A Decent Show of Spirit

With every sentence Jiang He spoke, Dugu Bo's aura grew heavier.

When he said that both Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan had been poisoned by their Martial Souls—

The aura seemed to solidify, pressing down on Jiang He until he could barely breathe.

Yet Jiang He still endured the discomfort and said,

"Considering that both Grandpa Dugu and Sister Yan Yan were poisoned because of their Martial Souls,

and that Sister Yan Yan's parents both died because of it,

I concluded that the toxins within your body, Grandpa Dugu, must have accumulated to a terrifying degree.

You might not even be able to act freely. Once you fully mobilized your Soul Power, the toxins would very likely erupt.

Not only that, Grandpa Dugu, you must have some special means of suppressing the toxins under normal circumstances.

Since you usually lived in Sunset Forest and rarely went out, I judged that the object helping you suppress the toxins was located within Sunset Forest.

But Sister Yan Yan's parents still passed away, and from my conversations with her, I could not tell that she knew much about the toxins.

So I guessed that your method of suppressing the toxins had a prerequisite.

That prerequisite was strength!

If one's strength did not reach a certain level, that mysterious object would not only fail to suppress the toxins—it might even become a death sentence.

That was why, back then, you could only watch Sister Yan Yan's parents die from poisoning.

And you could only watch as Sister Yan Yan gradually accumulated the toxins in her body as her strength increased.

Combined with this Secret Treasure Record that I obtained by chance, I could only guess that the thing helping you suppress the toxins was the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well!

Because the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well could not only help you suppress the toxins, but also filtered people by strength.

If one was not strong enough, staying near this place would only cause discomfort.

With the strength Sister Yan Yan's parents had while alive, let alone relying on the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well to suppress their toxins, staying here too long would have caused the aura here to prematurely trigger the toxins in their bodies!"

Dugu Bo's expression did not change as he listened to Jiang He, but his gaze fell upon the Secret Treasure Record in his hand.

He had already examined its contents.

And he had inspected the Secret Treasure Record itself, discovering that it was indeed an ancient book passed down for a long time.

Although he did not know why Jiang He had obtained such a thing,

with the Secret Treasure Record as evidence, Jiang He's explanation made sense.

Still, to infer so much from such tiny details, this boy Jiang He... was almost monstrously intelligent.

In particular, Dugu Bo had observed that ever since Jiang He left Heaven Dou City, he had carefully concealed himself all the way. If Dugu Bo had not kept watching him, he truly might have been deceived!

After a while, Dugu Bo withdrew his aura.

Jiang He was like a fish pulled from the water, gulping down air.

Fortunately, he had consumed an Immortal Herb and could barely adapt to the aura of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

Otherwise, he would already have collapsed unconscious on the ground.

At this moment, Dugu Bo looked at Jiang He and said, "One last question. Since you knew this was my territory, why did you still dare set your sights on these Immortal Herbs? Are you truly not afraid of me?"

After saying that, Dugu Bo's gaze sharpened once more.

Jiang He fell into brief silence.

Then he slowly raised his head, met Dugu Bo's eyes, and said, "Because I'm afraid of dying."

Dugu Bo raised a brow, a trace of strange amusement in his voice. "Afraid of dying? Hahaha, what a joke. Because you fear death, you chose to steal from a Title Douluo? That reason does not quite add up."

Jiang He's expression remained unchanged as he slowly said, "Grandpa Dugu, you know that both my parents were Soul Kings.

At that level, they would have been important backbone members in any top-tier faction.

Yet even so, they still died in an accident.

It was Grandpa Dugu who brought their bodies back.

If not for you, their bodies would have ultimately become food for soul beasts.

If not for you, even if those students had luckily escaped, the academy would not have paid much attention to me. In the end, it was the failure of the teachers.

If not for you, the academy would not have given me such a large sum in compensation, allowing me to live without worrying about food or clothing for the coming years.

All of that was only because they were Soul Kings, while you were a Title Douluo.

A single word from you could easily change my fate.

A single action from you could freely decide the future of those students who followed my parents into Sunset Forest.

In contrast, because my parents were only Soul Kings, they could only live quietly as teachers at the academy, and when they encountered soul beasts, they could only wait in despair for death.

I do not want to die. I want to live. I want to stand beneath the sun like you, living proudly and with dignity.

So I want to become stronger. I do not want to be like my parents, spending my entire life lingering at the Soul King level, with no hope of ever becoming a Soul Emperor.

But I inherited my parents' bloodline. The limit of my achievements in this life was already in sight.

So I could only place my hopes on external things, on the Immortal Herbs recorded in this book, to change my fate.

Would I die someday in an accident caused by insufficient strength,

or would I resolutely die while pursuing strength?

I chose the latter.

I would rather die while seizing Immortal Herbs, die within your poison barrier, die beneath the pressure of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, than die pathetically over some insignificant matter."

After hearing Jiang He's words, Dugu Bo's lips curled slightly.

"Good boy. That's a decent show of spirit."

As he spoke, Dugu Bo looked toward the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. In a deep voice, he asked, "Do you think these two Immortal Herbs can remove the toxins from my body?"

At that moment, Dugu Bo did not stubbornly deny it. He generously admitted that toxins resided within his body.

Hearing this, Jiang He slowly rose to his feet. After moving his body a little, he took the initiative to walk toward Dugu Bo and said, "Grandpa Dugu, I think life is a gamble. I won my bet, anyway. The choice is in your hands."

Dugu Bo glanced at Jiang He.

From Jiang He stealing the Immortal Herbs, to consuming them, to the changes in his body afterward,

he had watched the entire process.

In his heart, he had nearly come to believe the records in the Secret Treasure Record.

But he was, after all, a Title Douluo—a Title Douluo who had fought and killed his way to this level through his own strength.

Along the way, he had seen far too many schemes and deceptions.

So he had no choice but to be careful, no choice but to act cautiously!

After a while, Dugu Bo suddenly extended his hand, and a tiny emerald-green snake appeared in his palm.

As though guided by something, the little snake charged straight toward Jiang He.

Jiang He tried to dodge, but Dugu Bo's suddenly erupting aura pinned him in place.

In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the little snake bit him.

Immediately afterward, Jiang He felt his head grow dizzy.

He looked at Dugu Bo in disbelief.

Was this old bastard really this ruthless? He wanted to kill me too? Wasn't this completely different from the script?

Fortunately, the dizzy sensation vanished in an instant.

Dugu Bo put away the little snake and coldly said to Jiang He, "This Bamboo Leaf Green was cultivated by me with years of painstaking effort. Other than me, no one in the world can cure its poison!

Do not think of using the breath-holding method you used when entering the poison barrier to resist it. That will only make the poison spread faster and make your death more miserable.

Even a Soul Douluo could only rely on their own strength to resist after being poisoned.

With strength like yours, you can only force yourself to endure with external aid."

As he spoke, Dugu Bo tossed Jiang He a medicinal pill and said, "This is an antidote. After taking it, you can resist for seven days. After seven days, if you have no antidote, you will have only two paths.

The first path: death!

The second path: find Yan Yan and have her use her Jade Phosphor Snake to bite you. Fighting poison with poison will let you endure another seven days.

But the second method can only be used a limited number of times. If it goes on too long, you will die from Jade Phosphor Snake poison even earlier than Yan Yan!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Dugu Bo walked straight toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, giving Jiang He no chance to speak.