading.

Heaven Dou Imperial Academy did have one advantage: it possessed a vast collection of books on various subjects, including geography, and the distribution of soul beasts.

Many of these books were ones Suxing couldn't buy elsewhere.

Unfortunately, he found no records of immortal herbs.

Suxing wasn't too surprised by this, though. Not only did the academy lack this information, but even the Heaven Dou Empire had no such records.

If the Heaven Dou Empire did, Dugu Bo, as a guest elder of the empire, would have known about it.

Since even Dugu Bo couldn't recognize the immortal herbs, it was clear that no records existed in the empire.

Of course, if someone were to suggest that Dugu Bo never searched for such information, there would be nothing Suxing could say to that.

It was impossible to believe that anyone would guard a collection of such powerful herbs without trying to learn more about them.

In just over four months, Suxing had broken through the bottleneck at level 30 and reached level 33!

However, Suxing knew that this increase in soul power didn't improve his overall strength much.

His true strength lay in his physical body, which had now reached the equivalent of a soul master in the forties, specifically around level 48, though he hadn't yet broken through to level 50.

Of course, compared to others his age, this was already terrifying.

However, since the soul masters on Douluo Continent didn't differentiate between physical strength and soul power, no one knew that Suxing's overall strength was nearing level 50.

"Four months, and all I've managed to find out is that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is located in Sunset Forest."

"Dugu Yan hasn't gone back even once. Or maybe Dugu Bo took her, but I couldn't find out."

"Today, some nobles from Suotuo City came to the academy, inviting us to fight in the Great Spirit Arena in Suotuo City."

"This means we're about to face the Shrek Seven Devils soon!"