Dugu Yan was starting to feel lost. As time went by, she became increasingly certain of one thing.
Her family's herb garden really had caught the eye of this old man and boy.
And it seemed that even her grandfather couldn't beat them?
Her emerald-green eyes darted back and forth as Dugu Yan frantically tried to figure out what to do.
Her gaze began to drift toward Luo Chen and Guang Ling, but, by sheer coincidence, it met another assessing stare.
Feeling awkward, Dugu Yan stood up and waved at Luo Chen.
"Miss Dugu Yan, you said you live in Sunset Forest. Do you know where this place is?"
Before Dugu Yan could say anything, Luo Chen spoke first.
During their conversation over the past few minutes, Luo Chen had struck up a chat with Dugu Yan and managed to coax her name, the fact that her family lived in Sunset Forest, and that her grandfather was Dugu Bo out of her.
So now, Luo Chen decided he might as well drop the act.
Getting his hands on the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well this time was practically a done deal.
But when Luo Chen questioned her, Dugu Yan immediately began to avert her eyes.
"Ah, well, my family does live in Sunset Forest, but this place..."
Dugu Yan's stammering finally caught Guang Ling Douluo's attention.
"Little girl, you know this place? Does it really exist?"
Frowning, Guang Ling Douluo looked at Luo Chen with doubt, then turned his gaze to Dugu Yan.
Until just now, he'd thought the letter in Luo Chen's hands was nothing more than a joke played by some villagers. But seeing Dugu Yan's stammering expression, he began to sense that something was wrong.
Dugu Yan was still just a child, after all. Guang Ling Douluo could tell at a glance what she was thinking.
Could there really be a treasured place that even the Spirit Hall didn't know about?
For the first time, Guang Ling Douluo began to retrace everything that had happened since he'd met Dugu Yan.
If such a place truly existed, it would surely be occupied by a powerful person or beast.
Luo Chen had already coaxed plenty out of Dugu Yan. She'd grown up in Sunset Forest with Dugu Bo, but no matter how much Luo Chen pressed her, she hadn't revealed exactly where they lived.
That was very suspicious.
And the letter Luo Chen had shown them depicted the treasured place surrounded by a layer of strange green miasma...
Guang Ling Douluo's gaze grew sharper.
Dugu Yan had even started avoiding his eyes.
She hadn't answered Guang Ling Douluo's question either, hoping to brush it off.
Meanwhile, Luo Chen, who'd watched the whole exchange, nodded in satisfaction.
As expected, it was better to let a professional handle things. The little Dugu Yan had probably convinced his Guang Ling grandpa completely that the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well wasn't made up.
Guang Ling Douluo and Dugu Yan held each other's gaze for a while. Just as he was about to make a move, Luo Chen suddenly interrupted.
"Grandpa Guang Ling, let me handle this."
Seeing that the time was right, Luo Chen stopped pretending to be dead.
After stopping Guang Ling Douluo, he looked at Dugu Yan, who was still sitting there with her head in her hands.
"Dugu Yan, how about we make a deal?"
Luo Chen smiled as he spoke. Dugu Yan hadn't wanted to answer him, but when she thought about her current predicament, she finally raised her head.
"What deal?"
Even at her young age, she could see the situation clearly. There were only three of them there, and Luo Chen was the only one willing to talk to her properly.
"I know a secret about the Dugu Family."
Luo Chen smiled faintly. He'd done his homework before coming here.
He hadn't just read the original story; he'd also looked up plenty of information about the Jade Phosphorous Serpent in the Worship Hall's library.
At Luo Chen's words, Dugu Yan was the first to be dumbfounded.
She turned to stare at him, completely bewildered.
A secret about the Dugu Family? She didn't even know what secrets her family had. How could an outsider like Luo Chen know they had one?
"Do you know that you and your grandfather are both poisoned?"
Dugu Yan: "???"
Though she was still at the mercy of others, Dugu Yan couldn't help frowning.
"My grandfather is the only Poison Douluo on the continent. Who could poison the two of us without us even knowing?"
She thought Luo Chen was just trying to trick her. But the next moment, his words struck her like a bolt of lightning.
"But what if I told you that the poison came from within your own bodies?"
"You've been with your grandfather since you were little. On rainy days, or in the middle of the night, have you ever seen what he looks like?"
Those words left Dugu Yan utterly stunned.
"You mean..."
She began to carefully recall every little thing from her childhood. Though her grandfather seemed to have deliberately kept his distance from her during the moments Luo Chen mentioned, she did remember catching sight of him in a terrible state on rainy days a few times.
She'd been frightened then and had pressed him for an explanation. After a long while, Dugu Bo told her it was an old injury acting up, and she'd believed him.
Now that she thought about it after hearing Luo Chen's words, her grandfather's excuse really had sounded too flimsy.
Could it be that her grandfather...
"If you still don't believe me, let me ask you this: do you remember what color your hair and eyes were when you were a child?"
Luo Chen dropped another bombshell, making Dugu Yan's body tremble slightly.
"Black."
Very few people knew that. Before awakening her Martial Soul, she'd lived with her grandfather in Sunset Forest and had never gone out.
Her hair and eyes had only gradually changed after she awakened her Martial Soul.
Luo Chen even knew something like that. Could it be...
Swallowing, Dugu Yan didn't dare think any further. She turned to look at Luo Chen.
"Grandfather said that all descendants of the Dugu Family turn out like this once they awaken their Martial Souls."
Luo Chen nodded.
"That's true. It happens to every Jade Phosphorous Serpent wielder. From the day they awaken their Martial Soul, they're eroded by poison."
"You must feel unwell from time to time, too."
Dugu Yan fell silent. By now, she more or less believed Luo Chen.
"Thank you for telling me. Are you hoping these truths will make me take you to the poisonous miasma you mentioned?"
Dugu Yan smiled bitterly. Though she found the truth hard to accept, she still knew what mattered most.
If she brought the enemy to her home and put her grandfather in danger over this, she'd be an ungrateful wretch.
She absolutely wouldn't do that. She could never betray her grandfather!
But Luo Chen simply smiled and shook his head.
"Hey, don't rush."
As he spoke, Luo Chen glanced at Guang Ling Douluo with a smile.
"Grandpa Guang Ling and I know a thing or two about the Jade Phosphorous Serpent and the even more fearsome Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor."
"So if you agree to take us as far as we can go, we'll help you and your grandfather get rid of the poison. We can even completely solve the problem with your family's Martial Soul!"
"Oh, there's one thing I haven't mentioned. The poison from the Jade Phosphorous Serpent is fatal to its wielder."
As he finished speaking, Luo Chen looked at Guang Ling Douluo, who'd been silent all along. The latter nodded, giving his assent.
He did know a little about the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, after all. It was recorded in the Spirit Hall's archives.
So he agreed with what Luo Chen had said.
He also guessed that Luo Chen had learned all this from the ancient texts in the library.
But knowing about it was one thing. He truly had no idea how to cure the poison. Still, he believed that Luo Chen, who'd spent so many days poring over books in the library, really did know.
That was how much he trusted his own Chen'er.
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