Where's the Herb Garden!

Luo Qiusheng spent the entire journey making inquiries, finally coming to a halt before a courtyard.

"Is this where Dugu Bo stays while in Heaven Dou City?"

On his way here, he had learned that there were still two years until the next Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament, and that the champions of the previous tournament were Spirit Hall.

From this information, he could deduce that Tang San had not yet made his move. He recalled that Tang San's intersection with Dugu Bo occurred when he neutralized Dugu Yan's snake venom, which happened when Tang San was thirteen.

Furthermore, when Shrek Academy won the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament, Tang San seemed to have just turned fifteen.

Calculating this, Tang San would be around fourteen during the tournament, meaning he should currently still be at Nuoding Academy or perhaps on his way to Shrek Academy with Xiao Wu.

Luo Qiusheng knocked on the courtyard gate and took a step back to wait quietly. Several minutes passed, and seeing that the gate remained closed, he was about to step forward to knock again when a crack appeared in the gate, revealing an eye peering out at him with curiosity.

"Excuse me... is this the residence of Dugu Bo?" Luo Qiusheng asked with a smile.

The crack closed again, and after a few breaths, it opened fully. Luo Qiusheng then saw the person clearly: she had neat, deep purple short hair, an oval face, and emerald eyes. Her eyes were slightly upturned, and she looked at him with a hint of coldness.

"My grandfather doesn't want to see anyone today, but you can tell me what it is, and I can pass it on for you."

Luo Qiusheng looked at Dugu Yan, then let his gaze drift toward the backyard, speaking slowly: "This junior, Luo Qiusheng, has come specifically to seek guidance from the senior on the path of poison."

After a long silence with no reply, and seeing that Dugu Yan seemed somewhat impatient, Luo Qiusheng spoke again: "This junior remembers seeing a book that recorded a type of poison. Every night, around the third watch, the head and the soles of the feet would feel a stabbing pain like needles, accompanied by full-body spasms lasting at least half an hour."

"Oh, right, it seems that whenever it is overcast or raining, there is a numbness in the ribs that gradually intensifies, flaring up once at noon and once at midnight."

"And then..."

Before Luo Qiusheng could continue, a green figure appeared instantly before him. Without waiting for Dugu Yan to speak, Dugu Bo whisked Luo Qiusheng into the house.

"Yan'er, you go out for a moment. Grandfather has something to discuss with this fellow alone."

Before leaving, Dugu Yan glanced back at the room, muttering to herself, Was that bloodline suppression? But... never mind, perhaps I am overthinking it.

How could a guy who just looks a bit handsome possess a martial soul more powerful than Tianheng's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon?

Inside the room, Dugu Bo looked the fellow up and down. He was a youth of seventeen or eighteen, his short hair looking clean and sharp.

His attire didn't look like that of someone from Heaven Dou City; was he from out of town? But it didn't seem like anyone from Star Luo looked like this either.

Feeling Dugu Bo's scorching gaze, Luo Qiusheng spoke bluntly: "Actually, I was talking about you."

By bringing the matter into the open, Luo Qiusheng was even prepared to PK the Poison Douluo, but he saw that the Poison Douluo was surrounded by swirling toxic mist, and that layer of poison barrier enveloped the entire courtyard—it was, in effect, a massive poison circle.

However, the toxic mist stopped less than three inches away from Luo Qiusheng; it seemed he also had a barrier protecting him.

Luo Qiusheng looked at the poison kept at bay and sighed inwardly, knowing he had bet correctly.

The fire attribute inherent in the dragon bones of the King of Bronze and Fire Constantine was enough to incinerate everything; Dugu Bo's poison might not be immune to being evaporated.

Perhaps there was some metaphysical element to it as well...

"Old Poison, I call you senior out of respect. If I didn't respect you, I could leave right now and report your condition to Spirit Hall."

Dugu Bo, who had been struggling with how to dispose of the youth, was intrigued to see that the other party could not only remain calm under the Jade Phosphor Serpent venom but also seemed to have the capacity to escape.

"You mean you can cure my poison? You, a teenager?"

"Yes."

Dugu Bo frowned upon hearing this. He naturally didn't believe Luo Qiusheng's words, but seeing his certainty and his own methods of resisting poison, he fell into a dilemma.

The air in the room was stagnant, with emerald toxic mist suspended in mid-air. The wisps of cold poison were bone-chilling, yet they could never get an inch closer to Luo Qiusheng.

Dugu Bo stared fixedly at the composed youth before him, his murky eyes filled with scrutiny and calculation.

He had spent decades immersed in the path of poison; his Jade Phosphor Purple Mist Poison was peerless in the world. No one below the level of a Titled Douluo dared to get close to him, and even peers feared his poison arts. Yet, this seventeen or eighteen-year-old stranger had easily isolated his life-bound lethal poison with nothing but an invisible barrier. This bizarre ability to resist poison was far beyond the understanding of an ordinary spirit master.

What shocked him even more was that Luo Qiusheng had accurately described the bloodline poison disease he had hidden for decades, without a single error.

It was a curse inherent to the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor martial soul, passed down through generations, incurable, and recurring with the weather and the hours of the day. It gnawed at his flesh, drained his cultivation, and was the greatest obstacle preventing his bloodline from reaching perfection and breaking through the shackles of a Titled Douluo. No one in the world knew of this, not even his own granddaughter, Dugu Yan, who only vaguely knew he suffered from a hidden ailment but had never grasped the specific symptoms.

The youth before him was definitely not simple!

After a long while, Dugu Bo suppressed the suspicion in his heart, slowly withdrew the Jade Phosphor toxic mist, and spoke in a cold but slightly compromising tone: "Luo Qiusheng, is it? Speak, what do you want? As long as you can cure this poison disease that has plagued our lineage for years, this old man will owe you a favor."

Luo Qiusheng nodded slightly upon hearing this and spoke slowly: "My request is to borrow the senior's medicinal garden outside Heaven Dou City. The time required won't be long, but I may need to harvest some of those herbs. You must not interfere, nor may you obstruct me."

As soon as these words were spoken, Dugu Bo was slightly stunned, and a flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

How did this fellow know he had a medicinal garden? He hadn't even told Yan'er about the garden.

But immediately, various thoughts raced through his mind. He had anticipated that the other party would ask for a high-level spirit bone, or his lifelong research on the path of poison, or other cultivation resources, but he never expected the other party to only ask for the right to use his medicinal garden.

"You want my medicinal garden?" Dugu Bo's brows locked tightly, his eyes filled with more scrutiny. "My garden is filled with deadly poisons; most of the herbs are highly toxic. Ordinary spirit masters are injured upon touch and crippled upon contact. You, a mere youth, what use do you have for this garden of poisonous herbs?"

The world knew that the Poison Douluo's garden was the most dangerous place in the entire Heaven Dou Empire, as well as the most precious treasure trove of poison. Nothing grown in the garden was ordinary; it contained lethal exotic herbs like the Millennium Poison Immortal Grass and the Bone-Eroding Nether Flower, as well as the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. The rare spiritual herbs he had painstakingly cultivated for decades were incredibly potent, and ordinary people could not even get close.

"My fire ability may have a complementary effect on medicine making." Luo Qiusheng smiled faintly, his tone certain.

"And I can guarantee to you, senior, that my research and harvesting of these spiritual herbs will not only fail to damage the foundation of the garden, but will instead help you regulate the medicinal properties, weed out the unwanted growth, and optimize the environment for the garden's cultivation."