No Ifs

Standing at the academy gates.

Watching Xiao Wu follow several meters behind Tang San, Ye Qiu could not help but smile faintly.

Only after the raised hairs on his arms had settled back down.

And Tang Hao's surveillance had moved away.

Did Ye Qiu slowly turn and leave. The direction he headed in was completely opposite to the one Xiao Wu had taken.

He was going to Sunset Forest to enter the password for extracting the immortal herbs.

That was right.

Ye Qiu intended to fool Dugu Bo—or rather, help him suppress the poison within his body.

After all, he was alone now.

So what if he ate immortal herbs? In this world, talent alone was not enough without backing.

When out in the world, one's status had to be fought for.

Dugu Bo was an excellent choice: a wild Titled Douluo unaffiliated with any force, whose only relative was his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, who desperately needed saving. Ye Qiu felt that he could easily tie Dugu Bo to his side.

As for Dugu Bo's symptoms, Ye Qiu remembered that they seemed somewhat like rheumatism, so he recalled this password fairly clearly.

Besides, most fanfiction mentioned it at least once.

Immortal Herb Extraction Password: Whenever the weather turned overcast or rainy, Dugu Bo would feel numbness and itching beneath both sides of his ribs. The sensation would gradually intensify and last for over two hours, occurring once at noon and once at midnight.

Every night, at around the third watch, Dugu Bo would feel needle-like stabbing pain on the crown of his head and the soles of his feet, followed by full-body spasms lasting at least an hour.

Ye Qiu had only just arrived in this world, after all.

Even with a clear destination in mind, he remained extremely cautious on his way to Sunset Forest.

After all, he could basically only rely on himself for protection along the road.

Things became much easier once he reached a city. With his identity from Spirit Hall, Ye Qiu could eat and stay for free, and there were even free night watchmen, allowing him to sleep peacefully.

It took Ye Qiu half a month to reach Sunset Forest. He then began searching for the Poison Mist located at the heart of the forest. Several times, he was discovered by Ten Thousand Year Spirit Beasts. Fortunately, Ye Qiu promptly used Martial Soul Possession and was smashed into a puddle of black fluid, mercilessly trampled by the spirit beasts. Only afterward did he slowly find a place to recover.

Hard work paid off! After three days, Ye Qiu finally found the Poison Mist outside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Notting Academy.

One year was one term, and each break lasted nearly two months.

In the blink of an eye.

It was the first day of school again.

This year.

Would be Ye Qiu's final year at Notting Academy.

Xiao Wu and Tang San had returned to the academy early from Holy Soul Village.

"Xiao Wu, want to go eat together?"

Inside the Seventh Dorm.

After Tang San had finished putting away his belongings, he walked over to Xiao Wu and invited her.

Xiao Wu had already finished unpacking. She was sitting by the bed, staring unblinkingly at the entrance to the Seventh Dorm. Hearing Tang San's voice, she looked up at him briefly before shifting her gaze away and gently shaking her head.

"Little San, I don't have much of an appetite. You go ahead."

"Alright, then."

Tang San knew Xiao Wu was waiting for Ye Qiu to return. His expression was somewhat unnatural as he tried to comfort her. "Don't worry. Ye Qiu promised he would come back, so he definitely won't break his word. Maybe he's already on his way here."

"Mm, I know he'll come back."

Xiao Wu nodded slightly and smiled. Without even looking at Tang San, she continued staring at the doorway.

"..."

Tang San opened his mouth, sighed helplessly, and turned to leave, looking somewhat dejected.

As the only girl in the Seventh Dorm, Xiao Wu had lived with him for so many years that even Tang San, so pure and virtuous, could not help but feel a little tenderness toward her. Yet Xiao Wu had given her whole heart to Ye Qiu. No matter how Tang San tried to show her kindness, he could not develop any further contact with her.

During this period, while Ye Qiu was away.

Tang San often wondered.

If, back then, when Xiao Wu had looked at his blanket, he had invited her to share it with him, would he be the one Xiao Wu was thinking about now? Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

Ye Qiu was still around, so all Tang San could do now was regard Xiao Wu as a younger sister.

After Tang San left.

The entire Seventh Dorm fell silent.

Xiao Wu stared at the doorway in a daze, her lips pouting in grievance. She walked over to Ye Qiu's bed and began spreading out the bedding she had previously packed away for him.

Several kilometers outside Notting City.

Ye Qiu, with short black hair and dressed in fitted black clothes, was being carried through the air by someone.

The man carrying Ye Qiu had dark green hair and beard, wore a gray robe, and had dark green eyes. His body was straight and slender like a spear, and a faintly wicked smile hung on his face.

"Senior Dugu, you can just drop me off here. Sorry for troubling you." Ye Qiu looked at the small city in the distance and forced a smile. Dugu Bo had been flying far too fast, leaving his mouth full of wind.

"Hehehe!"

Dugu Bo let out a strange laugh, descended into a Small Woods below, and tossed Ye Qiu onto the ground.

"Kid, I really don't know why you insist on coming to this tiny place. Wouldn't it be better to just go along with my YanYan's wishes and attend Heaven Dou Royal Academy?"

"Damn it! Senior, can't you be a little gentler? I could break!"

"If you keep doing this, I'm going back to complain."

Ye Qiu rolled twice through the air before dispersing the force and landing steadily on the ground. He looked resentfully at this old child of a Poison Douluo, a man who was both righteous and wicked.

"Haha. With your physical condition, you wouldn't get hurt even if I dropped you from higher up." Dugu Bo stood atop a treetop, stroking his dark green beard as he couldn't help lecturing him. "Back then, when you tried to steal medicine and fell off that cliff into YanYan's bath barrel, you didn't die from the fall either."

"You're still bringing that up! Speaking of Sister YanYan, I haven't even settled things with you yet. Even if you were eager to hold a great-grandchild, you couldn't drug us, could you?" Ye Qiu rolled his eyes. He had never expected the Old Poisonous Creature to have so much character that he would even drug his own granddaughter.

"Hmph! What's wrong with turning uncooked rice into cooked rice sooner? Watching you youngsters act all lovey-dovey gives this old man a liverache!" Thinking of how his granddaughter had initially been utterly dismissive of Ye Qiu, wanting to kill him after he saw her naked, only to later cling to him desperately, Dugu Bo felt his liver ache.

What disgusted him most was that Ye Qiu actually dared to keep his granddaughter hanging, pulling that married-man routine and making YanYan long for him without being able to have him. The brat really had the gall of a bear!

A married man, yet he clung to his granddaughter every day. He called it cultivating faster and clearing toxins more easily, but he had turned into black stockings wrapped around her legs. What kind of married man was that?!

Seeing Dugu Bo's somewhat hostile gaze, Ye Qiu guiltily looked away. Wasn't he just afraid Dugu Bo would turn the tables and trap him instead? If that really happened... what would become of the little rabbit he had worked so hard to raise?! How would he give them a warm home in the future?! So of course Dugu Yan had to make her position clear first. He wanted to take responsibility, but he didn't want to suffer through an Asura field. Though it might make others envious, exhausting one's body and draining one's essence was not advisable.

Wishing everyone a happy life!