No longer paying attention to the wound, a horrified Old Song placed his fingers against the boy's neck. As the pulse grew steadily stronger, his expression changed again and again.
"How is he, doctor? How's my child?"
They had known from the start that the child might be beyond saving, but seeing Old Song so stunned gave the others a few threads of hope.
"He... he looks much better. We just need to tend to the wound a little more. Little Lin, fetch me a basin of water."
"Right, right. I'll be back at once."
Lin Yue hurried off on his short legs and brought back a basin of water.
Old Song carefully located the injury and wiped away the blood around it. Patches of tender new flesh had already grown across what had been a grisly wound. Most of it had healed, and a scab had long since stopped the bleeding completely.
"At this rate, he only needs a light bandage, some medicine to prevent infection, and nourishing food to build his strength. Then he'll be fine."
As the pulse beneath his fingers grew steadier, Old Song looked more and more astonished. His eyes fixed on the bottle of medicine Lin Yue had handed him.
A miracle drug like this was simply unheard of!
"Is... is that true?"
Having watched Old Song save someone who had been on the brink of death, the hunters were beside themselves with joy. The woman who had collapsed earlier gripped Old Song's hand tightly, boundless hope shining in her eyes.
"Yes. He's much better. Now he just needs time to heal."
Though he could hardly believe it, Old Song knew the medicine Lin Yue had brought worked far better than he had expected.
[Ding! The patient's family's commission has been completed.] [Received 500 points. Remaining points: 710.]
"Young sir, how much was that medicine?"
The woman's face was still wet with tears, but joy now shone through. As she wiped her eyes, she clasped Lin Yue's hand tightly, her gaze full of gratitude.
She was no fool. She knew her child had been at death's door and that even Old Song had no medicine to save him. Yet once the little boy's potion had been poured down her child's throat, everything had turned around!
"Well... the ingredients are rather expensive, so the price might be a little high..."
Seeing the shock on their faces, Lin Yue knew he had to put a fairly high price on it...
"How much? It doesn't matter. Whatever it costs, I'll pay."
The woman went pale for an instant when she heard it was expensive. But remembering its effects, she gritted her teeth and took out her purse.
"Ten Silver Soul Coins."
"Ten Gold Soul Coins. All right. Even if we have to sell everything we own, we'll scrape together... Huh?"
The panic on the woman's face froze. She stood there, trying to take in a figure far beyond anything she had expected.
How much?!
Ten Silver Soul Coins?!!
"Young sir, did you say ten Silver Soul Coins? Not Gold Soul Coins?"
The hunters exchanged glances, then stared at Lin Yue in disbelief.
Ten Silver Soul Coins was not exactly cheap.
A skilled blacksmith earned only one Silver Soul Coin a month. Ten Silver Soul Coins was nearly everything an ordinary grown man could save in a year.
Even so, compared with the several Gold Soul Coins healing-type Soul Masters charged at the drop of a hat, ten Silver Soul Coins was scarcely a fraction of their price...
And this medicine's effects had been terrifyingly immediate!
"That's right. Is there a problem?"
Lin Yue smiled faintly. He wanted the price to be high, but still within everyone's reach.
Perhaps because the patient's family had felt such fierce longing and fear, the frantic mother and panicked hunters had given him a full five hundred points. Those mattered far more to Lin Yue than Gold Soul Coins.
No one knew that the ingredients for the Healing Potion had cost only a few mushrooms and a little honey. Altogether, they probably had not cost even a few Copper Soul Coins.
"The one thing I have to remember is to give it only to ordinary people. Never use it on Soul Masters..." he muttered too quietly for anyone else to hear.
After seeing the patient's frightening recovery, deep wariness flickered through Lin Yue's eyes.
He did not know whether the percentage-based recovery would weaken when used on high-level Soul Masters. Either way, he could never let them have the potion. He could only give it to ordinary people.
Its power to heal was too startling. Even if it worked only on Soul Masters and Soul Grandmasters, exposing it would bring him nothing but harm. It was best for its reputation to spread only among ordinary people.
As far as the public knew, this medicine had to work only on ordinary people! At least until he had the strength to fear no lurking villain!
"No problem. Ten Silver Soul Coins. I'll get them for you right away."
The women hurried forward, quickly gathered ten coins, and handed them to Lin Yue with a thousand thanks.
The boy accepted the silver coins, delighted.
The price of this single bottle was enough to cover several months of Xiao San's hard slog swinging a hammer in the smithy.
Heaven Dou Empire, Heaven Dou Imperial City.
In the hall of a spacious, secluded residence, a green-haired old man sat with grief etched across his face.
His eyes were half-closed, and the power around him surged and ebbed unsteadily. Like a burning coal, he radiated the aura and pressure of a Titled Douluo, warping the air around him.
That day, he had found a precious site in the Sunset Forest and killed the Medusa guarding it. He had gained not only a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring but also a Ten Thousand Year Head Soul Bone, finally stepping into the Titled Realm.
Yet he felt not the slightest joy.
For today, he faced the most painful farewell of his life.
"Xin'er, has it really come to this?"
Tears gathered at the old man's eyes. His voice trembled and caught as he looked at the man wrapped head to toe in a black cloak, his appearance hidden.
"Father, please forgive my selfishness."
A hoarse voice came from beneath the cloak, laden with pain and deep remorse.
"I've already failed Ling'er in so many ways. In the time she has left, I want to take her out and see the places we once visited together."
As he spoke, the man reached out and took his wife's hand. Her face was just as pale, her vitality almost entirely spent.
"..."
In the silent hall, Dugu Bo tilted his head back, doing everything he could to keep the hot tears from falling.
"I'm the one who failed you both."
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, the Martial Soul that had made Dugu Bo supreme in the art of poison, had also cursed his family with Bone-Eroding Poison.
Because of that damned poison, his only son's body had nearly rotted away. His condition had worsened beyond saving...
And his poor daughter-in-law had exhausted herself to bear a child for the Dugu Family. In the end, she too had been poisoned, her life almost extinguished.
Dugu Bo called himself a master of poison. Yet after a lifetime spent wielding it, he could not even protect his own flesh and blood. All he could do was watch that damned poison slowly ruin and corrode his child's body...
Even he was barely keeping himself alive as he fought the poison's assault...
"Father, there's no need to say any more. You've done more than enough. Please forgive my selfishness in the days ahead, and let us go see the world."
Holding his wife's hand and meeting her gentle gaze, Dugu Xin endured the bone-deep pain within him and forced a smile.
There was no longer any hope of curing the poison in either of them. Nor did they want to spend the last of their lives on it, draining Dugu Bo's Soul Power...
For this final stretch, Dugu Xin wanted to be selfish. He wanted to set aside his roles as son and father and simply be a husband, sharing life's last few beautiful moments with the wife he had failed.
"Go... I'll take care of Yan'er. I'm the one who failed you both."
He understood. The two of them no longer wanted him to waste his Soul Power on them or burden him any further... lest the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's poison within him strike back even harder...
Dugu Bo closed his eyes in despair. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks.
He could still remember little Xin'er in his swaddling clothes, babbling his first words and wrapping a tiny hand around his finger.
Back then, all he had wanted was for his child to live a safe, easy, happy life...
But after his Martial Soul Awakening, everything had changed...
The adorable child in his memories had been eaten away bit by bit by poison, until he had become the pitiful figure he was now...
And the root of it all... was Dugu Bo himself...
If only he had been stronger. If only the poison of this Martial Soul had not turned on its wielder. If only he had reached the Titled Realm sooner, when Xin'er needed his help most...
A long time passed. When the old man opened his eyes again, his son and daughter-in-law were gone from his blurred sight.
That day, Dugu Bo found the precious site, made his breakthrough, and entered the Titled Realm.
That same day, Dugu Bo understood that the two who had left home at the end of their lives were like worker bees leaving the hive when they sensed death approaching, all to leave the purest possible place for the young still growing within it.
They would never come back...
"Grandpa, where are Mom and Dad?"
A girl in pajamas entered the hall, bewilderment on her face.
She had searched the entire house but could find neither of the two familiar, beloved figures.
"They've gone, Yan'er. From now on, it's just you and me."
Dugu Bo held his bewildered granddaughter tightly, his voice shaking.
After that day, all of Heaven Dou City learned that the Dugu Family now had a Titled Douluo.
But everyone in Heaven Dou City was also told that Dugu Bo's son and daughter-in-law had both died. Only his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, remained as the Dugu Family's sole heir.
Outside Heaven Dou City, a chestnut horse trotted along the main road. Its hooves clattered as the carriage swayed toward the border.
"Ling'er, where would you like to go?"
His voice was strained with pain, yet there was a trace of release and acceptance in it.
"Let's go to the places we once traveled together, Brother Xin. As long as I'm with you, I don't mind where we go."
"All right..."
Leaning against each other, the two guided the carriage onward and began their final journey...