Persuading with Virtue

Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes.

He could not gauge the strength of the man before him.

The man's face was pale and his breathing weak. He looked gravely ill, as though he might collapse at any moment.

But no sick man could break a cliff face with a stone from miles away, much less stand unfazed beneath his oppressive aura.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"I need a favor."

Dugu Bo sneered. "Is this how you ask for favors?"

"I was going to walk in."

Tang Hao pointed at the poison mist filling the sky.

"But the air around your home didn't look too good, so I had to call you from outside."

Dugu Bo looked deep into the Poison Formation.

The stone Tang Hao had thrown had not actually damaged the formation. It had only broken off a piece of the cliff.

Otherwise, he would not be standing here talking so patiently.

"If you think I can heal your injuries, you've come to the wrong person."

Dugu Bo turned to leave.

He was solitary by nature and had no desire to provoke a powerful stranger of unknown origin.

"Whenever the sky turns overcast or it rains, your ribs go numb and itch, and it gets worse as time passes."

Dugu Bo stopped in his tracks.

Tang Hao continued, "It happens once at noon and once at midnight, each bout lasting at least half an hour.

Late at night, you also feel needle-like pain at the top of your head and the soles of your feet."

"The higher your cultivation, the more poison builds up, and the worse the pain when it strikes."

"Am I right?"

Dugu Bo whipped around.

Dark-green Soul Power erupted from his body. The surrounding plants withered before the naked eye the moment it touched them.

"You investigated me?"

"Did I need to?"

Tang Hao looked him up and down.

"With hair that green and a face like you just crawled out of a grave, anyone who isn't blind can tell you've been poisoned."

Of course, an ordinary person could only tell that something was wrong with Dugu Bo's body. They could never know exactly when the poison would strike.

But that did not stop Tang Hao from speaking as though it were perfectly obvious.

Dugu Bo stared hard at Tang Hao.

He had never told an outsider about his poisoning. Even his granddaughter, Dugu Yan, did not know the details.

Yet the man before him not only knew, but could describe the symptoms precisely.

"My poison is unrivaled under heaven. How could I possibly poison myself?"

Tang Hao fell silent for a moment.

After suffering attacks for so many years, he could still say that.

His mouth was harder than his poison.

"If you're not poisoned, why are you in agony every day? Practicing your willpower?"

"You're asking for death!"

Dugu Bo's right hand turned into a jade-green serpent claw, and he vanished from where he stood.

He did not use a Soul Skill right away. He only wanted to test Tang Hao's strength.

Yet even a casual strike carried the deadly venom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor.

An ordinary Soul Saint caught by it would lose a layer of skin even if they survived.

Tang Hao seemed to have expected it.

Only when the claw reached his face did he raise his right hand and seize Dugu Bo's wrist.

Bang!

Their strength collided head-on.

The ground beneath Tang Hao collapsed with a roar. Dense cracks spread in every direction, and the shockwave briefly swept away the nearby poison mist.

Dugu Bo's expression changed.

His wrist felt locked in an iron vise. No matter how much force he put behind the strike, he could not advance another inch.

What strength!

Soul Power erupted within Dugu Bo, and dark-green poisonous gas surged along his arm toward Tang Hao.

Tang Hao released him and retreated two steps.

That single clash had already aggravated the hidden injuries in his body.

A sharp pain stabbed near his heart, and the taste of blood rose in his throat.

I cough up blood whenever I exert myself. I could probably make good money staging accidents with this body.

Tang Hao showed nothing on his face and closed his right hand around empty air.

A massive hammer appeared, pitch-black from end to end, its head covered in patterns.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.

Nine Soul Rings slowly rose.

When the final blood-red Soul Ring appeared, even the poison mist Dugu Bo had released seemed to freeze.

"A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring... the Clear Sky Hammer..."

Dugu Bo's pupils contracted. He immediately guessed who the man was.

"You're Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao!"

"Good. You recognized me."

Tang Hao planted both hands on the Clear Sky Hammer and bent slightly forward. The pose looked rather imposing.

In truth, he was just tired of standing.

"Can we talk now?"

Dugu Bo's gaze moved between the Clear Sky Hammer and the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring before settling on Tang Hao's pale face.

"Rumor has it you gravely wounded Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff but suffered serious injuries yourself. You're hardly in better shape than I am."

"True. I'm not doing too well."

Tang Hao did not deny it. "That's why I came to you."

Dugu Bo sneered. "You want me to heal you?"

"You can't."

Dugu Bo's face darkened at once.

This man had come all the way to his territory for treatment, only to tell him to his face that he could not do it. Was he sick in the head?

Tang Hao pointed deeper into the Poison Formation.

"But the place where you live can."

The air suddenly went still.

The killing intent in Dugu Bo's eyes grew several times stronger.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was his greatest secret.

For years, he had relied on its unusual environment to suppress the deadly poison in his body. He had also transplanted every precious medicinal plant he collected there.

Even Dugu Yan did not know the valley's exact location.

"You know what's in there?"

"Not everything. I only know there's a special medicinal garden and two springs with completely opposite properties."

Tang Hao spoke calmly. "Extreme heat and extreme cold exist side by side. Ordinary people can't approach them, but they can suppress the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison in your body."

Dugu Bo did not answer, but the nine Soul Rings behind him lit up again.

This man knew too much.

The safest course was to make sure he never left this place.

Tang Hao sensed his killing intent and gripped the Clear Sky Hammer.

"If we really fight, you won't beat me."

"With those severe injuries, how much of your strength can you still use?"

"Not much."

Tang Hao thought for a moment, then gave an honest answer. "But probably enough to kill you. Want to try?"

A vein throbbed on Dugu Bo's forehead.

He was furious and wanted to explode, but he knew Tang Hao was not bluffing.

Back then, Tang Hao had gravely wounded Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff and several Titled Douluo.

Even seriously injured now, he was not someone an ordinary Titled Douluo could take lightly.

Dugu Bo excelled at attacking groups and using poison, while the Clear Sky Hammer was the world's foremost weapon Martial Soul.

In a one-on-one fight, even ten of him would not be a match.

"What do you want?"

After weighing his options, Dugu Bo gave up on fighting.

Good. He's willing to talk.

Tang Hao put away the Clear Sky Hammer.

"I'll help you deal with the backlash from your Martial Soul's poison. In return, you let me enter the medicinal garden to heal, and I take a share of the herbs inside."

Dugu Bo looked as though he had heard a joke.

"Even I can't solve that problem. What makes you think you can?"

"You can't solve it because you've always wanted to keep the poison in your body."

Tang Hao pointed at his Martial Soul.

"The further a Soul Master with the Jade Phosphorous Serpent cultivates, the worse the poisoning gets.

Simply taking an antidote would destroy your poison techniques.

You don't want to die, but you don't want to lose your strength either. Of course you haven't found a solution."

Dugu Bo's gaze shifted.

Those words had struck at the heart of the problem.

"What's your plan?"

"A Soul Bone."

Tang Hao said, "Force the poison in your body into a Soul Bone and use it as a vessel to store the venom. You'll keep your poison techniques and stop the poison from eating away at your body."

Dugu Bo sank into thought.

He had considered similar methods, but had never actually tried one.

The poison had long since fused with his Soul Power. The slightest mistake would cause an immediate backlash.

"Why should I trust you?"

"You don't have to."

The Clear Sky Hammer appeared in Tang Hao's hand again.

"But I should tell you up front: it's only a theory. If the treatment kills you, I take no responsibility."

Dugu Bo looked up, his expression stiff.

You came here without even knowing if it would work? This bastard really is sick in the head.

I can't afford to provoke him. I'll swallow it!

"Follow me."

Dugu Bo turned and walked into the Poison Formation.

"Whether you can get through the Poison Formation is up to you."

Tang Hao hoisted the hammer onto his shoulder, and his red Soul Ring began to flash.

"Do you really want to find out?"

Dugu Bo stopped.

A moment later, he tossed over a dark-green pill with a black look on his face.

Tang Hao caught the pill and sniffed it.

"This isn't poison, is it?"

"You don't have to take it."

"With a temper like that, no wonder you have no friends."

Tang Hao said it aloud, but swallowed the pill anyway.

The two entered the Poison Formation, one behind the other.

Half an hour later, a valley appeared at the far edge of their vision.

Red and blue light mingled in the darkness. The energy of heaven and earth, so dense it had almost taken substance, washed over them.

Tang Hao looked deep into the valley and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Found it at last.