Dugu Yan

"Really?" Dugu Bo's eyes lit up. He had never expected forming a soul core to be so simple, and wanted to start condensing one immediately.

What Dugu Bo did not know, however, was that without that pill pearl, his body would not have been able to withstand the process even if he had been given the method.

"Would I lie to you?" Wang Qiu'er rolled her eyes. "One more word of advice: you'd better not condense a soul core right away. After all these years of being eaten away by poison, your body is already riddled with holes. To be safe, treat your hidden injuries first. If you fail and suffer a backlash, I won't take responsibility."

Dugu Bo immediately abandoned the idea of condensing a soul core now. He had forgotten about his body's condition.

"Uh..." Dugu Bo scratched his head. "Then shall I go fetch my granddaughter first?"

"Go ahead." Wang Qiu'er nodded. "We'll cure your granddaughter's poison while we're at it."

"All right." Dugu Bo agreed, then left to fetch Dugu Yan.

After Dugu Bo left, Lin Changgeng began examining the immortal herbs he would take.

"Qiu'er, which one do you think I should take?" Lin Changgeng asked.

"Hmm..." Wang Qiu'er considered for a moment. "The singular velvet sky chrysanthemum and Wangchuan Autumn Dew, I suppose. Your martial soul is the gold element, after all. Once you've absorbed most of the chrysanthemum's medicinal power, take the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot. You should be a Soul Ancestor by then, and after taking them, you should be able to try for a ten-thousand-year fourth ring. Or you could first take the octagonal mysterious ice grass and... anyway, it's up to you. Either way works."

"Isn't taking too many supposed to be bad?" Lin Changgeng frowned. He remembered that one could not take too many immortal herbs. The medicinal power of just one was enough to defy heaven and change one's fate.

"Who told you that?" Wang Qiu'er pursed her lips. "No matter how potent they are, they're still just medicinal herbs. If they're herbs, they can be digested. Besides, they can defy heaven and change fate for useless people. For someone like you, they're only flowers added to brocade-a little extra soul power."

"I see. Then I'll take the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot first to temper my body. I'll save the singular velvet sky chrysanthemum for level thirty." Lin Changgeng looked thoughtful. So Tang San only claimed you couldn't take too many because he wanted to hoard them all for himself. What a clever scheme.

"Don't you want one?" Lin Changgeng looked at Wang Qiu'er.

"I'm level ninety-seven. These things are useless to me. All that's left on my path is gaining insight." Wang Qiu'er shook her head.

"By the way, Qiu'er, how old are you now?" Lin Changgeng was curious. Wang Qiu'er had been here for so long, yet he still did not know her age.

"Nineteen."

"Huh?" Lin Changgeng was stunned. A level ninety-seven Titled Douluo at nineteen? Wasn't that talent far beyond the limits?

"What? Don't I look it?" Wang Qiu'er asked.

"I couldn't tell." Lin Changgeng smacked his lips.

"Oh, please." Wang Qiu'er rolled her eyes. "Don't forget what my true form is."

On second thought, Lin Changgeng realized she was right. Wang Qiu'er's true form was the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, bearing the powers of fortune and destiny. She had probably consumed plenty of resources after taking human form. Reaching level ninety-seven at nineteen was hardly strange.

An hour later, Dugu Bo arrived with a girl.

The girl looked young, with short, pale-purple hair and a spirited air. She was not an absolute beauty, but she possessed an uncanny allure and appeared to be about a hundred and seventy centimeters tall.

Led along by her grandfather, Dugu Yan stared blankly at the scene before her.

Medicinal herbs covered the ground, a hot spring was visibly divided into two halves, and there stood a six-year-old blond boy and a woman with long golden hair.

She looked at Lin Changgeng, then at Wang Qiu'er, her eyes filled with confusion.

"Yanyan, pay your respects to the young master and Senior Wang." Dugu Bo gave her a nudge.

The girl was none other than Dugu Bo's granddaughter, Dugu Yan.

Though puzzled, Dugu Yan obediently bowed. "Greetings, young master. Greetings, Senior."

"Mm." Lin Changgeng nodded. "Senior Dugu, explain it to her first."

Some things were easier to accept when they came from the person closest to you.

Dugu Bo acknowledged him, then led Dugu Yan around to the other side of the hot spring and sat down some distance from Lin Changgeng and Wang Qiu'er.

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Dugu Yan could not help asking. "You brought me out here acting all mysterious. And who's that little boy?"

She had been cultivating at home when her grandfather suddenly returned and hurried her off to the Herb Garden, saying he had something to tell her.

Dugu Bo did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at her and remained silent for a long time.

"It's about our family." Dugu Bo considered for a moment. "You're always asking about your parents, aren't you? I've decided to tell you today."

"My parents?" Dugu Yan was puzzled. All she knew was that her parents had died when she was very young. Was there more to it?

"Yes." Dugu Bo nodded. "It has to do with our family's martial soul. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent is a poison-attribute beast martial soul, and its quality is fairly high among martial souls."

"But it has one fatal flaw-backlash."

"As you cultivate, poison gradually accumulates inside your body, eating away at your meridians, bones, and internal organs."

"The lower your cultivation, the more slowly the poison builds up, so its effects aren't obvious. But as your cultivation rises, the poison accumulates faster and faster, and the backlash grows increasingly severe."

"Generally speaking, for cultivators with the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, the poison reaches a critical point before they turn thirty."

Dugu Bo paused, his voice turning hoarse.

"When that happens, the poison erupts all at once. The meridians shatter inch by inch, the internal organs fail, and no medicine can save them."

"They don't live past thirty."

Dugu Yan's face instantly went white. She was no fool. If Dugu Bo was telling her this, didn't it mean her parents had died from the same thing?

"Your father died for that very reason. He was very talented and reached Soul Emperor by thirty, but the flaw in our family's martial soul caused the poison to erupt, and the backlash killed him."

"Grandpa, you're lying to me, right?" Dugu Yan's voice caught with sobs.

"It's true." Dugu Bo's voice was hoarse. The white-haired burying the black-haired-that was the greatest pain of his life.

"Then what about you, Grandpa?" Dugu Yan asked, trembling. "You have the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul too. How did you...?"

"I was lucky." Dugu Bo gave a bitter smile. "Back then, I was also riddled with deadly poison. When I was a Soul Douluo, I found this treasured place. The environment here can suppress the poison, but only suppress it. When your father died, I had just advanced to Titled Douluo. By the time I returned, it was too late."

"And your mother was affected too, because you were already poisoned while you were in her womb."

"What about me?" Dugu Yan's tears fell even harder. "Will I end up like Dad and Mom and die before thirty?"

Her life had only just begun. She did not want to die yet.

Watching her cry, Dugu Bo felt as though a knife were twisting in his heart.

But instead of changing the subject as he had in the past, he looked at her earnestly.

"Yanyan, don't cry." Dugu Bo took a deep breath. "Grandpa brought you here today to cure your poison."

Dugu Yan jerked her head up and looked at Dugu Bo through her tear-filled eyes.

"Cure my poison?"