Dugu Bo still held his precious granddaughter, Dugu Yan, in one arm. With a slight twitch of the fingers on his other hand, the Soul Bone in Huo Yuhao's hand flew into his grasp.
"It really is a jade serpent's Soul Bone. It's extremely rare for snake-type Soul Beasts to drop Soul Bones. Even among the several Soul Bones I possess, only one has a snake attribute."
"Excellent, excellent. I like this gift of yours very much. You may make one request of me. So long as it isn't too unreasonable, I'll grant it."
"As expected of the Poison Douluo-truly generous. There isn't much I need. I'd just like to borrow your medicinal garden to cultivate for a month and eat a few medicinal herbs while I'm here."
"That's all?"
Dugu Bo was utterly stunned. In all his years striding across the Soul Master World, he had never been this extravagant.
Paying a Soul Bone just to use a mimicry training environment?
What family's young master is this, for heaven's sake!
After learning Huo Yuhao's purpose, even someone as wealthy as Dugu Bo could not help marveling at his wastefulness.
If my Yanyan ever dared do something like this, I would definitely...
Uh, never mind. Girls should be raised in abundance. If it's Yanyan, then it's fine.
"Yes, that's all. The Soul Bone in exchange for that." Huo Yuhao paused before continuing, "I also have another deal to make with you, Senior."
"I need your inner core to assist my cultivation. In exchange, I'll completely cure the snake venom afflicting both you and your granddaughter. I'll help you eliminate the deadly toxins without harming your poison arts."
Having finished speaking, Huo Yuhao calmly watched Dugu Bo. Dugu Bo's expression, however, was anything but calm.
His grip tightened around the Soul Bone. An immensely powerful aura erupted from him, and his eyes took on a razor-sharp edge.
"What did you say? How did you know I was poisoned? And what gives you the confidence to cure a Titled Douluo who specializes in poison?"
Although Huo Yuhao could not discern it himself, he was working backward from the answer to the solution. Thus, he did not panic in the slightest and instead said directly,
"When it rains, do you feel an itching numbness along both sides of your ribs, Senior? Does it gradually intensify and last for more than two hours?
"And does it flare up once at noon and once at midnight each day? Late at night, around midnight, do you feel needle-like stabbing pains in the crown of your head and the soles of your feet, with your whole body convulsing for at least an hour?"
After finishing, Huo Yuhao looked at Dugu Bo's violently trembling pupils and smiled faintly. "Was everything I said correct? Am I qualified to cure your poison?"
"Who exactly are you?" Dugu Bo's expression had become exceedingly grave, and his heart was filled with wariness toward Huo Yuhao. A stranger who knew him this well was simply too frightening.
"I'm the Saint Son of the Elder Hall in Spirit City. The Limit Douluo Qian Daoliu is my grandfather."
With that, Huo Yuhao released his six-winged angel martial soul. Golden light bloomed, and a sacred aura spread through the air.
Only a few years old, Dugu Yan blinked her little eyes at the glittering golden wings. She wanted to reach out and touch them, but Dugu Bo stopped her.
After learning Huo Yuhao's identity, deep wariness appeared on Dugu Bo's face once more.
He knew that Qian Daoliu was Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined. Although outsiders knew little of Spirit City's Elder Hall, and most people only knew that Spirit City had a Spirit Hall.
Veteran powerhouses of the Soul Master World like them, however, knew considerably more about such matters. After all, Qian Daoliu was a veteran Limit Douluo, a towering figure who had once swept across the continent. How could they not know him?
At this moment, Huo Yuhao's standing in Dugu Bo's eyes had changed dramatically. Even if he had come with ill intentions, Dugu Bo would not lay a hand on him.
After all, it would have been one thing if he were alone, but now he had a granddaughter of his own. He could not drag her into a life of fleeing to the ends of the earth, drifting from place to place.
"Boy, explain yourself properly. What exactly did you come here for?"
"Senior, I already told you. I only came to borrow this treasured place to cultivate and borrow your inner core to increase my cultivation speed. That's all."
"Really?"
Dugu Bo did not believe him, so he could only ask again, "You really didn't come to recruit me?"
After turning it over and over in his mind, that was the only possibility Dugu Bo could think of. The boy before him really did possess the six-winged angel martial soul, so there was no questioning his identity. His status was the most exalted in the entire Douluo Continent, bar none.
He lacked nothing, so why had he come? All Dugu Bo had here was a shabby garden. What was there for anyone to covet? Yet Huo Yuhao had given him a Soul Bone and offered to cure his poison. He refused to believe there was no ulterior motive.
"You must be joking, Senior. Forgive my bluntness, but surely I don't need to explain your reputation in the Soul Master World! Leaving poison aside, you couldn't even defeat one of my Soul Douluo subordinates."
Huo Yuhao's words were utterly blunt. Dugu Bo was too weak for him to think much of him.
"That's true enough!"
After hearing Huo Yuhao's words, Dugu Bo felt that he made a great deal of sense. Still, he had the nagging feeling that Huo Yuhao was insulting him, though he had no proof.
"Ahem, ahem."
After coughing awkwardly a few times, Dugu Bo turned his attention back to Huo Yuhao. "You just said you could cure my poison? This is the venom of the jade phosphor serpent emperor. There's no cure for it. Besides, all my strength lies in my poison arts. If you cure it all away, how am I supposed to hold my own?"
"Do you dare trust me, Senior? I'm ninety percent confident that I can remove your deadly toxins, so you'll no longer suffer from this poison that clings to your bones. At the same time, you can retain all your poison arts. After all, I'll only be eliminating those particularly nasty toxins."
"If you dare to try, I dare to begin curing you right away. Once it succeeds, I can use the same method to cure your granddaughter. You can withstand these deadly toxins only because of your formidable cultivation, Senior. Your granddaughter cannot."
"She's only a few years old, yet the snake venom has already eaten deeply into her. Even her hair has turned dark green. I'm certain she won't live past twenty. I imagine this has left you anxious all day long, Senior!"
After hearing Huo Yuhao's words, Dugu Bo tightened his grip on the Soul Bone once more. His aura surged out again, driving Huo Yuhao several steps backward.
"Very well. You instantly identified my symptoms and accurately explained the cause of my condition. You've earned my acknowledgment."
Dugu Bo slowly rose to his feet and walked toward Huo Yuhao. "I believe someone of your standing wouldn't come here to play this sort of life-and-death joke on me.
"Though I may be weak, if you dare toy with my granddaughter and me, I'll kill you even if your grandfather is a Limit Douluo."
"If you have a method, go ahead and try it on me. My life has already run its course, but my granddaughter's has only just begun. If you can cure her, never mind my inner core-even serving you like an ox or a horse would be nothing!"
Before you continue