You Woke Up Too Late, Little San

Dugu Bo stared at Ling Yun's hand, which was pointing toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and said nothing for a long while.

A moment ago, the brat had been negotiating a fee of five medicinal plants for his treatment. Now he was already eyeing those two strange plants. In all his years, Dugu Bo had never seen anyone try to take advantage of him right to his face with such a clear conscience.

"Set the plants aside for now," Dugu Bo said grimly. "Since you can tell me when my poison flares up and what the symptoms are, tell me how to cure it."

Ling Yun smiled. "If you want a complete cure, it's simple. Cripple your poison cultivation. Without the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's poison, you won't be in pain anymore."

Dugu Bo's face darkened at once.

"You call crippling my cultivation a solution?"

"That's why I didn't tell you to choose it." Ling Yun pointed at his right arm. "Your real problem isn't that the poison is too strong. It's that the poison and your Soul Power are all mixed together. After decades, it's seeped into your meridians, bones, flesh, and blood. Since you can't bear to give it up, don't get rid of it. Store it somewhere else."

Dugu Bo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"A Soul Bone."

Those two words finally made Dugu Bo take him seriously.

Ling Yun explained, "Force the poison out of your body bit by bit and press it into a Soul Bone. A Soul Bone is formed from a Soul Beast's power, and once it fuses with you, it becomes part of your body. It's better to store the poison there than let it soak your organs every day. When you need poison, draw it out of the Soul Bone."

Dugu Bo did not immediately object.

The method sounded bold, but it was not impossible.

Seeing this, Ling Yun pointed at his right arm. "Don't try to solve everything at once. Pick a Soul Bone and start with the place where your symptoms are usually worst. Force the most active poison into it. If it works, keep going. If not, you can decide where to bury me."

Dugu Bo snorted, but he really did sit down cross-legged.

Dark green Soul Power soon surged from his body. The dense poisonous fumes made the surrounding plants curl. Ling Yun dropped his joking manner and watched the changes in Dugu Bo's Soul Power, occasionally reminding him to slow down and not forcibly pull out toxins too deeply entangled with his meridians.

Nearly half an hour passed.

A layer of deep green light suddenly shone from Dugu Bo's right arm.

The next moment, his eyes flew open.

The faint itching and stabbing pain deep in his right arm had noticeably eased.

It had not been suppressed. There was genuinely less of it.

Dugu Bo had lived for decades and tried countless methods. Even the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well could only make him more comfortable when the poison flared up. But this time, for the first time, he could clearly feel the poison leaving his meridians.

One look at his expression told Ling Yun all he needed to know. "Well? If it hadn't worked, you'd have attacked me by now. Since I'm still standing, five medicinal plants is a perfectly reasonable fee."

Dugu Bo ignored his wisecrack and asked only, "How long until it's completely resolved?"

"You spent decades building up this poison. Emptying it out in a day wouldn't be treatment; it would be a dream." Ling Yun waved a hand. "Force out a portion every day. Deal with the poison near your meridians and organs first, then take care of the rest slowly. At this rate, at least eighty or ninety percent of your usual flare-ups should be resolved in a few months."

But Dugu Bo's chief concern was clearly not himself.

"What about Yan Yan?"

"She's much easier to treat than you." Ling Yun had expected the question. "Dugu Yan is still young. The poison hasn't sunk nearly as deep. She needs to control it while cultivating from now on and stop letting it settle further into her body. Medicine can slowly draw out what has already accumulated. Once she has a suitable Soul Bone, she can use the same method as you."

Dugu Bo visibly relaxed.

More than anything that might happen to him, he feared his granddaughter would end up becoming a second version of himself.

After a moment's silence, Dugu Bo finally nodded. "As long as Yan Yan's problem can be resolved too, I won't go back on the five medicinal plants I promised."

"I'll remember that."

Ling Yun immediately turned toward the Medicine Garden. The look in his eyes gave Dugu Bo the sudden feeling that a thief had broken into his home.

But Ling Yun did not start plucking plants right away. Instead, he walked toward the two plants beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, one cold and one hot.

Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot.

One of the most important opportunities Tang San had originally been destined to find.

And now they were right in front of Ling Yun.

Ling Yun looked at the two Immortal Herbs in high spirits. "Old Poison, I'm taking these two first."

Dugu Bo followed his gaze, and his expression shifted. "Are you sure? Even I don't like staying near the cold and heat those plants give off. One wrong touch, and your fee of five plants can be changed to five sticks of incense at your funeral."

"Don't worry. I value my life."

Ling Yun had come prepared. Using tools, he harvested the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot in turn.

One cold, one hot. Either extreme medicinal force alone would have been enough to kill him, but when the two Immortal Herbs drew close, their once-rampant cold and heat began to suppress each other.

Only then did Dugu Bo realize Ling Yun truly knew what they were. "Where did you learn about these things?"

As Ling Yun put the two Immortal Herbs into his mouth, he mumbled, "Family knowledge."

"You're an orphan. What family knowledge?"

"It was passed down in a dream. Stop bothering me while I take my medicine."

Dugu Bo nearly laughed in exasperation, but before long, he could no longer laugh.

Once the two Immortal Herbs entered Ling Yun's body, his skin first turned crimson, then frost covered him. The hot and cold medicinal forces erupted within him at the same time, and even his Greninja Martial Soul manifested beyond his control.

Ling Yun felt as though half of him had been thrown into a furnace and the other half stuffed into an ice cave.

Whether it felt good, he could not say. It definitely hurt.

He did not keep trying to endure it. Instead, he hurried to the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Dugu Bo's eyelid twitched. "You're not actually planning to jump in, are you?"

Ling Yun glanced back at him. "I've taken the medicine. How am I supposed to finish cooking if I don't get in the pot?"

With that, he leaped into the spring.

Dugu Bo stood on the bank, his face turning dark.

When the brat had treated his poison, he had clearly seemed to know what he was doing. Why did he look more and more like someone tired of living?

Time passed slowly.

More than half an hour later, the water at the center of the spring suddenly burst upward.

With the help of his Greninja Martial Soul, Ling Yun leaped out of the water and landed steadily on the bank. His clothes were soaked through, but the hot and cold medicinal forces that had been clashing inside him had completely settled and begun to slowly merge with his body.

He clenched his fist.

He could not yet judge exactly how much stronger his body had become, but his resistance to extreme cold and heat was in a different league from before.

More importantly, this opportunity had originally belonged to Tang San.

Ling Yun turned toward the nearby cave, unable to contain his delight. "Little San, it's not that your brother lacks loyalty. You just slept a little too long."

Dugu Bo was about to ask what Ling Yun had done when a sound came from the cave.

Tang San had woken up.

Before long, Tang San emerged from the cave. He was wary at first, but when he saw the valley, his breathing quickened.

Medicinal plants covered the ground.

Quite a few of them existed only in the records of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record.

Before Tang San could examine them closely, a dripping-wet Ling Yun came over and slung an arm around his shoulders, acting almost excessively friendly.

"Little San, you woke up at just the right time."

Tang San looked at him suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing much." Ling Yun pointed across the entire Medicine Garden with an especially sincere smile. "You know your medicines, right? Help your brother out. Of everything left here, which three plants are worth the most?"

Tang San froze for a few seconds. "Left?"

Ling Yun nodded. "Right. I already took two."