第21章 你只在意你孙女

Luo Yan received the Storage Bracelet seven days ago, and by now, nobody in Heaven Dou City did not know of Aha.

When the storyteller in the teahouse chanted, "If you wish to know what happens next, look to the next installment," the whole room unanimously hissed at him.

At the entrance of the old bookstore in the south of the city, people queued up before dawn every day.

Even a few tea parties held by high-ranking noblewomen no longer gossiped about whose young master was whose, asking only one question: "Did the next chapter come out?"

Luo Yan had written three more sections.

One section wrote of Haoyue blindly stumbling into a forbidden zone in his search for the path to godhood.

Another section wrote of Tianyue sitting atop Angel Peak for an entire night, mountain winds turning half a sliver of his hair white.

The final section wrote of the Sea God Island Master taking that lamp back, placing it deep within the Sea God Palace, never to be lit again.

The signature, of course, was still Aha.

People in the city had already begun calling themselves "senior readers of Aha."

Some even imitated the tone from the books, chanting in restaurants, "The sea mist has not yet dispersed, but the boat has journeyed far."

After finishing the chant, they would even sigh, as if they truly had gone out to sea alongside those people.

Luo Yan did not show his face again.

It is time to go.

He gazed at the ash-grey sky outside the window. The entertainment in this city has others to pass it on for me. If I stay any longer, I will no longer be Aha, but a ready-made head on a platter.

He had long since decided on his next stop.

Sunset Forest.

More accurately, the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well within Sunset Forest.

That place was not something ordinary people could find.

Even Tang San would take a few years before stumbling into it under Dugu Bo's guidance, but Luo Yan did not need to search.

That place lay deep within Sunset Forest, protected by toxic mists.

The collected laughs and willpower gathered by now were already sufficient for him to deal with any danger.

The little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School should still be reluctant to leave Heaven Dou City.

Luo Yan tidied up the final pages of his manuscript, wrote the four characters "Next Chapter Not Yet Arrived" upon the cover, wrapped it tightly in oiled paper, and tucked it into his bosom.

Then this book shall pause right where the itch is greatest.

He smiled. When I return, I shall supplement it for her.

That very night, Luo Yan checked out of his inn.

He did not take the main entrance, instead climbing out through the back alley, following Heaven Dou City's drainage ditch all the way west.

The official road outside the city was very quiet, the high-hanging moon illuminating the entire wilderness in a pale blue-white.

He glanced back once at Heaven Dou City.

Aha takes his leave a step ahead.

He murmured softly, Gentlemen, until next time.

Then he lifted his foot, walking in the direction of Sunset Forest.

Deep within Sunset Forest, the mists were thicker than elsewhere.

Luo Yan stepped over rotting fallen leaves, walking step by step into the deepest parts.

Poisonous mists roiled around his body, yet they were blocked outside by a layer of extremely faint willpower, unable to get close to him.

He did not walk fast, even having the leisure to brush aside vines blocking his path, much like strolling through his own backyard.

Until he stepped onto a precipitous cliff.

Below the cliff lay a bizarre spectacle that had no business existing on Douluo Continent.

To the left was crimson spring water, heat waves rolling, twisting even the air with their burn.

To the right was a milky-white cold pool, chilling mists rising, the neighboring leaves frosted with a remarkably thin layer of rime.

Where the two-colored spring waters intersected, mists steamed and light shifted illusions.

The Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well.

Luo Yan was in no rush to descend; he squatted down at the edge of the cliff.

Then, he saw Dugu Bo.

This Title Douro sat outside the dual-colored spring water, hair disheveled, robes soaked through with cold sweat clinging to his body.

His poison was backfiring.

Complexion ashen-grey, lips purple, strips of black-green veins crawled from his neck up his cheeks.

He sat with eyes closed and whole body trembling, clearly locked in a desperate battle with the potent poison inside him.

Luo Yan summoned the Elation Mask, buckling it onto his face.

The moment the mask touched his skin, his entire demeanor completely shifted.

"Ohoho."

He spoke, his voice layered with echoes from the mask.

"Look, look, who is this? Why are you sitting here breaking out in a cold sweat? Is the hot spring too scalding, or... can you no longer suppress that poison of yours?"

Dugu Bo snapped his eyes open.

Those eyes were terribly cold—the eyes of a snake.

Even weakened to this degree, they still carried the fierce ruthlessness of I will kill you the moment you get close.

"Who?"

"Ohoho, isn't this the Poison Douro? Why are you sitting on the ground?"

Luo Yan drifted down from the cliff, his movements so light they seemed boneless.

Grey robes fluttering, he landed ten steps away from Dugu Bo, his shoe tip tapping the ground before he sidestepped half a pace.

"Don't, don't, don't glare at me, I'm a coward."

As he spoke, he raised both hands as if genuinely frightened. "A Title Douro, so terrifying, ya—I'm so scared~"

"Hahahahahahaha—"

Laughter suddenly burst from beneath the mask, shrill enough not to sound human.

It crashed against the surrounding cliff walls, echoing back to become the voices of an old man, a child, a woman, and a madman all mixed together, sounding as though a crowd of invisible ghosts were hiding in the mist, laughing alongside him.

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted to needle points.

"You..." He wanted to curse, but the poisonous force within him surged up right then, feeling like countless snake fangs drilling outward from the gaps in his bones.

He shuddered all over, nearly toppling forward.

Luo Yan stopped laughing, tilting his head to look at him.

"It hurts terribly, doesn't it?"

His voice instantly softened, growing cloyingly sweet, like pouring hot syrup into ears. "There are many little snakes inside your body. First they bite your tendons, then they bite your blood, and finally they bite your brain. Do you feel right now as though even who I am doesn't matter?"

"As long as they can stop for a moment, you're willing to believe anything?"

Dugu Bo panted heavily, his vision already starting to blur with spots.

He wanted to retort, but every word the youth spoke seemed to drive the poison inside him even wilder.

"Don't be so tense." Luo Yan took two steps toward him, squatting down to meet his gaze levelly.

The curved pair of eyes on the mask resembled a pair of smiling hooks in the mist.

"Listen."

He lowered his voice, like coaxing someone on the verge of sleep. "Isn't the sound of the water in the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well very much like a snake shedding its skin? Little by little, it crawls in through your ears. The more you listen, the closer it gets. The closer it gets, the itchier your poison becomes."

Dugu Bo's Adam's apple bobbed. His spirit power, which had barely been managing to gather and disperse, was now completely scrambled by those few sentences. Indeed, those poisons felt as though they had been awakened, frantically scurrying toward the tips of his limbs.

"Stop..." He braced his hands on the ground, fingertips digging into the soil as bulging veins throbbed.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop."

Luo Yan was accommodating, standing up and considerately taking half a step back. "I am someone who listens best to advice, especially advice from a Title Douro. Look, I didn't even dare to speak loudly."

He truly did not speak again.

Yet the surrounding mists were gently stirred by his willpower.

Wind blew across the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well, alternating cold and hot, as though countless palms were taking turns stroking the back of Dugu Bo's neck, the back of his hands, and the bends of his knees.

"But you must admit."

Luo Yan's voice sounded once more—this time not just from in front, but from the cliff, from the spring's edge, and from Dugu Bo's very shadow. "Right now, you badly need someone—anyone at all, as long as they can stand here and tell you that there is still hope."

Dugu Bo abruptly raised his head.

"Is that it? You don't care what happens to you, you... care only about your granddaughter."

Dugu Bo abruptly raised his head.

"You—!"

His entire body looked as though he had been violently wrenched out of the poisonous mist, leaning forward by a solid half-foot.

Veins bulged from the side of his neck, and even those previously motionless poisonous markings came alive, crawling across his face with bared claws and fangs.

His eyes no longer looked human; they resembled a snake whose seven-inch critical spot had just been stepped on.

"If you dare touch her! I'll slaughter your whole family! I'll slaughter your whole city—!"

Luo Yan did not dodge.

He didn't even back away.

"Calm down, calm down."

He raised a hand, as if soothing the fur of a crazed beast. "If I had touched her, would I still be standing here talking to you? Old poisonous snake, has your brain been muddled by poison so badly you can't even figure this out?"

"I haven't even met her."