Evolution Succeeded, Gan Lin Stayed Behind

Ye Lingling ultimately swallowed the Exquisite Jade-Stamen Flower.

The moment the little pearly white flower entered her mouth, she felt neither cold nor heat, only an extraordinarily gentle warmth, as though someone had slowly poured a handful of spring water, warmed through by the sun, into her body. The warmth neither rushed nor surged. It simply seeped quietly into her limbs and bones, reaching the very end of each breath she took.

Ye Lingling's eyelashes trembled, and she slowly relaxed.

Then the air behind her lit up.

First came a spot of pinkish-white light, then a second, then a third... Layer upon layer, nine halos bloomed behind her, shaped like overlapping begonia petals, with a pale yellow dot at the center. At first, the nine lights were separate, each spinning on its own, divided from the others by invisible walls. But as the flower's medicinal power penetrated deeper, the edges of the nine halos began to melt and mingle. In the gaps between them, an exceedingly thin, transparent crystalline substance emerged-

Like glaze.

"This is..." Dugu Bo's eyes flew open.

Gan Lin held his breath too.

The Compendium of a Hundred Herbs had only said that the flower "nourished the Martial Soul Origin." It had said nothing about this.

But a name leaped into his mind on its own.

Nine Heart Glaze Begonia.

The appearance suited it too well...

Ye Lingling slowly opened her eyes, her gaze as clear as if it had been washed clean with water. She looked down at her hands, a faint pinkish-white glow still lingering around her fingertips. Her voice trembled with disbelief. "Xiaolin... I think I can heal more people now. And... it seems I won't get so tired, and there seem to be some other effects too."

"Sister Lingling, keep stabilizing your cultivation. There's no need to get up in a hurry."

"All... all right!"

As daylight began to brighten, the mist dispersed.

Dugu Yan was the first to stand. She flexed her wrist, her knuckles cracking crisply, then turned her hand over. A short emerald-green blade condensed in her palm—no, it wasn't a blade, but a venomous fang manifested from her Martial Soul. It was translucent throughout, with a spot of ink-black at its tip.

She casually slashed it across a discarded slab of bluestone beside her.

There was no sound. Yet a groove half an inch deep silently melted into the stone's surface, fine white foam bubbling along its edges. Moments later, the entire slab began to blacken and crumble from within. A gust of wind blew it into a handful of ash.

"..." Dugu Yan stared at her hand, unable to speak for a long while.

"Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor." Dugu Bo sprang to his feet and strode over to her. He gripped her chin and turned her face from side to side, then seized her wrist and checked her pulse. The longer he checked, the more his hand trembled. "Your bloodline has reverted to its ancestral form. The poison in your body seems more 'obedient' too!"

He raised his head and looked at Gan Lin, his Adam's apple bobbing. "When the Serpent Emperor appears, ten thousand snakes bow their heads. Serpent Martial Souls and poisonous Soul Beasts within ten li must all bow before her. Her poison no longer needs a Soul Skill to unleash it; with every breath, it forms the beginnings of a poison domain. In three generations of my Dugu Family, not one has possessed a talent to match it."

"And more importantly..."

Dugu Bo stopped speaking. Besides Gan Lin, Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, and Ye Huixin were also present, so he said no more.

"Then my Soul Power now..."

"Level thirty," Dugu Bo said, enunciating each word. "You can hunt for your third Soul Ring right now, and I've checked. Your Soul Power is very solid."

Dugu Yan froze. Before entering the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, she had only been in her twenties.

Elsewhere, Ye Lingling's results were just as astonishing.

Gan Lin checked her pulse, and the number he announced silenced the three people present at once:

"Level thirty."

A support-type Soul Master had broken through several levels in a single night. More important still was the transformation of her Martial Soul itself. The moment the Nine Heart Glaze took shape, her Soul Power, which had originally been capable of only slowly healing one person at a time, gained the capacity to sustain several people at once. The glaze itself also had the effect of "strengthening the foundation." Healing wounds was no longer a draining exchange of life for life, but genuine nourishment from an external source.

And there was an unexpected bonus. Perhaps, from now on, the Nine Heart Begonia... no, the Nine Heart Glaze Begonia would be capable of more than just healing.

"Which means..." Ye Lingling covered her mouth, her eyes gradually reddening. "I can go absorb a third Soul Ring too?"

"Yes." Gan Lin nodded. "And with your current foundation, you can choose the best one for your third ring."

The stone platform fell quiet.

The ice and fire springs continued to give off cold and hot vapor respectively. Two of the three boxes were empty; only the box containing the dark jade poison-condensing flower remained where it had been, its lid half-open and a faint, unusual fragrance drifting out.

Dugu Yan suddenly turned and walked up to Gan Lin, then bowed deeply and solemnly. "Xiaolin, I'll remember this kindness for the rest of my life."

"Come on, get up." Gan Lin helped her up, smiling a little helplessly. "If you really want to thank me, just don't think I'm a nuisance when you become a Titled Douluo someday."

Dugu Bo had remained silent the whole time.

He stood beside the fire spring with his back to the three of them, gazing for a long time at his wrinkled reflection in the water. Only then did he turn around, pick up the box containing the dark jade poison-condensing flower, and weigh it in his hand with a grunt.

"The two youngsters have both finished eating, and their cultivation has reached the right level. It's time to hunt for Soul Rings. This can't be rushed. We need to choose a place and choose the Soul Beasts. It'll take at least a month or so to prepare."

He shoved the box into Gan Lin's arms.

"During that month, I'll put these old bones of mine through their paces too." The old man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, but his eyes held a brightness they hadn't shown in decades. "When I come out, the three of us, grandfather and grandchildren, plus this little girl from the Ye family and her mother-"

He paused and said no more.

But everyone understood.

"Grandpa, I won't go with you. I want to try a few more herbs."

At those words, the air in the cave went still for a moment.

Dugu Bo's hand stopped in midair as he packed his belongings. "...What did you say?"

Dugu Bo said nothing. He simply stared at Gan Lin, his gaze growing darker.

Only the sound of the springs bubbling remained in the cave.

Ye Huixin opened her mouth, but in the end, she said nothing. She was an expert, and precisely because she was an expert, she knew how shocking those words were.

Dugu Bo was silent for a long time.

So long that Ye Huixin thought he would object, so long that Ye Lingling nervously clenched the hem of her mother's clothes.

Then the old man suddenly laughed, his shoulders shaking, tears nearly spilling from his eyes.

"Good, good!" He wiped his eyes. "Heaven gave me a granddaughter whose bloodline reverted to its ancestral form, and then stuffed me with a freak who tests medicines as casually as he eats. These old bones of mine have lived long enough to see it all."

He walked up to Gan Lin and pressed a hand heavily onto his shoulder. "If you want to try them, then try them. Everything in this spring was mine to begin with, and now it's yours too. Eat as many plants as you like. If you eat yourself to death-"

"Grandpa!"

"-then your life was simply destined to be short." Dugu Bo snorted. "But there are two things you'd better remember."

"Go ahead."

"First, take only one plant at a time, and wait at least three days between them. No matter how strange your body is, don't gamble your life on words in a book."

"Second, don't touch those blackish plants in the deepest part. They're not for people to eat. They're there for me to cultivate."

Gan Lin froze. "When did you..."

"You think I've lived all these years for nothing?" Dugu Bo patted his head hard. "Boy, remember this-your life is worth more than you think."

With that, he turned, picked up his walking stick, and beckoned to the two girls. "Let's go. Hunting for Soul Rings isn't a stroll through a garden. The sooner we set out, the sooner we can find good ones."

"Grandpa," Dugu Yan said as she reached the cave entrance, looking back again. "Are you really going to be all right here alone?"

"What could happen to me, Sister Yanzi? Go on without worrying. I hope you both find suitable Soul Rings."

Ye Huixin gave Gan Lin one last look and finally said, "If anything truly seems wrong, stop."

"Thank you for the reminder, Aunt Ye."