Dugu Xin's Plan

With those Immortal Herbs, the five of them could steadily reach Titled Douluo. Even attaining Ultimate Douluo was not entirely beyond hope.

But setting them on the path to godhood? That was impossible!

"An elixir that could truly defy fate?" Ye Renxin felt a stir of excitement after hearing Lu Xuan's idea.

He had no idea how vast his disciple's ambitions were, or that those Immortal Herbs were more powerful than he imagined. He assumed Lu Xuan merely wanted to help them reach the realm of Super Douluo above rank ninety-five.

After a moment's thought, Ye Renxin slowly shook his head. "From what I know of these Immortal Herbs, they can, at most, help everyone become Titled Douluo."

"You and Lingling may still have room to advance. But for older people like us, neither my abilities nor these Immortal Herbs come close to being enough to reach a higher realm."

"Still, it isn't entirely hopeless." Ye Renxin looked at Lu Xuan with expectation in his eyes. "Little Xuan, your talent for cultivation and your understanding of medicine far surpass mine. Perhaps one day, you'll manage it."

"You think that highly of me, Master?" Lu Xuan replied with a smile. "If that day comes, you'll be the first to benefit."

"Heh." Ye Renxin gently ruffled his disciple's hair. "All right. Let's keep studying."

Even Ye Renxin could not identify every Immortal Herb and poisonous plant there. He could only select and combine the ingredients he knew.

A day passed in the blink of an eye, and he finally finished preparing the secret drug that would induce a deathlike state.

The Fake Death Drug Ye Renxin had carefully prepared worked in a remarkable way. Once taken, it caused all signs of life in the body to fall silent.

The heartbeat, the flow of blood, consciousness, even mental fluctuations—all would cease. The person would be indistinguishable from someone truly dead.

Without the specific antidote to force an awakening, the person would remain in that deathlike state for seven days and nights. Only when that time had passed would they slowly revive.

Even Ye Renxin, with his mastery of medicine and poisons, could not be certain this method would deceive heaven and earth and conceal the truth from fate itself.

He had never been fully confident. He could only hope this near-perfect imitation of death would slip past the Nine Heart Begonia's hereditary shackles and win them a slim chance of survival.

Apart from the secret Fake Death Drug, Ye Renxin found a particular poisonous plant among the many herbs and toxins at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

It was the very poison an ancestor of the Ye Family had once used to damage the Nine Heart Begonia's foundation. Once consumed, it eroded the martial soul's essence, forcing the supreme healing martial soul, the Nine Heart Begonia, to gradually degenerate.

Unfortunately, that Ye Family elder had destroyed his own martial soul without securing success for his descendants.

Learning from his ancestor's failure, Ye Renxin intended to use both methods together this time.

He would pair the scheme to deceive fate through feigned death with the method of weakening the martial soul, putting both into effect at once!

Only then could he give the Ye Family and its descendants the best possible chance to escape the Nine Heart Begonia's hereditary fate.

While Ye Renxin devoted himself to preparing the secret drugs at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Dugu Bo had returned to Dugu Manor in Heaven Dou City with two Immortal Herbs.

He told his son, Dugu Xin, everything he had seen and heard at the well that day, along with Ye Renxin's promise to help their family break free of its affliction.

Dugu Xin considered it for a moment before speaking cautiously. "Father, Uncle Ye's words do make sense. But we can't know what's in his heart, so we should be careful. Let me take this Earth Dragon Golden Gourd first. If it cures me of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent's poison, you can take the other Immortal Herb then."

Dugu Bo immediately understood what his son meant.

If anything happened to Dugu Xin after he took the Immortal Herb, it would mean Ye Renxin had tricked them into swallowing poison under the guise of medicine.

Dugu Bo would then slaughter the entire Ye Family.

But if Dugu Xin absorbed the herb's effects and resolved the danger to his cultivation, it would prove that Ye Renxin had told the truth.

Dugu Bo could then take the Immortal Herb meant for him without worry, curing the longstanding flaw in his martial soul. He would also remember the debt and repay the Ye Family generously for its help.

Dugu Bo had considered secretly swapping the herbs with his son, but he quickly dismissed the idea.

The poison had eroded their martial souls to different degrees, and their cultivation foundations and soul ring configurations were entirely different. Swapping the Immortal Herbs rashly might not cure either of them. It could even cause an unpredictable backlash instead.

"Take it, Xin." Dugu Bo drew a deep breath. "If this cures the poison that has plagued our family for generations, we'll owe the Ye Family an enormous debt."

"Father." Dugu Xin looked at the Earth Dragon Golden Gourd in his hand, then abruptly changed the subject. "What do you think of Lu Xuan?"

"He's exceptional." Dugu Bo did not hold back his praise. "With Innate Full Soul Power and a martial soul transformed by the Divine Black Jade Bamboo Shoot, I'd wager his future achievements will far surpass Tang Hao's. He may not even fall short of Tang Chen, the former head of the Clear Sky Sect."

That day had been Dugu Bo's first proper encounter with Lu Xuan. He had learned that the boy possessed not only an extraordinary bearing but genuine Innate Full Soul Power.

And under the effects of the Divine Black Jade Bamboo Shoot, both his martial soul's foundation and his talent had undergone another leap forward.

Dugu Bo would not have been surprised if Lu Xuan reached rank ninety-nine and became an Ultimate Douluo one day.

"Father, I have an idea." Dugu Xin looked up at Dugu Bo. "What would you think of making Lu Xuan our family's son-in-law?"

"What..." Dugu Bo's eyes flew wide in astonishment.

But after a moment's thought, he saw the appeal.

Lu Xuan was remarkably sharp, and his cultivation talent surpassed everyone his age. Among his peers, there was almost no one who could match him.

More importantly, he had no parents and no family of his own!

Bringing Lu Xuan into the Dugu family as a son-in-law would be a brilliant move.

"Father, there's no need to say anything outright," Dugu Xin said. "We just need to give the two children more chances to spend time together. Yanyan and I were the ones who saved Lu Xuan and took him to the Ye Family clinic. After that, he would never treat Yanyan coldly!"

After a pause, Dugu Xin pressed on. "Once they spend enough time together, affection will grow, and the rest will follow naturally."

Dugu Bo regarded his son with surprise. He had thought Dugu Xin cared only about cultivation, yet he was capable of such careful planning.

Still, he had to admit it was an excellent plan.

As for the minor detail that Lu Xuan was already the Ye Family's son-in-law, neither Dugu Bo nor Dugu Xin cared in the slightest!