Qin Xiong stared at the bright-red Immortal Herb in his hand, momentarily unable to react.
Although he didn't recognize it, just the pure yang energy radiating from the Immortal Herb made the Soul Power within him stir restlessly.
"What... what is this thing?" Qin Xiong asked instinctively, his face full of curiosity.
Seeing his grandfather's wide-eyed, clueless expression, Qin Yao explained helplessly:
"Grandfather, this is the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower, an Immortal Herb that greatly replenishes pure yang energy. You can take it directly. First, gather your Soul Power to envelop it. It'll hurt a little along the way, but you just have to bear it."
He paused, then added,
"This should help you break through to Level 98."
"What?" Qin Xiong's voice shot up, shaking the whole valley with its rumble. "Level 98!"
There was only one level between Level 97 and Level 98, but the difference between them was like a heavenly chasm!
He had been stuck at Level 97 for far too many years. He'd thought he would never make another breakthrough in this lifetime, but who could have imagined...
Who could have imagined that his grandson would return from a training trip with such a heaven-sent opportunity!
"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!"
Qin Xiong threw his head back and laughed with excitement, shoved the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower into his mouth, and sat cross-legged on the spot to refine it.
A violent surge of Soul Power erupted around him.
Seeing how eager his grandfather was, Qin Yao shook his head helplessly.
Then he picked out a few ordinary medicinal herbs with mild properties and abundant vitality, set up a small pot, fetched some spring water, and tossed the herbs in. Purple Fire flared as he began brewing the medicine.
Dugu Yan watched what he was doing, puzzled.
She recognized all those herbs. They were precious enough, but compared with the Immortal Herbs from earlier, they were little more than roadside weeds.
Soon, two bowls of emerald-green medicine were ready.
Qin Yao lifted the bowls. Purple Fire flickered at his fingertip as he lightly slit his wrist. Two drops of bright-red blood tinged with faint purplish gold fell precisely into the bowls.
The blood dissolved into the medicine at once, and the scent of the whole concoction changed.
"All right, come over and drink this." Qin Yao beckoned to the dazed grandfather and granddaughter.
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan exchanged a glance. Though they were still puzzled, they walked over.
Qin Yao handed one bowl to Dugu Bo. "The medicine is only a supplement. What matters most is using the Soul Bone to contain the poison."
Dugu Bo took the bowl and drank it in one go.
Qin Yao handed the other bowl to Dugu Yan.
She looked at the emerald-green liquid in the bowl, then at Qin Yao, and asked without thinking,
"You just... added something to it?"
"My blood," Qin Yao replied frankly.
Dugu Yan's body trembled slightly, and her grip tightened around the bowl.
His blood?
She didn't hesitate any longer. Tilting her head back, she drank the medicine.
As it slid down her throat, a warm current spread through her limbs and organs. The meridians, previously sluggish from the poison, felt much more free-flowing.
Qin Yao watched the grandfather and granddaughter and chuckled.
"You haven't absorbed the Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones yet, so there's nowhere in your bodies to contain the poison. You still can't afford to let your guard down."
As he finished speaking, Qin Yao took another Immortal Herb from his Soul Tool.
It resembled a lingzhi mushroom, crystalline all over, and emanated a faint dragon's might.
"Dugu Yan, this is the Nine-Grade Dragon Ganoderma." Qin Yao handed her the Immortal Herb. "Your Martial Soul is a dragon breed too. Taking this might allow it to evolve."
Dugu Yan accepted the Nine-Grade Dragon Ganoderma in a daze, her mind completely blank.
Evolve her Martial Soul?
Would it evolve into her grandfather's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor?
Before she could recover from her shock, Qin Yao took out a purple lingzhi and handed it to Dugu Bo.
"Old Poison, this is the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma. It can repair a body that's been eroded by poison for years and stabilize your cultivation."
Dugu Bo accepted the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma, both hands trembling slightly.
He could feel the tremendous vitality contained within it. It was precisely what his battered body needed most.
"His Highness the Holy Son, such kindness... I..." Dugu Bo's voice grew choked. He had never imagined that he, too, would receive an Immortal Herb.
"All right, don't fuss over it." Qin Yao waved his hand. "Hurry up and refine it. Don't waste its medicinal effects."
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan exchanged a glance, each seeing resolve in the other's expression.
They didn't hesitate any longer. Both sat cross-legged at once, swallowed the Immortal Herbs, and began refining them with all their might.
Seeing this, Qin Yao didn't delay either.
He took an Immortal Herb from his Soul Tool. Its leaves were emerald green, with several drops of dew resting in their centers: the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
Without the slightest hesitation, he dripped the dew into his eyes, then sat cross-legged and began circulating his Soul Power to refine it.
A cool sensation flowed in through his eyes, swept through his body, and finally converged in his Sea of Consciousness.
Time slipped by as they cultivated.
Qin Yao felt his mental strength growing rapidly, and his perception of the outside world growing incredibly sharp along with it.
At the same time, he checked his Soul Power and realized that absorbing the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass had brought him to Level 46.
This was thanks to Qin Yao's powerful physique and Martial Soul. He didn't need to use much of the medicinal power to improve his innate talent.
Just then, an even more powerful aura surged skyward from Dugu Bo.
"I... I actually broke through to Level 92!" Feeling the unprecedentedly vast Soul Power within him, Dugu Bo exclaimed in disbelief.
He had been stuck at Level 91 for many years and thought he would never break through in this lifetime. Who could have imagined that a single Immortal Herb would take him straight past the bottleneck!
On the other side, Dugu Yan's aura had also undergone a tremendous transformation.
A more solid and imposing phantom of a Jade Phosphorous Serpent coiled behind her. Budding dragon horns had even begun to sprout atop its head!
"My Martial Soul evolved into the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor! My Soul Power has also reached Level 40!"
Dugu Yan's voice brimmed with joy.
Qin Yao stood up and dusted himself off. He showed no surprise at their breakthroughs.
"Mm. That's normal."
"What I gave you were Immortal Herbs, treasures that wrested the wonders of creation from heaven and earth. These gains are only to be expected."
Hearing how calmly His Highness the Holy Son spoke, Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan felt their reverence for him deepen.
Dugu Bo drew a deep breath and bowed to Qin Yao. "His Highness the Holy Son, I'll take Yan Yan to obtain her fourth Soul Ring now!"
Qin Yao nodded. "Go. Try to find a dragon-type Soul Beast."
"Your Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor is already a true dragon breed. If all your future Soul Rings come from dragon-type beasts, it may evolve again. The benefits the Nine-Grade Dragon Ganoderma brings you go far beyond this."
"Thank you for your guidance, His Highness the Holy Son!" Dugu Bo was overjoyed. He took Dugu Yan with him, and the two shot out of the valley in a streak of green light.
The valley fell quiet again.
Only Qin Yao remained, along with the figure nearby, enveloped in scarlet-gold flames and growing more and more ferocious by the moment.
More than an hour later.
Just as Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan reappeared at the valley's entrance, the aura of Qin Xiong, sitting cross-legged in the center of the valley, climbed to its peak!
"Roar!!!"
A lion's roar shook heaven and earth, echoing into the clouds!
Scarlet-gold flames surged into the sky and coalesced into the imposing phantom of a Blazing Lion!
He had done it—Level 98!
"Hahahaha! Incredible! Just incredible!"
Qin Xiong sprang to his feet and threw his head back with a long howl, his laughter brimming with long-suppressed exhilaration!
He rushed up to Qin Yao, scooped him up, and gave his back several heavy slaps.
"Good grandson! What a good grandson!"
Qin Yao winced from the slaps and rolled his eyes inwardly.
Grandfather, your breakthrough is a good thing. Could you watch how hard you hit me?!
Once Qin Xiong had had his fill of celebrating, he finally noticed Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan, who had returned.
He rummaged around in his Soul Tool for a while, then took out two Soul Bones and tossed them over.
One was a left arm bone flashing with a green light; the other was a yellow-brown right leg bone.
"Catch!"
Dugu Bo caught them instinctively, feeling powerful waves of Soul Power emanate from the Soul Bones.
Both of them were more than ten thousand years old!
"Fourth Worship, this..."
"All right."
Qin Xiong waved his hand casually.
"This place belongs to you and your granddaughter, in a way. Though you pledged yourselves to Xiao Yao, I'm not a stingy man. Take these two Soul Bones and put an end to that little problem in your bodies."
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan were utterly stunned by the Worshipper's generosity.
He'd tossed them two Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones just like that?
Qin Xiong saw their clueless expressions and curled his lip.
"Don't look at me like that. These two Soul Bones are too low in age, only ten or twenty thousand years old. Xiao Yao wouldn't even want them. Giving them to you is just putting them to good use."
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan were speechless. They suddenly felt that joining Spirit Hall had been a fantastic deal.
Of course, this was because the Worship Hall was full of treasures. At the Elder Hall, they wouldn't have gotten a Soul Bone so easily from Bibi Dong.
In the original story, when Ghost Douluo died, he only dropped a single Soul Bone. It was rather tragic.
"No need for formalities. Hurry up and absorb them." Qin Xiong waved impatiently.
The grandfather and granddaughter didn't hesitate. They sat down at once and began absorbing the Soul Bones.
Only after they finished absorbing them did Qin Yao step forward.
"Are you ready?"
His voice was calm.
The next moment, he placed one hand on each of their backs, and a pure, overbearing surge of Soul Power flowed into their bodies.
"Guard your minds. Guide the poison into the Soul Bones!"
With Qin Yao's help, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison that had tormented the grandfather and granddaughter for decades was finally forced little by little out of their meridians and marrow, sealed completely inside the two Ten Thousand Year Soul Bones.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in Heaven Dou City.
Inside the study of the Crown Prince's Residence.
A woman in a golden court dress leaned against the soft couch by the window, reading a letter in her hands.
She looked barely twenty, with skin as pale as snow, a straight nose, and slightly narrow phoenix eyes. Her gaze was calm and still, yet naturally carried an air of authority.
She was Qian Renxue, deep undercover.
She looked at the letter, which had been handwritten by her grandfather, Qian Daoliu.
Its contents were simple. First, he congratulated her on her Soul Power breakthrough; then he turned to the newly appointed Holy Son of Spirit Hall, Qin Yao.
"This boy Xiao Yao has exceptional talent. At twelve, he has already become a Level 43 Soul Ancestor. He has also awakened an innate domain, undergone a Martial Soul Mutation, and gained a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring as his fourth ring. His temperament and methods are both top-notch..."
At this, Qian Renxue merely nodded calmly.
With talent like that, he certainly deserved the position of Holy Son.
But when she reached the end of the letter, a crack appeared in her eternally tranquil, breathtakingly beautiful face.
"When you return, you and Xiao Yao are to fulfill your engagement. Together, the two of you will give Spirit Hall a bright future..."
"Snap!"
Without realizing it, she had crushed the letter into a ball.
A captivating blush crept across her snow-white face, spreading from her ears all the way down her neck.
"Grandfather... how could he... arrange a marriage for me without asking?!"
Before you continue