Keep Sweet-Talking: Spirit Hall Is Great~

"Younger Xue Qinghe greets you, Senior." Qian Renxue, posing as Xue Qinghe, maintained the proper respect due to a powerful expert.

"Your Highness need not stand on ceremony. Please, sit."

"Thank you, Senior!"

At this moment, both sides had their own thoughts, yet they both understood what this appeared to be on the surface: a grandfather inspecting his future grandson-in-law.

After Qian Renxue sat down, Dugu Bo deliberately gave her a few extra looks, then nodded slightly, clearly very satisfied.

Seeing that Dugu Bo was pleased with her, Qian Renxue smiled and asked, "Senior, you came here today to bid on that soul bone, didn't you?"

"That's right!"

Dugu Bo admitted it readily, since there was nothing to hide. Over the past half month, he had already discussed it with his grandson: they intended to reveal the matter of their poisoning in exchange for greater benefits!

In any case, the poisoning issue could already be resolved, so whether outsiders knew about it no longer mattered.

Qian Renxue smiled. "How about this? I'll bid for it and give it to Miss Dugu Yan as a meeting gift."

"Ah..."

Unexpectedly, upon hearing Qian Renxue's words, Dugu Bo let out a sigh.

Then Dugu Bo said with a bitter smile, "To be honest with Your Highness, my Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul and Yan'er's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul have a fatal flaw!"

"A fatal flaw?"

Qian Renxue and Snake Lance Douluo behind her were both startled. Why would Dugu Bo suddenly expose his own weakness—and a fatal one at that? Did he not want to live anymore?

Dugu Bo said calmly, "Our Dugu Clan rose because of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent, and will fall because of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent! My son... ah, my son died when the Jade Phosphor Snake Poison erupted!"

In an instant, Dugu Bo seemed to have aged ten years. His entire body radiated a sense of bleak old age.

"What? He died from a poison outbreak?"

Qian Renxue's surprise was not an act. She was genuinely shocked. The son of the great Poison Douluo had actually died from poison? He had played with poison his entire life, yet his own son had been poisoned to death!

Dugu Bo sighed and explained, "This can be considered a Martial Soul defect of our Dugu Clan. But now... I have already found a way to resolve this Martial Soul defect! From this day onward, my Dugu Clan will no longer suffer from the Jade Phosphor Snake Poison!"

"Oh?"

Qian Renxue and Snake Lance Douluo exchanged a glance. Both of them confirmed that Dugu Bo was not lying. Otherwise, exposing his Martial Soul defect would be no different from seeking his own death.

Was Dugu Bo stupid? He was not.

Therefore, the Martial Soul defect was real, and the solution was real as well.

"Your Excellency, I wish to marry your granddaughter. Could you tell me how to resolve the Martial Soul defect? I would also like to help."

"Hahaha~~~"

Dugu Bo stroked his beard and chuckled a few times. "Although I found a method, I lack soul bones of sufficient quality."

"Soul bones?"

"That's right! A poison-attributed soul bone more than twenty thousand years old would be best! If not, then the ten-thousand-year evil-attributed soul bone at today's auction can barely be used."

"A poison-attributed soul bone?"

Qian Renxue silently considered this for a moment, pondering the connection between the Jade Phosphor Snake Poison and poison-attributed soul bones. She was also considering that if she could completely win over Dugu Bo, having a Title Douluo openly supporting her would definitely help her seize the Heaven Dou Empire.

Poison-attributed soul bones over twenty thousand years old were difficult to find, but she had plenty of soul bones over twenty thousand years old. As the young master of Spirit Hall, she was rich!

"Your Excellency, poison-attributed soul bones are difficult to find, but... I am willing to try."

"Oh? Good, good, good!! If there are no poison-attributed soul bones, ordinary soul bones with a higher age will also do. Then Yan'er and I shall await Your Highness's good news regarding our two soul bones!"

Huh? How had it suddenly become two soul bones?

The corner of Qian Renxue's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. Then she smiled and said, "Then please wait patiently for a while, Senior."

"Good!"

Soon, the auction began, and item after item was sold off. Before long, a special auction item appeared on the stage.

"Ah..."

Suddenly, Qian Renxue heard Dugu Bo sigh again and could not help asking curiously, "Senior, what is wrong?"

"Ah..."

Dugu Bo continued shaking his head. After remaining silent for a long while, he finally explained, "I do not consider myself a good person! I have killed without batting an eye! If there are not a thousand soul masters who died by my hand, there are at least eight hundred! But... ah, whenever I see humans like us being placed on auction stages and sold as merchandise... I cannot help feeling something in my heart!"

Hearing this, Qian Renxue looked toward the fox-eared girl on the auction stage.

Dugu Bo continued, "She should be a common girl who made a mistake during her awakening, yet now these nobles treat her as merchandise! They have stripped a person of the most basic rights of being human! They do not treat people... as people! How tragic! How lamentable!"

"This..."

Qian Renxue did not know what to say. The identity she was currently playing was that of the highest-ranking noble in the Heaven Dou Empire: a prince!

Dugu Bo continued speaking to himself. "Only Spirit Hall treats commoners as people."

At that point, Dugu Bo shut his mouth. It was enough to appropriately show that he had a favorable impression of Spirit Hall. He could not say any more; saying too much might instead have the opposite effect.

Yet upon hearing that Dugu Bo identified so strongly with Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue's eyes brightened noticeably.

After exchanging a glance with Snake Lance Douluo, Qian Renxue suppressed her excitement. Following a moment of contemplation, she said evenly, "Yes. Some of today's nobles have gone too far. I do wish to change the current situation."

"Is that so? Then it seems I truly did not misjudge you."

The conversation ended there.

Qian Renxue already understood that Dugu Bo would support her in becoming crown prince and seizing the throne. Next, she only needed to prepare two poison-attributed soul bones over twenty thousand years old as betrothal gifts. The turmoil caused by this engagement had already settled!

In the end, Qian Renxue bid for the fox-eared girl. She had deliberately done so to gain a wave of goodwill before Dugu Bo.

Soon, the auction reached its final centerpiece: the Evil Demon Annihilation Right Arm Bone from an eleven-thousand-year Evil Demon Sabertooth Tiger.

"Your Highness, let this soul bone be bid on by me personally."

"Senior, please allow me..."

Dugu Bo waved his hand. "I appreciate Your Highness's kindness, but I have another request."

"Please speak, Senior."

Dugu Bo paused for two seconds before saying, "I have spent my life making poison and have studied medicinal herbs quite deeply. However, I know that there is another kind of medicinal herb in this world, one born by seizing the creation of heaven and earth!"

"There is such a medicinal herb?"

Qian Renxue and Snake Lance Douluo both looked curiously at Dugu Bo. They truly did not know about this.

"Of course there is! For example, Spirit Hall's Chrysanthemum Douluo—his Martial Soul is an immortal-grade medicinal herb born from the creation of heaven and earth!"

"The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum? Isn't that a Martial Soul?" Qian Renxue blurted out.