He Didn't Believe a Single Word He Said!

When Dugu Yan recounted Lin Xia's accurate description of how the toxins accumulated, where they settled, and the potential trigger points, Dugu Bo's body visibly stiffened, and his breathing became heavier.

These details could not have been described so precisely without a deep understanding of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison, or even having personally experienced the pain of its backlash!

When Lin Xia pointed out that "Senior Dugu Bo naturally knew, and the backlash he suffered was even more intense and painful,"

Dugu Bo looked up suddenly, his emerald pupils contracting sharply, a mixture of indescribable sorrow and shame at having his secret Detect.

A faint, almost invisible, yet terrifyingly Corrosion, pale green mist uncontrollably emanated from his body, instantly making the air in the room thick and dangerous.

Dugu Yan stared intently at Dugu Yan, her lips trembling. She seemed to want to deny it, to rebuke Lin Xia for spreading rumors, but under the gaze of her granddaughter's purple eyes, filled with inquiry, worry, and a hint of grievance of being kept in the dark, those words stuck in her throat.

Finally, upon hearing Lin Xia's two possible suggestions—"hoping to join the Spirit Hall" and "not forcing me, but still helping her"—especially the comment "Sister Yanyan is so beautiful," Dugu Bo's expression was filled with utter absurdity and a sense of utter powerlessness.

He, a dignified Poison Douluo and a titled powerhouse, was seen through so thoroughly by a seven-year-old child, who even held his only weakness and his greatest secret in the child's hands!

"No!"

Almost instinctively, with the pride of Titled Douluo and a deep wariness of the outside world, Dugu Bo roared out in a resolute voice.

His voice was hoarse, with a chilling, venomous quality.

"The Spirit Hall... harbors wolfish ambitions! That brat... is deeply cunning! Not a single word he says can be trusted! Yan Yan, you're too naive; you've been deceived by him!"

"He must be using this as bait to lure me into a trap and make me work for the Spirit Hall! Maybe... maybe he can't even cure your poison, let alone make his so-called Martial Soul Evolution a complete fantasy!"

Dugu Bo stood up agitatedly and paced restlessly in the small room. His dark green robe fluttered without wind, exuding a chilling sense of Pressure.

"I, Dugu Bo, have always lived a solitary life, never relying on any power! How could I be swayed by the words of a mere child...?"

However, Dugu Bo's words came to an abrupt halt when he met Dugu Yan's gaze.

Dugu Yan neither argued nor cried; she simply watched him quietly.

Those beautiful Viola eyes no longer held their former naivety or aloofness; only a calm, all-knowing sadness remained, and a look that... made Dugu Bo's heart clench, as if he were looking at an old man stubbornly lying to protect his pitiful pride.

Dugu Yan's gaze slowly moved down, landing on Dugu Bo's withered hands, which were still trembling slightly even though they were hidden under the sleeves of his robe.

Those hands, which once held immense power and poisoned countless powerful figures, now seemed powerless even to control a wisp of the leaking poisonous mist.

"Grandfather!"

Dugu Yan's voice was soft, yet it struck Dugu Bo's heart like a heavy hammer.

"Your hand... is hurting again, isn't it? Every time around the full moon, in your secluded chamber... I've heard those suppressed sounds..."

Dugu Yan's voice trembled with a barely Frisk sob.

"You say Lin Xia lied to me. Fine, even if he lied to me, then..."

Dugu Yan suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with a resolute light.

"Grandpa, look at me! Do you dare look me in the eye and tell me yourself—that our Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul truly doesn't have that damned, hereditary Origin Poison that intensifies with increasing cultivation level?"

"Do you dare say that you have never experienced that excruciating pain?"

"Do you dare say that in the blood flowing through my Dugu Yan, there isn't a single trace of 'inheritance' that's slowly accumulating and will eventually erupt?!"

She practically screamed the last two words, filled with endless grievance and fear.

"I..."

Dugu Bo was Bolt Strike, staggered, and seemed to age ten years in an instant.

He opened his mouth, looking at the tears welling up in his granddaughter's eyes, at her shoulders trembling slightly with excitement and fear, at the faint, almost Frisk, dark green hue in her hair, like a flaw in jade—the most subtle sign that the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison was beginning to appear deep within her blood!

If he weren't the master of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, with an extremely keen sense of poison, he would hardly have been able to detect it!

A bone-chilling coldness shot straight up from Dugu Bo's tailbone to the top of his head!

That brat Lin Xia... he's telling the truth! Yan Yan... her poison is already starting to show!

Although extremely faint, enough to fool the whole world, it couldn't fool his beloved grandfather!

All pride, all vigilance, all the "impossibles" were shattered in the face of this cruel reality!

Dugu Bo staggered back a step, then slumped back into his chair, as if all his strength had been drained away.

He covered his face with his hands, his shoulders trembled violently, and a suppressed sob, like that of a wounded beast, escaped his throat.

For the first time, murky tears uncontrollably seeped from between his fingers.

Those were not just tears for his granddaughter, but also tears for the fate he could not escape in his life, for the grief of his son and daughter-in-law who also died young from the poison, and for the despair of the entire Dugu Family being Curse the bloodline!

After a long time, so long that the last ray of sunset outside the window disappeared and the room was completely shrouded in darkness, only the emerald green "Soul-Guiding Candle" was still emitting a faint light, illuminating Dugu Bo's hunched figure.

Dugu Bo finally lowered his hand, revealing his old face, streaked with tears and etched with exhaustion and despair.

Those once piercingly green eyes, which had struck fear into the hearts of countless people, now held only endless sorrow and... a trace of resigned compromise.

Dugu Bo raised his head and looked at his granddaughter's blurry outline in the darkness, his voice hoarse and dry like sandpaper.

"Yanyan... help Grandpa up."

Dugu Yan quickly stepped forward and supported his withered arm.

She could feel her grandfather's body trembling slightly, his strength as weak as that of an ordinary old man.

With his granddaughter's support, Dugu Bo stood still, his cloudy gaze fixed on the deep night outside the window, as if Infiltrator space to see the secluded villa belonging to the Holy Son of the Spirit Hall, located on the outskirts of Heaven Dou City.

After a long silence, a heavy sigh echoed in the quiet room, carrying endless complexity and helplessness:

"Tomorrow... take Grandpa... to meet that Holy Son Lin Xia."

Dugu Bo paused, his voice so low it was almost inaudible, yet carrying a hint of self-mockery and a final struggle:

"Ask him... what exactly His Highness the Holy Son wants."