Gazing at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well before him, with its resources scattered everywhere and all kinds of rare flowers and herbs growing in abundance, Fang Xuan's eye twitched.
Happiness had come far too suddenly. Dugu Bo really was a man of temperament.
He'd only just given him a little taste of sweetness, and now he'd brought him straight to his base. Fang Xuan truly hadn't seen that coming.
But since he was already here, he couldn't exactly leave empty-handed, could he?
"Pick whatever you like. You don't have to be polite with me."
Dugu Bo waved his hand with extravagant generosity, leaving Fang Xuan dumbfounded.
He remembered that in the original story, when Tang San cured Dugu Bo's poison, the other man hadn't acted like this. What had gone wrong somewhere along the way?
What Fang Xuan didn't know was that the biggest difference between him and Tang San was their relationship.
After all, he was now Dugu Bo's disciple in name, even if he himself hadn't taken it seriously.
But in this era, a disciple was practically half a son.
What father would be stingy with his son? Especially when that son was so outstanding. Wouldn't he pour every resource he had into him?
It was just a medicinal garden. Dugu Bo hadn't thought much of it, since he didn't know anything about Immortal Herbs anyway. Otherwise, Tang San wouldn't have been the one to stumble upon such a windfall.
Only this time, it wasn't Tang San who'd struck it lucky. It was Fang Xuan.
"Um... Senior, I only need one or two stalks. The rest..."
"One or two? Do you think so little of your master? You're leaving with a whole sackful today."
"And why are you calling me 'Senior'? I'm your master now. Are you trying to make things so formal because you want to leave the sect?"
Those two sentences shut Fang Xuan down completely, leaving him at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"What is even happening?"
He'd thought it would take some time to build up their rapport. He'd planned to take it slow and not get greedy on their first meeting, so things could keep progressing smoothly.
But this was clearly a maxed-out favorability level—no, it had gone through the roof. The whole thing left him bewildered.
In the end, under Dugu Bo's forceful supervision, Fang Xuan really did lug a whole sack of medicinal herbs home.
Dugu Bo even personally saw him to the door.
Standing at the Ye Family's gate, Dugu Bo smiled and patted Fang Xuan on the shoulder.
"Good disciple, stay home for the next few days. Your master's been around the block. You just got married, so you shouldn't be running around outside too much. Spend more time with your wife."
"Your master can wait."
Dugu Bo had been in a hurry because he'd worried whether Fang Xuan could do it. But Fang Xuan hadn't merely succeeded; the results seemed to be excellent, too.
That put Dugu Bo completely at ease. As for curing the poison, there was no need to rush. They could take it one step at a time.
The most important thing now was to build a good relationship with his precious disciple. If someone snatched him away one day, Dugu Bo would cry his eyes out.
"Little sister, take good care of my disciple. If you need anything, just send someone to let me know. We're family now, so don't be shy."
Then, under the three of them's utterly baffled gazes, Dugu Bo left.
"What did you do?"
Ye Qinru looked at Fang Xuan, completely unable to make sense of Dugu Bo's behavior.
Her son-in-law had only gone out for half a day. How had he managed to turn Dugu Bo into this?
It felt like Dugu Bo treated him even better than his own son.
"Mom, I don't really understand it myself. It's just..."
Fang Xuan then told Ye Qinru everything that had happened after he'd gone to Dugu Bo's place.
The moment Ye Qinru heard the whole story, she understood.
"He's treating you like his son."
"What?!"
What the hell? He'd gone out once and come back as someone else's son? Did that mean Dugu Yan would have to call him Dad from now on?
Bah, what was he even thinking?
He quickly shook his head, throwing out the ridiculous thought.
"Mom, what do you mean? Is 'son' the same kind of son I'm thinking of?"
Seeing Fang Xuan's confusion, Ye Qinru smiled.
"Don't worry, it's a good thing. Did you forget that you're his disciple?"
"I told you: a disciple is half a son. When the relationship between master and disciple is good, there's not much difference between them and father and son."
"Dugu Bo's a bit eccentric, but he's a decent person. You helped him a great deal, and now everyone knows what the two of you are to each other. So it's only natural he'd treat you this way."
After hearing Ye Qinru's explanation, Fang Xuan could only laugh helplessly.
So that was why Dugu Bo had been acting so strangely. He hadn't understood before because he'd never taken their relationship as a disciple and master seriously. From beginning to end, he'd thought of it as nothing more than a mutually beneficial arrangement.
To put it plainly, they'd just been putting on an act to fool other people.
But Dugu Bo had taken the act for reality, catching him completely off guard.
Fang Xuan looked down at the Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Pouch hanging from his waist and smiled helplessly.
"Having a master this loaded doesn't seem so bad."
With generosity like that, no one else could possibly match it.
Who packed Immortal Herbs into a sack? Only Dugu Bo would dare do something like that. It was clear just how much he valued Fang Xuan.
"I thought that old fellow would still be holding a grudge over the time I tricked him. I figured he'd come looking for trouble, but you went and subdued him instead."
"As expected of my son-in-law. You sure know how to handle things."
"Isn't that right, darling daughter?"
As she spoke, Ye Qinru made sure to bring Ye Lingling into it, too. But her words carried a hidden meaning, and Ye Lingling's face turned bright red.
Clearly, the two of them had talked about other things while Fang Xuan was away.
"Mom, Lingling, come inside. There's something I need to tell you."
Now that he'd gotten the Immortal Herbs, he needed to see whether they could resolve the flaws in their Martial Souls.
At his words, mother and daughter followed Fang Xuan into the room. Once he'd closed the door, he took two Immortal Herbs he'd picked out especially from the Wish-Fulfilling Treasure Pouch Dugu Bo had given him and held them out to the two women.
The moment the two Immortal Herbs appeared, their faint medicinal fragrance filled the room.
Ye Qinru and Ye Lingling were instantly drawn to them. As someone who'd spent years working with medicinal herbs and plants, Ye Qinru could tell at a glance that the two plants before her were extraordinary.
"Son-in-law, what are these...?"
"Immortal Herbs. I picked them from Dugu Bo's medicinal garden. Taking them should resolve the flaws in your Martial Souls."
As he spoke, Fang Xuan pushed one herb toward each of them.
The one he'd chosen for Ye Qinru was the Silk Velvet Fragrant Immortal Herb. It naturally granted immunity to all poisons and could dispel negative effects, so in theory, it should be well suited to breaking the curse restricting their Martial Soul.
After all, if Ye Lingling had a child, Ye Qinru would be the first to suffer. The Silk Velvet Fragrant Immortal Herb was therefore a better match for Ye Qinru.
The one he'd chosen for Ye Lingling was the Aromatic Silk Beauty, which had the wondrous ability to purify a Martial Soul and help it break through and evolve.
The Nine-Heart Begonia and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda were both top-tier support-type Martial Souls. There was no reason the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda could evolve while the Nine-Heart Begonia couldn't.
The two Immortal Herbs had different effects, but Fang Xuan had chosen the best possible match for each of them based on their circumstances.
Only trying them would tell whether it would work. But even if they failed in the end, taking the Immortal Herbs should still greatly improve their physical condition.
Even if it came to that, there was a good chance they wouldn't lose their lives.
As long as they survived, there would still be hope. If they died, then everything would be over. Besides, he had no interest in the melodramatic business of bringing people back from the dead.