A month later, Dugu Bo arrived.
Training had just ended that afternoon, and Feng Lingtian was tidying up the medicinal herbs for the medicinal baths beside the training grounds. An old man in a dark green robe entered through the gate, walking slowly, yet every footstep fell without a sound. His gray-white hair was tied behind his head. His face was thin, his eye sockets slightly sunken, and his pupils jade green, like two pieces of cold emerald.
Feng Lingtian had just raised his head when Feng Xiaotian's expression changed sharply behind him. He seized his younger brother's shoulder, his voice turning shrill with utter shock. "That green robe... those jade-green pupils... and this suffocating poisonous pressure..."
Feng Xiaotian stared fixedly at the old man, his pupils contracting violently. Almost instinctively, he stepped sideways, shielding Feng Lingtian completely behind him.
"It's Poison Douluo?!"
The words exploded across the training grounds like a thunderclap. Zhong Yue, Bai Yu, and the others instantly turned deathly pale. Their martial souls, which they had hesitated to summon, were unleashed at full strength in an instant. A tortoise shell, wind chimes, and twin sickles appeared protectively before them, and everyone trembled. This was a Titled Douluo! An existence standing at the pinnacle of the Soul Master World!
Dugu Bo turned a deaf ear to Feng Xiaotian's cry. His gaze passed over Feng Xiaotian's trembling back and landed squarely on Feng Lingtian. It seemed to carry tangible weight, pressing down so heavily that it was hard to breathe.
"You're Feng Lingtian?" The old man's voice was quiet, yet carried an unquestionable authority.
Feng Lingtian stood behind his older brother. Though half his view was blocked, he keenly caught a barely perceptible trace of weariness and scrutiny in the old man's eyes. Only killing intent was absent.
Feng Lingtian steadied himself and gently patted Feng Xiaotian's taut back, his tone as calm as though he were merely discussing the weather. "Brother, it's all right. Senior Poison Douluo won't make things difficult for me. He should be here about Dugu Yan."
Feng Xiaotian froze. He glanced back at his younger brother's composed eyes, then at the old man, who had made no move. Though full of doubts, his body's instincts still made him slowly step aside, yet he remained poised to lunge forward at any moment.
Seeing Feng Xiaotian retreat half a step, the others all breathed sighs of relief, though their nerves remained taut.
Feng Lingtian straightened the hem of his clothes and looked at Dugu Bo again, his expression calm, neither servile nor overbearing.
"Senior, I am Feng Lingtian."
Dugu Bo watched Feng Lingtian in silence for a long time. His jade-green eyes held no emotion, like two ancient, bottomless wells.
"Yan Girl's poison has been suppressed for now." Dugu Bo snorted, his tone somewhat grudging. "Those three pills of yours were of some use."
Feng Lingtian said nothing, merely watching him quietly.
Dugu Bo fell silent for a moment, seemingly waiting for Feng Lingtian's flattery. But seeing the youth's composed expression, he frowned slightly. "What do you want?"
Feng Lingtian drew a deep breath, looked straight into those jade-green serpent eyes, and said earnestly, "Senior, I want the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
The air on the training grounds abruptly turned cold.
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted sharply, and jade-green light suddenly blazed from them. A terrifying pressure erupted from his body, as though an ancient Ferocious Beast had awakened in an instant.
"How do you know about that place?" Dugu Bo's voice was extremely low, carrying chilling killing intent.
Feng Lingtian stood his ground beneath the immense pressure, not retreating so much as half a step. "My mother came from the Speed Family. The texts our ancestors left behind recorded a place on the continent where blazing fire and freezing ice coexist. Poisonous miasma surrounds it year-round, making it impossible for ordinary Soul Masters to approach. According to those texts, only someone who has cultivated a poison-type martial soul to an extremely high level can remain in such an environment for long."
Feng Lingtian looked at Dugu Bo. "Senior, your Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor is unrivaled beneath the heavens. If the place described in those texts has an owner, it could only be you."
Dugu Bo's jade-green pupils contracted slightly. The pressure did not dissipate, but it stopped intensifying.
"A medicinal herb growing there can help the Jade Phosphorous Serpent resolve the poison in its martial soul origin," Feng Lingtian continued. "The Clear Pivot Turbidity-Transforming Pill only suppresses it temporarily, slowly removing the accumulated poison. It cannot stop newly produced poison. To cure it completely, we still need to find that herb."
Dugu Bo watched Feng Lingtian, complicated glimmers churning in his jade-green eyes. He had hidden that place for so many years and had never allowed an outsider to set foot inside. Yet this youth said there was an herb there that could cure Yan Girl completely.
Dugu Bo remained silent for a very long time. Long enough for the pressure over the training grounds to vanish completely, long enough for Feng Xiaotian and the others to collapse to the ground, gasping for breath.
Dugu Bo turned and walked out of the training grounds. At the gate, he paused, his back to everyone, and spoke in a low, hoarse voice:
"I need to think about it. I'll return in three days."
With that, Dugu Bo's figure disappeared through the gate.
Feng Xiaotian's legs went weak, and he nearly sank to the ground. Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he rushed over and grabbed Feng Lingtian's shoulders. "You scared me to death just now! That was a Titled Douluo! You actually dared negotiate with him? But what did he mean by that last remark? What is he hesitating over?"
Feng Lingtian gazed in the direction Dugu Bo had disappeared, his tone certain. "He's hesitating between continuing to guard the precious cultivation site he's hidden for years and making an exception to let someone enter for his granddaughter's life. After all, once the site is exposed, there'll be too many people and prying eyes. That would be a tremendous risk for him too."
Feng Xiaotian paused, then frowned. "Then what do you think he'll choose?"
Feng Lingtian nodded and said softly, "I'm taking a gamble this time too, trying my luck to see whether Dugu Bo's tender love for his granddaughter will make him grant me an exception."
Three days later, Dugu Bo arrived.
This time, Dugu Bo strode into the training grounds with quick steps, a lingering chill clinging to him. Uncontainable agitation churned in his jade-green pupils, and he did not even wait for Feng Lingtian to speak.
"Something happened to Yan Girl!"
Dugu Bo's voice was hurried and hoarse. "The poison suddenly flared up last night, more violently than ever before! All the poison your three pills suppressed surged back at once. I went looking for you before dawn, and your father said you were at the training grounds."
Dugu Bo stared fixedly at Feng Lingtian. For the first time, the coldness was gone from his jade-green eyes, leaving only an almost frantic urgency. "I'll take you to that place right now. We must find the herb you mentioned as quickly as possible!"
Feng Lingtian's expression turned grave. He immediately straightened, without the slightest hesitation, and said solemnly, "All right. Let's leave at once."
Dugu Bo turned and left, and Feng Lingtian followed closely. Dugu Bo led him out of Godwind Academy and headed north. The night was deep, and Dugu Bo moved so fast that Feng Lingtian almost had to use Gale Flash Step to keep up.
One behind the other, they raced through the night for nearly four hours. Upon reaching a secluded inn beside the main road, Dugu Bo finally stopped.
"Let's go inside and rest a moment."
Dugu Bo pushed the door open first. The inn was deserted except for a waiter dozing over a table behind the counter. Startled awake by the door opening, he looked up, saw Dugu Bo's gloomy face, and shuddered in fright before scrambling into the back room.
Dugu Bo paid him no mind. He went straight to a seat beside the window, gazed out into the pitch-black night, and remained silent for a long time.
Feng Lingtian sat opposite him and poured himself a cup of cold tea without disturbing him.
Only after a long while did Dugu Bo slowly speak, his voice low, as though he were talking to himself rather than Feng Lingtian.
"Yan Girl is twelve this year. From the day she was born, I knew she must have inherited my Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul and would not escape the torment of its backlash either. Her martial soul didn't mutate like mine, so her ability to withstand the backlash is far inferior to mine. From that day on, I searched for a way to spare her this suffering. I've searched for twelve years and tried for twelve years."
Feng Lingtian listened quietly without speaking.
"She was only seven when it first flared up. She curled into a ball on the bed from the pain, biting hard on the corner of her quilt without making a sound. I asked if it hurt, and she shook her head and said it didn't..."
Dugu Bo's voice paused, as though he had sunk into his memories, an unmistakable bitterness seeping into his tone.
"But only after she fell asleep did I discover that she'd bitten three holes right through that thick cotton quilt."
Feng Lingtian's fingers tightened slightly around his teacup.
"Afterward, I stopped looking for healers. I tried things myself. I tested the herbs in that place one by one. Poisonous ones, nonpoisonous ones, those with fierce medicinal properties, those with gentle properties. I tried for twelve years."
Dugu Bo paused, a trace of exhaustion in his voice. "Twelve years, and not once did anything work."
He slowly turned to look at Feng Lingtian. Moonlight spilled through the gaps in the window lattice, illuminating half his face. For the first time, Feng Lingtian saw weariness in Dugu Bo's eyes. Not the authority of a Titled Douluo, not the sinister coldness of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor, but the weariness of a grandfather who had searched for a solution for twelve years and tested medicines for twelve years without succeeding even once.
"I'm not telling you this so you'll pity me." Dugu Bo's voice was quiet, but every word was heavy. "I'm telling you so you understand how important the medicinal herbs in that place are to me. How important they are to Yan Girl."
Dugu Bo looked into Feng Lingtian's eyes. "Search carefully. If you find it, I, Dugu Bo, will owe you a life. If you don't-"
He did not finish. But Feng Lingtian knew what he was going to say.
Feng Lingtian nodded, his voice utterly resolute. "I'll find it."
Dugu Bo watched Feng Lingtian for a long time. The agitation and weariness in his eyes gradually gave way to determination. He rose and tossed a few soul coins onto the table.
"Let's go."
Feng Lingtian stepped forward to follow. He knew perfectly well that Dugu Bo was not threatening him. Rather, a grandfather was placing his granddaughter's hope of survival on his shoulders.
The moonlight spilled fully out from behind the clouds, illuminating the road ahead. Dugu Bo's shadow stretched long beneath it. This time, Feng Lingtian followed with steps even firmer than before.