Dugu Xue: What? My son is dead?

Where are the people?

Where are two such large people?

And where is such a large hammer?

Dugu Bo only felt a terrifying surge of power suddenly erupt, so intense he could not even look directly at it! By the time everything calmed down, Tang San, Tang Hao, and Tang Hao's hammer had all vanished!

"That... was that you who acted just now?"

"Mm."

Dugu Xue nodded and asked, "I ask you, this so-called Clear Sky Douluo from just now—where does his strength rank among the Douluo Continent?"

"This... he belongs to the elite! Top five, perhaps, but I cannot be certain! There may be other hidden powerhouses on the continent."

"Top five?!" Dugu Xue was startled by this answer, unable to process it for a moment! A parallel world with soul power concentration far exceeding their own—is this the extent of its overall strength?

"W-what is it?"

"Nothing."

At this moment, thoughts raced through Dugu Xue's mind. No way? Really? If trash-tier strength like that of this Tang Hao counterpart can rank in the top five? Then... wouldn't the armies of our Immortal Court be able to trample this entire continent at will?

As he pondered, Dugu Xue's heart skipped a beat. Must not be careless! Must not be careless! I am at such an advanced age, yet I am still prone to such underestimation of the enemy! One must remember, a proud army is bound to fail!

Seeing Dugu Xue buried in his work digging up herbs, Dugu Bo struggled for a long time before saying, "Senior, I beg you to bestow an immortal herb upon me!"

"Senior?"

Dugu Xue was no stranger to the title, but being addressed as such by his own counterpart felt rather strange.

Dugu Bo suddenly knelt on one knee, cupping his hands in supplication. "I beg you, Senior, please grant me an immortal herb. I only need one Earth Dragon Golden Melon! As long as I can resolve my granddaughter's Martial Soul defect, I am willing to pay any price!"

Subjugating counterparts from other worlds and bringing the natives of these worlds into the embrace of Emperor Qingtian was, after all, part of the Otherworld Expedition Plan!

Therefore, Dugu Xue had intended to subjugate Dugu Bo from the very beginning, allowing him to join the Immortal Court ahead of schedule! Helping him resolve his Martial Soul defect was no trouble at all.

At this mention of his granddaughter, Dugu Xue thought of his own, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his weathered face. "What is your granddaughter's name? Does she suffer from the same Martial Soul defect?"

"My granddaughter is named Dugu Yan."

"Mm, a fine name." Dugu Xue thought, Dugu Yan, Dugu Yan—the pronunciation is so similar! She must be just as beautiful and adorable, right?

Following this, Dugu Xue asked casually, "You only want one Earth Dragon Golden Melon? What about your son and your other grandchildren? Did they not inherit the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul?"

"???"

Dugu Bo looked up in surprise, meeting Dugu Xue's gaze with a face full of confusion.

Although he, Dugu Bo, was not considered overwhelmingly powerful, his title as the Poison Douluo was a household name! Who didn't know that he and his granddaughter relied solely on each other?

"Senior, you may not be aware, but I have only one granddaughter!"

"Only one granddaughter?" Dugu Xue immediately thought of the policy proposed by Emperor Qingtian in their own world: Population Family Planning.

In their world, after the Douluo Continent and the Sun Moon Continent were unified, the population had surged from 420 million to over 1.5 billion in just a few decades!

Not only was the population growing rapidly, but soul masters also lived long enough!

According to the population growth curve, if family planning were not implemented immediately, the population would exceed 10 billion within fifty years!

By then, the resources of the two continents would not only be unable to support such a population, but it would also destroy the ecology! The survival environment of the soul beasts would be the first to be devastated!

At a time when no one else realized the population crisis, Emperor Qingtian had long since sensed the danger of overpopulation and had early on promulgated a feasible plan called: Population Family Planning!

By using "Population Family Planning" to control the rate of growth, they could effectively keep the total population of the two continents at around 6 billion in the future.

"Just responding to the call of Emperor Qingtian~"

Dugu Xue understood why Dugu Bo only had one granddaughter. Back then, he had wanted to take the lead in responding to the Emperor's call himself, but his granddaughter Dugu Yan had insisted on having a younger sister, and the family planning policy did allow for second and third children! Then, his son and daughter-in-law had given birth to a pair of twins!

"Then what about you and your son? Do you not need to resolve your Martial Soul defects?" Dugu Xue asked, taking it for granted.

Dugu Bo held his breath, patiently explaining in a low voice, "I only have one granddaughter! My granddaughter and I have relied on each other for all these years!"

"Relied on each other? What do you mean?"

Dugu Xue blinked, his mind finally shifting gears as he asked uncertainly, "You said you only have one granddaughter... you don't mean that your son only had one child?"

"Uh... yes! My daughter-in-law passed away when Yan'er was born, and my son passed away fifteen years ago."

"Wh-what!"

Dugu Xue felt as if he had been struck by lightning, shocked. "My son died? No! I mean, your son died? Your son died fifteen years ago?"

Dugu Bo nodded with a heavy expression.

"I..." Dugu Xue opened his mouth, still holding a stalk of Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, standing there completely stunned.

A long, long time later.

Dugu Xue sighed. "I never expected it to be like this... Sigh~ Tell me about your life experiences over these years first."

"Very well..."

Following this, Dugu Bo slowly recounted all the major events of his life, from the awakening of his Martial Soul up to the present day.

Dugu Xue was stunned for a long moment before summarizing, "So, you lost your father in your youth, your wife in middle age, and your son in your twilight years?"

"Ah... correct!" Dugu Bo felt his heart ache.

"You... you are truly miserable!" Dugu Xue was speechless, his face full of sympathy, with countless words he didn't know how to retort. The three most painful things in life, his counterpart had experienced them all!

Dugu Bo pursed his lips, unable to find a single word to refute.

"Senior? What about that Earth Dragon Golden Melon?"

Dugu Xue did not give him the immortal herb, but instead took out a medicinal pill and said, "This pill can suppress the toxins within your body, allowing you to no longer suffer from the torment of your illness! As for the Earth Dragon Golden Melon, I cannot give it to you for the time being! This old man needs to send the immortal herb back to the Immortal Court for the alchemists to refine into pills! These two Earth Dragon Golden Melons can refine ten pills! By then, you and Dugu Yan will only need two pills each to evolve your Martial Souls into the Jade Phosphorous Earth Dragon! Right, your granddaughter's Martial Soul is still only a Jade Phosphorous Serpent; it would be quite difficult to evolve it directly into a Jade Phosphorous Earth Dragon with just one pill... How about this: once this old man finishes harvesting these immortal herbs, I will accompany you to Tiandou City! There are two young people there who came with me. By the way, tell me, what is your granddaughter Dugu Yan's current soul power level?"

"She should be about to break through to level forty soul power."

"Hmm, level forty at fifteen years old? Although it is a bit low, this old man has an idea now."

Dugu Bo's son passed away fifteen years ago, and Dugu Xue had assumed Dugu Yan was only fifteen.

Dugu Xue sighed, "Sigh~ when your son passed away, you were left alone with a little baby, even feeding her milk must have been a problem! Life couldn't have been easy, right? Sigh~ it was truly hard on you!"

A baby? Feeding milk?

Dugu Bo stubbornly corrected him, "At that time, Yan'er was already five years old, she didn't need milk! And she was very sensible when she was young, so life wasn't exactly that difficult..."

He was trying his best to show that he had been doing alright...

"Oh, oh~ five years old, that's still quite young... Wait! How old is your granddaughter this year?"

"She just turned 20, and is approaching her 21st birthday."

"Uh... are you saying Dugu Yan is nearly 21 years old this year and still hasn't broken through to level 40?"

"Yes... that's right! It is mainly due to the influence of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent venom; Yan'er has to spend a lot of time suppressing the toxins! Otherwise, she should have broken through to level 40 a year or two ago!"

Dugu Xue: "..."