...
"Take back your murderous aura."
Xuan Hao waved his hand dismissively, "I'm a coward. If you scare me again, I might forget how to cure the poison."
"..."
Dugu Bo took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the surging killing intent and shock in his heart.
He stared intently at Xuan Hao, his voice low and deep:
"How did you know?
I have never told anyone about this."
"I guess this is... one of my talents."
Xuan Hao pointed to his eyes, and a golden light flashed in his originally sky-blue eyes again.
"My Golden Dragon Martial Soul has given me extremely strong perception, especially for dragon-type Martial Souls."
"Although the Jade Phosphorous Serpent is not a true dragon, it is a special dragon species with the potential to transform into a dragon.
When I first saw you at the hotel, I sensed something was wrong with you.
You were covered in poisonous gas, and although you seemed powerful, you were actually weak inside and out, as the poison had already eroded your very bones."
"Later, when I met Dugu Yan at the academy, I had the same feeling.
Although it wasn't as intense as yours, the symptoms were the same."
Xuan Hao glanced at the pale-faced Dugu Yan and said indifferently:
"If we don't intervene, she'll end up like you in a few years."
"If I'm lucky, I'll experience excruciating pain all over my body whenever it's cloudy or rainy, a pain that feels worse than death, and I'll suffer from it for the rest of my life."
"If you're unlucky, the toxins could take effect one day, and you could suddenly die."
"You're talking nonsense!"
Dugu Yan suddenly stood up, her voice trembling, "My grandfather is a Title Douluo!
He's the Poison Douluo! How could he be poisoned?!"
"I...I've never felt anything wrong with my body!"
"The time is not yet ripe."
Xuan Hao ruthlessly shattered her illusions, saying, "This is a flaw in your martial soul."
"Many powerful beast spirits will develop defects when they appear in humans because the human body cannot fully adapt to them."
"The Azure Phosphorous Serpent is extremely venomous, but its unique body structure allows it to store and neutralize toxins in venom sacs, preventing it from harming itself.
However, when this creature appears as a martial soul in a human..."
Xuan Hao pointed at Dugu Bo:
"Human bodies are different from those of spirit beasts.
The Azure Phosphorous Serpent is unaffected by its own venom, but Azure Phosphorous Serpent spirit masters will experience venom seeping into their meridians, bones, and even internal organs due to their daily cultivation."
"Ultimately, the problem lies in the cultivation method itself."
"The fact that the lineage of the Jade Phosphorous Snake has survived to this day must mean that your ancestors did a lot of research and found some ways to suppress the toxins.
But it can only suppress them, not eradicate them."
"And you, you old poisoner."
Xuan Hao looked at Dugu Bo, a hint of regret flashing in his eyes:
"You're a genius, and you're a madman."
"In pursuit of greater power, you forcibly altered your cultivation method, causing your Azure Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul to evolve into the Azure Phosphorous Serpent Emperor.
Its toxicity increased dramatically, and its strength surged."
"Unfortunately, this radical cultivation method has caused the toxins in your body to completely get out of control, and may even harm your descendants."
"If I'm not mistaken, your son must have died young, right?"
Dugu Bo shuddered, a hint of pain flashing in his eyes.
"He must have learned your improved cultivation method, but his body couldn't withstand the terrifying backlash from the toxins, and in the end... he poisoned himself to death."
"Enough!!"
Dugu Bo slammed his hand on the table, his eyes bloodshot.
The long-buried past was laid bare, causing him excruciating pain.
"And your granddaughter is even more unlucky."
Xuan Hao showed no sign of stopping and continued to deliver the finishing blow:
"She's been tainted by your Azure Phosphorous Serpent King Poison since birth, and with her congenital deficiencies coupled with her acquired cultivation… at this rate, can she even live past forty?"
"..."
Dugu Bo's face was extremely pale, as if all his strength had been drained away, and he slumped into the chair.
Dugu Yan, who was singled out, was already pale and swaying precariously.
She looked at Dugu Bo, her voice trembling and choked with sobs, and asked:
"Grandpa...is what he said...true?"
"Did Dad really... die from poisoning?"
"Will I...will I die too?"
Faced with his granddaughter's questioning, Dugu Bo opened his mouth, wanting to deny it, but found that his throat was blocked by something, and he couldn't say a word.
What could he say?
Are you saying all of this is fake?
But whenever it rains, the excruciating pain that penetrates to the bone, the torment that feels like a thousand ants gnawing at his heart, constantly reminds him—
Every word that kid said was true!
Even more thoroughly than he himself knew!
"well..."
After a long silence, Dugu Bo let out a long sigh, as if he had aged ten years in an instant.
He didn't answer Dugu Yan, but instead raised his head, his once sinister eyes now filled with pleading and hope as he stared intently at Xuan Hao:
"Since you can see that, do you... really have a way to solve it?"
"How could there possibly be a way?"
Xuan Hao shrugged, looking at Dugu Bo with an expression that said,
"How many generations has your Azure Phosphorous Serpent lineage been passed down?
So many predecessors have devoted their entire lives to solving the flaws in their martial souls, how could a child like me, not even ten years old, possibly have a way to completely eradicate them?"
"you--!!"
The hope in Dugu Bo's eyes shattered instantly, transforming into a raging inferno.
That terrifying killing intent surged forth once more, even more intensely than before:
"You brat! Are you trying to fool me?!"
"After all that buildup, tearing open my wounds and leaving them bleeding, you finally tell me you can't do anything about it?!"
"Believe it or not, I'll do it right now..."
"Stop, stop, stop!
What's the rush?
Can't you let me finish what I have to say?"
Xuan Hao calmly interrupted Dugu Bo's roar, and even had the leisure to refill his own cup of tea:
"I said there was no way to fix the inherent flaws of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, but I didn't say there was no way to cure the poison in you and your grandson."
Dugu Bo's hand, which was about to smash the table, froze in mid-air, his expression stiff:
"Wh...what do you mean?"
"What I mean is, simply helping you expel the poison from your bodies, or finding a place to store it so that it doesn't backfire on you, isn't a troublesome thing."
Xuan Hao said slowly, "I have a way to do it.
At least I can guarantee that you two will live to old age safely."
Upon hearing this, Dugu Bo was overjoyed once again.
Living to old age and dying?
That's enough!
"But, old poison master, you must understand.
This is ultimately just treating the symptoms, not the root cause," Xuan Hao said.
"As long as your martial soul is still the Azure Phosphorous Serpent, as long as you continue to cultivate, the poison will continue to be produced.
I can save you once, but not forever. Even your descendants will still face the same curse."
"As far as I know, there are only two ways to completely improve the flaws of a martial soul."
"First, we need to find a way to make the martial soul evolve in a positive direction, fundamentally change its quality, and eliminate the defect of toxin backlash."
"Second, completely change the cultivation method and create a cultivation method that perfectly matches the venom of the Jade Phosphorus Serpent."
"nonsense!"
Dugu Bo frowned and said, "Who in our family doesn't know about these two paths?
We have been studying cultivation methods for generations.
I even took a different approach, trying to break through the shackles by evolving my martial soul. And what was the result?
The poison became more potent, and I died even faster."
"That's because you've chosen the wrong path."
Xuan Hao said bluntly, "Or rather, your research on the Jade Phosphorous Serpent and the essence of martial souls is still too superficial."
"You understand?" Dugu Boqi laughed.
He's spent his whole life playing with poison and researching the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Martial Soul, and this kid actually says he's superficial?
I know a little about it.
Xuan Hao put down his teacup, his expression becoming slightly more serious:
"You only know how to increase toxicity without considering whether the body can withstand the consequences of increased toxicity.
Ultimately, it's because you are completely unaware of the opportunities for evolution."
"What is the essence of a Beast Martial Soul?
It is the resonance between the bloodline of a Soul Beast and the human soul.
The opportunity for the evolution of a Martial Soul is often accompanied by extreme stimulation."
"Why does a Soul Master's Martial Soul have a chance to evolve after absorbing a Soul Ring that surpasses the limit or is of extremely high quality?
Is it because of the influence of the Soul Beast's bloodline factors?
Not entirely."
"I think it's more of a simple, high-level energy resonance and stimulation."
"When energies with similar attributes and frequencies are compressed and brought close together, they will resonate deep within the martial soul, thereby stimulating those dormant genetic factors and causing mutations."
"Just like the simulated training environment in the theory of Soul Masters, cultivating in an environment that suits one's own Martial Soul attribute will yield twice the results with half the effort.
In the end, it is because similar energy fields can resonate and accelerate cultivation."
"What if we push this environment to its extreme?"
"In a specific environment with extreme attributes and energy concentrations far exceeding normal levels, is it possible to simulate the state of absorbing a spirit ring by giving the spirit a sufficiently strong stimulus, thereby forcibly breaking the spirit's original constraints and forcing it to undergo targeted mutation to adapt to the environment?"
"This…" Dugu Bo was stunned.
Although he was a Title Douluo, he spent his entire life studying how to kill people with poison, and he had never really thought much about such profound martial soul theories.
"If we can systematically and theoretically study these things clearly, and find that specific opportunity and environment…"
Xuan Hao paused.
"Not only the Azure Phosphorus Serpent, but even the so-called useless martial soul, Blue Silver Grass, has the potential to evolve into an emperor."
"Martial spirits do indeed have varying degrees of strength, which is an undeniable objective fact, but there is absolutely no such thing as a truly useless martial spirit."
"The so-called useless martial soul is simply because the soul master has not found the right environment and method to make it evolve."
"Given the right environment, even scrap iron can be smelted into fine steel, and even a venomous snake can naturally transform into a dragon."
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