36. The Color of Falling Geese is Autumn

Falling Geese Were the Color of Autumn

When there was too much to do and one stayed busy, time flew by.

When Lin Rong broke through to level twenty, it was the height of summer.

Yet after hunting for a Soul Ring and making the long journey to Star Luo, three months had passed in the blink of an eye.

The blazing heat of July faded, and summer gave way to autumn.

Heaven Dou City, located in the north of the empire, had already taken on the appearance of autumn.

As the imperial capital, Heaven Dou City's streets remained bustling, crowded with people coming and going.

Autumn brought dry weather and cool, gentle breezes.

Pale yellow leaves were stirred by the autumn wind, falling from bare branches and dancing on the breeze, with no one knowing where they would eventually drift.

In the southern district of Heaven Dou City stood Dugu Manor.

A vast maple grove had been planted before and behind the courtyard.

Since the start of autumn, the maple leaves had turned from green to red before finally falling from the trees.

The maple leaves burned crimson like fire. As they covered the courtyard, they resembled brilliant fireworks falling from the sky—spectacular and beautiful.

Dugu Yan strolled through the maple grove, immersed in the sight.

Ever since her grandfather, Dugu Bo, had moved the family here years ago, he had planted maple trees throughout the courtyard, arranging the place to resemble their former home and giving Dugu Yan a sense of warmth.

Every year, when the maple leaves turned red and fell from the sky in droves, the fiery scene before her always reminded her of the most indistinct, yet warmest memories of her childhood.

Her grandfather, Dugu Bo, had once told her

that every generation of the Dugu Clan was born during the season when the maple leaves turned red in autumn, symbolizing the cycle and reincarnation of life.

Dugu Yan herself had been born two months later, at the beginning of the final month of late autumn.

Beneath the setting sun, a flock of geese flew across the sky, migrating south.

Her grandfather had said that geese always migrated in autumn, just as their family was always born in autumn.

Perhaps the color of life was the same.

That was how Dugu Yan had received her name.

Outside the maple grove, Dugu Bo stood silently in the courtyard, lost in thought.

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul had been passed down through the Dugu Clan for generations.

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Venom possessed by this Martial Soul harmed not only others, but its wielder as well.

Ever since the Dugu Clan's ancestor had awakened the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, the Jade Phosphorous Serpent's Lifebound Venom had become a curse the Dugu Clan could never escape.

Moreover, once a wielder of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul began cultivating it, its Lifebound Venom would erode their own body.

This venom could also infect their partner, causing the poison to be inherited by their descendants.

This venom infected them from within the womb. If they did not cultivate the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, its wielder would be too frail to endure the erosion of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Venom and would die young.

Only by cultivating the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul could they hope to live longer.

However, as they cultivated the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, the Lifebound Venom that eroded their bodies would grow stronger as well.

During the early stages of cultivation, they could still rely on Soul Power to suppress the venom within their bodies.

But once the growth of their Soul Power cultivation failed to keep up with the increase of the venom, the poison would flare up and kill them.

This was why generations of the Dugu Clan had never lived long lives.

Dugu Bo, the head of the current generation of the Dugu Clan, possessed sufficient talent to cultivate all the way to the realm of Soul Douluo.

Having reached such a realm, Dugu Bo's suppression of the venom within his body had also reached its limit.

But perhaps fate favored him, allowing Dugu Bo to discover the peerless treasure land known as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

Its environment of extreme cold and extreme heat would kill an ordinary person in short order, as the two opposing auras eroded their body.

Yet for Dugu Bo, who carried deadly venom within him, those auras of extreme cold and extreme heat instead suppressed the poison in his body.

With this fortunate opportunity, although Dugu Bo did not recognize a single one of the peerless immortal herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, a convergence of fate still allowed him to cultivate to the realm of Titled Douluo.

Upon becoming a Titled Douluo, Dugu Bo had fulfilled the pursuit of his life and had no regrets left in this world.

The only person he still worried about was his granddaughter, Dugu Yan.

Dugu Bo's father had died young, as had his only son. Even his daughter-in-law had been eroded by the venom passed to her by his son, leaving this world after giving birth to Dugu Yan.

For the sake of his granddaughter's happiness and freedom, Dugu Bo had kept the Dugu Clan's Martial Soul secret from Dugu Yan.

But paper could not contain fire forever. One day, Dugu Yan would discover the secret of her own martial soul.

Yet that was not what worried Dugu Bo most. There was another matter.

Dugu Yan's cultivation talent was not especially outstanding, and because Dugu Bo had spoiled her since childhood, she had never put much effort into cultivation.

In another two months, Dugu Yan would turn fifteen.

Yet her Soul Power Level was only twenty-nine, barely approaching level thirty.

At this rate, Dugu Yan had no chance of cultivating her soul power to a level sufficient to enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.

Even Dugu Bo could not remain in that environment for long. If Dugu Yan wanted to use the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye to suppress the poison in her body, she needed at least the cultivation of a Soul Saint.

However, due to Dugu Bo's own cultivation, the poison passed down to his descendants had become even more potent.

Given Dugu Yan's current condition, once she reached twenty-five, her soul power would no longer be able to suppress the poison.

As for becoming a Soul Saint at twenty-five, Dugu Bo did not even dare to imagine it.

Thus, Dugu Bo only hoped that his granddaughter could live happily for the limited time she had left. Nothing else mattered anymore.

In two months, on his granddaughter's birthday, he would surely make it a grand celebration and prepare the finest birthday gift.

Perhaps by then, his granddaughter's soul power would also break through to level thirty, bringing double happiness.

Since that was possible, he needed to head to Sunset Forest and capture a snake-type soul beast suitable for his granddaughter's Third Soul Ring.

If his granddaughter truly broke through to level thirty that day, then he could bring out the snake-type soul beast he had captured and give her yet another cause for celebration.

Time passed in a flash, and the season arrived at Mid-Autumn.

The Indian summer came as punctually as it did every year.

The temperature rose again, and the days were sunny and rainless.

During the day, the cool autumn weather became oppressively hot. Yet once night fell, the temperature plummeted rapidly, becoming much colder than it had been in the previous days.

Lin Duke Mansion, Banyan Forest.

Even in late autumn, this place remained evergreen, without a single yellow leaf in sight.

The dense branches and leaves entirely blocked the blazing sun shining from the cloudless sky, leaving the forest pleasantly cool.

"Young Master, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has sent over two items."

Lin Rong followed the Old Butler's hand with his gaze.

On the tray in the Old Butler's hands lay a fan and two golden cards.

"Two Gold Soul Coin cards, each worth one million Gold Soul Coins."

"As for this fan, its body is made from kingfisher feathers, while its handle is crafted from diamond."

A fan made of kingfisher feathers? With a diamond handle?

Lin Rong picked up the fan and held it in his hand, examining it closely.

"I have never seen kingfisher feathers this brilliant and luxurious before. As for the diamond, its quality is average, but if I'm not mistaken, it should be natural diamond from a hundred-year-old Diamond Mammoth."

"Putting those together, could these kingfisher feathers have come from an Emerald Bird?"

Lin Rong's mind raced, and he quickly figured out the key to it all.

"Ning Fengzhi truly is impatient. To test the results, he actually used a Soul Bone to raise Ning Rongrong's soul power to level twenty."

"Moreover, Ning Rongrong's Second Soul Ring came from an Emerald Bird. Its emerald feathers, combined with the natural diamond from a Diamond Mammoth, were used to make this fan."

"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect has no inherited Soul Bones. Who knew how many Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had died at the hands of the Sword and Bone Douluo in order to obtain the Soul Bone Ning Rongrong absorbed?"

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect having no inherited Soul Bones did not mean that it possessed no Soul Bones at all.

For the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, a so-called inherited Soul Bone not only had to match the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in type, but its age also should not be below ten thousand years.

As for exactly how many tens of thousands of years—

Take the Clear Sky Sect as an example.

The Clear Sky Sect's three inherited Soul Bones were all over fifty thousand years old.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could not compare to the Clear Sky Sect, but they should still be no less than thirty thousand years old.