"What if I told you I could cure the poison in your body?"
Dugu Bo's hand hung in midair.
That withered palm was only three inches from Qian Anci's throat.
Those vertical pupils fixed on the boy before him, who was barely ten years old.
"What did you say?"
"The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul is one of the most potent poison-attribute Martial Souls.
I read about it in Spirit Hall's records. Throughout history, Soul Masters with this Martial Soul rarely broke through to Titled Douluo unless they came across a great opportunity."
Qian Anci's tone was calm.
"Because of the Martial Soul's nature, poison accumulates in the body as one's cultivation advances, until it reaches its limit."
He paused.
"I also know that not long ago, your son died of Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison, along with your poor daughter-in-law. Only your granddaughter remains..."
Silence fell over the valley.
Dugu Bo finally lowered his hand.
"...Spirit Hall's intelligence network is certainly thorough."
"Spirit Hall's intelligence network covers the entire continent.
Something like this isn't much of a secret."
"You're not afraid of dying from the poison yourself."
Qian Anci continued.
"The only one you're afraid for is your granddaughter.
She just turned seven this year and only recently awakened her Martial Soul. She hasn't even obtained her First Soul Ring yet. You don't want her to follow the same path as your son, do you?"
"Enough!"
Dugu Bo roared, cutting Qian Anci off.
"What do you know? If even this old man can't solve it, what makes you think a green boy like you can..."
Qian Anci didn't answer.
He merely raised his right hand.
The Scythe of Death coalesced in his palm, gray-white Death Qi curling around it.
Dugu Bo's voice cut off abruptly.
Qian Anci reached his left hand toward him, palm open.
"Give me your hand. I have a way to suppress the poison in your body—and even cure it."
Dugu Bo stared at the outstretched hand, a trace of wariness flashing in his vertical pupils.
"Give you my hand? Boy, do you take me for a three-year-old?"
He sneered and seized Qian Anci's wrist.
"Since you claim you can cure it, let's put you to the test. If you don't die, I'll believe you."
A wisp of dark green poison mist welled from his fingertips and crept into Qian Anci's wrist.
Qian Anci didn't struggle.
The instant the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison entered his body, gray-white Death Qi forcibly dissolved it.
Dugu Bo's pupils narrowed slightly.
Qian Anci looked up.
"My cultivation is only at level forty. I can barely dissolve the poison in my own body. As for the poison that's built up in yours over the years..."
He seized Dugu Bo's wrist in turn.
A wisp of gray-white Death Qi slipped along Dugu Bo's meridians.
Wherever it passed, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison that had been entrenched for years shrank back, as if it had met its natural enemy.
The wisp of Death Qi finally suppressed it.
"My Soul Power isn't strong enough yet."
Qian Anci let go. "For now, I can only suppress it, not eradicate it."
"This wisp of Death Qi will last a year."
"I'll come back in a year and send another wisp into your body."
"When I break through to a higher realm, perhaps I'll be able to cure you completely."
Dugu Bo lowered his head and stared at his wrist, silent for a long time.
"As for Dugu Yan, she's only just awakened her Martial Soul and hasn't obtained her First Soul Ring. The only poison in her body is the little that remained from her mother's womb."
"Once she obtains a Soul Ring and begins cultivating, I'll treat her every six months."
Qian Anci laid out his terms, then paused as if remembering something and added,
"Spirit Hall can also cover the Soul Rings and resources Dugu Yan will need for her future cultivation, including hunting suitable Soul Beasts for her."
Dugu Bo suddenly laughed, as if he'd heard the greatest joke in the world.
"Boy, I'm tempted by those terms, but what can you offer as a guarantee? Can you really do everything you claim?"
Qian Anci took a token from his robes and tossed it to Dugu Bo.
"The Spirit Hall Saint Son Token."
"I can, because I'm Spirit Hall's Saint Son."
"If I survive and nothing unexpected happens, I'll be the next Pope. What do you think?"
For the first time, Dugu Bo's expression changed noticeably.
"Then what's the price? What do you want in return? I don't believe you're being this kind for nothing."
Qian Anci tucked the token back into his robes.
"You already know."
"Let's go see your precious granddaughter first."
"You can think it over once she's cured."
Dugu Bo didn't refuse.
He turned and pushed open the wooden door of the stone hut.
Qian Anci followed behind him.
The hut was sparsely furnished, with a hide-covered bed in one corner.
A girl of about seven was curled up on it, her little face paler than most children's.
"When her mother was carrying her, she'd already accumulated quite a bit of poison.
Yan Yan inherited some of it in the womb, so she's always been weaker than other children her age."
Dugu Bo sat on the edge of the bed and gently brushed the stray hair from his granddaughter's forehead.
"But she's only just awakened her Martial Soul and started cultivating, so there isn't much poison in her body yet.
This old man is just afraid..."
He paused, unable to finish.
Qian Anci didn't respond.
He raised a hand and extended one finger, gathering Death Qi around it.
He gently touched Dugu Yan's forehead.
A thread of fine gray-white mist slipped into her meridians and quietly dissolved the residual poison she'd inherited in the womb.
Dugu Yan whimpered softly in her sleep. Her face gradually relaxed, and her breathing grew steady and deep.
Qian Anci withdrew his finger.
"There wasn't much poison in her body. I cleared it all in one go. When she wakes, she'll be much healthier than before. Then she can go hunt for her First Soul Ring."
Dugu Bo reached out to feel his granddaughter's forehead, then checked her pulse.
He was silent for a moment, then said only two words.
"...Thank you."
"It was nothing."
Qian Anci headed for the door and stopped at the threshold.
"I'll come back in six months to suppress the next round of poison. Don't touch the Immortal Herbs in the valley for now. Wait until I bring someone here."
"Got it."
Dugu Bo grunted.
Qian Anci said no more. He merely shook his head with a smile, then headed toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
He didn't know why the Douluo Continent seemed to produce so many people who acted all prickly and proud.
Behind him, Dugu Bo suddenly glanced toward the valley's entrance and grunted, but said nothing.
After leaving the stone hut, Qian Anci went straight to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in the middle of the valley.
Feeling the pure energy surging from the spring before him, he couldn't help sighing.
"As expected of the burial place of the Ancient Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King. These ultimate ice and fire attributes..."
He couldn't even imagine how red the Soul Rings would turn—black-red, even—if he turned the souls of those two giant dragons into warm, cozy Soul Rings!
He was still thinking about it.
Suddenly, a force pulled at him. Before he could react, he plunged straight into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Extreme cold and scorching heat surged toward him at once.
The two forces intertwined in the spring. Any living creature that fell in should have been reduced to ashes.
But Qian Anci wasn't.
The silver dragon scale in his robes emitted a gentle silver light, spreading a thin film around him.
A force kept Qian Anci safely within its protection.
Silver Dragon King's scale. He marveled inwardly. The things big sister gives me really are useful.
He let the force pull him down.
Ten zhang.
Twenty zhang.
Thirty zhang.
The light grew dimmer and dimmer.
The red-and-blue glow above was gradually swallowed by darkness, until nothing remained but endless gloom.
Then Qian Anci saw them.
Two enormous skeletons lay across the bottom of the spring.
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