Inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, an elderly man with deep green hair was channeling the well's unique twin energies—ice and fire—to suppress the venom raging within his body.
Sweat covered his aged face, and after a long struggle, Dugu Bo finally managed to suppress the toxin's flare-up.
But his face held no trace of joy.
"Sigh... This place's ability to suppress the Biling Snake venom is growing weaker. I don't know how many more years I can keep this up... And once I'm gone, what will happen to Yan'er?"
He glanced at his granddaughter's emerald-green hair, a sharp reminder of the venom tainting her body—the same telltale sign that once appeared on his son before he passed away not many decades later.
And Dugu Yan's condition was even worse.
As Dugu Bo stood up to leave, he was startled to see that his granddaughter had just entered the cave.
At the Dugu family estate, Dugu Yan pushed open the door and called out,
"Grandpa, I came back to see you!"
Dugu Bo's gloomy expression melted instantly, replaced by a kind and doting smile. He walked up to her, beaming,
"Hahaha, Yan'er, you came to visit your old grandpa!"
Then, he asked curiously,
"Weren't you supposed to be in class today? Why are you back?"
"I asked my teacher for leave to come see you,"
Dugu Yan said, her eyes curving like crescent moons in her smile.
"I want to ask you something."
"What is it? Having trouble with cultivation?"
Dugu Bo clasped his hands behind his back with confidence.
"Ask away. Your grandpa's still a Title Douluo, way more knowledgeable than those teachers of yours."
"Grandpa, you're amazing. But what I want to ask is—"
"Are you poisoned?"
Dugu Bo's smile froze, and he turned his head slowly toward her.
"Who told you that?"
"Who told me?"
Dugu Yan tilted her head.
"Grandpa, I read it in a book. It said our Biling Snake martial soul is inherently flawed—soaked in poison even in the womb. As we cultivate, the toxins accumulate. They harm others, but also ourselves."
"Nonsense."
Dugu Bo waved her off.
"Where'd you read such drivel? Your grandpa is healthy as a horse—definitely not poisoned."
But of course, he knew the truth.
The reason he'd hidden it from Dugu Yan all along was because he didn't want her exposed too early to such a cruel reality. He had wanted her to enjoy a carefree childhood.
Hmph! Whoever told her this, I'm going to find them and have my Nine-Segment Jade bite them once.
Dugu Bo seethed inwardly.
Seeing her grandfather refuse to admit it, Dugu Yan narrowed her eyes and said calmly:
"Grandpa, let me ask you. On cloudy or rainy days, do you feel tingling and itching along both sides of your ribs—gradually getting worse? At noon and midnight, you have attacks, each lasting over an hour, right? And around the third watch of the night, you feel stabbing pain on the top of your head and in the center of your chest. You convulse for at least half an hour, don't you?"
Dugu Bo's pupils shrank—shocked.
"How... how do you know all this?"
"I told you, I read it in a book,"
Dugu Yan replied.
"What book?" Dugu Bo asked urgently.
"The Sea God's Chronicle,"
Dugu Yan said honestly. After all, in her past life, she learned all of this by reading The Life of Sea God Tang San, compiled by Shrek Academy.
She had just omitted Tang San's name this time.
"The Sea God's Chronicle?"
Dugu Bo muttered.
"I don't recall any of our ancestors being related to the Sea God."
Of course you don't, Grandpa, Dugu Yan thought to herself. That Sea God is Tang San—your future confidant, the one you'll treat with sincerity, only to be deceived in return.
"Grandpa, are you poisoned?"
Dugu Bo sighed and finally nodded. She had laid out the symptoms so precisely—there was no point hiding it anymore.
"Do you blame me for keeping it from you?" he asked.
"No,"
Dugu Yan shook her head.
"You didn't want me to lose hope too early. You just wanted to protect me."
"Mhm."
Dugu Bo nodded, a pained look in his eyes.
"But I found a way in that book to treat our Biling Snake venom," she said cheerfully.
"Really? What method?"
Dugu Bo's eyes lit up.
"We just need to acquire a soul bone, and during cultivation, channel the toxins into the soul bone instead of the body."
"So it's possible to do that?"
Dugu Bo was stunned.
"Heavens... If only I'd known sooner. Xin'er might still be..."
His voice choked with sorrow.
But then he frowned.
"If this method existed, why didn't our ancestors pass it down?"
"According to The Sea God's Chronicle, this method is only a temporary fix, not a cure,"
Dugu Yan explained.
"Soul bones can only hold so much poison. Eventually, they become saturated. At best, this method buys us a few extra decades."
"Maybe something happened later that caused the method to be forgotten."
Dugu Bo nodded solemnly.
"I've cultivated with the Biling Snake martial soul for over seventy years. My body is practically fused with the toxins—it's not easy to redirect them. But you, Yan'er, you're still early in the process. This method could work for you. If it gives you a few extra decades of life, it's worth it."
"Grandpa,"
Dugu Yan said softly,
"Actually... there's a way to treat even your condition."
"Oh? What is it?"
Dugu Bo's eyes lit up again.
"In The Sea God's Chronicle, there's mention of a place called the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It's like a treasure spring—not of gold or silver, but for medicinal herbs. One side is icy cold, the other scalding hot. And around it grow many immortal herbs—some of which can cure our Dugu family's poison."
"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?"
Dugu Bo's expression changed.
"No way... The spring I found that helps suppress my venom—is that actually the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?"
As he listened to Dugu Yan's description, Dugu Bo couldn't help but think of the spring he'd been using all along.
Could it really be...?
(End of Chapter)
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