Dugu Bo's Curiosity

Ye Lingling opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Seeing her like that, Ye Qingxian suddenly chuckled. "What, you don't want me to?"

"No, that's not it..."

"Then why the face?"

"I just think... he might not care much about that."

"Whether he cares is his business. Whether I invite him is mine." Ye Qingxian stood, walked over to her daughter and patted her shoulder. "Besides, your mother wants to see what kind of young genius he is too, doesn't she?"

Ye Lingling said nothing.

"All right, all right, enough about that." Ye Qingxian smiled and waved a hand. "Go get some rest. Remember to invite him over later. Your mother may not have any great abilities, but cooking up a table full of good food is no problem."

Ye Lingling stood up, but when she reached the door, Ye Qingxian called her back.

"Lingling."

"Hmm?"

"After you swallowed the core of the Spirit-Concentrating Tranquil Heart Orchid, did you notice any other changes besides your body getting better?"

Ye Lingling thought for a moment. "My Soul Power circulates a little more smoothly than before, and Nine Heart Begonia's Healing effect has grown a little stronger. Other than that, nothing."

Ye Qingxian nodded and asked no more. She only said, "I see... never mind. Go get some rest."

After Ye Lingling left, Ye Qingxian sat alone in the main hall and reopened the old booklet. She turned to a particular page, rested a finger on a line of text and studied it for a long time.

The line read: The core of the Spirit-Concentrating Tranquil Heart Orchid can calm the mind and stabilize the spirit, suppressing all harmful external influences. If used in harmony with Nine Heart Begonia, it may alleviate the affliction of a withering bloodline.

Ye Qingxian scratched a faint line beneath the words "may alleviate" with her fingernail.

She closed the booklet and murmured to herself, "It seems this was ultimately just our ancestor's wishful thinking. If the Nine Heart Begonia lineage's problem could really be alleviated so easily, would it have remained unsolved until today?"

Her daughter's risky attempt this time had unexpectedly confirmed their ancestor's conjecture, but there had been no further gains. Her body had merely improved somewhat.

There was no telling how much longer it would take to completely cure the Nine Heart Begonia's problem.

Elsewhere, Dugu Yan was sitting beneath the covered walkway, munching on a bunch of grapes, when a gust of wind suddenly blew in over the courtyard wall, carrying a faint, fishy-sweet scent.

Dugu Yan's nose twitched. She stopped eating her grapes, turned and ran toward the courtyard gate.

Sure enough, an old man with dark green hair was sauntering in from outside. He wore a plain, drab gray robe, with a bulging cloth bag hanging from his waist.

"Grandpa!"

Dugu Yan rushed over in great strides and threw her arms around Dugu Bo's arm.

Dugu Bo staggered slightly from the impact. "Hey, hey, hey, how old are you now? Still acting like this," he said, but he had already raised a hand to pat his granddaughter on the head. The wrinkles on his face spread with his smile; he was clearly overjoyed.

"Did you miss Grandpa?"

"I did." Dugu Yan tilted her head back, grinning. "Where did you go this time? You left before I went out, and you're only just coming back now."

"Don't ask. I went looking for something good." Dugu Bo patted the cloth bag at his waist. "I nearly got into a fight with a fifty-thousand-year Scarlet Flame Golden Suanni Beast. That beast was guarding the herb and refused to budge, so I lay in wait for three days before I got my chance."

"What happened in the end?"

"In the end, your grandpa won, of course." Dugu Bo raised his chin, looking very pleased with himself. "How could that beast be a match for your grandpa?"

"Grandpa's the best."

Dugu Yan obligingly clapped twice, making Dugu Bo even more pleased with himself. He set the cloth bag down beneath the covered walkway and pulled his granddaughter down to sit with him. "Come, come, let Grandpa have a look. Did you lose any weight on your Soul Hunting trip?"

He squeezed Dugu Yan's arm, then looked at her face and nodded. "Good, you haven't lost weight, and your complexion looks quite good. Looks like that Qin Ming didn't drag you into any unnecessary trouble when he took you out."

"Teacher Qin Ming treats us pretty well." Dugu Yan's eyes turned as she spoke. "Oh, right, Grandpa, I have something to tell you."

"Hmm?"

"We have a new member on our team."

"A new member?" Dugu Bo picked up the tea a maid had brought him and took a sip. He asked casually, "Hasn't your Imperial Fighting Team been around for less than half a year? You're adding another member already? Did the academy scout someone?"

"The academy didn't scout him. We met him in the Star Dou Great Forest." Dugu Yan counted on her fingers as she spoke. "He broke through to rank thirty at just ten years old, and his Second Soul Ring is already a thousand-year one. He's much more of a genius than any of us."

Dugu Bo's hand paused with the teacup in it.

"Ten years old?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Rank thirty?"

"Mm-hmm."

Dugu Bo set his teacup on the table and glanced at his granddaughter. "Yanyan, are you pulling Grandpa's leg?"

"Why would I lie to you? You can just go to the academy later and see for yourself."

Dugu Bo said nothing, tapping his fingers lightly on the table twice.

With all his experience, what hadn't he seen in this world? But rank thirty at ten years old, plus a thousand-year second ring...

All right, he really hadn't seen that before.

"What's that boy's name?"

"Lin Qingchen."

"Lin Qingchen..." Dugu Bo smacked his lips. "Nothing particularly special about that name. Whose child is he? From the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family? Or the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? Neither seems right..."

"Neither. He said his parents were both gone, and he was born a commoner."

"A commoner?" Dugu Bo raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Born a commoner, rank thirty at ten, and a thousand-year second ring. With talent like that, even those great families would cherish him like a treasure, yet he's a commoner?"

"That's why I said he was amazing." Dugu Yan added with a grin, "And he's good-looking too, better-looking than both Yu Tianheng and Yu Feng."

Dugu Bo glanced at his granddaughter, his old eyes narrowing. "Yanyan, you're saying a bit much."

"I was just saying."

"Just saying?" Dugu Bo snorted. "Your grandpa's lived all these years. What can't I see through? Even the look in your eyes changes when you mention this Lin Qingchen."

"Grandpa!"

"All right, all right, I won't say any more." Dugu Bo waved a hand. Though he said he wouldn't say more, he added, "But since you've said all that, Grandpa does want to go and see for himself what this common-born boy is really made of."

"You're going to the academy?"

"What, you don't welcome an old man like me?"

"Of course you're welcome. You can help me save some face while you're there." Dugu Yan immediately put on a smile and leaned over to massage Dugu Bo's shoulders. "The academy is going to hold a student competition later, so you can go and watch."

With that, she turned and ran off.

Watching his granddaughter run into the distance, Dugu Bo frowned.

"Hmph. I'd like to see where this boy came from, to make my Yanyan pay him so much attention."