Grandmaster's Past

Liu Erlong warmly hosted Shrek Academy.

They had only just arrived in Heaven Dou City today and gone to Heaven Dou Royal Academy. They had not even eaten a meal before being thrown out.

At the sight of the lavish feast, both the students and teachers became excited.

Tang San was happy as well.

After roughing it for more than two months, he could finally have a good meal.

However, just as Tang San was preparing to eat more, Grandmaster pulled him outside.

The moment Flender saw Grandmaster leave, he could not help teasing Liu Erlong. "Tell me, Second Dragon, aren't you afraid he'll run away again?"

"Boss Flender, now that I've seen him again, do you think there's any chance I'll let him get away?" Liu Erlong said confidently.

Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu exchanged looks, sensing some juicy gossip to dig into.

Their visit to Heaven Dou Royal Academy today had terrified Xiao Wu.

Standing before three Spirit Douluo and a Title Douluo, she had nearly wet herself.

Luckily... she had concealed herself well and acted like an insignificant nobody, so she had not drawn the attention of the three Spirit Douluo councilors.

As for the Title Douluo?

He was far too arrogant. He had not even spared her a glance, much less seen through her identity.

Still, walking such a tightrope was far too dangerous.

Across the various factions of Douluo Continent, everyone who saw Liu Erlong's behavior on the Sky Screen had the same question arise in their hearts.

Liu Erlong and Grandmaster were so close, they looked like lovers?

Only the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan knew that Grandmaster and Liu Erlong were cousins...

Yu Luomian was furious. With his eyes wide in rage, he glared fixedly at Yu Xiaogang, scaring the six-year-old Yu Xiaogang so badly that he nearly wet himself.

"Hmph!" Yu Yuanzhen snorted coldly, shielding Yu Xiaogang from Yu Luomian's pressure.

The pressure of a Spirit Douluo above level eighty was not something a six-year-old child like Yu Xiaogang could withstand.

Yu Yuanzhen glared angrily at Yu Luomian. "What do you think you're doing? Releasing pressure on your own nephew? Are you trying to kill him?"

Yu Luomian was just as angry. "Big Brother, did you see that? On the Sky Screen, my daughter's feelings for your useless son... They're cousins. How can they do such a thing?"

Yu Yuanzhen snapped, "The Sky Screen shows the future decades from now. We've seen it now, and you've brought your daughter home. Do you think things can still happen the way they did on the Sky Screen?"

"This..." Yu Luomian had been so enraged by Liu Erlong's behavior on the Sky Screen that he had lost his head. Now that he had calmed down and thought it over carefully, he immediately understood. He hurriedly apologized to Yu Yuanzhen. "I'm sorry, Big Brother. I acted impulsively."

"Watch yourself in the future," Yu Yuanzhen said coldly.

Grandmaster led Tang San outside.

Tang San followed behind Grandmaster. Seeing the melancholy on Grandmaster's face, he knew Grandmaster had come out to use him as a sounding board.

Grandmaster stopped. With his hands behind his back, he asked without turning around, "Xiao San, are you curious about my relationship with Erlong?"

"Why did things become like this?"

"Why did I hide from her for nearly twenty years?"

"Let me tell you a story."

Grandmaster began recounting his embellished autobiography.

Tang San served as a sounding board, listening seriously as Grandmaster spoke of his past.

"More than twenty years ago.

A young man born into a prestigious family was rejected by his clan because of his mutated Martial Soul.

To prove himself, he left his sect and studied tirelessly, hoping that one day he would earn the recognition of his sect and the world.

While traveling outside, he one day met a Soul Master of considerable strength.

The two became close friends and traveled the world of Soul Masters together.

One day, they encountered a beautiful young woman in a soul beast forest.

The young woman's lively and cheerful personality soon attracted both young men.

The three became friends and traveled together.

As time passed, both young men fell for the lively young woman whose Martial Soul was a Fire Dragon. Yet neither was willing to reveal his feelings, especially the young man whose mutated Martial Soul left him unable to possess great strength.

Gradually, the three made a name for themselves in the world of Soul Masters as the Golden Iron Triangle.

Sigh... feelings accumulate over time.

The deeper they are buried, the stronger they sometimes become.

Finally, one day, the young man of considerable strength confessed to the young woman.

But she gently turned him down.

The one she liked was the young man whose Martial Soul had mutated, whose strength was weak, but who loved studying theoretical knowledge."

By this point, Tang San had figured it out.

The young woman was Liu Erlong, the powerful young man was Dean Flanders, and the one with the mutated Martial Soul who could not gain great strength but loved studying theory was Grandmaster.

Uh, what a melodramatic love triangle.

"When I heard Erlong's true feelings, I was so happy I could barely contain myself. Flender also readily announced his withdrawal from this relationship... He said he would become sworn brothers with me, and Erlong would be his younger sister-in-law."

Tang San thought, Isn't this just like Xiao Wu and me? I also see Xiao Wu as my little sister.

He silently offered Dean Flanders his blessings for being such a good man.

"If everything had gone smoothly, that would have been the best possible ending. Unfortunately, Heaven likes to toy with people. I remember that day clearly. The moon was full, Flender presided over our wedding, and Erlong and I finally got married. But afterward, my second uncle rushed over and stopped our wedding."

As Grandmaster spoke of this, it was clear he had been drawn back into the past, and his emotions surged. "Erlong turned out to be my second uncle's daughter. She was my cousin, yet we had gotten married. This..."

"I could not bear it and fled. I could no longer face Erlong. I left them behind and wandered the continent alone, eventually arriving in Nuoding City and staying at Nuoding Academy."

"If it had not been for you, Xiao San, I probably would never have left Nuoding Academy in my life."

Tang San thought, So I'm that important?

"Xiao Gang, I don't care about the eyes of the world. I only want to be with you." Liu Erlong appeared.

Tang San did not want to be a third wheel.

He chose to leave.

Flender stood not far away.

Quietly watching Grandmaster and Liu Erlong, just as he had in the past.

Holy Spirit Village.

"Oh my heavens, this Grandmaster got together with his own cousin?"

"The world of Soul Masters is such a mess."

"Hey, don't talk nonsense in front of Lord Soul Masters. Be careful, or they'll come looking for trouble."

The villagers began discussing it again.

In ancient times, families had practiced intermarriage within their own clans in order to preserve the purity of their bloodlines.

But internal marriages led to malignant Martial Soul mutations.

To ensure the continuation of their families, they abolished the practice of internal marriage.

Many years had passed since then, yet Grandmaster and Liu Erlong, this pair of cousins, were actually going to be together. It immediately caused a tremendous shock across the continent.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had become famous.

But it was not good fame. It was an infamous reputation they did not want.

Who would want such a rotten reputation?

Yu Yuanzhen was furious.

He did not even dare imagine how the other factions would view the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan after seeing today's Sky Screen.

Fine, this was the future decades from now. It had not happened yet.

But no one cared.

Once gossip spread, with no one refuting it, the more they tried to explain, the darker the stain became...

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was truly going to bear this disgraceful reputation.

Yu Yuanzhen was so furious he felt like vomiting blood.

Tang San left alone, but on his way back, he sensed danger. Instinctively, he pulled out a hidden weapon, only to suddenly lose consciousness.

Before blacking out, Tang San realized he had been poisoned.

A lifelong hunter of geese, only to be pecked blind by one.

In his previous life, he had been a member of the Tang Sect and had played with poison his entire life, yet after reincarnating, he had been brought down by poison.

Tang San had brought shame upon the Tang Sect.

The one who abducted Tang San was Poison Douluo Dugu Bo.

Today, he had gone to Heaven Dou Royal Academy to support Prince Xue Xing, where he had seen his granddaughter, Dugu Yan.

From Dugu Yan, he learned that Tang San could neutralize the poison of the Jade Scale Snake.

The moment Dugu Bo heard that Tang San could cure the Jade Scale Snake's poison, he became interested in Tang San.

He captured Tang San that very night.

Tang San woke up after being captured by Dugu Bo.

Once he understood his situation, not only did he fail to humble himself before Dugu Bo, he instead spoke arrogantly, saying Dugu Bo's poison was not worth mentioning and that the title of Poison Douluo was undeserved.

Tang San also said that Dugu Bo had been poisoned without realizing it.

His judgment was sharp. He saw that Dugu Bo had been poisoned and wanted to use that to bluff him.

A Title Douluo was not someone he could handle. Even if he brought out his hidden weapons, he could not injure a Title Douluo.

Tang San now felt the suppression of overwhelming strength.

It was like when he first cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Skill and encountered a bottleneck. No matter how hard he tried, he could not break through until he obtained his first soul ring.

His current predicament was very much like the bottleneck he had encountered while cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

Tang San directly told Dugu Bo that he felt numbness and itching beneath his ribs, that it flared up once at noon and once at midnight, lasting more than two hours each time, and that late at night, he felt needle-like pain on the crown of his head and the soles of his feet.

Tang San had accurately described every one of his symptoms.

Yet Dugu Bo did not believe him. He was merely a three-ringed Soul Elder. Just because he had luckily neutralized the Jade Scale Snake's poison did not mean he could cure Dugu Bo's poison.

He was only saying such things to survive.

Dugu Bo could understand that. With a casual strike, he failed to kill Tang San.

When Dugu Bo attacked, Tang San used his first Spirit Ability, even combining it with his External Soul Bone, and only then managed to block an attack from a Title Douluo.

Dugu Bo recognized the External Soul Bone and was somewhat surprised. He had not expected Tang San to be so lucky.

He intended to kill Tang San, but Tang San stubbornly retorted, calling Dugu Bo's poison trash and saying that even if he died, it would not be long before Dugu Bo and his granddaughter joined him in the grave.

Every word implied the same thing to Dugu Bo—I can cure your poison.

Dugu Bo truly had been poisoned.

He knew his own body best.

Besides, this was also the fate of the Dugu Family.

He had been fortunate enough to cultivate to the rank of Title Douluo, yet he still had not resolved the Dugu Family's poisoning problem.

Now that he heard Tang San say he could cure the poison, he was naturally tempted.

Dugu Bo gave up on killing Tang San.

He made a bet with Tang San.

As long as Tang San could resolve the poison in both him and his granddaughter, not only would he spare Tang San's life, he would also agree to three of Tang San's requests.

The Dugu Family.

When they saw Dugu Bo appear, take Tang San away, and attempt to kill him, only for Tang San to claim he could cure the poison, it immediately drew the attention of the Dugu Family members.

Because of this inherited Martial Soul, they did not dare cultivate after each awakening, fearing that cultivating too quickly would only cause them to die sooner.

"Is that Tang San serious when he says he can cure the poison?"

"Maybe he's just lying to survive."

"Don't get happy too soon. Let's keep watching."

The Dugu Family members remained calm.

Mainly because they had sought out healers across Douluo Continent, yet none could resolve the flaw in their family's Martial Soul.

Even the Nine Heart Begonia, renowned throughout the Soul Master world for healing, was ineffective against their Martial Soul.

After all, this was a Martial Soul flaw. Unless their Martial Souls underwent Martial Soul Evolution and the flaw disappeared, their problem of being plagued by poison would never be resolved.

Tang San did not trust Dugu Bo.

He made Dugu Bo swear a poisonous oath.

Dugu Bo did not trust Tang San either. He wanted Tang San to prove himself—if Tang San's skill with poison was greater than his, it would prove that he was not lying.

Tang San needed medicinal herbs and tools.

Dugu Bo provided everything.

The place Dugu Bo had brought Tang San to was his private residence in Sunset Forest.

Like Star Dou Great Forest, Sunset Forest was home to many soul beasts and lay not far outside Heaven Dou City.

The fact that Dugu Bo could establish a private residence in a soul beast gathering ground like Sunset Forest was enough to prove his strength.

Uh, he was not the strongest among Title Douluo, but he was definitely the most terrifying.

It was not only human Soul Masters who could be poisoned. Soul beasts could be poisoned as well.

Dugu Bo had merely used poison to create a blockade, preventing soul beasts and human Soul Masters alike from entering his private residence.

Dugu Bo gave Tang San one day to prepare.

After one day, he would poison Tang San with three poisons. If Tang San successfully cured them, it would prove he was qualified. Otherwise, he could only die.

Tang San readily accepted Dugu Bo's proposal.

He had no choice but to accept. Now that he had been captured by a Title Douluo like Dugu Bo, escape was impossible. He could only do as Dugu Bo wished.

Hopefully, this old poisoner would keep his word.

Tang San followed behind Dugu Bo and arrived at the medicinal garden Dugu Bo had mentioned.

The garden lay within a basin, filled with steam rising from hot springs and the smell of sulfur.

To test Tang San, Dugu Bo did not take him down.

However, Tang San used the Eight Spider Lances and easily descended into the basin.

He surveyed the surroundings. Half was ice, and half was fire.

This bizarre scene instead reminded him of records concerning the three great rare plant sanctuaries.

Tang San immediately understood how Dugu Bo had survived such severe poisoning and even broken through to become a Title Douluo. It was all thanks to this treasured land.

Spirit Hall.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei were still watching the Sky Screen together.

When Dugu Bo's medicinal garden appeared on the Sky Screen, Yue Guan cried out, "The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!"

"That's right, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well! A place where rare plants gather and immortal-grade herbs grow!"

"It's actually in Sunset Forest!"

Yue Guan's eyes lit up with excitement. He immediately rose to his feet, intending to report to the Pope. "I have to inform the Pope. Spirit Hall must occupy the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!"

Gui Mei found Yue Guan's excitement difficult to understand, but they had been friends for many years, and he knew Yue Guan would not make a fuss over nothing.

Thus, he accompanied Yue Guan to see Pope Qian Xunji.

However, the Pope was very busy, and it was uncertain whether he would receive the two of them.