Dugu Bo's eyes flew wide. "I'm done for!"
Just then, Lan Minghua finally moved. He wasn't about to let Wu Song kill Dugu Bo.
"Oi, seriously. Didn't I tell you not to go for the kill?"
Lan Minghua stepped in front of Dugu Bo and caught Wu Song's descending Precept Knife with one hand.
With a boom, endless Blade Aura swept past Lan Minghua on both sides, roaring through the air.
Dugu Bo struggled to open his eyes, staring at the scene before him in shock.
A blow he couldn't hope to stop had been caught with ease by this man who looked like a vagrant.
Even more baffling was why the man before him had stepped in to save him.
Lan Minghua gently pushed the blade aside and said helplessly, "Erlang, you got carried away again, didn't you?"
Sure enough, the only one who could keep Wu Song in check was Wu Dalang. Even he himself apparently couldn't fully rein him in.
The red light faded from Wu Song's eyes, and he reluctantly sheathed his Precept Knife.
"Sorry, Sect Master. It's been so long since I got to fight that I got a little too excited."
Lan Minghua rolled his eyes, wondering if having Wu Song at his side was really a good thing.
After all, if Wu Song got carried away killing, Lan Minghua wouldn't always be able to stop him.
He'd just used another Experience Card, and he was nearly out of them.
Waving Wu Song off repeatedly, he said, "Erlang, go do what you want to do. Make our Heavenly Dragon Gang's name known."
"Yes, Sect Master. I'll make sure everyone knows that our Heavenly Dragon Gang is the Continent's Number One Gang!" Wu Song said solemnly.
Before he left, Lan Minghua added, "Don't let me hear you tarnishing the Heavenly Dragon Gang's reputation, or I'll give you a beating!"
"Ahem, got it, Sect Master."
Wu Song answered guiltily, then hurried away, afraid Lan Minghua would change his mind.
Dugu Bo, still beneath him, was so shocked that he couldn't close his mouth. He seemed to have heard something incredible.
The Continent's Number One Gang, the Heavenly Dragon Gang?!
Why had he never heard of it?
Could the Heavenly Dragon Gang be a Hidden Sect, just like the Clear Sky Sect?!
Dugu Bo sighed inwardly. Even if they were lying, it had little to do with him.
After all, he was now a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Lan Minghua turned around and looked over Dugu Bo, who had lost all his strength.
Dugu Bo was stubborn to the end. "The victor is king, and the loser is the enemy. Kill me or chop me up as you please!"
"When did I ever say I was going to kill you? Don't get the wrong idea, all right? Do I look like someone who goes around slaughtering innocent people?!"
Hearing Lan Minghua's words, Dugu Bo sighed. "If you take the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, it's no different from killing me."
"Tch, isn't it because you're poisoned and need the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to suppress the toxins in your body? Even without it, you won't die right away, will you?"
Lan Minghua had seen right through Dugu Bo's poisoning and the reason he refused to give up the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Dugu Bo gave a bitter laugh. "I won't die right away, true. But I'll only linger in agony for a few more years."
He wasn't afraid of dying. He was afraid his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, would have to endure the same suffering.
"If you're poisoned, why not get someone to cure you? It's such a simple thing. How do you not understand?" Lan Minghua said calmly, picking his nose.
"Cure me?" Dugu Bo scoffed. "I'm titled 'Poison.' I can say I'm the best poison user on the continent. If even I can't cure this poison, who else can?"
"Me. And I have more than one way to cure the poison in your body."
"What? You know how to cure it!"
Dugu Bo couldn't believe it, but he didn't think Lan Minghua would lie to him.
After all, the man was far stronger than he was. He had no reason to deceive him.
Dugu Bo was quick-witted. He hurriedly said, "Senior, if you can cure the poison in my body, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is yours."
"If I kill you, it'll be mine anyway, won't it?"
Lan Minghua's words left Dugu Bo stiff-faced, with no way to argue.
"All right, I'm just messing with you. Come on. Once we reach the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, I'll tell you how to cure the poison."
Dugu Bo didn't know whether Lan Minghua was deceiving him, but he had no choice left.
Soon, the two arrived at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It looked like a Taiji symbol.
Lan Minghua kept his word and told Dugu Bo how to cure the poison.
"See those two Immortal Herbs by the Spring Eye? One is called the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, and the other is the Infernal Delicate Apricot."
"Take them both. Endure the two herbs' opposing effects as they neutralize each other, and let them form a small Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well inside your body. Then you'll be cured."
Dugu Bo's eyes burned with eagerness. He could hardly wait to swallow the two Immortal Herbs.
However, Lan Minghua poured cold water on him. "There's a drawback to curing the poison this way. They'll erase all your poisonous skills."
Dugu Bo hesitated. He was already the weakest Titled Douluo.
If he lost all his poisonous skills too, he'd have nothing that set him apart.
So, bracing himself, he asked Lan Minghua, "Then, Senior, are there any other ways to cure the poison?"
"Of course. The second way is simpler. Just force all the toxins in your body into a Soul Bone."
Lan Minghua remembered that in the original story, Tang San had cured Dugu Bo this way.
Hearing the second method, Dugu Bo slapped his forehead. He couldn't believe he hadn't known about such a simple solution.
Based on his many years of experience with poison, it should work.
"Thank you for telling me, Senior. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is yours now."
Lan Minghua nodded and accepted it without hesitation.
He only took away the Immortal Herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well whose names he recognized. He didn't strip the place bare.
He took the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, Aromatic Silk Beauty, Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Infernal Delicate Apricot, Eight-petaled Immortal Orchid, Aromatic Silk Beauty, Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, Lovesick Heartbreak Red, Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, and Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma.
As for the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Lan Minghua chose not to take it away. He left it where it was to nourish the other Immortal Herbs.
Dugu Bo prepared to force the toxins into his Soul Bone and test the method on himself.
If it really worked, his granddaughter wouldn't have to suffer from the poison.
Seeing this, Lan Minghua sighed.
He actually had a better cure: the Pill Toxin Method he and Wu Song had drawn not long ago.
The Pill Toxin Method came from the Cang Qiong next door. It gathered all the poisonous energy—or toxins—in the body into a Poison Pill.
That would not only cure the poison, but also improve his ability to wield it.
But Dugu Bo was, to put it plainly, only a business associate. Lan Minghua had no obligation to teach him the Pill Toxin Method.
Forcing the toxins into a Soul Bone had a very obvious drawback too.
A Soul Bone could only hold so much, and as long as Dugu Bo remained alive, his body would continue producing toxins.
Titled Douluo lived far longer than ordinary people.
If the toxins injected into the Soul Bone exceeded its limit, then when they erupted, he could lose a limb at best or die at worst.
The only Soul Bone Dugu Bo had was a Head Soul Bone.
If the toxins erupted, he would almost certainly die.
"Ugh, Wretched Fate Hua is such a warmhearted guy. I, Lan Minghua, might as well be warmhearted for once too."
Lan Minghua walked over and interrupted Dugu Bo as he prepared. Dugu Bo looked at him in confusion.
"The second method has a drawback too. If the toxins exceed your Soul Bone's capacity, you know what'll happen."
"I know, but what choice do I have?" Dugu Bo said with a bitter laugh.
Lan Minghua lowered his voice. "I have another way to cure the poison, better than the previous two, and without any side effects. It's just..."
Before he could finish, Dugu Bo dropped to his knees.
"I've drifted through life for half a lifetime, regretting only that I never met a worthy lord. If you don't reject me, I, Bo, am willing to take you as my Adoptive Father!"
"Huh?!"
"Huh? You want to make me your Adoptive Father?"
Lan Minghua glanced at Dugu Bo with distaste. He realized Dugu Bo was even older than Wretched Fate Hua.
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