"Look how stingy you are. It's not as though I won't pay." Dugu Bo reached out and grabbed, pulling the largest fish straight into his hand from a distance.
Xuan Ming said nothing. He sat back down and continued grilling his fish.
"Ptooey!" Dugu Bo took just one bite before spitting it out.
"What kind of rubbish have you grilled?"
"The big fish isn't cooked yet." Xuan Ming ate the small fish in his hand while turning the big fish on the makeshift grill.
Dugu Bo frowned. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"You snatched it yourself. How would I dare say anything?" Xuan Ming said.
Dugu Bo's expression froze. "Give me a cooked one."
Xuan Ming picked up a small, fully grilled fish and handed it to Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo took a tentative bite. "Hard to swallow."
Despite saying that, he swallowed it anyway.
Neither spoke again, each eating on his own. Before long, all the fish on the grill were gone.
Most of them went into Xuan Ming's stomach. Ever since his Black Dragon martial soul had fully awakened, his appetite had grown larger and larger. These eight fish would only have taken the edge off his hunger to begin with, yet now Dugu Bo had snatched half of them away.
"Can I leave now?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Brew three more batches of medicine tomorrow, and you can leave." Dugu Bo closed his eyes and continued circulating his power to heal his injuries.
"Are you a Soul Master?" Xuan Ming asked.
"I am the Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo," Dugu Bo said calmly.
"Oh."
"..."
Dugu Bo opened his eyes. Seeing Xuan Ming's complete lack of reaction, he inexplicably felt a little annoyed. "Have you never heard my name?"
"I have. Poison Douluo. Didn't you just say it?" Xuan Ming said.
Dugu Bo choked on his words and closed his eyes again, unwilling to bother with this country boy who had never seen the world.
"Did someone beat you up?" Xuan Ming asked.
"There were two of them. I couldn't defeat them," Dugu Bo said.
"Why did they beat you up?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Did you provoke them?"
"Hmph!" Dugu Bo snorted coldly. An invisible surge of Soul Power suddenly spread outward, nearly snuffing out the campfire.
"I'm an idle cloud and a wild crane, rarely involving myself in worldly affairs. Why would I provoke them?"
"They were the ones who came looking for trouble!"
"Oh." Xuan Ming added some wood to the fire.
They beat Dugu Bo this badly, and it was two against one. Most likely Yue Guan and Gui Mei from Spirit Hall...
No!
Xuan Ming instinctively glanced at Dugu Bo.
He remembered that Dugu Bo yielded to neither persuasion nor force. Narrow-minded, he left no future trouble behind when he acted, always cutting the weeds out by the roots. He cared nothing for appearances and had no qualms about bullying the young as an elder. When faced with someone who might threaten him, his first reaction was to snuff them out.
In the original story, Tang San would have been killed by Dugu Bo long ago if Tang Hao had not been his father.
Now this old poisoner was being hunted by Yue Guan and Gui Mei, and he was badly injured. Would he risk having his whereabouts exposed by letting me leave alive?
After thinking it over, Xuan Ming spoke tentatively. "Senior, you're a Soul Master. Can you teach me to cultivate?"
Dugu Bo lifted his left eyelid slightly and glanced at Xuan Ming. "You have rank-ten Soul Power, but you don't know how to cultivate?"
Xuan Ming shook his head. "I don't."
"You don't?" Dugu Bo opened both eyes.
"Did you just awaken?"
"Yes." Xuan Ming nodded.
Dugu Bo paused. "Come here."
Somewhat nervous, Xuan Ming rose and walked over.
Dugu Bo suddenly raised his hand and seized Xuan Ming's wrist. After probing him, his expression changed slightly.
His bone age was just right, and his Soul Power circulated in fits and starts. He really had never cultivated.
Innate full Soul Power at rank ten?
At that thought, something else entered Dugu Bo's gaze as he looked at Xuan Ming. "Where are you from?"
"White Feather Village, Aolai City," Xuan Ming said.
"Aolai City?" Dugu Bo frowned slightly.
"We're at least three days' walk from Aolai City. How did someone who just awakened his martial soul end up here?"
"I was sold," Xuan Ming said.
"I just escaped."
"Sold?" Dugu Bo raised his eyebrows.
"Tell me."
Xuan Ming sat down and briefly told Dugu Bo what had happened to him since his Martial Soul Awakening.
"Two thousand Gold Soul Coins?" Dugu Bo couldn't help laughing.
"Do you think it's funny that I was sold?" Xuan Ming asked.
"I'm laughing because that patrol deacon from Spirit Hall didn't know the value of his goods. With looks like yours, you would fetch at least two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins at the imperial city's auction house, yet he sold you dirt cheap for two thousand," Dugu Bo said.
"Still, it's normal for country folk in the borderlands not to recognize valuable goods."
The chances of a body mutating during Martial Soul Awakening and taking on an appearance different from ordinary people were extremely low. Thus, people like that were like rare treasures, something to collect and show off.
This boy's Martial Soul Mutation was so unusual, and his looks were top-class too. He really could fetch a good price.
Xuan Ming looked at Dugu Bo, somewhat speechless. "You aren't thinking of selling me too, are you?"
"I'm a dignified Titled Douluo. Such trifling worldly wealth is beneath my notice. However..." Dugu Bo examined Xuan Ming carefully.
He really does have good looks and talent. Even in such danger, he thought to sow discord and seek a way out for himself. He has a good head on his shoulders too.
The part about turning the tables and killing a Soul Grandmaster was somewhat exaggerated, but it wasn't impossible.
Yanzi isn't that young anymore. She's a few years older than this boy, but if I took him back now and raised him...
"Copy my posture and sit cross-legged," Dugu Bo said.
Xuan Ming obediently did as instructed.
"Close your eyes, clear away stray thoughts, concentrate, and feel the flow of Soul Power inside you," Dugu Bo said.
"Then what?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Focus your will and guide the flow of Soul Power. Make it move faster," Dugu Bo said.
Xuan Ming concentrated, following Dugu Bo's instructions and focusing his will to guide and accelerate the flow of Soul Power within him.
"Nothing seems to have changed."
"This is your first time. What's the hurry?" Dugu Bo said.
"Focus your mind on a single point and guide your Soul Power through your whole body."
"Your Soul Power will travel along the meridians in your body, but some meridians are fragile or narrow. It will be very difficult for Soul Power to pass through those places. When you encounter them, you must go around them. Otherwise, the slightest carelessness will damage your meridians."
"Everyone has a different martial soul, and the innate routes of their Soul Power differ too. When circulating Soul Power, follow the feeling of your martial soul. That's the easiest method for beginners. Don't change routes recklessly, unless you want your Soul Power to clash, reverse its flow through your meridians, and make your body explode!"
"Also, if you take a shortcut at a fork and end up back at that fork, choose another direction from there until you find a route that travels through your whole body. This is the most basic meditation cultivation for Soul Masters."
Chapter 6: Don't Drag Me Down
Early the next morning.
Xuan Ming opened his eyes after his first night of cultivation, feeling much less obstructed throughout his body.
"You have good talent," Dugu Bo said calmly.
"Talent?" Xuan Ming looked puzzled.
"What do you mean? Isn't talent determined by your Innate Soul Power rank?"
"Talent encompasses far too much. Innate Soul Power is merely its most superficial aspect," Dugu Bo said.
"The efficiency with which Soul Power circulates during cultivation determines a Soul Master's cultivation speed."
"As for Innate Soul Power, it represents the upper limit of a Soul Master's cultivation potential. Just as a fountain cannot rise higher than its source, a Soul Master's cultivation cannot surpass the limits of his potential."
"Can that potential be changed?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Of course," Dugu Bo said.
"Many rare treasures can change a Soul Master's cultivation potential. However, every medicine is three parts poison, and every advantage has its disadvantage. Although those things can improve a Soul Master's cultivation potential, they also bring certain side effects."
"Besides, a Soul Master's cultivation is like building a house. Potential is the foundation. When construction has just begun, altering the foundation isn't particularly difficult, but once the house has grown tall, the foundation becomes hard to change."
"The earlier those treasures that improve talent are used, the better their effects."
"If used too late, they won't be much use."
"Oh..." Xuan Ming nodded.
"What do you mean, 'oh'? It's daylight. Hurry up and brew the medicine!" Dugu Bo snorted coldly.
"Oh."
After all the running around, another day passed. Evening came, and Dugu Bo drank the final bowl of medicine.
Xuan Ming could tell that Dugu Bo's injuries were healing faster and faster, because his presence was becoming increasingly unfathomable, without that sense of forcing himself to hold on from before.
The medicines in this old poisoner's brocade pouch were all precious healing remedies.
Hum!
An invisible surge of Soul Power suddenly burst outward, snuffing out the fire outright and sending Xuan Ming, who had been meditating nearby, flying.
Dugu Bo opened his eyes and stood up, a cold green light flickering in his eyes.
"Your injuries have healed?" Xuan Ming walked back, somewhat speechless.
"Seventy or eighty percent," Dugu Bo said.
Without this boy's help brewing medicine, it would have taken at least three more days before his injuries allowed him to move.
If Yue Guan and Gui Mei caught up while he was healing, he would have to forcefully circulate his power. If things went badly, the backlash poison in his body would flare up.
"Then can I leave now?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Leave?" Dugu Bo turned his head, his hands behind his back.
"I taught you to cultivate, so I can count as the one who guided you onto this path. And you want to leave?"
His meaning was obvious. Boy, I'm a Titled Douluo. Becoming my disciple is a blessing earned over three lifetimes!
Get on with it!
"Aren't you being hunted right now?" Xuan Ming said.
"If I stay with you, wouldn't I drag you down?"
If not for the matter of Yue Guan and Gui Mei hunting Dugu Bo, he would have climbed right up the pole offered to him.
But right now, those two were hunting Dugu Bo. Titled Douluo!
If they caught up, would Dugu Bo be able to spare any attention for me?