Chapter Thirteen: A Deeper Dive! The Use of Talismans! The Girl Hunted by a Serpent! Dugu Yan!

Lu Yu advanced for more than another hour, by which time it was increasingly rare to see soul beasts under five hundred years old, and those over a thousand years appeared more frequently.

Only then did he halt his forward progress, intending to move laterally across the area in search of a suitable target.

At that moment, Lu Yu’s eyes shifted sharply; he reached out and conjured a Vanishing Mark, placing it upon himself.

In the next instant, his body vanished from sight.

Or more precisely—

The Vanishing Mark distorted the light around him, blending him seamlessly into the environment, achieving a visual invisibility.

However, this invisibility was not absolute. Lu Yu’s aura and scent still emanated, and any movement he made caused the surrounding light to warp, making it easy for others to detect him.

He then conjured a Concealment Mark onto himself, significantly suppressing his aura and scent. Even passing soul beasts would find it difficult to detect him unless their senses were extraordinarily keen.

Lu Yu’s caution was not due to the threat of a powerful soul beast.

Creatures that warranted such vigilance would have cultivation of at least five thousand years, possess supreme bloodlines, or be ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts.

Yet neither the Vanishing Mark nor the Concealment Mark could deceive such formidable creatures.

His true reason for caution was that someone was coming.

The Star Constellation Grand Forest was a lawless place where countless people died daily.

Therefore, compared with soul beasts, some malevolent humans were far more dangerous.

Soon, the sound of hurried footsteps broke the forest’s silence, ragged and frantic.

A delicate figure darted from the thicket, entering the very area where Lu Yu was concealed.

The figure was a young girl with short deep purple hair, her face still bearing the innocence of youth, appearing no older than fourteen or fifteen.

Though young, her physique was already well-developed.

Most striking were her emerald-green eyes, which shimmered with a faint, elusive otherworldliness, exuding a subtle charm.

What drew the most attention was her slender waist, slender enough to be encircled by a single hand, moving with a supple grace that seemed almost boneless, astonishingly flexible.

At this moment, her cheeks and the arms exposed beneath her short-sleeved battle attire were covered with a thin layer of turquoise scales, and she was surrounded by two yellow soul rings.

A Rank Two Great Soul Master!

Judging by her speed and the fluctuations of her soul power, her cultivation level was likely around thirty!

Her purpose in the Star Constellation Grand Forest was undoubtedly to hunt for soul rings.

Hidden not far away, Lu Yu narrowed his eyes slightly. To have reached level thirty at such a young age was genuinely exceptional.

Lu Yu himself had reached level twenty by age eight, but that was thanks to insights and inheritance from a past life; he did not measure others’ talents by his own fortune.

As Lu Yu observed the girl, suddenly a flash of jade-green dashed through the underbrush, speeding toward her like lightning.

“Hiss...”

The figure revealed itself as it approached the girl—a tiny five-inch-long snake.

The little serpent was a translucent jade green, its body shimmering like a gemstone, adorned with nine segmented bands resembling bamboo joints. Its delicate skin emitted a faint green glow, making it appear both exquisite and adorable.

Yet in its crimson eyes burned a fierce bloodthirstiness and icy cold malice.

Clearly, this was the culprit pursuing the girl.

“This is…”

Lu Yu frowned. Such a soul beast had never been mentioned in the beginner soul beast courses at Nodding Junior Soul Master Academy.

Yet despite this, he recognized the creature.

A Nine-Segment Emerald!

This snake was extraordinarily rare, possessing the supreme bloodline of the Bamboo Green Serpent, considered the king among its kind. Its body was as tough as steel, boasting formidable defense.

Most importantly...

The poison of the Nine-Segment Emerald was utterly ruthless. Even a trace of its venom could turn humans or soul beasts into thick sludge within moments.

However, this snake was nearly extinct across Douluo Continent. Lu Yu recalled that Poison Douluo once wielded one, but it was lost in a wager against Tang San during the Ice Fire Two-Aspect Battle.

Wait!

Lu Yu’s pupils contracted sharply as he scrutinized the girl more closely.

Nine-Segment Emerald? A purple-haired, emerald-eyed girl?

And the girl seemed to possess a serpent-type martial soul...

Could this possibly be Dugu Yan, the only granddaughter of Poison Douluo?

The more Lu Yu pondered, the more convinced he became.

Firstly, in the original storyline, Tang San first met Dugu Yan four years later, when she was nineteen. By this account, the girl’s age matched Dugu Yan’s perfectly.

Secondly, the Jade Phosphorescent Serpent martial soul was known for its potent poison, yet it also gradually corroded the soul master who bore it.

Dugu Yan’s purple hair and green eyes were the result of this very poison.

Finally, the rarity of the Nine-Segment Emerald was such that it was nearly impossible to find a second one anywhere on Douluo Continent. Thus, Lu Yu had good reason to suspect this was the same snake that Dugu Bo, Dugu Yan’s grandfather, kept as a pet in the original story.

Dugu Bo doted on his only granddaughter fiercely. There was no way he would let her venture alone into the Star Constellation Grand Forest to acquire soul rings.

In Lu Yu’s eyes, this must be a trial set by Dugu Bo for Dugu Yan, while Poison Douluo himself likely lurked in the shadows, observing everything.

It was probably because Dugu Yan was being hunted by the Nine-Segment Emerald here that Dugu Bo intervened at the critical moment, subduing the snake.

This chain of deductions solidified Lu Yu’s certainty that the girl was indeed Dugu Yan.

After confirming her identity, Lu Yu’s brow furrowed.

Dugu Bo’s temperament was twisted and domineering, and his granddaughter Dugu Yan was no innocent either. Lu Yu had no desire to entangle himself with them.

But the key point was—

Dugu Bo possessed a mysterious treasure ground!

The Ice Fire Two-Aspect Eye!

A legendary place nurturing countless rare materials and treasures!

If given a chance, Lu Yu naturally wished to claim a share of it.

Seeing Dugu Yan falter and retreat under the relentless assault of the Nine-Segment Emerald, on the brink of peril, Lu Yu’s gaze sharpened and a decision formed in his heart.

He would save her.

Not merely for the sake of the Ice Fire Two-Aspect Eye, but also for his own safety.

Lu Yu knew well that while his Vanishing and Concealment Marks could fool Dugu Yan and the Nine-Segment Emerald, they would never deceive Dugu Bo, a nine-ringed titled Douluo.

If he stood by idly, Dugu Bo would surely intervene to rescue Dugu Yan at the critical moment. Given the old man’s volatile nature, exacerbated by the poison’s influence causing him to be irritable and bloodthirsty, displeasing him even once might mean death for Lu Yu.

No matter how many tricks Lu Yu had up his sleeve, he could not hope to defeat a titled Douluo.

But if he saved Dugu Yan, even if Dugu Bo disliked him, he would not dare harm the savior of his beloved granddaughter.

After all, no dignified Poison Douluo would kill the life-saving benefactor of his only granddaughter out of a moment’s displeasure.