Luo Chen stepped out of the spring and stood on the bank, stretching his body. His skin had returned to its normal color, though a faint sheen of red and blue still shimmered beneath it. He tried channeling the power of time. Silver-white light surged from his palm, flowing more smoothly than before, and his meridians felt no discomfort.
"It worked." He took the jade bottle from the Nightmare Ring. Inside were the dewdrops of Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew.
He dripped the dew into his eyes. A cool sensation seeped into his pupils. The purple vertical pupil in his left eye grew deeper, while a faint golden glow appeared in the silver-white pupil of his right. His spiritual power reached outward, and everything within several hundred meters came into sharper focus, though the increase to his spiritual power was not very great.
Luo An'an rushed over and hugged his leg. "Brother! You scared An'an to death!"
Luo Chen crouched and picked her up. "I'm fine. Sorry I worried you, An'an."
Dugu Bo walked over with his hands clasped behind his back and looked Luo Chen up and down before snorting. "Level forty-eight? You can level up just by taking a bath?"
"It wasn't a bath. It was body tempering." Luo Chen smiled. "Thank you for protecting me, Senior."
Dugu Bo waved a hand, returned to his seat beneath the old tree, and picked up his tea, which had gone completely cold. He took a sip. Watching Luo Chen carry Luo An'an toward the stone cave, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"That brat really did pull it off."
Luo Chen walked over to the old tree and sat down opposite Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo held his teacup and narrowed his eyes at him. "Is something the matter?"
"I said last time that I could help Senior suppress the poison of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor." Luo Chen got straight to the point. "My Soul Power and spiritual power are both much stronger now. We can begin."
Dugu Bo's hand paused slightly around his teacup. He stared at Luo Chen for several seconds, scrutiny and wariness mingling in his gaze. After a long moment, he finally asked, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," Luo Chen said. "I'll do only three things. First, contain the poison and keep it from spreading further. Second, repair the meridians it has already corroded. Third, speed up the liver and kidneys' detoxification."
Dugu Bo's eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"
"The Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor's poison is your weapon. I won't take it away from you." Luo Chen met Dugu Bo's gaze. "All I'll do is control the poison that's gotten out of hand and contain the poison that's harming you. You can think of it this way: the poison will still be there, but it won't hurt you anymore."
Dugu Bo fell silent for a long time. He looked down at his hands. His son's brutal death, the agonizing bouts of poison he had suffered for who knew how long, the torment that tore at him every rainy day—these burdens had weighed on him for most of his life.
He had thought Luo Chen meant to purge the poison completely, which would also destroy his poison cultivation and turn him into an ordinary man. But Luo Chen had said he would control the poison, not purge it.
"Are you sure I'll still be able to keep my poison cultivation?"
"I'm sure," Luo Chen said, without offering any further explanation.
Dugu Bo stared at Luo Chen for a long time, then finally nodded. "All right. I trust you."
Luo Chen asked Dugu Bo to sit cross-legged beneath the old tree, then sat behind him and pressed both palms against his back. His Spirit Abyss Realm spiritual power entered Dugu Bo's body. Emerald poison coiled through the old man's meridians like snakes. Luo Chen didn't touch it. He simply erected a barrier between the poison and the vital organs.
He released the power of time. Silver-white light formed a spherical field inside Dugu Bo's body, wrapping layer after layer around the areas where the poison was most concentrated: his heart meridian and his dantian.
The emerald snakes of poison were shut out by the field and could no longer draw near. Dugu Bo's body jolted. The feeling was strange—like a weight had lifted from his shoulders. For the first time, the poison that had threatened his heart and dantian every moment of every day for decades was held at bay.
Luo Chen didn't pause. A strand of the power of time entered Dugu Bo's liver. The acceleration of time began, boosting his metabolism. His liver worked furiously, filtering the poison from his blood and converting it into waste that could be expelled. Fine beads of sweat appeared on Dugu Bo's forehead. A sinister, venomous aura poured from his mouth and gathered on the ground into an "unspeakable thing."
Time reversal was the hardest part. Luo Chen focused his spiritual power on the most severely damaged meridian in Dugu Bo's body, a major channel connected to the meridians throughout his body. The poison had corroded it for years, and it could rupture at any moment.
Silver-white power of time spread over the meridian, and the light began to flow backward. Its walls thickened, its cracks healed, and its elasticity returned. The meridian was restored to health, but the poison remaining inside it was not purged. Dugu Bo refined it in an instant.
Luo Chen herded the loose poison toward Dugu Bo's left arm. The left arm was the source from which Dugu Bo released his poison, and its bones were constantly exposed to it. Luo Chen wanted to seal the poison inside Dugu Bo's left arm bone and refine it into a unique Soul Bone.
Dugu Bo's body shuddered, and his gray-green hand clenched tight. He felt a burst of intense pain in his left arm bone as his innate serpent poison grew stronger. The poison that had corroded his body for years was being gathered and absorbed by his left arm.
"This..." Dugu Bo's voice was hoarse.
"Use poison to nourish poison." Luo Chen's voice came from behind him. "The poison in your body came from your Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul in the first place. I'm simply giving it a place to settle in your body."
An hour later, Luo Chen slowly withdrew his hands. He stood, flexed his stiff fingers, and walked around to face Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo opened his eyes.
The eyes that had always been murky, cold, and full of wariness now looked clearer. Much of the gray-green haze had dissipated, as if a clear spring had been poured into a muddy pool. The old man looked down at his hands. His pale skin had regained some color; it no longer looked so lifeless, and now held a faint spark of vitality.
He raised his left hand, and emerald light shone in his palm. It was brighter than before, and the poison purer. He cautiously released a wisp of poison mist. The dark green vapor gathered in the air into a little snake. It moved with lifelike grace for a couple of loops, then slipped back into his palm.
His poison cultivation remained—and it was stronger and purer than before.
"How do you feel?" Luo Chen asked.
Dugu Bo was silent for a moment, then slowly stood up. He rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck. Every joint popped with a series of cracks, like a machine that had been rusted shut for years finally getting oiled.
"A feeling of relief!" His voice was tinged with excitement.
To Luo Chen, it was the rush of relief a patient with a blood clot might feel when their blood vessel was cleared.
Luo Chen smiled. "I refined the poison into your left arm bone. From now on, you can use it whenever you want. When you don't, it won't come out on its own and hurt anyone—including you. Your left arm bone is now no different from a special Soul Bone!"
Dugu Bo looked at Luo Chen, his expression complicated. He wanted to say something; his lips moved a few times, but in the end, he said only two words: "Thank you."
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