Detoxification

Relying on acting skills worthy of a Venice Golden Lion, Mo Lin successfully got close to Dugu Bo. During their time together, he consistently acted timid and submissive. He did speak with Dugu Bo, but their exchanges were never long, and Dugu Bo was usually the one who sought him out or observed him.

Mo Lin did not pretend to be an ordinary child without a trace of soul power. He cultivated his soul power every day, because he knew that Dugu Bo, a Titled Douluo, could not possibly fail to notice whether he possessed soul power. When dealing with others, deliberately hiding too much would only make people think you had ulterior motives.

Dugu Bo was an easygoing person. Seeing Mo Lin cultivate his soul power every day without concealing it, he did not intend to ask too many questions and simply treated their meeting as fate.

A week later, Mo Lin and Dugu Bo had gradually become more familiar with each other. Mo Lin "gradually" dared to speak to Dugu Bo, and he felt that the time was about right.

Mo Lin took the initiative to approach Dugu Bo:

"Old Grandpa."

Dugu Bo turned his head.

"Little brat, do you need something?"

"I wanted to ask you something. Are you recovering from an injury here?" Mo Lin's voice even trembled slightly as he spoke.

Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes. He was neither angry nor displeased; instead, he began to find this child rather interesting.

"Oh? What makes you think I'm injured?"

"Old Grandpa, I've observed you a little over the past few days. Although your body looks very strong, quite different from that of ordinary people your age, your skin seems overly pale. And it isn't the bloodless sort of pallor—it also carries a faint bluish tint. Then there's your hair. At first, I thought it had simply all turned white, but when I looked closely the day before yesterday, I found that some strands actually had a greenish sheen. And, not to boast, I'm naturally sensitive to poison, so I think perhaps you were harmed by some villain and suffered a poisonous injury." After Mo Lin finished speaking, he quietly waited for Dugu Bo's response.

Dugu Bo pondered for a moment before saying:

"Even if everything you said is correct, what's the point of asking?"

Mo Lin smiled.

"Didn't I say before that I'm naturally sensitive to poison? And don't you think that whenever you get close to me, the poison in your body changes somehow?"

Dugu Bo closed his eyes and sensed it carefully. He truly discovered a change: some of the toxins within his body had turned into gas and drifted toward Mo Lin. The amount was simply too small, and he had spent a long time near this lake—the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well—whose energy could already suppress toxins, so he had never noticed it before.

Dugu Bo said:

"Could it be that you have a special constitution?"

"Something like that. After my martial soul awakened, I became able to absorb toxins and refine them into my own soul power. Sometimes, even when I don't want to absorb them, poison comes looking for me on its own. There aren't any side effects, either." Mo Lin said.

Dugu Bo abruptly grabbed Mo Lin's hand and used his soul power to examine him.

"It does seem to be true. Your martial soul also seems quite unusual."

Mo Lin let out a sigh of relief. Luckily, he had practiced a little of the Tang Sect's poison qi in advance, giving his soul power toxic properties. Otherwise, he would neither have been able to draw out the trace toxins within Dugu Bo nor avoid exposing himself just now.

With a serious yet sincere expression, Mo Lin looked at Dugu Bo.

"So, Old Grandpa, why don't I help you?"

Dugu Bo knew perfectly well that there was nothing wrong with Mo Lin's words. Moreover, from what Mo Lin had said, he seemed to have reached his conclusion through their interactions over the past few days. Dugu Bo had not even told Mo Lin his identity. Combined with Mo Lin's age and his initially "timid and submissive" demeanor, Dugu Bo did not believe Mo Lin could have known about this in advance and deliberately sought him out to earn a favor.

"If you can truly draw the toxins from my bones, then give it a try! But I have never liked owing others. If you can't endure it, stop!"

Mo Lin could tell from Dugu Bo's words that he did not believe Mo Lin could resolve the toxins rebounding within his body. In truth, Mo Lin could not do it through his own strength alone—but over the past three months, he had used Divine Machine Craft to make something useful.

Dugu Bo removed his armor and clothes, turning his back to Mo Lin.

At that moment, Mo Lin secretly took something from his wristband and placed it behind himself. It was the Thief Devouring Beast, an artifact that could absorb a person's qi and qi-based attacks—and could also feed the absorbed qi back to a designated target.

Mo Lin first pressed several acupoints on Dugu Bo's back, then placed both hands tightly against Dugu Bo's spine and began circulating his poison qi. But only a few seconds after he began, Mo Lin suddenly remembered something important and said:

"Old Grandpa, you use poison too?"

Dugu Bo raised an eyebrow.

It seems he truly doesn't know my identity.

Then he said:

"What, does using poison mean one can't be poisoned?"

"Then I'll continue. But if I draw away the poison from your martial soul, you may warn me verbally, but please do not mobilize your soul power. Otherwise, both of us could be in danger." Having completed the final step in gaining Dugu Bo's trust, Mo Lin focused and began circulating his poison qi.

Dugu Bo felt the toxins that had been rebounding against him begin to gather toward his back, slowly leaving his body.

It works! This little brat who happened to stumble in can actually solve my poisoning problem!

Dugu Bo was overjoyed. The problem that had plagued him for so many years finally had a solution.

As Mo Lin refined the poison drawn from Dugu Bo's body, he had the Thief Devouring Beast swallow the poison qi he had cultivated beforehand. He had not yet fully mastered the Tang Sect's poison qi and did not dare rashly fuse two kinds of poison within his body.

For a full ten hours, Mo Lin repeatedly drew out and refined poison without stopping. He cleared away eighty percent of the toxins rebounding within Dugu Bo's body, storing forty percent of them in the Thief Devouring Beast.

Some color had returned to Dugu Bo's face, and most of his pale green hair had turned gray.

He slightly turned his head to glance at Mo Lin. He truly had not expected a child who looked even younger than his granddaughter to persist for ten hours in detoxifying him, and Mo Lin's aura had yet to become noticeably disordered.

"Little brat, can you still hold on?"

Mo Lin did not stop.

"Old Grandpa, trust me. There won't be a problem."

Another three hours passed. It was already the next day when Mo Lin finally cleared all the deadly poison from Dugu Bo's body. After thirteen uninterrupted hours of refining snake venom, Mo Lin's mental strength had reached its limit. After putting the Thief Devouring Beast back into his wristband, he fainted.