You Only Care About Your Granddaughter

Seven days after Luo Yan obtained the Storage Bracelet, there was no one in Heaven Dou City who had not heard of "Aha."

Whenever the storyteller in the teahouse recited, "To know what happens next, wait for the next installment," the entire room would boo him in unison.

At the entrance of the old bookstore in the southern part of the city, people lined up before dawn every day.

Even when several ladies from prominent families held tea parties, they no longer discussed the young masters of various households. They only asked one question: "Has the next installment come out?"

Luo Yan wrote three more installments.

One told of Haoyue wandering into a perilous land while seeking the path to godhood.

One told of Tianyue sitting atop Angel Peak for an entire night, until the mountain wind turned half a lock of his hair white.

One told of the master of Sea God Island taking back that lamp and placing it in the deepest part of the Sea God's palace, never lighting it again.

The author's name was, of course, still Aha.

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

Some even imitated the tone of the book, reciting in taverns, "The sea mist had yet to disperse, but the boat had already sailed far away."

After reciting it, they would sigh as though they had truly gone to sea alongside those people.

Luo Yan did not show himself again.

"Time to go."

He looked at the gray sky beyond the window. "There are people in this city spreading the fun for me. If I stay any longer, I won't be Aha anymore. I'll be a ready-made head on a platter."

He had long decided on his next destination.

Sunset Forest.

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

Ordinary people could not find that place.

Tang San would not accidentally stumble into it under Dugu Bo's guidance for several more years, but Luo Yan did not need to search.

It lay in the deepest part of Sunset Forest, protected by poisonous mist.

The amusement and Willpower he had gathered so far were enough for him to handle danger.

"The little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect probably still can't bear to leave Heaven Dou City."

Luo Yan sorted the last few pages of his manuscript, wrote the words "The Next Installment Has Yet to Arrive" on the cover, then wrapped it in oil paper and tucked it into his robe.

"Then let this book stop at the most tantalizing point for now."

He smiled. "When I return, I'll make it up to her."

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

He did not leave through the main gate. Instead, he climbed out through the back alley and followed Heaven Dou City's drainage channels westward.

The official road outside the city was quiet. The moon hung high overhead, bathing the entire wilderness in a pale bluish-white light.

He turned back for one last look at Heaven Dou City.

"Aha will be taking his leave first."

He spoke softly. "Everyone, see you next installment."

Then he lifted his foot and headed toward Sunset Forest.

Deep within Sunset Forest, the mist was denser than anywhere else.

Luo Yan stepped over rotting leaves as he walked deeper and deeper into the forest.

Poisonous mist churned around him, yet a faint layer of Willpower kept it at bay, unable to come near him.

He did not walk quickly. He even had the leisure to brush aside vines blocking his way, as though he were strolling through his own backyard.

Until he reached a cliff.

Below it lay a wondrous sight that should not have existed on Douluo Continent.

To the left was a crimson spring, heat waves rolling off it until even the air warped.

To the right was a milky-white cold pool, from which chilly mist rose. Even the leaves on nearby trees were coated in a thin layer of frost.

Where the two springs met, mist billowed as light and shadow shifted in illusion.

The Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well.

Luo Yan did not rush down. He crouched at the edge of the cliff.

Then he saw Dugu Bo.

This Titled Douluo sat beyond the two-colored springs, his hair disheveled. His robes were soaked through with cold sweat and clung to his body.

His poison was backfiring.

His face was ashen, his lips purple, and streaks of dark blue-black markings crawled from his neck up his cheeks.

His eyes were shut, and his entire body trembled. He was clearly fighting desperately against the deadly poison within him.

Luo Yan summoned the Elation Mask and placed it over his face.

The instant the mask touched his skin, his entire bearing changed.

"Oh my."

He spoke, his voice carrying an echo from the mask.

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

Dugu Bo's eyes snapped open.

They were icy eyes, the eyes of a snake.

Even weakened to this extent, they still carried the savage threat of, "Come closer and I'll kill you."

"Who?"

"Oh my, isn't this Poison Douluo? Why are you sitting on the ground?"

Luo Yan drifted down from the cliff, his movements so light it was as if he had no bones.

His gray robes fluttered as he landed ten paces away from Dugu Bo. He tapped the ground with his toe, then shuffled half a step farther aside.

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

As he spoke, he raised both hands as though genuinely frightened. "A Titled Douluo, so scary. Ah—I'm so scared~"

"Hahahahahahaha—"

Laughter suddenly erupted from beneath the mask, shrill enough to sound inhuman.

It slammed into the surrounding cliff walls and bounced back, becoming the voices of old men, children, women, and madmen all mixed together. It sounded as though a crowd of invisible ghosts were hiding in the mist, laughing along with him.

Dugu Bo's pupils shrank to pinpoints.

"You..." He wanted to curse, but the poison inside him surged at that moment, like countless snake fangs drilling out through the cracks in his bones.

His entire body shuddered, and he nearly pitched forward.

Luo Yan stopped laughing and tilted his head at him.

"It hurts terribly, doesn't it?"

His voice suddenly softened, cloyingly soft, like hot syrup being poured into one's ears. "There are so many little snakes inside your body. First, they bite your tendons. Then they bite your blood. Finally, they bite your brain. Right now, don't you feel like even who I am no longer matters?"

"As long as someone could make them stop for a while, you'd be willing to believe anything?"

Dugu Bo panted heavily, spots already swimming before his eyes.

He wanted to refute him, but with every sentence the youth spoke, the poison within him seemed to grow even more frenzied.

"Don't be so tense." Luo Yan took two steps toward him and crouched down, meeting his gaze at eye level.

The pair of curved eyes on the mask looked like two smiling hooks in the mist.

"Listen."

He lowered his voice as though coaxing someone who was half-asleep. "Doesn't the sound of the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well resemble a snake shedding its skin? Bit by bit, it crawls in through your ears. The longer you listen, the closer it gets. And the closer it gets, the itchier your poison becomes."

Dugu Bo's Adam's apple bobbed. His Soul Power had barely been gathering and dispersing before, but those words completely disrupted it. The poison truly seemed to have been awakened, all of it burrowing toward the tips of his limbs.

"Shut up..." He braced himself against the ground, his fingertips digging into the mud as veins bulged across his hands.

"Alright, alright, I'll shut up."

Luo Yan went along readily, standing up and even thoughtfully taking half a step back. "I'm very good at taking advice, especially from Titled Douluo. Look, I don't even dare speak loudly anymore."

He truly did not say another word.

Yet the surrounding mist was gently stirred by his Willpower.

Wind swept over the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well, turning cold, then hot, as though countless palms were brushing one by one over Dugu Bo's nape, the backs of his hands, and the bends of his knees.

"But you have to admit it."

Luo Yan's voice rang out again, this time not only from the front, but also from above the cliff, beside the springs, and from Dugu Bo's own shadow. "Right now, you desperately 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.

"Right? You don't care what happens to you. You... only care about your granddaughter."

Dugu Bo abruptly raised his head.

"You—!"

It was as if his whole body had been ripped out of the poisonous mist. He actually forced himself to lurch half a foot forward.

Veins bulged along his neck. Even the poison markings that had been still before seemed to come alive, baring their fangs as they crawled toward his face.

His eyes no longer looked human. They were like those of a snake struck at its vital point.

"Touch her, and I'll kill your whole family! I'll slaughter your entire city—!"

Luo Yan did not dodge.

He did not even retreat.

"Calm down, calm down."

He lifted a hand as though soothing the fur of a maddened beast. "If I had touched her, would I still be standing here talking to you? Old Poison Snake, has poison turned your brain to mush? You can't even figure that out?"

"I haven't even met her."