Dugu Bo drew his granddaughter over to sit beside him, his voice gentler than ever before. "Silly girl, what good would telling you have done? It would only have given one more person something to worry about."
He gently wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and smiled. "Besides, haven't we found a solution now?"
Dugu Yan gripped her grandfather's hand tightly. "Then... can that Immortal Herb really cure you?"
"Not me. You!"
Dugu Bo looked at his granddaughter and spoke earnestly.
"Yanyan, as your cultivation increases, you would have faced the same problem, too. But if you take that Mysterious Nether Dragon Saliva Grass..."
"Your Martial Soul might very well evolve, freeing you completely from the danger of poison backlash!"
Dugu Yan's red lips trembled slightly. "Grandpa... you mean..."
"Silly child, at my age, it doesn't matter whether my poison backlash is resolved."
Dugu Bo gently stroked his granddaughter's hair, his eyes filled with affection. "But you're still young. If you can use the Immortal Herb to transform your Martial Soul, you can avoid following in my footsteps."
"No!" Dugu Yan shook her head fiercely, tears spilling from her eyes. "Grandpa has to take the Immortal Herb first! I can wait until later..."
"Nonsense!"
Dugu Bo suddenly put on a stern face. "Mysterious Nether Dragon Saliva Grass is an Immortal Herb. Where would we find a second one?"
What was an Immortal Herb?
The word "immortal" alone said it all.
At that moment, faced with his granddaughter's tear-filled eyes, Dugu Bo refused to soften for the first time. "Yanyan, no matter what, you must be the one to take that Immortal Herb!"
As he spoke, Dugu Bo looked outside the pavilion and cast Yu Yuanzhen a pleading glance.
Seeing this,
Yu Yuanzhen stepped forward to persuade her. "Yanyan, listen to your grandfather."
"Your grandfather is a Titled Douluo with profound cultivation. He can suppress the poison backlash, so his life isn't in danger for now. Once your Martial Soul evolves, perhaps we can find another solution."
Dugu Yan stubbornly shook her head, tears glistening in her eyes. "Grandpa, I'm still young. Poison backlash is still a long way off for me!"
"Nonsense!"
Dugu Bo was so angry that even his beard bristled, but seeing his granddaughter looking like pear blossoms drenched in rain, he could not bring himself to scold her. He could only heave a heavy sigh.
For a moment, the atmosphere inside the pavilion grew stagnant.
Just then,
Yu Tianming, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke. "Perhaps I have a way to help Senior Dugu resolve his poison backlash."
His voice was not loud, but his words landed with ringing weight.
The next moment, everyone's gaze focused on him.
Dugu Yan froze at first, then flung herself into Yu Tianming's arms as though clutching at a lifesaving straw. Tilting her little face up, she asked urgently, "Tianming, what method do you mean? Tell me!"
Yu Tianming looked at the beauty in his arms and gently patted her back. "Don't rush. Let me explain."
Dugu Bo turned to look at him, narrowing his eyes.
"I'm glad you have the heart to help, but forget it. Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Poison has accumulated in my body for decades. How could a child like you possibly resolve it?"
Dugu Bo did not say this out of any prejudice against Yu Tianming.
Quite the opposite,
Dugu Bo was worried that Yu Tianming would fail to deliver on his words, leaving his precious granddaughter even more disappointed and heartbroken...
Yu Yuanzhen also frowned. "Tianming, this is a serious matter. You mustn't make careless claims."
Yu Tianming remained composed, his gaze frank. "Grandpa, Grandpa Dugu, I'm not saying this without grounds."
As he spoke,
He looked at Yu Yuanzhen. "Grandpa, you know that because my Valstrax Martial Soul is special, I have a Dragon Energy Jewel inside my body!"
"The Dragon Energy Jewel is formed from condensed Dragon Element Energy. Not only can it stabilize the circulation of Dragon Energy, it can also convert Dragon Energy."
"When I heard Grandpa Dugu mention the backlash from Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Poison just now, I wondered... since a Dragon Energy Jewel has condensed inside my body, could poison-attribute Soul Power also condense into something similar?"
At this point, Yu Tianming stopped, giving everyone time to think.
In fact,
This so-called "something similar" was a Soul Core.
But the concept of Soul Cores did not yet exist in this era, so Yu Tianming first mentioned the Dragon Energy Jewel his grandfather knew about, keeping it from seeming abrupt.
A moment later,
Dugu Bo finally spoke. "Condensing Soul Power? I've never heard of such a method."
Yu Yuanzhen looked thoughtful. "I know about the Dragon Energy Jewel, but I've never heard of condensing Soul Power into a solid form."
Seeing that the time was about right,
Yu Tianming continued, "It doesn't necessarily have to become solid."
"As long as Grandpa Dugu can condense the poisonous Soul Power accumulated in his body into a similar core, he should be able to gain complete control over the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Poison and no longer suffer its backlash."
Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them.
"You mean... I should compress the poison I've accumulated over my entire life into a Poison Core?"
"You could understand it that way, though I prefer to call it a Soul Core."
Yu Tianming spoke earnestly. "If it succeeds, not only could it resolve the poison backlash, it might even take your cultivation a step further."
Dugu Yan's heart surged as she listened, and she gripped Yu Tianming's hand tightly. "Would it really work?"
Yu Tianming did not answer immediately. Instead, he looked at Dugu Bo. "Theory alone is useless. Only practice can reveal the truth."
Hearing this,
Before Dugu Bo had much of a reaction, Yu Yuanzhen first thought of his own second son-
Yu Xiaogang, who called himself "Grandmaster," was precisely someone obsessed with theory, possessed of extremely poor talent, and neglectful of practice, leaving him deeply disappointed.
Dugu Bo fell silent for a moment before suddenly saying, "I've worked with poison all my life, and I already have a Poison Pill inside me, but its main purpose is to strengthen my foundation and nourish my vitality. Today, I'll try condensing a Soul Core as well."
He had condensed that Poison Pill after becoming a Titled Douluo, and it could not resolve his poison backlash.
Now that he was going to attempt to condense a Soul Core, Dugu Bo had no confidence in success either.
But now that a method had appeared, he had to give it a try.
"I'll try it too."
Without wasting words, Yu Yuanzhen sat cross-legged on the spot and began attempting to compress his Soul Power.
He moved so quickly that Dugu Bo had no time to stop him.
"Old Dragon, why put yourself through this?"
Dugu Bo shook his head with a sigh, then also sat cross-legged and began compressing his Soul Power.
Such a pioneering attempt was bound to be extremely risky. If anything went wrong, no one knew what the consequences would be.
Yu Yuanzhen's willingness to join him moved Dugu Bo.
Yu Yuanzhen and Dugu Bo sat cross-legged, Soul Power surging around them.
Blue-violet lightning shone over Yu Yuanzhen's body, and Soul Power rushed through his meridians like great rivers.
He tried gathering his liquid Soul Power into his dantian, attempting to compress it into a solid state through his powerful spiritual power.
However,
His Soul Power had barely begun to condense before it went out of control like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, violent energy rampaging through his body.
"Ugh..."
Yu Yuanzhen let out a muffled groan, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. He had no choice but to stop.
On the other side,
Dugu Bo's situation was no more promising.
Jade-green poison-attribute Soul Power churned within his body as he tried to condense it into a core, but the poisonous Soul Power was already extraordinarily violent. Even the slightest compression triggered a fierce repulsive reaction.
Dugu Bo's face paled, and cold sweat seeped from his forehead. Clearly, he had failed as well.
Seeing this,
Yu Tianming's gaze shifted as he recalled some details about condensing a Soul Core.