Genius or Madman?

"Why... why bring her up?" Dugu Bo's voice was hoarse.

"To wake you up."

Luo Yan said, "Look at you, how much like a person you are right now. You have things you fear, things you want to tear to pieces. Aren't you much better than that waiting-to-die look from a moment ago?"

Dugu Bo didn't speak. He slowly leaned his body back against the stone, his chest heaving violently.

Several blue-black veins still crawled across his face, but at least he wasn't quite as mad anymore.

"What on earth do you want?"

Luo Yan raised his head and looked at the sky. "Shall we make a deal?"

"A deal?"

Dugu Bo repeated the word. A cold laugh squeezed out from his throat, carrying a faint, weak mockery: "A mere two-ringed brat, and you're qualified to talk about a deal with me?"

"Qualified or not?"

Luo Yan smiled. The voice beneath the mask was like a honey-dipped blade.

"You're struggling just to stand up, yet you're still picking your business partners? Old poisonous snake, the times have changed. Right now, you're the one sitting on the ground, and I'm the one squatting down to talk to you."

Dugu Bo's face turned even greener, but he couldn't speak.

Because what Luo Yan said was the truth. Right now, he was like a snake dragged out from the deep mountains by someone, with a blade pressed right against its vital spot. No matter how venomous, it couldn't spit out its tongue.

"Your precious granddaughter—her Martial Soul is the Jade Phosphorus Snake."

Luo Yan spoke leisurely. "Just like you. It's just that her poison is still too tender. Whether she has a chance to make a breakthrough in the future still depends on fate."

Dugu Bo's gaze sank. "What on earth are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I can make her Martial Soul go a step further."

Luo Yan raised a finger and gently shook it. "Not just her, but you as well. How many years you've been trapped—you know best in your heart. What I can give the two of you is a chance to shed your skin."

The surroundings suddenly grew quiet.

Even the sound of the water from the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well seemed to be sucked into the mist. Dugu Bo stared at him.

"Why should I believe you?" he asked in a low voice.

"You don't have to believe me."

Luo Yan shrugged. "Continue sitting here, waiting for the next toxic outbreak, enduring it over and over again, until one day you truly can't hold on anymore and die on some deserted night."

"By then, your granddaughter will be holding your corpse, and she'll also turn into an underage snake, hunted, killed, and in the end not even able to scrape together a decent grave."

Dugu Bo's breathing suddenly grew heavy, but Luo Yan's words were like tiny worms drilling in through his ears, impossible to shake off.

"You..." He spoke hoarsely, as if gritting his teeth. "What do you want?"

Luo Yan didn't answer immediately.

He stood up, walked with his hands behind his back to the edge of the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well, glanced at the two-colored spring water, and then turned back.

The mask was never removed.

"I want you to owe me a favor."

He said, his tone brisk. "In the future, no matter where I am, as long as you are alive, you must go and do something for me—just one thing."

"What thing?" Dugu Bo asked.

"I don't know yet."

Luo Yan smiled. "When I think of it, I'll tell you."

Dugu Bo fell silent.

Yet here and now, he was struggling to hold onto his very life—what qualifications did he have to be picky?

"Aren't you afraid I'll go back on my word?" he said in a low voice.

Luo Yan let out a sneer. "You value loyalty more than anyone."

The mist from the ice and fire springs slowly rolled over and blanketed his body.

"The deposit has been given to you, and I will be back."

Dugu Bo only had time to see that gray figure sway in the mist before it vanished.

"Old poisonous snake, I look forward to your choice."

That voice still remained in place, light and close, as if coming from right behind him.

"The wind is chilly at night, so you'd better hold on. If you die here, my trip will have been for nothing."

The tail-end of his voice scattered into the mist, carrying a hint of irrepressible amusement.

Then, even the laughter was gone.

Only the sound of the water from the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well echoed with a "gurgle, gurgle" in the expanse of gray-white.

Dugu Bo still leaned against the stone edge.

His entire body was long since drenched, and he couldn't tell if it was cold sweat or mist water.

The blue-black veins on his face slowly subsided, as if they had lost the strength to clamor.

He closed his eyes, took a very long breath, and finally lowered his head slowly.

His right hand was already tightly clenched at some point.

He remembered that he had been using it to clutch the mud all this time.

When that kid was speaking, he had wanted to move many times, but he hadn't even been able to lift his hand.

Yet at this moment, his palm was burning hot, as if something had been shoved into it while he hadn't been paying attention.

Dugu Bo slowly opened his fingers.

There was a piece of paper inside. He slowly unfolded it to reveal the words written upon it:

One: Isolate the toxins; the descendants will still suffer from the backlash.

Two: Fuse the toxins, transforming them into a part of life.

Three: Sacrifice yourself, transferring Dugu Yan's poison to you, leaving you at the end of your rope.

Four: Mutual destruction, abandoning the Martial Soul.

Choose. When we meet next, I hope to hear your reply.

His hand suddenly trembled.

"A mere two-ringed brat."

He let out a low laugh, one that sounded uglier than crying. "He even dares to lay out the affairs of my Dugu family on paper."

Yet he could think of no other choice.

How the poison of the Dugu family should truly be solved was something he had pondered for nearly half his life.

He closed his eyes and folded the paper with extremely slow movements, afraid that applying a bit too much force would turn it to ash.

Then he tucked it into his bosom, right against his heart.

He lifted his head. Daylight had already leaked down from the cliff peak, a thin layer shining upon the mist and revealing countless tiny water droplets.

They hovered in the air like rain that would never fall.

"Is he truly a genius, or... an absolute madman?"

In his life, he had seen many people—some who wanted to kill him, some who wanted to use him, some who begged him on their knees, and some who fled the moment they saw him.

Yet never had there been a person who, when he was dying from a toxic outbreak, would squat in front of him, smile like that, fold the suffering of several generations of the Dugu family onto a piece of paper, and shove it into his hand.

Those four paths—especially the third one.

Sacrifice yourself, transferring Dugu Yan's poison to you, leaving you at the end of your rope.

At the mere sight of this line, his hand trembled once more.

It was because of that thought which had always been buried deep in his heart, one he never dared mention to anyone.

Of course he wanted to save Yan'er.

Of course he knew that the Dugu family line ought to be cut off right with his own generation.

Yan'er shouldn't become like him. If not for this girl still being around, he might have already died long ago.

Died in some cave, died beside this Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well, died on some untrodden mountain path.

Now, this brat who didn't even dare show his face had written out the death hidden deep within his bones.

"You think you understand me."

He said hoarsely, as if speaking to someone who had already vanished. "You're merely a two-ringed one. On what grounds do you?"

The mist slowly dissipated.

The edge of the Ice and Fire Dual Excellence Well returned to a degree of clarity. That two-colored spring water continued to churn unhurriedly, as if nothing had happened at all.

He suddenly smiled.

"Fine."

He said, "I'll wait for you to return. If you can truly solve this, I'll swear blood brotherhood with you on the spot."

"Faceless fellow, offering suggestions? Whose fun are you looking for?"

The wind blew gently, and the voice rang out in his mind.

He rolled his eyes and continued walking. "You really have the nerve to speak? Down there just now, I was scared until my hands shook, but you—you didn't make a sound. What, watching me risk my life to play along with you was enjoyable?"

Aha didn't answer him.

Only a very, very faint laugh drifted from his left ear to his right, scattering into the forest.

"I don't need your praise."

Luo Yan said, "I only need you to tell me where there's more fun next."

He walked a few more steps, then suddenly stopped.

"You wouldn't be thinking of making me go mess with that Xue Qinghe, would you?"

He lowered his voice. "Qian Renxue is definitely investigating me right now. Bastard Aha, do you just love seeing this? Watching me get chased all over the city by a fake crown prince?"

He sighed. "Forget it, asking you is pointless anyway. You'd love nothing more than for me to be beaten to death in the street."

"Go back and write a book? Wouldn't that be far too boring?"

"Hiss... Hey, you say, should I go back and mess with Tang San instead?"

"Yes, yes, let's do that!"