Age Still Too Young; Half a Year

Qian Renxue left.

Before leaving, she took Lovesick Heartbroken Red and Snow-Colored Swan Kiss with her. However, to be safe, Ouyang Ling also had her bring the Serene Fragrance Qiluo Immortal Herb for protection, lest she be affected when using the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss.

Besides that, Ouyang Ling also selected a top-grade medicinal herb for each of the two elders, She Long and Ci Xue.

Though they could not compare to immortal herbs, they were still rare treasures, enough to help them break through the threshold of rank 94 and successfully advance to rank 95 Titled Douluo.

As for Ouyang Ling...

Naturally, he remained at the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eyes.

Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Crown Prince Palace.

"Both elders, you may leave first."

Qian Renxue removed her disguise and said to She Long and Ci Xue, "Since Little Ling selected suitable herbs for you, consume them as soon as possible. If too much time passes, there is a chance their medicinal effects will fade."

She could see how impatient the two were, so she went along with it, much to She Long and Ci Xue's delight.

"Yes, Young Master." ×2

At their age and cultivation level, there were very few things that could truly move them. One of those was naturally the chance to take their cultivation a step further. They had been stuck at rank 94 for nearly five or six years without making the slightest progress.

After all, at their age, most of their potential had already been exhausted. Advancing further was genuinely difficult.

The two left one after the other, leaving Qian Renxue alone in the room. As the occasional voices outside—"You absorb it first, I'll stand guard for you"—gradually faded away, Qian Renxue finally took out Lovesick Heartbroken Red from her storage Soul Tool and stared blankly at it.

Recalling what Ouyang Ling had told her...

"Pfft—"

Soul power circulated through her body, driving her blood and qi. Qian Renxue parted her cherry lips, and a mouthful of blood sprayed forth.

The instant the blood touched the petals, Lovesick Heartbroken Red trembled lightly. Then, it quietly left the Black Jue Stone and fell into Qian Renxue's slender jade hand, blooming with dazzling radiance.

Seeing this, Qian Renxue wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. A trace of delight appeared on her pretty face, but her gaze remained fixed on the captivating flower in her hand.

"It seems the answer in my heart is clear."

Lowering her head, her eyes carried one part tenderness and nine parts love as her fingertips gently brushed over the petals.

"But you are still too young. It's all right. I have time to wait for you to keep growing up..."

In the end, she did not choose to consume it.

Instead, she placed Lovesick Heartbroken Red against her chest.

From that day on, Ouyang Ling settled down at the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eyes. Aside from spending a great deal of time learning about every medicinal herb around the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eyes and researching pills suited specifically to Dugu Bo's condition, whenever he had free time, he soaked his body in the Extreme-Cold Yin Spring to cultivate.

After all, no Mimetic Cultivation site could compare to the Extreme-Cold Yin Spring. Perhaps on the entire continent, only the still-undiscovered Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Cave could rival it.

As for the academy's vacation...

That had long since ended.

And to keep everyone at the academy from worrying, Qian Renxue personally went to the Education Committee to request leave from the three education committee members on Ouyang Ling's behalf. She directly stated that he was cultivating with Dugu Bo and had no time to return to the academy.

Dugu Bo naturally went along with it.

Because whenever he returned to his herb garden, Ouyang Ling would give him a pill that had already been refined, making the necessary preparations for the Poison Pill Method he had chosen for him. Besides some medicinal herbs that could nourish his meridians and strengthen his resistance to poison, the pill required the two spring waters from the Ice-Fire Yin-Yang Eyes.

Ouyang Ling did this so Dugu Bo could separate the soul power and toxins contained within his poison bead while preventing the separated toxins from harming Dugu Bo's body. Afterward, the Soul Bones would serve as temporary storage points for the toxins.

Using this method, after only three courses of treatment, the pain caused by the toxin backlash had already noticeably lessened. Even the bottleneck Dugu Bo had failed to break through for years showed signs of cracking.

However, when Dugu Bo was ecstatic over that sign and shared the news with Ouyang Ling, what he received was an utterly unsurprised look.

In Ouyang Ling's words, it was probably something like:

"What's strange about that?"

"Isn't that how it should be?"

It was even a little exaggerated in the end. That look had practically turned into, in Dugu Bo's mind, "Once I become Titled, going from rank 91 to rank 92 will be easy as lifting a hand"!

It left the old poison freak thoroughly irritated!

After leaving behind the words, "You brat really are arrogant," he turned and left, leaving Ouyang Ling completely baffled.

During their time together, Dugu Bo also discovered that while Ouyang Ling was clever, and seemed to have an expert guiding him in martial soul cultivation, he was still a novice when it came to poison and medicine-making. This finally gave Dugu Bo the pleasure of being a teacher, and he imparted everything he knew to him bit by bit.

It could be considered genuine cultivation under his guidance.

Ouyang Ling did not resist this.

With the attitude of if you teach me, I'll learn, their relationship was no longer limited to gratitude and appreciation. It gradually developed into a friendship that was both teacher and friend, despite the vast difference in their ages.

As for everything else, Dugu Bo tacitly chose not to ask. Likewise, Ouyang Ling did not say anything. Everyone had secrets, after all, but they did not affect their bond.

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed.

Over the past half year, whenever Dugu Bo was absent and Qian Renxue had free time, she would come over and stay for most of the day. Either she would tell him about matters in the outside world, or the two would quietly sit together and enjoy each other's company.

What Ouyang Ling found strange was that Qian Renxue's attitude toward him seemed to have changed compared with before.

Yet he could neither explain nor understand that change, nor figure out what the issue was. Still, his instincts told him it was not a bad thing.

Besides that, Dugu Yan would also come to visit him.

But amusingly, when Dugu Yan first saw Ouyang Ling in the herb garden, she immediately started touching and checking him all over, making him thoroughly uncomfortable.

Her reason, however, was:

"I was worried Grandpa had abused you."

After that first time, during the school term, Dugu Yan would generally make time when the academy had no classes that day. Of course, she did not come only on her own behalf.

Because the existence and location of this herb garden could not be known to outsiders, Yu Tianheng and the others wrote their concern into letters. Dugu Yan would deliver them to Ouyang Ling, allowing them to keep in touch through correspondence.

The information revealed in the letters was as follows:

When Yu Feng and Oslo, those two idiots, learned that Ouyang Ling had taken a semester-long leave of absence, they were absolutely overjoyed! In their words, they finally would not have to be punching bags anymore.

But before the two of them could celebrate for even a few days, somehow the matter reached Qin Ming's ears.

The result was tragic!

Seeing the o(╥﹏╥)o at the end of the letter, Ouyang Ling could not help laughing. "Serves them right!"

"Right?"

Seeing his expression, Dugu Yan became interested.

"It was the Shi Family brothers who told Teacher Qin."

"Shi Mo and Shi Mo!?"

Ouyang Ling looked astonished.

Well now—this really was rare!

"What, you don't believe it?" Seemingly quite satisfied with Ouyang Ling's expression, Dugu Yan could not help looking a little proud.

"Lingling told me. She said those two idiots wanted to set off firecrackers to celebrate, and the Shi Family brothers couldn't stand it anymore, so they invited Teacher Qin to punish them."

"Serves them right!"

Ouyang Ling sneered viciously, a feral grin appearing on his face. "Tell them to wait for me. When I get back, I'll make sure to whip them into shape!"

"Pfft—"

Dugu Yan could not hold back her laughter, revealing a wicked smile. "Then I'll wait to watch the show."

"Fine."

After putting the joint letter from Yu Feng and Oslo into the Ruyi Hundred-Treasure Pouch, the next letter from the Shi Family brothers came into view.

He would not have known if he had not read it.

But once he did, it gave him quite the surprise.

"Oh!"

Ouyang Ling looked up in delight. "They succeeded?"

"They succeeded." When this was mentioned, although Dugu Yan congratulated the Shi Family brothers for gaining a martial soul fusion skill, she also sounded somewhat helpless.

Playing with her hair, which had returned to its glossy black color, she spoke with a faintly resentful tone. "Their turtle shells were already hard enough. Other than relying on Tianheng's direct attacks and my poison, no one had any way to deal with them. Now they even have a martial soul fusion skill. Not only does it perfectly block my poison outside, even Tianheng can't break through their defenses. Even two against two is useless—we can only wait until they run out of soul power."

Ouyang Ling shrugged. "There's nothing to be done about that. Their martial soul fusion skill is just too strong."

After glancing over their words of thanks, Ouyang Ling continued reading the contents of Ye Lingling and Yu Tianheng's letters.

Ye Lingling's letter was easy enough to understand.

Since she was not good with words, it was all everyday matters.

Yu Tianheng's, on the other hand...

Was either a challenge or thanks.

And naturally, those thanks concerned Dugu Yan. The wording was very subtle and did not say it outright. This was something they understood privately and absolutely could not openly discuss.

Otherwise, Dugu Bo would come looking for him.

After reading all the letters, Ouyang Ling wrote one in reply to each of them.

Of course, the Shi Family brothers counted as one, and Yu Feng and Oslo also counted as one.

Though it was a little strange for the latter two to count as one, both Ouyang Ling and Dugu Yan unanimously agreed:

There was nothing wrong with that!

"Dugu, then I'll trouble you with these."

Handing the letters to Dugu Yan, Ouyang Ling said this.

"You're still saying things like that to me?"

Dugu Yan waved her hand irritably. "You saved my life, and you're still talking about whether it's trouble or not?"

Ouyang Ling: "..."

My mistake, my mistake.

Around the time Dugu Yan was about to leave, she asked, "When are you planning to return to the academy?"

Ouyang Ling pondered for a moment before giving his answer:

"Soon, soon..."