Treating the Root

"I wanted to ask you something..." Dugu Yan said, adopting a very humble posture. "I don't mean any disrespect, but I'm curious. Why are you... like the ghost in the legends, with no feet at all..."

Dugu Yan was still very curious about Medicine Elder. After all, he was just like the legendary ghost with no feet.

"Because I died a long time ago. The me you see now is only a remnant soul, so there's no need to be afraid, little girl. I won't hurt you. As long as you behave and are willing to stand with us, I won't stint on rewarding you."

At this point, Medicine Elder had developed a bit of a favorable impression of Dugu Yan. She had the guts to speak honestly instead of putting on airs. That was already quite good.

"This..." Dugu Yan didn't know what to say after hearing that. She hadn't expected the person before her to have truly died once already, leaving only a remnant soul. It was frightening enough, but fortunately, as a Soul Master, Dugu Yan was brave.

If it had been an ordinary person who hadn't awakened a Martial Soul—or had awakened only a Trash Martial Soul and couldn't cultivate—they probably would have fainted the moment they saw Medicine Elder.

In this world, if you wanted to find an opportunity, you had to be brave.

"Fine, let's get back to the point. How can we treat your family's problem? Your grandfather, like you, was afflicted with the same poison. But there's a problem: I've discovered something odd about the poison in both of you. It isn't poison from your Martial Soul.

"The poison in your bodies doesn't seem to come from your Martial Soul. It seems to have some other cause."

"That's right." He had already said as much before. Since Medicine Elder was willing to say it again, he must have had evidence and clues.

"First, let's look at the simplest question. If the poison in your family had been there from the moment your Martial Soul came into existence, how could you possibly have survived until now? How long has your family had this Martial Soul?"

"...Let me think..." Hearing Medicine Elder say this, Dugu Yan first tried to recall how long her family had been around. At the same time, she felt he had a point. If her family had carried poison from birth because of this Martial Soul, how could they possibly have survived until now?

"We haven't been around for thousands of years, but we've been around for hundreds. I heard my grandfather tell stories about our family's oldest ancestors from several hundred years ago."

"Exactly. If your family had carried the poison from the moment this Martial Soul first appeared, you would have been dead long ago, several generations down the line. How could there still be any of you?

"Martial Souls are innate. They exist from the moment a person is born, so someone should have a Martial Soul even as an infant—or even as a fetus.

"They simply haven't awakened their Martial Soul yet."

The meaning was obvious. He didn't need to explain further.

And even if a fetus had some degree of immunity, it absolutely couldn't withstand a mother whose body carried deadly poison.

"I've been studying the connection between Martial Souls and Soul Rings lately. My guess is that one of your ancestors absorbed a Soul Ring from some kind of Soul Beast, and it clashed with your Martial Soul, which is why your family was poisoned."

"!!!" After hearing this, Dugu Yan began to consider the possibility herself. If that was the case, then it really could be true.

"The reason I believe the poison afflicting you and your grandfather didn't originate from your Martial Soul itself, but from a Soul Ring, is that a Martial Soul is not only a form of energy, but also a living entity—the host's life taking another form.

"So if your family's Martial Soul absorbed a poisonous Soul Ring that clashed with it, that could have poisoned you and passed the poison down to your descendants."

Yu Xiaogang was the perfect example. This famous "Master" of the Douluo Continent had been poisoned after a poisonous Soul Beast bit his Martial Soul.

"Little Dugu Yan, I'm saying this because I've done some research, so I dare to make this guess.

"I suspect that in one of your earlier generations, one of your ancestors absorbed a poisonous Soul Ring that clashed with his Martial Soul.

"As a result, the poison in his Martial Soul Origin couldn't meld with the poison in the Soul Ring he absorbed. In the end, it remained trapped in the Soul Master's body, accumulating and passing down through the generations.

"That person may have been the ancestor of your branch of the family."

After hearing Medicine Elder's explanation, Dugu Yan felt that it made more and more sense. If this was what had happened, then everything fit. Otherwise, if the problem really came from their Martial Soul, how could they have survived this long?

Her family had been around for hundreds of years. They weren't an especially powerful Soul Master family, but they had accumulated knowledge and preserved their traditions.

If Medicine Elder had wanted to deceive them, he wouldn't have been able to fool them so easily.

After all, the Dugu Family had spent years researching ways to break the curse of their poison. Even Dugu Yan had studied poison extensively.

"Little girl, if my guess is right, then I may be able to help you. I can use my Heavenly Flames to remove the poison."

"Heavenly Flames?" Dugu Yan asked curiously. "Does the Douluo Continent have something like that? Is it some kind of special Martial Soul?"

Dugu Yan: ⊙_⊙

"Teacher, you said... she doesn't know about it."

Phoenix King said this to remind his teacher that Dugu Yan was a native of the Douluo Continent. She had never left the continent, let alone gone beyond Douluo Planet to the worlds outside.

She hadn't even been to the Dou Qi Continent. How would Dugu Yan know about Heavenly Flames?

"In any case, I can remove the poison from your body. If I succeed, you'll serve us well, and we won't treat you unfairly."

"I understand, but I wanted to ask whether my grandfather can also..."

"Don't worry. Your grandfather is a Titled Douluo, so he's worth more than you are. As long as your family doesn't try any tricks on us, we won't treat you badly. I can swear on my honor."

"No need, no need, no need." Dugu Yan knew by now that her family's survival depended on the people before her. If she angered them now, the consequences would be dire.

Dugu Yan knew Medicine Elder had a very mild temper, but the others might not be nearly as easygoing.

And she could tell that Medicine Elder held a very high position here.

These Soul Beasts respected him greatly, so she had even more reason not to offend him.

Dugu Yan hoped she could help her grandfather and not cause him any trouble.