Bone Scraping and Toxin Removal, Methods for Finding and Fixing Flaws (Seeking Follow-ups and Encouragement)

After a long while, Ye Qinru finally collected herself.

She looked at Fang Xuan, her expression incredibly earnest.

"Can you tell me the reason that led you to say those words?"

"Don't lie to me. I don't want to fall into despair after having been given hope."

No one wants to die, and she was no exception.

"To transition from mortal to immortal is to transcend."

Fang Xuan spoke only those eight simple words, yet they struck a chord deep within Ye Qinru's heart.

"Transcending?"

"Yes, transcending. The fact that only two Nine Star Begonias can exist in the world at once is a fundamental flaw. Since a flaw exists, it means this martial soul is not perfect, and therefore, there is room for improvement."

"Mother, you should know how the previous Pope of Spirit Hall died."

Ye Qinru nodded; after all, that matter was no longer a secret.

"Blue Silver Grass is a trash martial soul, but what about the Blue Silver Emperor?"

"The hundred-thousand-year-old transformed soul beast that was surrounded and hunted back then was the Blue Silver Emperor. Since a tiny blade of Blue Silver Grass can reach the hundred-thousand-year level, there is no reason the Nine Star Begonia cannot."

"The method I've conceived is quite simple: since you possess plant-type martial souls, we shall use even stronger plants to sublimate them."

Fang Xuan's idea was insane, as he wasn't certain if immortal herbs could fully sublimate the Nine Star Begonia and resolve its martial soul defect.

But the Blue Silver Emperor certainly could; its characteristic of endless vitality could perfectly resolve the Nine Star Begonia's flaw.

At the same time, the claim that only two could exist at once was, frankly, just a lack of nourishment.

If there were sufficient nourishment, there was no reason why only two could exist.

Now that Tang San was effectively his enemy, he had to use the most ruthless methods against him.

He wanted the immortal herbs, and he wanted the Blue Silver Emperor as well.

They were all supplements anyway; having one more was fine, but missing even one was absolutely out of the question.

"Mother, please trust me. I won't let that tragedy happen again."

"I'm still counting on you to help me and Lingling raise our children."

The appearance of this final sentence made Ye Qinru unable to hold back her tears any longer.

Ye Lingling, standing to the side, was the same.

The passing of a loved one is always the most painful thing to endure.

Especially when you are carrying a child and witnessing the countdown to your loved one's death; that sense of despair and helplessness is enough to break anyone.

"Good child, Mother believes in you."

Ye Qinru had already begun to treat Fang Xuan as her own child the moment she entrusted Ye Lingling to him.

Now that this child had brought her the hope of life, she felt incredibly happy.

"Mother, I need to pay my master a visit. You and Lingling wait for me at home."

It was time to resolve the matter with Dugu Bo, and it was time to pluck some immortal herbs from him.

The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well could not be wasted on that trash group led by Tang San.

The residence where Dugu Bo lived was easy to find; after all, he was the only Title Douluo living in the city.

Ever since he learned that Fang Xuan had a way to resolve the Jade Scale Snake Poison, Dugu Bo had stopped tinkering with his herb garden and focused entirely on waiting for Fang Xuan to come knocking.

He had been waiting for nearly half a month; if not for the fact that this was a major life event for the other party, he would have long since lost his patience and gone to hunt him down.

"This kid, why hasn't he come yet? Didn't he say he would be here today?"

"Could it be that he's been so hooked by a woman that he can't get out of bed?"

Dugu Bo was lost in his wild thoughts when the door was knocked upon.

"Who is it?"

"Guess."

Upon hearing that voice, Dugu Bo was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.

He opened the door and, seeing Fang Xuan standing there, pulled him inside without a word.

"Come on, kid, tell me what insights you have regarding this old man's snake poison."

Dugu Bo didn't dawdle, diving straight into the main topic with Fang Xuan.

This Jade Scale Snake Poison had plagued him his entire life, and now that a potential solution had finally been found, he couldn't help but be impatient.

Although he wasn't sure how Fang Xuan would manage it, since his own granddaughter trusted the lad so much, he figured there was no harm in giving it a try.

After all, what if it actually worked? It was worth a gamble.

"I wouldn't call them insights, but at the very least, I can help you alleviate the pain caused by the toxins."

"I have looked into the Jade Scale Snake Poison. It is rumored to be an incurable poison, but as long as it is a poison, there must be a way to break it. There is no such thing as a completely unsolvable poison in this world; you should know that better than I do."

Dugu Bo was a master of poison himself; he was intimately familiar with all things toxic.

"So, if I cannot even cure my own poison, how could you? And how are you so certain that a spirit bone can neutralize it?"

Dugu Bo had pondered this extensively over the past few days and had even attempted to use his own spirit bones to purge the toxins—after all, he possessed them himself—but the result was nothing but failure.

However, he could confirm that the Jade Scale Snake Poison was indeed unable to corrode spirit bones; he simply assumed his method must have been incorrect.

"Have you ever heard of scraping bone to heal poison?"

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Dugu Bo was stunned, completely failing to grasp what the other was talking about. Scraping bone? Healing poison?

"The meaning is simple: it is to scrape the toxins parasitic on your bones right out."

The inspiration came from Lord Guan, though for a spirit master, there was no need to expose the bone and scrape it with a knife; one could simply use spirit power to expel the toxins directly.

This was a method he had been mulling over these past few days. Since the toxins were parasitic on the spirit bones, merely moving them to a different storage location would not fully eradicate them.

As long as the toxins remained, they were a hidden danger that had to be completely cleared to prevent future trouble.

Based on his understanding of Tang San, the boy definitely knew this, and in all likelihood, he had been guarding against Dugu Bo.

After all, the disparity in their strength was vast; leaving behind a contingency was perfectly reasonable.

But he was different, because he knew exactly what kind of person Dugu Bo was.

Though his personality was a bit eccentric, he was a decent man at heart, and doing him a favor would certainly bring no harm.

Furthermore, with the connection through Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan, Dugu Bo could be considered half of his future wife's family, so saving him was only logical.

Most importantly, he still needed to fleece the man for immortal herbs; how could he do that without offering enough benefits in return?

"Senior, you must have investigated me, and you should know about some of my affairs in Soto City."

He had been in Heaven Dou City for several days now; if Dugu Bo wanted to investigate him, he would have gathered most of the information by now.

Even if he didn't know everything, he would know seven or eight parts out of ten, so there was nothing left to hide.

"I am an orphan. I grew up with an old man who sold medicine, but that old man died—he was bitten to death by a snake..."

This experience was a genuine part of Fang Xuan's past, not a lie fabricated to stall Dugu Bo.

"My research into snake venom began from that time. I have studied various snake-type martial spirits, and it led me to discover a certain issue."

"That is the inherent defect of martial spirits."

Indeed, Dugu Bo's poison and Ma Hongjun's evil fire were both types of martial spirit defects, and they were extremely similar.

Ye Lingling's Nine Star Begonia and the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect's Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda also fell into this category, though they had to be distinguished from Dugu Bo's case.

After all, Dugu Bo's condition was a short-term, constant state, whereas Ye Lingling's Nine Star Begonia required specific conditions to manifest, and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was a permanent existence that did not threaten one's life.

He had researched this point extensively, but the available information was scarce.

The initial purpose of his research was actually for his own sake, as his own martial spirit was quite unusual.

"You want to patch the leaks?"

Dugu Bo finally understood after listening for so long.

"That is certainly a novel idea. Tell me, how do you intend to patch them?"