Hearing their demands, Tang Tianlin shook his head with a chuckle. "He is a Titled Douluo, after all. It would be a bit of a waste to simply kill him."
Tang San frowned slightly at that. "Then what do you mean, big brother...?"
Tang Tianlin asked in return, "San, what do you think you would gain from killing a Titled Douluo?"
"Well..."
Tang San frowned in thought. "If I killed a Titled Douluo, I should gain whatever wealth he carried."
"And what if you could win a Titled Douluo over?" Tang Tianlin continued.
Tang San considered it carefully, then his eyes widened. "You mean... make him work for us?"
Xiao Wu curled her lip beside them. "How could winning over a Titled Douluo be that easy? After the beating he just took, who knows how much he hates us?"
"Xiao Wu has a point." Tang San nodded in agreement.
If he were a Titled Douluo who had been crushed so utterly by a Soul Ancestor, his heart for cultivation would probably shatter.
Tang Tianlin said nothing. He merely looked down at Dugu Bo, who lay unconscious on the ground, and gave him a light kick.
"Hey, stop pretending. I didn't hit you that hard just now."
The "corpse" on the ground remained motionless.
Tang Tianlin crouched and rested a hand on Dugu Bo's shoulder. "If you don't get up, I'll toss you into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for a bath."
"You must know that feeling of wishing you were dead all too well, don't you?"
At those words, Dugu Bo's eyelids twitched twice before finally opening a crack. "You... how did you know I was awake?"
Tang Tianlin said calmly, "The circulation of blood and vital energy in your body can't escape my perception."
The blood and vital energy in an unconscious person's body could not alternately speed up and slow down.
With his pretense exposed, Dugu Bo stopped acting and struggled into a sitting position. "Out with it. What exactly do you want? Kill me or carve me up, just make it quick."
Tang Tianlin did not beat around the bush either. "You heard us just now. I want you to submit to me."
"Submit?"
Dugu Bo sneered, looking Tang Tianlin up and down. "You look young, yet you possess such strength. You must be from Spirit Hall, then?"
"I suggest you give up on that idea. Even if I die, I will never join Spirit Hall as its watchdog!"
At his age, he had come to terms with many things.
Rather than live in abject submission like a dog, he would die with dignity like a man!
"What does Spirit Hall have to do with this?"
Tang San suddenly spoke up beside them. "We're from the Clear Sky Sect. We have nothing to do with Spirit Hall!"
Dugu Bo frowned slightly at that.
The Clear Sky Sect?
He had heard a little about this former greatest sect on the continent.
At its height, even Spirit Hall had regarded it with considerable wariness.
The current Clear Sky Douluo was renowned far and wide. As soon as he emerged into the world, he had hammered the previous Supreme Pontiff to death.
No wonder this brat possessed such terrifying strength at such a young age. He was a monster from the Clear Sky Sect.
Yet even after learning their origins, Dugu Bo still said coldly, "Hmph, so what if you're from the Clear Sky Sect? I refused even Spirit Hall. Why would I agree to join your Clear Sky Sect?"
At the end of the day, the Clear Sky Sect could only rival Spirit Hall.
In terms of actual strength, Spirit Hall was unquestionably above the Clear Sky Sect.
Seeing that nothing could sway him, Tang Tianlin could only speak the redemption code for the Immortal Herbs. "Senior, I admire your backbone. But... how many more years can you endure the poison in your body?"
Dugu Bo's expression shifted slightly. "What do you mean? I've worked with poison my whole life. How could I possibly be poisoned?"
Tang Tianlin shook his head slightly without arguing, then gestured with his eyes for Tang San to speak.
With an expert here, there was no need for an amateur like him to speak.
Tang San understood his meaning. He activated his Purple Demon Eye and looked Dugu Bo over.
After a moment, he said thoughtfully, "Senior, whenever you use Soul Power, do you feel a faint stabbing pain three inches below your ribs?"
"Especially after Martial Soul Possession, doesn't that stabbing pain spread to your spine, like needles piercing you?"
Dugu Bo narrowed his green eyes, but his expression remained unchanged. "Little brat, what nonsense are you spouting?"
Tang San remained unhurried and continued, "Senior, you're known as the Poison Douluo, and your mastery of poison has reached the very summit. But your body has long since been corroded by your own toxins."
"I can tell that you've relied on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to suppress the poison over the years. But that treats the symptoms rather than the root, and instead sows the seeds of an even deeper danger. From what I can see, you probably... won't last another five years."
"Not only that, the poison in your body will even affect your descendants. If they lack your strength, I'm afraid they won't last three years."
Hearing that it could affect his descendants, a flicker of panic crossed Dugu Bo's face.
No wonder he had noticed Yanyan growing weak from time to time. It was because of the Jade Phosphorus Snake venom.
This damned poison had not only killed his parents, his son, and his daughter-in-law, but now it was going to kill his only remaining family in this world too?!
For the sake of his dignity, he could give up everything, even his life.
But what about his granddaughter?
She was only in her teens, with the glorious years of youth still ahead of her. She should not die just like this.
At that moment, Dugu Bo's inner defenses crumbled completely.
He lowered his head in dejection and said heavily, "If you can truly cure Yanyan, what does it matter if these old bones work for you?"
After all these years, he had long since lived enough.
If he could trade his life for his granddaughter's, he would still come out ahead.
"Rest assured, Senior. I have a way to cure both you and your granddaughter."
Since his big brother wanted to win over this Poison Douluo, Tang San would naturally do everything he could.
"What? You can cure me too?!" Dugu Bo exclaimed in shock.
"Of course. There are two ways I can deal with the poison in your body."
Tang San said gravely, "The first is to use a special method to force the Jade Phosphorus Snake venom accumulated in your body into a Soul Bone, merging it with the bone."
"After that, when you use Soul Power, the toxins will no longer corrode your body. Instead, the Soul Bone will nurture them, making them even more powerful than before."
"But this method has a drawback. Once the amount of poison reaches the limit of what the Soul Bone can hold, it will still erupt."
"Unless you can find another Soul Bone to serve as a vessel, you will certainly die!"
Hearing this method, Dugu Bo lowered his eyes in thought.
Forcing the toxins into a Soul Bone would spare him from worrying about the poison's backlash for a time, and might even allow him to break through his stagnant cultivation.
But in the end, it was nothing more than drinking poison to quench his thirst.
At the rate his toxins were currently growing, he estimated that it would take only a few years to fill a Soul Bone.
Moreover, Soul Bones were exceedingly precious to begin with. In all his years roaming the world, he had obtained only a single Medusa Skull.
After a moment, Dugu Bo asked gravely, "Young friend, what is the second method?"
"The second is to find a compatible natural treasure and make your Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul evolve again, breaking free of the shackles of poison at their very root."
"In principle, once your Martial Soul evolves, its inherent flaws will unravel like bamboo before a blade. When that happens, never mind backlash-you might even awaken new abilities."
"However!"
Before you continue