Curing Dugu Bo's Poison

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, interweaving red and blue luster flowed beneath the surface. He attempted to channel the power of time; silver-white light surged from his palms, flowing more smoothly than ever before, with no discomfort in his meridians.

"It's done." He took the jade bottle from the Nightmare Ring, which contained the droplets of Wangchuan Autumn Dew.

He dripped the dew into his eyes. A cooling sensation seeped into his pupils; the purple vertical slit in his left eye grew deeper, while his right silver-white pupil gained a faint layer of golden light. He extended his spiritual power, and everything within a radius of several hundred meters became clearer in his perception, though the boost to his spiritual power was not particularly significant.

Luo An'an rushed over and hugged his leg. "Brother! You scared An'an to death!"

Luo Chen crouched down and picked her up. "Brother is fine, don't worry, An'an."

Dugu Bo walked over with his hands behind his back, looked him up and down, and snorted. "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 standing guard, Senior."

Dugu Bo waved his hand, walked back to the old tree to sit down, picked up the tea that had long since gone cold, and took a sip. He watched the back of Luo Chen carrying Luo An'an toward the stone cave, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.

"This brat, he actually pulled it off."

Luo Chen walked to the old tree and sat down opposite Dugu Bo.

Dugu Bo held his teacup, squinting at him. "Something on your mind?"

"As I mentioned before, I can help you suppress the toxins of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor." Luo Chen did not beat around the bush. "Now that my soul power and spiritual power are much stronger than before, we can begin."

The hand holding Dugu Bo's teacup paused slightly. He stared at Luo Chen for a few seconds, his gaze a mix of scrutiny and wariness, before finally speaking after a long while: "Are you certain?"

"Certain." Luo Chen said. "I will only do three things. First, lock the toxins to prevent further spread. Second, repair the meridians already eroded by the poison. Third, accelerate the detoxification process of your liver and kidneys."

Dugu Bo's eyes narrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

"The poison of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor is your weapon; I will not take it away from you." Luo Chen looked directly into Dugu Bo's eyes. "All I intend to do is control the poison that has been running wild and bind the toxins that have been harming your own body. You can think of it as the poison remaining, but no longer harming you."

Dugu Bo was silent for a long time. He looked down at his hands. The tragic death of his son, the agony of the poison flare-ups that had lasted for who knows how long, the heart-wrenching torture on every rainy day—these things had weighed him down for most of his life.

He had assumed Luo Chen intended to completely purge the toxins, which would have meant his poison arts would be crippled and he would be reduced to an ordinary person. But Luo Chen spoke of control, not removal.

"Are you certain my poison arts will still be preserved?"

"Certain." Luo Chen said, offering no further explanation.

Dugu Bo stared at Luo Chen for a long time before finally nodding. "Fine. I trust you."

Luo Chen asked Dugu Bo to sit cross-legged under the old tree, then sat behind him and pressed his palms against his back. His Spirit Abyss Realm spiritual power probed into Dugu Bo's body, where the emerald-green toxins coiled like snakes within the old man's meridians. Luo Chen did not touch the toxins themselves, but instead erected a barrier between them and the vital organs.

He released the power of time. The silver-white light formed a spherical force field inside Dugu Bo's body, wrapping layer upon layer around the areas where the toxins were most concentrated: the heart meridian and the dantian.

The emerald-green venomous snakes were isolated outside the force field, unable to draw any closer. Dugu Bo's body shuddered violently; the sensation was strange, a feeling of immense relief. For the first time in decades, the toxins that had threatened his heart and dantian every waking moment were blocked out.

Luo Chen did not pause. A wisp of time energy branched off and entered Dugu Bo's liver. He initiated time acceleration, boosting the metabolic rate. The liver worked frantically, filtering toxins from the blood and converting them into waste that could be expelled. Fine beads of sweat broke out on Dugu Bo's forehead, and a breath of extremely sinister, poisonous air was exhaled from his mouth, condensing on the ground into an "indescribable mass."

Time reversal was the most difficult part. Luo Chen focused his spiritual power on one of Dugu Bo's most severely damaged meridians—a main vessel connecting the entire body that had been eroded by toxins for years and could have ruptured at any moment.

The silver-white time energy covered the meridian, and the light began to flow backward. The meridian walls thickened, the cracks healed, and elasticity returned. The meridian was restored to health, but the residual toxins within it were not purged; instead, they were instantly refined by Dugu Bo.

Luo Chen drove the loose toxins toward Dugu Bo's left arm. The left arm was the source of Dugu Bo's poison release, and the bone there had been in constant contact with the toxins, so Luo Chen intended to seal the poison within the left arm bone and refine it into a unique soul bone.

Dugu Bo's body jolted, and his gray-green hand clenched tightly. He could feel a sharp, intense pain in his left arm bone as his innate serpent venom strengthened. The toxins that had eroded his body for years were being gathered and absorbed by his left arm.

"This..." Dugu Bo's voice was hoarse.

"Fighting poison with poison." Luo Chen's voice came from behind him. "The toxins in your body originally overflowed from your Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor martial soul; I am simply finding them a home within their origin."

An hour later, Luo Chen slowly withdrew his hands. He stood up, flexed his stiff fingers, and walked in front of Dugu Bo.

Dugu Bo opened his eyes.

Those eyes, usually turbid, cold, and filled with wariness, had become clearer. The gray-green mist in his eyes had dissipated significantly, as if a clear spring had been poured into a muddy pool. The old man looked down at his hands; his pale skin now had a healthy flush, no longer deathly and dull, but possessing a hint of vitality.

He raised his left hand, and an emerald-green light ignited in his palm—brighter than before, the poison purer than ever. He tentatively released a wisp of poison mist, and the dark green vapor condensed into a small snake in the air. The snake swam around vividly twice before diving back into his palm.

His poison arts remained, and they were stronger and more refined.

"How do you feel?" Luo Chen asked.

Dugu Bo was silent for a moment before slowly standing up. He rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck; every joint emitted a "crack" sound, like a machine that had been rusted for years finally being oiled.

"A sense of total flow!" His voice was filled with excitement.

To Luo Chen, it looked like the relief of a patient whose blood clots had finally been cleared.

Luo Chen smiled. "I refined them into your left arm bone. You can bring them out to use whenever you want, and when you don't, they won't leak out to hurt you or others. Your left arm bone is now no different from a special soul bone!"

Dugu Bo looked at Luo Chen with a complex expression. He wanted to say something, his lips moving a few times, but in the end, he only managed two words: "Thank you."