Detoxification

The ripples on the water stilled.

Su Chen lightly touched the surface with his toes, shot up into the air, and drifted back to the edge of the cliff.

Dugu Bo sat beside a boulder, staring blankly at the person before him.

"Young master... not a scratch?"

Su Chen couldn't be bothered to answer.

He turned to look down at the spring below, where red and white waters mingled, and swept his gaze across the strange flowers and plants along the banks.

"Dugu Bo, watch closely."

Su Chen raised a hand and pointed below.

"These medicinal herbs filling the garden can be used to make an antidote."

Dugu Bo swallowed, not daring to object.

"Whichever plant the young master wants, this old man will find a way to dig it up."

"No need to trouble yourself. Stay right there and don't move."

Spiritual energy gathered at Su Chen's fingertips, transforming into dozens of invisible sword qi that shot straight toward the bottom of the valley.

The sword qi moved as nimbly as his own arms, cutting precisely into the soil.

"Roots and soil, all of it. Leave nothing behind."

Su Chen manipulated the spiritual energy.

The Aromatic Silk Beauty, surrounded by a pink glow, was dug out together with the soil around it.

Next, the sword light turned and fell beside a flower growing on a pitch-black rock, its petals like drops of blood.

Lovesick Heartbreak Red.

The sword qi did not touch the petals. Instead, it cut out the entire black rock beneath them.

One plant after another.

Jade boxes floated in midair, collecting every one of these treasures.

Dugu Bo's eyelids twitched as he watched.

"Young master! These are all rare treasures, with potent medicinal properties. If you gather them together, might they counteract one another and ruin their efficacy?"

"I have my own way of storing them. Their medicinal properties won't dissipate."

The two stood atop the cliff, looking down at the banks, now completely cleared.

Even a layer of the spiritual soil had been scraped away.

The ground was bare.

Not even a single weed remained.

Su Chen turned his wrist, sending all the jade boxes into his storage space.

Then he turned around, satisfied.

"Go to the outer estate and bring your granddaughter here."

Dugu Bo's eyes lit up, and his hands trembled slightly with excitement.

"Young master is willing to help her now?"

"The herbs are ready, so naturally it's time to get down to business."

"This old man will go right away! Yan Yan is staying at a place outside the forest. I'll have her here within half an hour!"

Unable to wait, Dugu Bo turned into a streak of green light and raced toward the outskirts of the forest.

Su Chen stood atop the cliff, letting the mountain breeze wash over him as he waited in silence.

It took less than half an hour.

The sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

Dugu Bo landed at the cliff's edge, dragging along a girl in her teens.

She had short, dark purple hair and a tall, slender figure. Her eyes were full of confusion and impatience.

As soon as she landed, the girl shook off Dugu Bo's hand.

"Grandpa, why did you drag me here in such a hurry? This place is so foul and chaotic."

"Silence! Hurry up and pay your respects to the young master!"

Dugu Bo barked at her and pressed down hard on her shoulder, forcing her to bow.

Dugu Yan followed his gaze.

A short-haired boy, around six years old, stood ahead.

He wore a green robe and was toying with an ordinary poison-type spirit herb he had just pulled from the ground.

Dugu Yan stared at him in disbelief.

"Grandpa, you want me to bow to a child? And call him young master?"

"Impudent!"

Dugu Bo raised his hand, about to slap his granddaughter.

If she angered this living ancestor, the Dugu Family would be doomed to die out.

Su Chen raised a hand.

"Let it go. You're not guilty if you didn't know."

Holding the ordinary spirit herb, Su Chen walked toward her at an unhurried pace.

Dugu Yan frowned.

"Who are you, anyway? What kind of bewitching potion did you feed Grandpa?"

Dugu Bo dropped to his knees with a thud.

"Young master, please forgive her! I spoiled Yan Yan when she was little. She doesn't know her place!"

Dugu Yan froze as she watched her usually proud grandfather kneel before her.

Her mind went blank.

A Titled Douluo, a retainer of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family—

was actually kneeling before a little boy?

Su Chen paid no heed to Dugu Yan's shock.

"Dugu Bo, open your mouth."

Without hesitation, Dugu Bo immediately opened it.

"Spit out your Lifebound Poison Core."

Dugu Bo's expression changed.

A Poison Douluo's entire cultivation was concentrated in his Lifebound Poison Core. If it left his body, his strength would plummet, and any damage to it could even cost him his life.

He hesitated for only a moment.

Then he gritted his teeth and contracted his abdomen.

A bead glowing with a deep green light emerged from his mouth and floated in midair.

The air turned green at once, and a sickly-sweet odor spread.

Dugu Yan was horrified.

"Grandpa! Have you gone mad? You'll die if you spit out your poison core!"

Su Chen tapped it with a fingertip.

The Great Sun Tathagata Sword Intent formed a golden barrier around the poison core.

"If you want to live, stand still."

Su Chen looked at Dugu Yan.

An inexplicable chill rose in her heart. Her legs felt rooted to the ground, and she didn't dare move.

Su Chen raised his left hand and crushed the ordinary poison herb.

Under the urging of spiritual energy, its juice became a mass of emerald liquid.

"The backlash from the Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison stems from the toxins merging with the bloodline."

As he refined the juice, Su Chen spoke.

"Old Poison's cultivation is high, so he can suppress it with Soul Power. Your cultivation is low, and the toxins have already spread to your hair roots."

"In a few more years, the poison will surely attack your heart."

Dugu Yan's face turned deathly pale.

Even her grandfather had never told her about these hidden symptoms, yet the boy before her had seen through them at a glance.

"How do you know that?"

"Not only do I know, I can save you."

Su Chen beckoned with his right hand.

The poison core, wrapped in golden light, began to rotate slowly.

A wisp of the purest Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Origin Power was forcibly drawn from within it.

"The poison core shares the same origin. We'll use Old Poison's source poison, combined with this ordinary herb's neutralizing properties."

"Counter poison with poison; use one source to draw out another."

Su Chen brought his hands together with a sharp motion.

The herb's juice and the poison core's origin power fused perfectly, turning into a translucent emerald pill.

"Open your mouth."

Dugu Yan instinctively opened it.

The emerald pill transformed into a streak of light and shot down her throat.

The pill entered her stomach.

Dugu Yan's eyes flew wide as she clutched her chest in pain.

"It hurts..."

It felt as if countless blunt knives were tearing through her meridians.

The toxins trapped deep in her bone marrow answered a powerful summons and surged madly toward her abdomen.

Su Chen stepped forward.

He brought two fingers together and pressed them to Dugu Yan's brow.

A stream of cool, pure immortal spiritual energy flowed into her.

"Guide your Soul Power along the current. Endure it."

Dugu Yan clenched her teeth, veins bulging on her forehead.

She fought through the agony and struggled to move her Soul Power as the spiritual energy directed it.

Dugu Bo knelt beside them.

He didn't dare so much as breathe loudly.

Time passed slowly.

Layer after layer of viscous purple-black liquid seeped from Dugu Yan's skin.

It stank foully.

The purple in her short, dark hair gradually faded from the roots outward, until it had turned black again.

Color returned to her pale face.

The chill and soreness that had plagued her for years receded like melting snow.

Not the slightest obstruction remained in her meridians.

"Ptooey!"

Dugu Yan spat out a large mouthful of dark, foul-smelling poison blood.

Her body went limp, and she toppled backward.

Su Chen withdrew his fingers.

Dugu Bo rushed forward and caught his granddaughter.

He pressed his fingers to her wrist to check her pulse.

It was steady.

Her Soul Power hadn't weakened. If anything, it was purer and more refined than before.

The poison deep in her bone marrow had been completely removed!

Even her Martial Soul seemed to be showing signs of evolution after being tempered by the medicine's power.

"It's gone... it's really gone..."

Dugu Bo wept openly.

At last, the family's deadly curse had been broken.

Leaning against her grandfather, Dugu Yan panted heavily.

Feeling lighter and clearer than ever before, she looked at Su Chen with none of her former arrogance.

Only boundless shock and reverence remained.

With a casual squeeze of his hand, he had resolved a death sentence that had seemed impossible to escape.

Such a feat was beyond all understanding.

Dugu Bo helped his granddaughter to her feet.

Then they both took three steps back.

The grandfather and granddaughter dropped to their knees in unison.

They pressed their foreheads hard against the earth.

"This old man is Dugu Bo!"

"Dugu Yan!"

"We kowtow to thank the young master for saving our lives!"

Dugu Bo lifted his head, his eyes burning with a fervor he had never shown before.

What did the Heaven Dou Empire matter? What did Prince Xue Xing matter?

Before such a godlike ability, they were worth less than nothing.

"From now on, the fate of the Dugu Lineage is the young master's fate!"

"We'll brave fire and water for you, even if it costs us our lives!"

Su Chen stood where he was.

He didn't go to help Dugu Bo up.

With a casual wave, he sent the poison pill hanging in midair back into Dugu Bo's body.