Three days later, Feng Qingxuan brought back news.
Meng Shenji had replied that Dugu Yan's poison backlash had been flaring up more frequently than before, and Heaven Dou Royal Academy's medicinal garden could no longer come up with any new prescriptions to ease her suffering. If Godwind Academy had a solution, Meng Shenji was willing to arrange a meeting. It was set for five days later, at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Feng Lingtian inspected the three Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pills again. The silvery-white markings on their surfaces remained distinct, and none of their medicinal potency had been lost.
Five days later, Feng Qingxuan took Feng Lingtian to Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Heaven Dou Royal Academy was much larger than Godwind Academy. Feng Lingtian followed behind his father, passing through corridor after corridor and past training ground after training ground. The students on the training grounds wore matching pale gold uniforms, with Heaven Dou Royal Academy's badge pinned to their collars. Some took a second look at the blue-green Godwind Academy uniforms Feng Qingxuan and Feng Lingtian wore, but no one said anything.
Meng Shenji waited for them in the vice principal's office. He looked to be in his fifties, with graying hair, and wore a dark blue robe. His gaze lingered on Feng Lingtian for a moment before turning to Feng Qingxuan.
"Did you bring the pills?" Meng Shenji asked.
Feng Qingxuan nodded once. Feng Lingtian took a small jade bottle from his storage pouch and offered it with both hands. Meng Shenji accepted it, pulled out the stopper, and tipped a Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pill into his palm. The pill was dark green, its surface covered in fine silver markings. Meng Shenji studied it for a while, then returned it to the jade bottle and firmly replaced the stopper.
"That child Dugu Yan has been having severe flare-ups lately. Dugu Bo has tried many methods, but none have worked. If these pills of yours really work, Dugu Bo will owe you a favor. But if they don't, or if there are any side effects, you know what his temper is like."
Feng Qingxuan said nothing. Neither did Feng Lingtian.
Meng Shenji glanced at Feng Lingtian. "Did you really refine these pills?"
Feng Lingtian nodded once. "I did."
Meng Shenji fell silent for a breath, then stood. "Come with me."
Dugu Yan lived in a small, separate courtyard in the northeast corner of Heaven Dou Royal Academy. The courtyard gate was open. As Meng Shenji led Feng Qingxuan and Feng Lingtian inside, Feng Lingtian caught an exceedingly faint bitter smell. It was not the bitterness of medicinal herbs, but the kind given off by poison accumulated in the blood.
A girl reclined on a lounge chair in the courtyard. She looked fifteen or sixteen, her figure slender, her skin so pale it was almost translucent, and her lips tinged faintly blue-purple. Her eyes were closed, her brows tightly drawn together. It was Dugu Yan.
Meng Shenji walked over to Dugu Yan, bent down, and said a few words in a low voice. Dugu Yan opened her eyes, swept her gaze over Feng Qingxuan and Feng Lingtian, then finally settled on the jade bottle in Meng Shenji's hand.
"Pills brought by Godwind Academy." Meng Shenji handed her the jade bottle. "This young man refined them. He says they can neutralize Martial Soul toxins."
Dugu Yan took the jade bottle. She did not take a pill immediately, merely lowering her head to look at the mouth of the bottle, remaining silent for a long time.
"Does my grandfather know?" Dugu Yan asked.
"I haven't informed Senior Dugu Bo yet," Meng Shenji said.
Dugu Yan tightened her grip on the jade bottle, her knuckles paling slightly. "Don't tell him yet."
Meng Shenji said nothing.
Dugu Yan lowered her head and looked at the jade bottle in her hands. "Over the years, I've lost count of how many medicines Grandpa has found and how many prescriptions he's tried. Every time he gets a new medicine, his eyes light up a little. But every time it fails, the light in his eyes goes out. He doesn't say anything, but I know."
Dugu Yan's voice was very soft. "I don't want to see the light in his eyes go out again."
The courtyard remained quiet for a long time.
Dugu Yan pulled out the stopper. An exceedingly faint, clean, bitter scent spread from the bottle's mouth. It was not the raw bitterness of medicinal herbs, but a very pure, clear bitterness. Like the scent of frost-touched grass on a late autumn morning.
Dugu Yan's fingers trembled slightly.
She had taken many medicines. Every one had its own smell-the earthiness of grass roots, the scorched bitterness of overboiling, the cloying sweetness of a honey coating. But none had ever smelled like this. Pure and clear.
Dugu Yan looked at the bottle's mouth and remained silent for a long time. Then she pushed the stopper back in.
Meng Shenji froze for a moment. "Yan Girl?"
Dugu Yan said nothing. She merely held the jade bottle, her knuckles paling slightly. She wanted to take it, but she was afraid. Afraid this time would be just like the countless times before, afraid the light in her grandfather's eyes would go out once more.
Feng Lingtian saw it.
Feng Lingtian took a step forward. "Dugu Yan, whenever the poison flares up, does the pain start in your dantian, then travel up your spine before finally gathering at the back of your head?"
Dugu Yan suddenly raised her head and looked at Feng Lingtian.
"How do you know?" Dugu Yan's voice trembled slightly.
Feng Lingtian did not answer, but continued, "When it's at its worst, a tendon at the back of your head throbs as if it's about to burst from within. Your hands and feet are ice-cold, but your back burns. Am I right?"
Dugu Yan's eyes had already reddened. She had never described these symptoms in detail to any physician, because every flare-up hurt so much that she could not speak. Yet this young man she had just met had described them without a single word out of place.
"Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison is a poison of the Martial Soul Origin. The toxins circulate with Soul Power, and the path they erode is fixed," Feng Lingtian said. "I can describe your symptoms because I understand this poison. This pill addresses your condition."
Dugu Yan looked at Feng Lingtian. The young man stood before her, his gaze calm. He neither urged her nor made any promises, merely describing her symptoms word by word.
Dugu Yan pulled out the stopper again, tipped out a Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pill, tilted her head back, and swallowed it.
No one in the courtyard spoke. Meng Shenji stood where he was, his fingers unconsciously tightening. Feng Qingxuan stood beside Feng Lingtian without speaking, but Feng Lingtian could feel his father's gaze resting on him.
Feng Lingtian watched Dugu Yan. Her eyes were closed, and the tightly furrowed crease between her brows had not relaxed. Feng Lingtian's fingers tightened slightly.
Time passed little by little. Suddenly, Dugu Yan's breathing changed.
It did not quicken; it deepened. Before, her breathing had been shallow, as though each breath stopped at her chest. But now, her breath sank, all the way into her abdomen, before she slowly exhaled. The tightly furrowed crease between her brows eased a little. Then a little more.
Dugu Yan opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. Her fingers no longer trembled slightly as they had before. For the first time, the chill that seeped from deep within her marrow and tormented her day and night receded!
Dugu Yan's eyes reddened.
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, her shoulders trembling gently. Tears slid between her fingers and fell onto the front of her clothes.
"Grandpa doesn't have to keep searching anymore." Dugu Yan's voice emerged from between her fingers, thick with tears. "He doesn't have to go everywhere begging people for help, or pore over medical books in the middle of the night, or sit alone in his study, staring blankly at those useless prescriptions. He finally doesn't have to keep searching."
Dugu Yan raised her head, tears still on her face, but her eyes were bright. "This medicine really works. In all these years, this is the first time anything has worked so well."
Meng Shenji's expression relaxed for a moment. Feng Qingxuan glanced at Feng Lingtian again.
Dugu Yan took a deep breath, wiped away her tears with her sleeve, stood, and bowed deeply to Feng Lingtian.
"Thank you." Dugu Yan's voice still trembled, but she was utterly earnest.
Feng Lingtian fell silent for a breath. "Three pills make one course of treatment. Take one every seven days. After all three, the poison backlash will ease by at least thirty percent."
Dugu Yan tucked the jade bottle inside her clothes and pressed her palm over it, as though afraid it might fall out. "I'll take them on time."
Meng Shenji led Feng Qingxuan and Feng Lingtian out of the courtyard. As they passed through the gate, Meng Shenji looked back at Feng Lingtian.
"I'll inform Dugu Bo," Meng Shenji said. "Once he sees the change in Yan Girl, he should come looking for you."
Feng Lingtian nodded once.
That evening, Feng Lingtian and his father returned to Godwind Academy. Feng Lingtian did not return to his dormitory, instead sitting on the stone steps beside the training ground. The moonlight was bright, and the training posts cast a row of long shadows across the grounds.
Dugu Yan took the Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pill, and it worked, Feng Lingtian thought. Dugu Bo will definitely come looking for me after this. I'm another step closer to the immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
But the Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pill could only ease the condition, not cure it. Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison was a poison of the Martial Soul Origin. As long as the Martial Soul remained, the toxins would constantly regenerate. Unless the problem of Martial Soul backlash was resolved completely.
Feng Lingtian recalled a cultivation method from novels he had read in his previous life, one that condensed a core within the body to form a self-contained cycle. If Soul Power could be compressed and condensed in the dantian to form a rotating Soul Power core, continually refining away the toxins as they circulated with Soul Power, perhaps the backlash could be eliminated at its root. But this was only a vague idea.
Feng Lingtian stood, brushed the dust from the hem of his clothes, and headed toward the dormitory. I should meet Dugu Bo first before anything else, he thought.