Hearing Tang San's speculation, Dugu Bo sighed and said, "Ah, you brat. I really don't know how the Clear Sky Sect managed to raise a freak like you. Your insight is terrifying."
Dugu Bo admitted straightforwardly, "You're right. Just as you guessed, back then when I needed to obtain a Spirit Ring, I hired a powerful Soul Master to help me hunt one in this Spirit Beast forest. Although we succeeded in hunting the Spirit Beast and obtaining the Spirit Ring, the Soul Master's Soul Power exposure attracted pursuit from an extremely powerful Spirit Beast. Through misfortune came fortune, and I ended up in this place."
"After that, I cultivated here continuously, consuming some special medicinal and poisonous herbs, which eventually allowed my Martial Soul to evolve into the Jade Serpent Emperor."
Tang San naturally wouldn't tell Dugu Bo that it wasn't the Clear Sky Sect's teachings but the Rakshasa God cheating.
[Martial Soul: Jade Serpent Emperor (Incomplete)]
[Soul Power: Level 91]
Dugu Bo sighed deeply, "Because I rushed things back then, although I successfully broke through to become a Titled Douluo, my Soul Power has been stuck at level 91 ever since."
Dugu Bo was inherently deficient to begin with. Under normal circumstances, it would have been nearly impossible for him to become a Titled Douluo. He had defied fate, but only halfway—now stuck in limbo.
Tang San patted Dugu Bo's shoulder and said, "Then you're lucky to have met me. Curing the poison in your body is both difficult and not difficult. All you need is for your Martial Soul to fully complete its evolution, and the toxins in your body will be absorbed by it."
"The reason you've accumulated toxins is because your Martial Soul is still incomplete. During cultivation, slight traces of poison leak out, and over time, it's led to your current condition."
Hearing Tang San propose a solution, joy surfaced on Dugu Bo's face. "You have a way to complete the evolution of my Martial Soul?"
"Fortunately, you have these medicinal herbs. It might just take a bit longer, but it's not a big issue," Tang San said seriously.
"Whatever you need, I'll prepare it immediately."
"No rush. It's getting late, and I'm a bit tired. Let's rest for the night and discuss it tomorrow at dawn."
Dugu Bo looked puzzled—hadn't he just woken up? Now he wanted to sleep again! But Dugu Bo could wait one more night, so he led Tang San back into the cave.
After closing the door, Tang San summoned the Rakshasa God Trial interface once more.
"As expected, you're not even trying to hide it anymore," Tang San muttered as he read the new trial content. The Rakshasa God wasn't even pretending now.
[Additional God Trial: Offer one Immortal Fruit 'Blood Essence Demon Fruit' and two bottles each of Icefire Spring Water. Reward: God-given Spirit Ring*1. Penalty: None.]
The moment Tang San saw the Blood Essence Demon Fruit, he had guessed the Rakshasa God would assign him an additional trial. The Blood Essence Demon Fruit was renowned as an Immortal Fruit capable of reviving the dead and regenerating flesh—as long as one still had breath, no matter how severe the injury, it could rapidly heal wounds.
And right now, the Rakshasa God precisely needed such an Immortal Fruit to regenerate flesh and blood. After all, Spirit Bones and marrow alone weren't enough—new flesh and blood had to grow as well.
Tang San looked at the contents of the God Trial. This time, he didn't even consider bargaining because he knew the residual will of the Rakshasa God understood that haggling with Tang San was pointless. Although the Rakshasa God was a deity, it was currently the one seeking Tang San's help. In terms of their relationship, Tang San wasn't like other God Trial candidates begging for divine favor—he was a human capable of aiding a god.
Thus, the Rakshasa God opted to negotiate with Tang San with the utmost sincerity, implicitly signaling that this was its final and most generous offer.
"One Immortal Fruit and two bottles of spring water in exchange for a God-given Spirit Ring... I'm not really at a loss. After all, the Blood Essence Demon Fruit is a healing-type Immortal Grade Herb I don't urgently need—at most, it can serve as a life-saving measure. It's better used to enhance my strength." After careful consideration, Tang San deemed the trade worthwhile, especially since the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well still held many other Immortal Grade Herbs.
"The offering can wait. Harvesting the Blood Essence Demon Fruit now would be too hasty. If it provokes Dugu Bo's displeasure, complications might arise. I'll detoxify him first—there will be plenty of time later."
From then on, Tang San became extremely busy. Though he had regained some memories of the Tang Sect through the Soul Guidance Device and had received comprehensive teachings from the Breaking Clan in his youth, as the Young Sect Master, he rarely engaged in medical treatment or herb preparation.
For three whole months, Tang San meticulously analyzed Dugu Bo's Martial Soul, poisoned blood, and Soul Power while thoroughly familiarizing himself with the herbs surrounding the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"Old Poison, what are you hesitating for? Jump in already." Tang San watched Dugu Bo standing indecisively by the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, feeling somewhat exasperated.
Dugu Bo frowned at the Frigid Yin Spring and Blazing Yang Spring before him—one icy, the other scorching. "Kid Tang, you're not tricking me into diving in so you can kill me and monopolize this treasure trove, are you?"
It suddenly dawned on Dugu Bo that he might have miscalculated. Why hadn't he considered earlier that Tang San might want him dead? Now, the boy was asking him to plunge into these springs. Even he couldn't endure prolonged immersion in the Icefire Spring Water—even a Titled Douluo would perish.
Rolling his eyes, Tang San said, "I've already explained the method. Your Martial Soul has completed most of its evolution—only the final step remains, which requires combating poison with poison. Your Martial Soul evolved by sampling ninety-eight toxic herbs here, but it lacks the two most potent Immortal Grade poisonous herbs: the Blazing Apricot Tender Shoot and the Eight-Horned Profound Ice Herb."
Through his research, Tang San had deduced the method behind Dugu Bo's Martial Soul evolution. Dugu Bo had emulated Shennong's legendary tasting of a hundred herbs. However, he had never consumed the two most powerful Immortal Grade poisonous herbs—not out of cowardice, but because he knew attempting to ingest them would be fatal. Dugu Bo had no knowledge of these herbs, let alone how to safely consume them.
"The toxicity of these two Immortal Grade herbs is too extreme. I used small amounts of their extracts as catalysts, combined with forty-nine poisonous herbs and sixty-four medicinal herbs, to refine the Icefire Duality Pill. This will compensate for the deficiency in your evolution."
"But normally, using poison to fight poison is courting death. You need special power to protect your body from being poisoned to death. So after taking the Icefire Duality Pill, you must soak at the junction of the springs, using the ice poison and fire poison of the springs to neutralize the toxins and prevent yourself from being poisoned. After forty-nine days, your Martial Soul evolution will be complete."
Dugu Bo had heard these words several times already. Rationally, he knew this made sense—to complete the evolution, he truly needed the power of those last two immortal-grade poisonous herbs.
"Old Poison, what are you afraid of? I've even allowed you to plant poison inside me. If anything happens to you, I'll be your backup, alright?" That's what Tang San said, but he was currently standing within the Secluded Fragrance Kirin Gauze's protective barrier. As long as he remained inside, the toxins would be suppressed—meaning even if Dugu Bo really died, his poison would be useless against Tang San.
(End of Chapter)