No Entry for Tang San and Dogs

Dugu Bo clenched his fists.

He had lived his life perversely, fearing neither heaven nor earth, yet he had poured all his tenderness into this granddaughter alone.

"What do you want?" Dugu Bo asked in a low voice.

Qian Renxue spoke earnestly. "Senior Dugu Bo, I am Qian Renxue, Young Master of Spirit Hall and inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul. I need to build a team I can trust, and I also need elders I can trust. I need both you and Miss Dugu Yan."

Dugu Bo watched her with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to see whether she was lying.

"You're ambitious." Dugu Bo suddenly laughed. "I am a level 92 Titled Douluo, and you're just a..."

He paused, sensing Qian Renxue's Soul Power fluctuations. "A level 50 Soul King, hoping to bring me into your fold?"

Qian Renxue looked Dugu Bo straight in the eye. "Senior, I never said anything about bringing you into my fold. You need an antidote, and I need help. This is cooperation. We each get what we need."

Dugu Bo was slightly taken aback.

That was certainly a tactful way to put it.

"Heal my granddaughter first." Dugu Bo's smile faded. "If you heal her, everything is negotiable. If you don't..."

"If I fail, I, Qian Renxue, will submit to whatever punishment you decide." Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) spoke with ironclad resolve.

Next, Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) began preparing the medicine.

Using spring water from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well as a catalyst, he extracted the essences of several supplementary herbs and refined them into an antidote.

The entire process flowed like drifting clouds and running water, without a single unnecessary step.

Dugu Bo watched from the side, his eyes widening further and further.

He prided himself on being a grandmaster of poisons, yet the pharmacological expertise Cheng Ran displayed while preparing the medicine far surpassed his understanding.

The quantity of every ingredient, every preparation technique, and the sequence of steps were all so precise that they seemed to have been verified thousands of times.

After Dugu Yan took the first dose, her faintly blue lips began regaining their rosy hue, and color gradually returned to her pale face.

Dugu Bo stared fixedly at the changes in his granddaughter, his hands trembling.

Dugu Yan clutched her chest and suddenly retched, spitting out a mouthful of black blood.

It gave off a pungent, foul stench and carried an emerald-green phosphorescence.

"The toxins are being expelled." Dugu Bo's voice trembled. "They really are being expelled!"

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) said calmly, "After seven days, all the toxins will be expelled.

"As for you, use the Soul Bone inside your body to channel the poison, gradually forcing the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison into the Soul Bone for storage.

"At the same time, supplement your cultivation with the herbal prescription I prepare. After six months, your poison power will be contained within the Soul Bone and will no longer turn against you."

Watching the color gradually return to his granddaughter's face, Dugu Bo was already convinced.

He turned and bowed deeply to Qian Renxue, clasping his hands.

"I, Dugu Bo, am willing to serve Miss Qian."

Cheng Ran laughed in satisfaction within her mind. Successfully recruited! With Dugu Bo joining us and Dugu Yan on the team, the Golden Generation of my Spirit Hall Worship Hall is beginning to take shape!

Don't ask why I'm putting together a new Golden Generation.

If you ask, it's because it's fun, and so we can show off and slap faces at the Soul Master Tournament later!

Qian Renxue: Evil God, do you really like girls like Dugu Yan?

There was a slight trace of jealousy in Qian Renxue's tone, though even she did not know why.

Cheng Ran: You don't understand. You have to understand how excited a veteran player gets upon seeing an SSR card. My collecting addiction is acting up.

Qian Renxue: What's an SSR card?

Cheng Ran: An exceptionally rare person.

Qian Renxue: Is Dugu Yan an SSR?

Cheng Ran: An SR, I suppose. A few grades below SSR.

Qian Renxue: What about me?

Cheng Ran: A super SSR, of course! All right, the card-collecting segment is over. Next up is this Evil God's favorite part: opening treasure chests!

Hearing this, Qian Renxue felt a surge of inexplicable, secret delight.

Next, Cheng Ran embarked on his great herb-plucking endeavor.

He stripped away most of the Immortal Herbs around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, his movements as practiced as if he were picking cabbages in his own vegetable patch.

Watching from the side, Dugu Bo's heart pounded with alarm. "Y-you could leave a few, couldn't you? These Immortal Herbs have been growing here for at least a thousand years..."

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) did not even turn his head. "Leave them for Tang San? Not a chance."

Dugu Bo: "Who is Tang San?"

Cheng Ran (Qian Renxue) replied casually, "A seasoned herb thief! I suggest you put up a sign that says-"

He paused and raised his head. "No Entry for Tang San and Dogs!"

The corner of Dugu Bo's mouth twitched. He thought this girl must have some deep-seated grudge against this "Tang San."

Once the herbs had been plucked, Qian Renxue suddenly shuddered, and in the next instant, Qian Renxue herself returned to her body.

Cheng Ran grumbled within her mind: It's such a pain when it isn't your own body. I only played around for a little while, and my Spiritual Power has bottomed out again. You take over from here.

Cheng Ran was at ease. Qian Renxue had spent six years undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire, maneuvering among the powerful figures at court. The ability to speak a human's language to humans and a ghost's language to ghosts had long since been carved into her bones.

Socializing was child's play to her.

He was the exact opposite. Even at the risk of Qian Renxue laughing at him, this Evil God was actually socially anxious.

Seeing Qian Renxue suddenly fall silent, Dugu Bo was puzzling over it when she turned toward the distance and called out clearly, "Grandpa, you can come out now!"

At the entrance to the valley, an aged yet imposing figure slowly emerged, his white hair streaming and his gaze like lightning.

He did not deliberately release any pressure, yet the aura of a level 99 Peerless Douluo surrounded him like the very presence of heaven and earth-silent and imperceptible, yet weighing like ten thousand tons.

Dugu Bo's pupils abruptly contracted, and the hairs on his back stood on end.

That aura was unfathomable.

A Peerless Douluo. He was definitely a Peerless Douluo!

Instinctively, he stepped in front of Dugu Yan, his Soul Power circulating wildly as the phantom of his Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Martial Soul flickered behind him.

Yet the figure merely gave him a calm glance, showing no hostility, and walked straight toward Qian Renxue.

"Xue'er, have you finished your business?" Qian Daoliu asked gently.

Dugu Bo's mind buzzed.

Had Qian Renxue just called this level 99 Peerless Douluo "Grandpa"?

In other words, this old man had been watching from the shadows from the very beginning.

From start to finish, Dugu Bo had believed he was negotiating with a little girl at level 50, when in reality, he had been throwing his weight around right under the eyes of a level 99 Peerless Douluo.

If he had harbored murderous intent just now...

Dugu Bo's back was instantly drenched in cold sweat.

For the first time, he understood what it meant to "take a walk past the gates of death."

Qian Renxue noticed Dugu Bo's tension and smiled faintly. "Senior Dugu Bo, there's no need to be nervous. This is Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined, the Peerless Douluo Qian Daoliu. He is also my grandfather."

She paused, her tone composed. "He was merely protecting me from the shadows. He won't do anything to you. You serve me now. With me here, Grandpa won't make things difficult for you."

Those words combined a soft touch with a hard hand.

First, she revealed Qian Daoliu's name and identity. That was raw power, telling him just how formidable the mountain backing her was.

Then she said he was also her grandfather. That was an appeal to closeness, implying that Qian Daoliu would not strike without cause.

The final line, "You serve me now," offered protection.

The unspoken meaning was that since he had joined her, she would protect him.

An old hand as shrewd as Dugu Bo immediately heard the notes between the strings.

As a Titled Douluo who had traveled far and wide, what sort of situation had he not encountered?

Yet now, faced with the methods this fifteen-year-old girl employed in just a few words, he actually felt as though she had seen right through him.

Dugu Bo swallowed, his attitude changing abruptly as he bowed and clasped his hands. "This junior, Dugu Bo, pays his respects to Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu! Dugu Bo thanks the Young Master for the kindness of recruiting me!"

Qian Daoliu gave a slight nod, a measure of scrutiny in his gaze. But seeing that Qian Renxue had already spoken on Dugu Bo's behalf, he did not make things difficult for him.

Dugu Bo secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He suddenly felt that agreeing to serve her just now might have been the best decision of his life.

Seeing Dugu Bo's thoroughly deferential manner, Qian Renxue could not help laughing. "Senior Dugu Bo, I still prefer that wild, untamable look you had earlier."

Dugu Bo gave an awkward smile. "You must be laughing at me, Young Master."

Cheng Ran: *??*

You even learned that meme? It's over. I've accidentally raised a monster.