Douluo: Things You Live Long Enough to See [31]

As Cheng Ying collapsed, the Ice Empress instantly appeared by his side. Her speed was practically teleportation so fast that even the strongest among them, Tang Chen, didn't see what had happened before she was already supporting him.

Seeing Cheng Ying fall, the Ice Empress's eyes turned red. But when she noticed the poison spreading to his forearm, she forced herself to stay calm. With a single hand, she released the power of Ultimate Ice, sealing Cheng Ying's arm to halt the poison's further spread.

At the same time, the medicinal properties of the two immortal herbs—the Fiery Apricot Delicate Glow and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass—were triggered. The sealed arm quickly began to lose its purplish-black hue and slowly return to normal. The Ice Empress had been worried sick, but given Cheng Ying's physique, even without ingesting the two immortal herbs, he would've been fine after a nap. To actually kill him, it would take at least poison of the hundred-thousand-year level.

Seeing this, the Ice Empress finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her face, which had been puckered as if she was about to cry, returned to calm.

"You idiot! You're so dumb you should just drop dead! You can't even handle a little spider!"

Though her words were harsh, when she looked up at the corpse of the Man-Faced Demon Spider, her gaze instantly turned icy.

She raised her hand, and the over two-meter-tall corpse was instantly frozen solid.

Then, clenching her fist, the massive block of ice shattered from the top down into the finest dust, drifting away on the wind.

"Take care of your teacher. Don't tell him I was here!" she said as she gently helped Cheng Ying lean against a tree. With that, her figure flickered and vanished.

Watching this scene, Dugu Bo and Tang Chen remained relatively calm, but the newly accepted disciple Meng Shu had his eyes practically popping out of his head.

"That just now... that was Master's wife?"

He couldn't comprehend what the Ice Empress had done at all.

"That huge spider—she just waved her hand, and it was gone?" Meng Shu gestured wildly, looking like he was about to shout "What the hell" out loud.

"Exactly. With her strength, fighting a Title Douluo one-on-one is like bullying a child," Tang Chen thought for a moment and gave the most appropriate comparison he could think of. Hearing this made Meng Shu shiver.

"Then about all the trash we talked about Teacher earlier..." Meng Shu remembered the Man-Faced Demon Spider's fate and felt a chill run down his spine.

"No need to worry about that! Teacher has a good temper and never really gets angry with us. As long as Teacher isn't angry, Master's wife is actually quite easy to get along with," Tang Chen reassured him. He recalled how the Ice Empress usually spent her days being hugged and carried around by Cheng Ying or playing weird new games he invented. She really was easygoing.

"You sure you're not lying to me?" Meng Shu still had lingering trauma from seeing the spider obliterated into dust.

"She only gets angry when someone bullies Teacher. We're his students—it's not like we could ever actually bully him. Anyway, enough talk. Be quiet and look over there!"

Tang Chen made a hush gesture and pointed toward Dugu Bo. The latter was slowly walking toward a black spirit ring.

For tens of thousands of years, others had tried to absorb ten-thousand-year spirit rings at the fourth rank, but without exception, all of them had died.

Dugu Bo didn't know whether he could break that curse, but he wanted to try. Even if it meant risking his life and dying from internal rupture, he wasn't doing this for himself. He just wanted to prove to his teacher that he, Dugu Bo, was not weaker than anyone. He wanted his teacher to be proud of him.

As the disciple who had been with Cheng Ying the longest, he knew better than anyone just how patient and gentle his teacher was. He didn't believe there was a better teacher in the world, and so he didn't want to disappoint him.

That's why he chose to challenge his limits.

He sat down cross-legged, and the black spirit ring floated toward him. Once it descended upon him, there would be no turning back.

As everyone held their breath, Cheng Ying, still unconscious and leaning against the tree, suddenly murmured in his sleep, "Dugu Bo, don't give up... You can do it! Teacher believes in you..."

No one knew what Cheng Ying was dreaming about, but upon hearing that murmur, a rare smile appeared on Dugu Bo's face. Then, without hesitation, he drew the spirit ring into his body.

The violently raging spirit power—far beyond the limit of a typical rank-40 Soul Master—rampaged through his meridians. Yet he didn't make a sound, not even the smile at the corner of his lips wavered.

"If Teacher believes in me, then there's nothing I can't do!"

Whether in terms of physical resilience or resistance to toxins within the ring, the two immortal herbs had granted Dugu Bo extraordinary advantages. The only remaining hurdle—and the most difficult part—was the battle of willpower.

If he lost this inner struggle to the will of the spirit beast, it would mean total annihilation.

But at that moment, Dugu Bo, inspired by Cheng Ying's unconscious words, reached an unprecedented peak in willpower. He believed, with unwavering certainty, that he could surpass the limits of humanity. In this battle of wills, belief became truth.

Countless people before him, even those with better physical conditions, had failed at this step. Their blood testified to the fact that the limit for a fourth ring was a thousand years. No matter how talented they were, even the slightest hesitation meant death by internal rupture.

But Dugu Bo's will never wavered. Compared to believing in himself, he believed in his teacher more. As long as Teacher said he could do it, then he would do it.

With that stubborn resolve, Dugu Bo forcibly ignored the massive gap in mental strength between him and the Man-Faced Demon Spider. He gritted his teeth and endured, smashing through the soul of a beast that was twice as powerful as him.

In real battles, there were many helpless situations—even a sage's determination might not change the outcome. But in battles of will, it was possible to transcend the gap in power. In willpower, belief could alter reality.

The two who had been watching Dugu Bo the whole time thought he was going to fail when the purple-black spirit energy nearly engulfed him. But that energy was inexplicably stuck at his neck, unable to advance an inch for an entire night.

Finally, with a loud crack, the black spirit ring around him shattered and dispersed into smoke. Even the extraordinarily gifted Tang Chen felt his scalp tingle just watching.

Such unshakable will—Tang Chen doubted even he had possessed it when he was at rank 40.

"Senior Brother? Do you think I could also get a ten-thousand-year spirit ring?" Meng Shu asked, clearly envious after witnessing Dugu Bo's success.

"You?" Tang Chen glanced at him and shook his head. "Never mind that Tool Spirits don't enhance the body and already have a lower spirit ring threshold than Beast Spirits. Even Senior Brother barely qualified to try it because he ate two immortal herbs.

Forget your physical condition—not even close. Do you think you could endure the backlash of a spirit ring all night without wavering?"

Meng Shu thought about it. His third spirit ring had already pushed the limit of its age, and just the few minutes of resistance during its absorption nearly broke him mentally. Stretching that out to an entire night...

He shivered.

Miracles are called miracles precisely because they're almost impossible to replicate.

By the time dawn broke, Cheng Ying slowly opened his eyes. After a moment of dazed confusion, he jumped up and blurted, "What happened to Dugu Bo? He's okay, right?"