Seeing Ye Lingling struggling to support Dugu Yan, Ignaz immediately seized the opportunity and stepped forward, scooping Dugu Yan into his arms.
"I can walk on my own, you fraud!"
"This is a matter of life and death. The fewer steps you take, the better! Otherwise, your blood circulation will accelerate, and the poisoning will worsen."
Ignaz paid no mind to Dugu Yan squirming in his arms like a little kitten. He hadn't had a chance to stay at the Ye family clinic, but now he had a perfectly reasonable excuse, didn't he?
At this moment, Dugu Yan had buried her head almost completely in her chest, her face bright red. Apart from her grandfather and her deceased parents, when she was a child, no man had ever held her like this before.
As the three of them burst into the consultation room again, Dugu Bo looked at Dugu Yan with extreme worry, forcing the snake venom that had erupted in her body outward. Combined with Ye Wuyi's treatment, her complexion finally improved after less than half an hour.
However, at that moment, the spirit pressure from the Titled Douluo pressed down on Ignaz again. He didn't resist much, and his entire body was flattened against the ground.
"Your Majesty, what is this about?"
Ye Wuyi looked at the poor child who had suddenly been suppressed and was quite puzzled.
"You two leave for now. I have something to say to this boy."
"Alright!"
In front of a Titled Douluo, even though she was a Spirit Emperor, there was nothing she could do. She led Ye Lingling away, while Dugu Bo walked up to Ignaz and looked down at him.
"Why don't you resist? Do you think I won't kill you because of that?"
"I've heard that the Poison Douluo has a solitary nature, and his poison mastery dominates the world. Even Titled Douluo, who are stronger than you, would show you respect. If you wanted to kill me, how could I survive in this world?"
Unable to move, Ignaz did his best to reply. Though he couldn't figure out Dugu Bo's temperament, one thing was certain—he definitely wouldn't kill anyone inside the clinic. After all, the Ye family possessed the Nine-Heart Flowering Apple, which held enormous influence in the empire and even the entire Spirit Master world. Not to mention, he needed the Ye family to detoxify him.
Being praised like this by a junior put Dugu Bo in a good mood. Plus, this kid meant no harm to his granddaughter and had even helped a little. He chuckled and withdrew his spirit power.
"Get lost. If you dare speak of what you saw today, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I will kill you."
"Senior, based on my understanding of martial spirits, Miss Dugu Yan's poison isn't ordinary poisoning, but martial spirit poison—similar to my martial spirit—"
Before Ignaz could finish, an overwhelming murderous spirit pressure pressed down on him again, making it impossible to breathe. The bones throughout his body ground together with intense cracking sounds.
"Boy, do you really think I won't dare kill you?"
What Ignaz had said touched on the Dugu family's secret—something Dugu Bo least wanted to acknowledge. An outsider knowing this—was it a threat? Or did he plan to use his granddaughter for some ulterior motive after Dugu Bo's death?
"I mean nothing by it. I just want to say I have some immature solutions. Would Your Majesty be willing to hear me out?"
Dugu Bo looked at him warily, but curiosity had already begun to take root in his heart.
As the pressure slowly lifted, Ignaz was finally able to stand. Honestly, this had been his most humiliating experience to date—but to reach the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, obtain the immortal herbs, and befriend this rogue Titled Douluo, a little humiliation was worth it.
Ignaz said seriously, "Because of the flaws in my own martial spirit, I've studied a lot about martial spirits and spirit beasts. Poison-attribute martial spirits give Spirit Masters an edge, but they also bring backlash effects."
"The Jade Phosphor Serpent is an extremely poisonous spirit beast, and the toxins of its martial spirit are extraordinary. Though they don't affect cultivation, they shorten the lifespans of Spirit Masters who awaken them. I've seen some ancient medical prescriptions that describe herbs capable of curing martial spirit poison completely, but such herbs are incredibly rare and difficult to find."
As for the method of using spirit bones to store toxins—a treatment that only addressed symptoms and not the root cause—Ignaz had no intention of mentioning it.
Hearing this, Dugu Bo frowned. I happen to have a medicine garden. Could this kid have prophetic abilities? Impossible. The garden was surrounded by poison fog he had deployed—even some Titled Douluo wouldn't dare venture there.
At that moment, Dugu Yan looked at Ignaz with blazing eyes, surprised.
"Are you also a healer?"
Ignaz shook his head helplessly. "If just knowing a few herbs that could treat martial spirit flaws made me a physician like the Ye family, that would be wonderful!"
Hearing this, Dugu Bo looked at Dugu Yan and instructed,
"Yan Yan, rest well in the clinic. Grandpa is taking this boy to the medicine garden."
Without waiting for her reply, Dugu Bo grabbed Ignaz and left, asking Ye Wuyi to take good care of Dugu Yan before flying toward the Sunset Forest.
"I happen to have a medicine garden. If you can use the herbs there to cure my granddaughter's and my illness, I promise you one thing. If you can't—"
Looking at Dugu Bo's expression, Ignaz knew: if he failed, death would be his only outcome. He looked at the speeding Dugu Bo.
Truly worthy of being Dugu Bo—unpredictable. Since that was the case, he needed to advance by retreating.
"Your Majesty, then I'd rather not go!"
"Not go? Then I'll throw you into a pack of ten-thousand-year spirit beasts and watch them tear you apart!"
"I'll go, I'll go..."
Ignaz put on an extremely fearful expression and quickly agreed, while secretly feeling quite pleased.
In less than half an hour, they passed through poisonous fog and arrived at a somewhat eerie cave shrouded in green light.
"Boy, hurry up. The destination is through this cave."
They walked toward the faint yellow light ahead. Exiting the cave, the scene before them opened up dramatically. Ignaz looked down.
He saw a modestly sized circular basin nestled below, surrounded by small mountains decorated with red and blue ice crystals. Though he had expected this, seeing the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in person still filled him with excitement.
"This... this is the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well! I never imagined such a treasure land still existed in this world."
"Huh? Boy, you know about this Ice and Fire Lake?"
Seeing Ignaz's familiar expression, Dugu Bo became eager to hear more about the immortal herbs he had mentioned.
"That's right. This is precisely the treasure land I knew from ancient medical texts—the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. One cold, one hot—yin and yang born together, the two forces restraining each other. The herbs capable of curing Your Majesty's condition have an eighty percent chance of being here."
Despite seeing the Well, Ignaz didn't become arrogant. On the contrary, he became even more cautious, afraid Dugu Bo might get the wrong idea and eliminate him.
"Eighty percent is quite high. Quickly take me to find them."
Ignaz looked at Dugu Bo, who had already gone ahead, then at the cliff two to three hundred meters beneath his feet, and was instantly speechless.
"Your Majesty, I can't get down there!"
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