Seeing that Chen Zhuo did not blame him for failing at his task, Dugu Bo secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He was puzzled, too.
The patriarch of the Speed Clan was merely a Soul Douluo. Dugu Bo had approached him in good faith, yet the man had started cursing him like a worthless brat the moment he opened his mouth.
A clash had broken out.
At the time, Dugu Bo had thought Bai He had something to fall back on.
So when he attacked, he held nothing back and went all out.
The result was that everyone except that old man and his granddaughter paid the price for Bai He's recklessness.
He had looted the entire Speed Clan's storeroom and even removed the storage ring from the man's severed hand.
Yet the assets of the entire clan did not even add up to five Gold Soul Coins.
Dugu Bo was so shocked that his scalp tingled.
Even robbing a commoner's home would probably have yielded more gold than that.
Only after asking around did he learn the truth.
Bai He, that truly extraordinary patriarch, had forbidden every low-ranking Soul Master in his clan from collecting the monthly subsidy of one Gold Soul Coin.
He certainly got to stand tall in his lofty integrity.
But what about the clansmen under him?
Even as Dugu Bo tore off his arm, Bai He had still been shouting something about the Clear Sky Sect avenging him.
But as far as Dugu Bo knew...
Tang Yuehua, the mistress of Moonlight Pavilion, the Heaven Dou Empire's court etiquette academy, belonged to the Clear Sky Sect.
Tang Yuehua had been secretly supplying money and resources to the Clear Sky Sect in its secluded retreat.
The wealth at her disposal amounted to far more than ten million.
How pitiful those former subordinate sects were.
Even a sanitary pad casually tossed their way would have been enough to feed those paupers in the Speed Clan.
At the end of the day...
Even if pressure from Spirit Hall had forced them to trim their forces...
The Clear Sky Sect's direct lineage had never regarded the members of its four subordinate sects as their own.
Dugu Bo could not have agreed more with Chen Zhuo's remark: "That sounds like something the Speed Clan's patriarch would do."
He had met plenty of extraordinary specimens.
But this was his first time meeting one as extraordinary as Bai He.
Dugu Yan had thought Chen Zhuo would take them on an exciting mission, like the last time he led them in hunting down the Wolf Bandits.
Instead, they were visiting an "old acquaintance."
Balak Kingdom.
The Meng estate.
The moment Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang saw Chen Zhuo, she "fell" completely.
She immediately brought over her precious granddaughter, Meng Yiran, to thank this descendant of her "benefactor."
Only Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang's husband, Dragon Duke Meng Shu, looked utterly bewildered.
Since when did my wife have ties to the renowned Dugu Family?
How did I not know?
Snake Granny and I were childhood sweethearts. We grew up together, and now we're growing old together.
Did I miss part of the story?
Dragon Duke Meng Shu was still puzzling over it.
Then he realized that his wife and his most beloved granddaughter were already fussing over Chen Zhuo.
Chen Zhuo sipped the fragrant tea with a gentle smile.
All he could say was that the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils were far too insidious.
Originally, after bringing Snake Granny under his control, he had only meant to stop by and have a look.
He had encountered plenty of high-level fighters by now.
Honestly, he did not think much of a Six-Ring Soul Emperor like Snake Granny.
Chen Zhuo had only intended to try his luck, never expecting to actually find a rather decent Soul Skill.
Snake Granny's Sixth Soul Ring.
Her strongest Soul Skill at present: Netherdark Death Ray.
It came from a twenty-thousand-year-old Netherworld Serpent.
This was a single-target burst Soul Skill.
It gathered energy into a dark radiance, firing a death ray with tremendous penetrating power that dealt massive damage upon striking its target.
If that were all, it would have been merely an ordinary Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill.
But its additional effect-executing targets with low health-
Was something Chen Zhuo liked very much.
This execution effect ensured that even after Chen Zhuo became a high-ranking Soul Master, the Soul Skill would not turn into a chicken rib: tasteless to eat, yet a pity to discard.
This was a problem every Titled Douluo faced.
From their fifth ring onward, almost all the rings they added were Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings.
Yet the Soul Skills granted by the Hundred-Year Soul Rings and Thousand-Year Soul Rings they had obtained early on simply could not keep up in strength.
They were little different from filler.
Unfortunately, a Soul Master's physical strength imposed a hard limit, forcing those at lower cultivation levels to start by absorbing only ten-year or hundred-year Soul Rings.
Someone like Chen Zhuo was an outright anomaly.
He clearly had only one martial soul.
Yet he was achieving the effects of twin martial souls.
He had started with a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!
"Copy!"
Chen Zhuo directly copied Snake Granny's sixth Soul Skill, Netherdark Death Ray, and fixed it as his third Soul Ring.
With the Soul Ring successfully added, combined with his recent cultivation...
His soul power rose by an entire level.
A flicker of surprise crossed the Dragon Duke's narrow, upturned eyes.
What was going on with this young man? How had he broken through while drinking tea?
"This might be a little presumptuous."
"May I ask how old you are this year, young friend?"
Unable to restrain his curiosity, the Dragon Duke finally asked.
His voice was distinctive, deep and muffled, as though a wad of old phlegm were stuck in his mouth.
"Ten. Why?"
At Chen Zhuo's answer, not only the Dragon Duke but also Snake Granny and Meng Yiran were stunned.
"Ten years old, a rank-thirty-one, three-ring Soul Elder!"
The Dragon Duke's expression changed.
That made him three years younger than Yiran.
Yet Yiran was currently only a two-ring Soul Master who had broken through not long ago.
Meng Yiran had inherited the Meng family's hereditary martial soul, the Serpent Cane.
Her innate soul power was rank seven, and her talent was above average, surpassing her father's generation.
That was why Dragon Duke and Snake Granny were grooming her as the family's heir, skipping a generation.
"Only rank twenty at thirteen? That's pretty terrible."
Chen Zhuo seemed entirely unconcerned with the Dragon Duke's feelings. He spoke bluntly, sparing him no dignity whatsoever.
"Has your Meng family fallen into decline?"
At those words, the room fell so quiet that even a fine needle dropping could have been heard.
The Dragon Duke's eyelid twitched, but he said nothing.
Dugu Bo sipped his tea as though he had heard nothing.
In the hall, several maids struggled to keep any expression from showing on their faces.
This young man was far too brazen.
There was probably no one in the entire Balak Kingdom who dared say such a thing.
The Meng estate was no minor family.
Dragon Duke and Snake Granny were hardly nameless figures in the Soul Master World, either.
One was a high-ranking Soul Douluo.
The other was a high-ranking Soul Emperor.
Most importantly, the two also possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Dragon-Snake Combined Strike.
That famed ultimate technique could even hold its own against a Titled Douluo.
No matter how one looked at it, "decline" had nothing to do with them.
"So naturally, I've come here to help you."
With that, Chen Zhuo took out three jade boxes and placed them on the table.
"You may leave."
The Dragon Duke immediately dismissed the maids.
"Young friend, what is this?"
Chen Zhuo did not keep them guessing. He opened the jade boxes directly.
At once, a delicate fragrance seeped deep into their lungs and spread through every limb and bone, refreshing their hearts and clearing their minds.
The Dragon Duke's eyes went wide.
Just one breath had allowed his soul power to flow a little more freely through meridians that had been clogged for years.
"Try taking it."
Chen Zhuo nudged the box with his index finger and gestured to Snake Granny.
Before the Dragon Duke could stop Snake Granny and urge her to be cautious, she had already consumed the entire Immortal Herb.
Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid.
This immortal-grade medicinal herb raised Snake Granny's soul power straight from rank sixty-six to rank seventy, the threshold of Soul Saint.
This time, the Dragon Duke was utterly dumbfounded.
Had his fingernail digging into his palm not sent a sharp sting through him,
He would have suspected he was dreaming.
Before you continue