"Your own herb garden-don't you know what's in it?"
Those words undoubtedly exploded like thunder beside Dugu Bo's ears!
His body jolted, and his mind instantly went blank.
What he had always thought was merely an herb garden was actually a treasure trove of supreme immortal herbs!
He suffered the backlash of Jade Phosphor Poison day after day, tormented for half his life, unable to cure his martial soul's flaw despite exhausting every means, yet countless immortal herbs capable of defying heaven, changing fate, cleansing marrow, and purifying meridians had been growing freely right under his nose all along!
In an instant, tremendous shock, regret, and wild joy intertwined, all but sweeping through Dugu Bo's entire body.
Several breaths later, Dugu Bo slowly drew a deep breath and exhaled at length, calming his churning emotions somewhat.
He gripped the Immortal Herb Atlas in his hand, his fingertips tightening slightly, and murmured with feeling.
"Fate truly makes fools of us..."
Watching Dugu Bo shake his head with emotion, Lin Yue could not help feeling a little wistful and sympathetic.
In the original story, Dugu Bo had treated Tang San with his whole heart, believing theirs to be a friendship that transcended age. Yet Tang San had taken more than half the immortal herbs in his garden without telling him that a certain immortal herb could resolve his martial soul's flaw.
He had even been reduced to a hired fist afterward, a mere tool, and in the end, he had not even obtained a ticket to the Divine Realm, dying a miserable death in his later years.
How pitiful, how lamentable.
At that thought, Lin Yue sighed softly and offered some comfort:
"Don't worry. At least your fate has already changed. You might even become a god someday."
Everyone present nodded in agreement.
After all, with this Mysterious Shop here, anything was possible in the future. Rewriting fate and reversing life and death were not merely fanciful tales.
"Then may your kind words come true, Shopkeeper Lin."
Dugu Bo cupped his hands slightly, a faint smile tugging at his lips. But then he changed the subject, raising his eyes toward Lin Yue with a trace of curiosity.
"Still, I'm rather interested in that story you mentioned, about what happened before I changed my fate. Would you tell me about it, Shopkeeper Lin?"
Lin Yue glanced at him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Dugu Bo looked serious, without the slightest hint of a joke.
After a brief moment of thought, Lin Yue slowly began.
He told him everything: how he had met Tang San, how they had become friends despite their age difference, how more than half his immortal herbs had been taken, how he had become a mere tool, and how he had ultimately met a miserable death in his later years.
"In my personal view, that was indeed what your life amounted to."
"But as for the precise circumstances, and your own thoughts and feelings, only you would know those."
As Lin Yue finished speaking, silence fell over the shop.
Yue Guan, Gui Mei, Zhu Zhuqing, Dragon Duke and Snake Granny, and Dugu Yan beside them-none spoke first. Instead, they chose silence, occasionally stealing glances at Dugu Bo.
At that moment, the emotions surging within Dugu Bo were ten, a hundred times more furious than when he had learned that he had sat upon a mountain of treasure without recognizing its worth!
His hands trembled slightly at his sides, his knuckles clenched white. Jade-green soul power flickered around him, almost beyond his control.
Had he not still been inside the shop, his temper would have erupted long ago.
He took another deep breath, his voice so low it seemed to squeeze through his teeth:
"What a Tang San. What a friendship that transcended age..."
"I treated him so well, and that was how he treated me!"
"Very good indeed!"
Forcibly suppressing his surging anger, Dugu Bo looked up at Lin Yue, his expression settling back into composure, though a cold glint still lingered deep in his eyes.
Afterward, he thanked Lin Yue and lay down in the Game Pods with his granddaughter. Once they had each chosen their second martial soul, they returned to Heaven Dou City before the night grew late.
The next day, at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
On the training grounds, Yu Tianheng had just finished a sparring match, fine beads of sweat still clinging to his temples, when he hurried a few steps to catch up with Dugu Yan as she was leaving.
"Yanzi, you remember that Shrek Team I told you about yesterday, right?"
"I heard there's a fellow on their team named Tang San who has a Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. He's quite something!"
At the name "Tang San," Dugu Yan suddenly stopped, a flicker of surprise and uncertainty crossing her eyes.
After they had returned from the shop last night, she had seen all the anger her grandfather had suppressed.
Now that she had actually learned the whereabouts of that despicable wretch, she naturally would not let him off.
So Dugu Yan turned toward Yu Tianheng and asked:
"You really want to fight them?"
Yu Tianheng froze for a moment, but immediately nodded.
"Of course. Opponents like that aren't easy to find."
Dugu Yan said nothing more. She reached out, seized Yu Tianheng's wrist, and turned toward the Principal's Office.
"Hey, Yanzi, where are you taking me?"
"Didn't you want to spar with them?"
Without looking back, she spoke in a tone that betrayed little out of the ordinary. "We're going to ask the principal for permission right now."
Yu Tianheng was delighted to hear this. Assuming Dugu Yan agreed with his idea, he immediately felt rather touched.
But beneath Dugu Yan's calm gaze, she had already made up her mind: she would teach that Tang San a lesson and seek justice for her grandfather!
Meanwhile.
At Godwind Academy, the four principals of the Four Elements Academy gathered once again.
Once everyone was seated, Godwind Academy's principal swept his gaze over the other three and broke the silence.
"That girl didn't appear this morning. Everyone, we should discuss how to investigate the address on the flyer next."
Skywater Academy's principal nodded slightly. "We must consider this carefully."
Thunder Academy's principal picked up the conversation:
"Caution is warranted. But if what the flyer says is true, and the quantity is limited, spending several days sending people to investigate could mean our academies' geniuses miss such an opportunity and fall behind others."
Then Godwind Academy's principal took over.
"But if the flyer's claims are merely a fraudulent gimmick, and we rashly lead our core students there to investigate, we may only lose a few days of cultivation, yet as such losses accumulate, geniuses of the same level could pull ahead by a gulf impossible to bridge. The gains would hardly outweigh the losses."
After those words, the Council Hall fell into deathly silence once more.
Everyone understood the stakes. Caught between advancing and retreating, none could come up with a foolproof plan for the moment.
A short while later, Huo Lie, the principal of Blazing Fire Academy, suddenly rose, breaking the deadlock outright.
"Everyone, in this world, one must always give something up to gain something."
His sharp gaze swept over the other three principals.
"I understand all the advantages and disadvantages you're concerned about. But opportunities wait for no one. The longer we hesitate, the more likely our academies' geniuses are to miss this chance."
"I'm unwilling to waste any more time. This time, I will personally lead Blazing Fire Academy's core students to the address marked on the flyer and investigate the truth."
"As for you three, whether you send people to inquire or accompany me yourselves is entirely your decision."
With that, he turned and strode away, swiftly returning to Blazing Fire Academy.
Before you continue