Lu Chen felt a surge of joy in his heart!
The situation was tilting in a favorable direction; as long as he could detoxify Dugu Bo, he could gain Dugu Bo's favor.
The favor of a Title Douluo!
It was something countless people yearned for yet could never attain!
His desire to hunt an eighty-five-thousand-year-old Blue Silver King as his seventh spirit ring would no longer be a pipe dream.
With Dugu Bo's help, everything would become a reality!
Lu Chen smiled, nodded, and said:
"Alright, since Senior trusts me, I shall try to detoxify Senior right now."
"The detoxification process might be accompanied by pain, so I hope Senior will not resist."
In Dugu Bo's pupils, a trace of anticipation surfaced, though naturally more of a threatening tone:
"I hope your method is truly effective, otherwise, this old man will not let you off!"
Then, not fearing that Lu Chen would play tricks, Dugu Bo spread his hands and stood before Lu Chen with an entirely defenseless expression.
After all, he was a Title Douluo; even if he were merely the weakest Title Douluo, that was still not something a mere Spirit Emperor like Lu Chen could compare to.
He was not afraid in the least that Lu Chen would suddenly strike!
Seeing this situation, Lu Chen summoned his martial soul once more: the Blue Silver King.
Beneath his feet, the six spirit rings, after being camouflaged, rose one by one as well: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black. Compared to normal spirit ring configurations, this did not draw excessive attention from Dugu Bo.
On the contrary, Lu Chen's martial soul caused Dugu Bo to utter sighs of amazement.
Lu Chen's Blue Silver King Martial Soul was simply the most perfect, most noble plant martial soul Dugu Bo had ever seen.
Its entire body was crystal-clear and azure-translucent, not at all resembling a normal plant, but rather appearing as though carved from jade.
Its surface emitted a soft golden halo, and it further diffused a rich breath of life.
Dugu Bo's body, which had suffered bitterly from the severe poison, merely drew close to this plant martial soul and absorbed those wisps of life's breath, feeling like a parched land encountering sweet dew as a thorough clarity swept through his entire being.
The next instant, under Lu Chen's manipulation, the vines of the Blue Silver King Martial Soul extended one by one and coiled around Dugu Bo's body.
Lu Chen's thoughts stirred instantly:
Fourth Spirit Skill, Blue Silver Baptism!
Under the continuous influx of his soul power, the Blue Silver King Martial Soul burst forth with dazzling light.
That light, sacred, pure, and filled with the breath of life, surged into Dugu Bo's body.
Dugu Bo's expression changed instantly!
His body, riddled with holes due to the corrosion of the severe poison, began to frantically absorb the energy surging into it.
Soft and warm!
Refreshing to the heart and mind!
Dugu Bo's spirit grew somewhat dazed; his ice-cold body had not felt this warm in a very long time.
Nourished by that energy, his skin, flesh, meridians, internal organs, and bones... all radiated a brand-new vitality.
However, good times did not last long. The Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison entrenched within his body reacted intensely to this surge of life energy and began to spontaneously put up resistance.
"Hisss!"
Dugu Bo suddenly widened his eyes and gasped, drawing in a sharp breath. The Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison began to flare up, causing agonizing pain throughout his entire body.
A terrifying momentum erupted uncontrollably from within his body, transforming into a violent gale that swept in all directions, whirling the withered branches and fallen leaves all over the ground up into the sky.
Lu Chen stood closest to Dugu Bo. Under that terrifying momentum, his eyelids twitched wildly and his whole body stiffened, terrified that Dugu Bo might lose control of himself.
"Senior, endure!"
Following Lu Chen's spoken reminder, Dugu Bo panted heavily like an ox, cold sweat continuously streaming down both cheeks from his forehead.
I shall endure!
Dugu Bo thought viciously.
His hands clenched into fists and he gritted his teeth tightly, enduring the excruciating pain radiating from deep within his body.
Time ticked by second by second, and the last-ditch resistance of the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison ultimately reached its limit.
Under the pincer attack and containment of the life energy, the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was also forced into a corner, eventually undergoing a neutralization reaction with that life energy. The neutralized Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison gradually dissipated into nothingness.
Noticing this situation, Dugu Bo felt overjoyed and immensely surprised.
This Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison, which had caused him to suffer bitterly for decades, actually had a day when it could truly be resolved.
Dugu Bo had quite the urge to shed tears of old age!
Yet at this very moment, the life energy continuously pouring into his body abruptly stopped.
Dugu Bo was stunned for a moment. Just as the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison was about to be neutralized, it stopped at such a juncture, leaving that hanging, unresolved sensation.
This made him depressed enough to vomit blood.
Dugu Bo instantly opened his eyes and looked at Lu Chen with an unkind gaze.
Yet what he saw was a panting Lu Chen.
Lu Chen wiped the beads of false sweat from his forehead and explained to Dugu Bo:
"Senior, my soul power is limited; today can only go this far."
"After all, you are a Title Douluo, and the severe poison accumulated within your body is like bone-gnawing maggots. Wanting to completely resolve it is not that easy."
Of course it was not that Lu Chen truly had no soul power left.
Rather, once Dugu Bo's poison was completely resolved, his own value would plummet.
The so-called harboring bandits to ensure one's own importance!
Only while Dugu Bo remained afflicted with the severe poison would Lu Chen's value rise with the tide.
Lu Chen clearly knew that he had not come to do good deeds; he had come to recruit Dugu Bo as muscle.
Therefore, he could not be foolish enough to help Dugu Bo purge the severe poison completely all at once.
Dugu Bo was so angry that his tooth roots itched. He admitted that what Lu Chen said made sense; the severe poison inside his body had not accumulated in a single day, nor could it possibly be resolved within a single day.
Yet this sensation of the detoxification stopping halfway through grated so harshly on his heart that it felt truly unbearable.
Dugu Bo took a deep breath, exhaled deeply, inhaled again, exhaled again... repeating this back and forth several times in a cyclical loop, he finally managed to calm his mood.
Having learned Lu Chen's value, Dugu Bo completely changed his tune. His face beamed with smiles as he looked at Lu Chen with an eager gaze, taking the initiative to offer comfort and say:
"Understood, completely understood."
"I do not yet know how you prefer to be addressed?"
Hearing this inquiry, Lu Chen paused in brief thought before replying calmly and unhurriedly:
"My name is Lan Chen. Senior's body is poisoned far too deeply for it to be purged in a single day or two."
"We need to plan for the long term, using half a month to a month of time to completely purge the severe poison from Senior's body."
He did not ask about the origin of the severe poison Dugu Bo was afflicted with.
After all, he and Dugu Bo had only met on this very day.
In the course of interactions, prying deep when friendship was shallow was a great taboo.
They shared no real friendship yet, and probing into the other party's background at this juncture would easily provoke the other party's aversion.
Moreover, the poison Dugu Bo suffered from originated from his own martial soul and spirit rings.
Even if he purged the severe poison from Dugu Bo's body completely, it would only treat the symptoms and not the root cause; the severe poison would stage a comeback in the future.
When that time came, Dugu Bo would still have cause to beg of Lu Chen.
Regarding this situation of Dugu Bo's, if Lu Chen were even slightly black-hearted, he could completely milk him for a lifetime.
However, Lu Chen was not yet that black-hearted. Once his friendship with Dugu Bo deepened in the days to come, he could pass on the method that truly treated the root cause.
Unaware of what Lu Chen was thinking in his heart, Dugu Bo continued enthusiastically:
"There is no rush. This old man has been tormented by the severe poison for so long; I care not whether I am detoxified a day earlier or a day later."
"Today is a joyous occasion, for I have made the acquaintance of Worthy Brother Lan Chen. Let us go; we shall head to my mansion in Heaven Dou City and share a couple of fine drinks together."
In just this brief span of time, Lu Chen had already become a worthy brother in Dugu Bo's mouth.
It was evident that Lu Chen's value had already won Dugu Bo's recognition.
Lu Chen appeared extremely happy:
"Since Senior honors me so, then I shall boldly address you as Brother Dugu. Today I will surely accompany Brother Dugu to drink to my heart's content."
With a single "Brother Dugu" from Lu Chen and a "Worthy Brother Lan Chen" from Dugu Bo, the relationship between the two parties was instantly drawn close.
With their arms draped over each other's shoulders, the two men then left the Sunset Forest and journeyed together toward Heaven Dou City.