Then again

A middle-aged man with green hair and a gaunt face appeared ahead, his hands clasped behind his back as he watched the group with extreme vigilance.

"I knew it was you, Dugu Bo."

From the moment Pufferfish Douluo saw the poison outside, he had already guessed that Dugu Bo was the mastermind behind it.

Because the number of powerhouses on the Douluo Continent who played with poison could be counted on one hand, and as a Spirit Douluo, Dugu Bo was naturally the peak of this particular field.

Dugu Bo frowned as he looked at Pufferfish Douluo; he had never met this man before, yet the other party knew his identity.

Furthermore, judging by the man's aura, he was certainly no pushover and was very likely a Titled Douluo.

Dugu Bo knew his own limits well enough; that pathetic poison of his, which hurt the enemy a thousand times while damaging himself eight hundred, wouldn't even stand a chance against a Titled Douluo—even a Spirit Douluo could beat the living daylights out of him.

Thus, he changed his attitude, becoming amiable.

"This one did not know a Crowned Lord had arrived in person; I beg for your forgiveness."

Hearing this, Pufferfish Douluo was stunned. According to the rumors, wasn't Dugu Bo a cranky old man?

He never gave anyone a pleasant look, so why was he acting like a mouse seeing a cat the moment he saw him?

"We were merely passing through the Sunset Forest and happened to catch the scent of a treasure, so we followed it here."

Hearing Pufferfish Douluo's reply, the corners of Dugu Bo's eyes twitched violently.

What a coincidence indeed!

Were they dogs? Their noses were so sharp, and couldn't they have come up with a more reasonable excuse?

"To tell you the truth, this place is my family's ancestral medicinal garden, passed down for dozens of generations. I am not the one who makes the decisions here!"

As he spoke, he pretended to be troubled and waved his hands.

Chen Qi almost burst out laughing when he heard this.

What a fine "ancestral medicinal garden." If he didn't know that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was something Dugu Bo had stumbled upon by chance, he might have actually believed him.

"So what if it's ancestral? It's being confiscated today."

Pufferfish Douluo didn't care about any of that. Whatever Qian Renxue took a fancy to belonged to the Qian family, and therefore to Spirit Hall.

If he didn't hand it over now, he would be an enemy of Spirit Hall.

Dugu Bo's expression darkened upon hearing this. To him, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was as vital as his own life.

If someone wanted to take it away today, wasn't that the same as cutting off Dugu Bo's roots?

"Crowned Lord, I refuse. I cannot accept this."

BOOM!

A terrifying pressure surged from Pufferfish Douluo, crashing against Dugu Bo like a tidal wave.

Seeing this, Dugu Bo knew he couldn't just stand there like a target, so he unleashed his own Spirit Douluo pressure. Instantly, the two forces clashed in mid-air.

The powerful air currents caused the tree branches to sway violently, and flowers and grasses were uprooted, sent flying into the sky.

Chen Qi stood to the side, shielding Qian Renxue, who had yet to make an appearance. He frowned as he looked at the immortal herbs behind the stubbornly resisting Dugu Bo.

He couldn't let the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well be destroyed because of these two.

Just as Dugu Bo was about to reach his limit, Chen Qi stepped forward and blocked Pufferfish Douluo, who was about to teach Dugu Bo a lesson.

"Stop, all of you! Losing a life is a small matter, but if the immortal herbs are gone, they are truly gone. Dugu Bo, I will ask you one more time: are you truly unwilling to hand this place over?"

Dugu Bo was still dazed by the sudden disappearance of the pressure, but upon hearing Chen Qi's words, he nodded firmly.

"I said it before: this is my family's ancestral medicinal garden. Even if I, Dugu Bo, have to destroy this place, I will never hand it over!"

"What if I could cure the poison in your Dugu family?"

Look at what he was saying.

Then again, he had never heard of any "ancestral medicinal garden."

Dugu Bo, who had just been ready to fight to the death, immediately changed his expression upon hearing Chen Qi's words.

Although he was suspicious of how Chen Qi knew about his poison, if it could truly be cured, he would hand over not just the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, but even acknowledge Chen Qi as his master.

He suppressed his inner thoughts and asked Chen Qi, "Can you truly cure my poison?"

Chen Qi nodded confidently.

"Of course. There isn't a poison in this world that I cannot cure!"

It was finally time for Qian Renxue, who had been hiding, to make her appearance. They had been together for so long, and she had never heard that Chen Qi knew how to cure poison.

"Chen Qi, can you really cure poison? Why didn't you cure my grandfather when he was poisoned that day?"

Come to think of it, Qian Daoliu's poisoning was actually Qian Renxue's own doing; the concoction she made was so bad that even a dog wouldn't touch it.

If a dog came by, it would sew its mouth shut and run away!

"Let's just forget about the Great Elder's poison; even the Heavenly King himself couldn't cure that."

Dugu Bo listened from the side, completely bewildered. What was this about a grandfather and a Great Elder?

Wait...

Grand Pontiff... Grandfather!!

Only then did he notice the girl before him, sporting a head of brilliant golden hair. A mysterious golden-haired girl who could be followed by a Titled Douluo—wasn't that just the one from Spirit Hall?

Furthermore, she appeared to be the granddaughter of the Grand Pontiff, the granddaughter of that invincible person in the sky.

Dugu Bo let out a long sigh of relief, beginning to feel fortunate that he had stopped his hand just now. If he had harmed Qian Renxue, his Dugu family would have been uprooted entirely.

"Pardon the interruption, but may I ask if you are from Spirit Hall?"

Hearing this, Qian Renxue's expression revealed disappointment. She hadn't even said anything yet, and her true identity had already been recognized; traveling was really not fun at all.

"Whether our identities are important or not, you only need to answer now: do you agree to my trade? I will detoxify you, and you give me your herb garden?"

"I agree! I approve with both hands!"

How could Dugu Bo dare to disagree? Even if they didn't detoxify him and just demanded the herb garden, he wouldn't dare to have the slightest complaint now.

Chen Qi nodded. It seemed Dugu Bo was still quite sensible, knowing what should be done and what should not.

"Very well, since that is the case, I shall detoxify you."

Having said that, he opened the System Shop to search for a cure.

Logically speaking, handing over the Mysterious Heaven Technique to Dugu Bo would be enough to suppress the toxins in his body, but Chen Qi would never do that.

The Mysterious Heaven Technique was such trash that it would be bad luck even to use it as a table coaster. The System Shop had countless techniques from all sorts of worlds, far too many to count; he just couldn't afford them.

After selecting for a while, Chen Qi set his sights on a bottle of pills. The description stated it could cure all toxins without any side effects; if the user was a poison practitioner themselves, their ability to wield poison would even be enhanced after consumption. It was practically tailor-made for Dugu Bo.

He glanced at the price and instantly turned to stone: a full one hundred Favor Points. That was enough for him to drink Fat House Happy Water for ten lifetimes.

However, thinking of the value of the immortal herbs, he gritted his teeth and bought it.

Outside, Qian Renxue and the others saw Chen Qi standing there in a daze and assumed his shut-in syndrome had flared up again.

"Chen Qi, are you alright?"

Qian Renxue shook Chen Qi's arm, snapping him back to reality.

"I'm fine. I was just thinking about how to detoxify you, and I found this in my storage space."

Chen Qi took out the detox pills; a plain, unadorned little clay bottle containing ten pills.

The moment the stopper was opened, an indescribable medicinal fragrance wafted toward them.

"Come, give it a try."