As Dugu Bo devoured the toxins, he instantly felt a sense of relief.
It was true. Although he had become drained, he felt the poison that had plagued him for years receding along with it. The pressure on his body had suddenly decreased.
However, as the toxins entered his Martial Soul, his Spirit Power began to increase.
His heart sank with alarm.
Not good, my Spirit Power is about to rise.
He had the willpower to resist the temptation of cultivating by devouring poison, but he couldn't withstand the heavier physical torment that would follow. If his Spirit Power increased, it wouldn't be long before he accumulated a corresponding amount of poison again, potentially even more fierce than before.
He desperately tried to suppress the rise in Spirit Power.
But the toxins were right there in his Martial Soul.
If they didn't transform into imprints to enhance his Spirit Power, they would naturally surge upwards.
Dugu Bo felt a wave of dizziness.
The toxins seemed to travel through his Martial Soul and into his very soul.
The pain of his physical body transformed at this moment into agony within his soul.
"Hurry!"
Gritting his teeth, Dugu Bo urged Su Ming to quickly use the Soul Control Technique.
Su Ming cooperated swiftly, using the Soul Control Technique to partially detach Dugu Bo's soul.
The degree of detachment wasn't large, much less than the previous time.
Firstly, it was to avoid worsening the barrier between soul and body caused by prolonged separation.
Secondly, the degree of detachment didn't matter much to Dugu Bo's current state.
His pain now was deep within his soul, not the pain of his physical body.
Dugu Bo was aware of this himself and wasn't surprised. He forced himself to endure the pain and observed his current state.
He saw it.
From the position he had called the 'interface', large amounts of purple poisonous gas were gushing out, rapidly spreading within the depths of his soul.
"That's not an interface, it's a gap."
Dugu Bo realized the problem.
"But this doesn't conflict with my plan."
Enduring the pain, he manipulated the spread of the toxins within his soul.
He hadn't yet found where the soul parts corresponding to his Spirit Rings were located. His purpose in spreading the toxins now was to use the poison created by his Spirit Ring skills to stimulate the corresponding locations in his soul.
This time, his idea succeeded.
He sensed three distinct regions.
"Fuse it into this one. This is the seventh Spirit Skill."
Dugu Bo was surprised that the Spirit Ring slot for his Martial Soul True Body could also be activated by toxins produced by his other Spirit Skills.
He reacted quickly, deciding to fuse the toxins into his Martial Soul True Body.
He couldn't distinguish the various toxins now; it was impossible to separate them and then fuse them into their corresponding Spirit Ring slots to compensate for their respective flaws.
Only the seventh Spirit Ring slot had the strongest inclusiveness. Corresponding to the Martial Soul True Body, it could amplify all Spirit Skills.
Seeing Dugu Bo gradually settle down, Su Ming knew he had found the correct method.
He sat down opposite Dugu Bo, waiting for him to wake up.
"Even supplementing the soul part of the Spirit Ring can only delay the problem temporarily. It will actually continuously create negative feedback, causing the toxins' erosion of the body to become more severe and more violent."
"To solve this problem, one must first solve the key to this feedback, which is the Martial Soul 'leaking' poison into the body."
"This isn't about the Spirit Ring being incomplete or lacking intelligence; it's a flaw in the Martial Soul itself."
"To be free from this affliction long-term, one either has to store the toxins elsewhere like in the original work, or repair the flaw in the Martial Soul."
"The latter is too difficult; at the very least, I can't do it yet."
Su Ming could use the faith of Evil Spirit Masters to help normal Spirit Masters obscure their Martial Souls, artificially transforming them into Evil Martial Souls. By canceling this influence, he could revert the Evil Martial Soul back to normal.
But for innate Evil Martial Souls, he had no way to repair them.
"So it circles back to the original work's method."
In the original work, Tang San used his own blood, immune to a hundred poisons, as a catalyst to create medicine that helped Dugu Bo guide the toxins in his body into his Spirit Bone. How much of that was strictly necessary, Su Ming didn't know.
Instead, he now realized that Dugu Bo's problem could be solved with his own existing conditions.
Use the Evil Martial Soul's ability once to devour the accumulated toxins, then store any subsequently 'leaked' poison into a Spirit Bone immediately, without needing external aids.
For Dugu Bo, every moment felt like a year.
He himself didn't know how long he had been operating, only feeling his body grow weak, every cell in his body wailing, his physique issuing warnings of extreme debilitation.
Unconsciously, he had become numb to the pain, turning the necessary operations into instinct.
Su Ming had already canceled the Soul Control Technique, allowing his soul to reintegrate with his physical body.
Three days later.
Su Ming looked at Dugu Bo, thinking he was about to die.
"Senior, stop sleeping. If this continues, forget the poison problem, you'll starve to death first."
It was difficult to find food in the Ice Fire Two Eyes suitable for Dugu Bo in his current state to absorb. Su Ming could only Borrow Power a few times, utilizing his Douluo 3 self's control over elements plus the light magic taught by Electrolux to keep Dugu Bo alive.
But relying on light energy alone couldn't truly meet the needs of Dugu Bo's body now.
As Su Ming prayed, Dugu Bo finally opened his eyes.
"How long has it been?"
"Three days."
"Not too bad."
Dugu Bo breathed a sigh of relief, sat up, took some food from his storage Spirit Tool, and began swallowing it.
"The gains from this were not small," Dugu Bo's voice was hoarse, but it couldn't hide the excitement in his tone.
"Congratulations, Senior," Su Ming said, cupping his hands. "By the way, Senior, you are now ninety-second rank."
Ninety-second rank?
Before, Dugu Bo would have certainly considered a Spirit Power breakthrough a bad thing.
But now it was different.
He had the confidence to solve the problem of toxin erosion, so he naturally no longer needed to suppress his Spirit Power growth.
He even looked around, glancing at the peerless poisonous herbs surrounding the Ice Fire Two Eyes.
These would be great supplements, he thought.
The moment this thought flashed through his mind, Dugu Bo snuffed it out.
Can't seek death.
Devouring poison was not a good ability.
He could already feel his soul becoming numb. Although the devoured toxins had been fused into the soul part of his seventh Spirit Ring to supplement it, they had inevitably polluted his soul.
This pollution made him even more cold and numb.
But even though he detected this change, Dugu Bo could only force himself to endure and refrain from actively devouring poison in the future.
"Ninety-second rank. This old man's Spirit Power level is no longer restricted."
Dugu Bo sighed with emotion.
"The top priority now is to recuperate and get my body back."
Looking down at his own gaunt, ghost-like appearance, akin to someone terminally ill, Dugu Bo instinctively thought of Dugu Yan.
If his granddaughter were to see him like this, he didn't know how she would scold him...
"This time, I saw many different things."
As Dugu Bo gathered medicinal herbs around the Ice Fire Two Eyes that nourished vitality and origin energy, he described his 'observations' from this experience to Su Ming.
"The world of the soul is truly marvelous. Perception is everything. Abstract things like origin and Spirit Ring slots become incredibly clear in one's perception..."
Listening to Dugu Bo's account, Su Ming suddenly felt a yearning, wishing he could also experience the sensation he described.
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(Chapter End)