But all of this was just wishful thinking.
Tang Hao didn't even have the courage to adopt Ye Wen as his godson or recruit him as a study companion for Tang San.
Tang Hao knew full well that he couldn't touch Ye Wen's family—and because of that, he had already lost a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
It was a heart-wrenching loss. If things had gone according to his original plan, everything about that hundred-thousand-year soul beast would have belonged to Tang San!
But now it was too late. After hearing about Ye Wen's reputation, Tang Hao snapped out of his drunken stupor. If he continued to neglect Tang San's cultivation, how could Tang San ever rise to fame on the continent and avenge him?
At this moment, the gears of fate began to turn.
Tang Hao decided to teach Tang San the secret techniques of the Hao Tian Hammer earlier than planned, so Tang San could make a name for himself in the upcoming Advanced Soul Master Tournament and build up prestige for future revenge.
As for Yu Xiaogang's fear that Tang Hao would question him after seeing Ye Wen's theory—this was entirely Yu Xiaogang overthinking things.
After all, what use was a theory published by a Soul Grandmaster to a Title Douluo? Tang Hao hadn't even bothered to look at it.
Unaware of Yu Xiaogang's connection with Bibi Dong, Tang Hao mostly viewed him as a tool to lay the foundation for Tang San's training. Hadn't Tang Hao personally taken charge of Tang San's cultivation after the Advanced Soul Master Tournament?
That said, when Tang Hao paid a visit, Yu Xiaogang still broke out in a cold sweat. However, seeing that Tang Hao didn't reprimand him, Yu Xiaogang gradually relaxed and continued maintaining his persona as a "master" spreading knowledge across the continent.
It was only because Tang Hao had been out of touch with the soul master world for so long that he didn't realize the title of "master" was more mockery than praise—a fact even known to the work-study students at Tang San's former beginner academy.
Yet these two eccentric father-and-son figures both fell for Yu Xiaogang's act, genuinely treating him as a master.
Ye Wen, familiar with the original storyline, was certain:
If not for divine intervention later on, whether the genius who absorbed biological soul rings with a plant-type martial soul could break through to Title Douluo status would have remained an open question.
After all, in the later stages, most of the soul rings and skills Tang San cultivated early on were rendered useless. Aside from his domains having some utility, Tang San—the Buddha Emperor—relied solely on the Trident of the Sea God and the Demon Sword of Asura.
Oh, and let's not forget his "god-killing" hidden weapon techniques.
When Tang San saw his long-absent father come to visit him, his icy, aloof persona shattered instantly. Overcome with emotion, tears streamed down his face as he eagerly followed Tang Hao to begin training.
---
Meanwhile, after settling his family matters, Ye Wen could once again fully immerse himself in his research work.
At this moment, Ye Wen was carefully mixing the essence extracted from the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot.
As previously mentioned, these two immortal herbs represented the extremes of ice and fire attributes among plant-type soul beasts. Though they were immortal herbs, consuming either one directly would be akin to poisoning oneself.
However, Ye Wen firmly believed in a principle: in traditional Chinese medicine, there is no such thing as an absolute poison. Discussing toxicity without considering dosage is simply irresponsible.
In traditional Chinese medicine, substances like waste (used in certain remedies) or arsenic (a deadly poison) can all be used medicinally when properly dosed.
But precisely because of the unique nature of these substances, when prescribing them, a doctor must tailor the dosage to the individual. They cannot be used as widely as neutral medicines like Liu Wei Di Huang Wan.
This was a classic example of discussing toxicity without considering dosage.
When Dugu Bo learned that Ye Wen intended to use these highly toxic substances to treat him, he immediately broke out in goosebumps.
His incredulous gaze seemed to say: 'I've treated you so well—don't tell me you're trying to kill me for my wealth! I even gave my granddaughter to you in marriage!'
However, after Ye Wen patiently explained the principles of dosage, toxicity, and using poison to counteract poison, Dugu Bo experienced an epiphany. Having spent most of his life poisoning others, he realized for the first time that his poisons could also save lives!
From that point on, Dugu Bo also delved into pharmaceutical research, becoming utterly engrossed. He even developed a rudimentary but promising set of toxin-based treatment techniques.
For this, Ye Wen could only give a thumbs-up: 'No wonder he's a genius who reached Title Douluo status on his own—his ability to take action is impressive!'
Ye Wen's intention to use these two immortal herbs to treat Dugu Bo was absolutely not malicious.
In the original storyline, though these herbs didn't significantly boost Tang San's cultivation, their extreme ice and fire attributes, combined with the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well's properties and Tang San's Xuan Tian Technique, allowed Tang San to forcibly refine them. This process resulted in Tang San's immunity to all poisons and granted his Blue Silver Grass resistance to both ice and fire.
From the very beginning, Tang San had told Dugu Bo of a treatment method: consume these two immortal herbs. However, the corresponding cost would be the loss of all his poison-based abilities.
This was something Dugu Bo absolutely could not accept.
But Tang San had deceived him from the start.
Ye Wen, familiar with the original story, had read various fanfiction adaptations. He noticed that all the authors suggested transferring Dugu Bo's toxins into his soul bones—but they overlooked a crucial step.
That step was Tang San's medicinal concoctions.
After all, if Dugu Bo could freely expel the toxins from his body, why would he have ended up suffering from their backlash?
But in the original story, Dugu Bo was destined to be a bit slow on the uptake.
In Ye Wen's view, if Dugu Bo could transfer the toxins into his soul bones, why not simply use bloodletting therapy to concentrate the toxins in one place and expel them from his body? Why trap them in his soul bones to cause further harm?
Was Dugu Bo suddenly feeling guilty about environmental conservation?
As for the idea that Tang San might hesitate to harm his body because it was given to him by his parents—this was entirely implausible.
Setting aside the fact that Tang San willingly scraped off two jin and five liang of flesh before breaking sect rules to steal the secrets of the Tang Sect…
In the martial arts world Tang San came from, wasn't it common practice to concentrate internal poisons in one area and then expel them through techniques like spitting out stagnant blood?
Thus, Tang San had dug a pit for Dugu Bo from the very beginning, leaving Ye Wen to feel pity for how thoroughly Dugu Bo had been misled.
Even Tang San's medicinal concoctions were a sham.
When Tang San was refining the medicine, Dugu Bo had secretly observed the process. Later, he attempted to replicate it himself, but the results were completely ineffective.
The reason was simple: Tang San had employed a subtle trick. For the medicine to work, it required his blood, refined through exposure to extreme ice and fire. Without it, the concoction was nothing more than an ordinary healing pill.
Therefore, Ye Wen was certain that the true solution to detoxifying Dugu Bo lay within this mixed solution of ice and fire immortal herbs!
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