Locked in the overlapping auras of the two Titled Douluo, Dugu Bo felt like a flying insect trapped in amber; even the circulation of his soul power was three parts sluggish.
Before him stood the fathomless gray-robed elder, his aura like a blade, pressing a threat of death against Dugu Bo's back. Behind him, the black-robed elder's presence was as heavy as a mountain, blocking all avenues of retreat. And that youth who called himself Chen Yi simply stood by the spring, composed and at leisure, as if this was not a three-way standoff among peak experts, but merely an ordinary meeting.
"Senior Dugu," Chen Yi spoke at last, shattering the suffocating silence. His voice remained mild, yet a certain irresistible force underlay his words. "Can we talk calmly now? About you, and about your Jade Phosphor Serpent clan… and the agony of that poison born from your martial soul."
Dugu Bo's heart jolted violently, though a layer of frost instantly settled over his face. He forced a cold laugh, voice sharp but hollow.
"Nonsense. I, Dugu Bo, reign supreme in poison. My body itself is the source of ten thousand toxins—how could I be poisoned?"
"Ridiculous. And as for clan inheritance—that's even more absurd!"
He deliberately avoided mentioning "life and death", because at this moment, his life truly was in their hands. To bring it up himself would be nothing but self-humiliation.
Chen Yi seemed unsurprised by his denial. He shook his head slightly, his eyes filled with a kind of pity for someone whose secrets he'd already seen through.
"Senior, denial doesn't solve anything. The poison in your body has long since seeped into your marrow, eaten away at your soul, and even… been written into your bloodline, passed down to your descendants."
He took another few steps forward, his gaze as sharp and precise as the best of surgical scalpels, slicing through the fragile facade Dugu Bo struggled to maintain.
"First, your appearance. As a Titled Douluo, your cultivation pierces the heavens. Your vital energy should be thriving and your complexion ruddy. Yet, if you look at your hair—not only does it appear a dark green, but if one inspects the roots carefully, there is a faint hint of lifeless gray-white. That isn't caused by age, but by life force continuously being corroded and drained by poison."
Dugu Bo instinctively wanted to retort, but he found his throat oddly dry.
Without waiting for him to speak, Chen Yi continued,
"Next, your pupils. It's normal for someone with the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor martial soul to have unusual eyes. But the fact is, when light falls upon your pupils, there's a fleeting hint of murkiness and dissociation. That's a sign the toxins are beginning to affect your spiritual core."
"Whenever it's a dark, rainy night, or when your emotions fluctuate wildly, do you feel a stabbing pain between your brows, as if needles were pricking your forehead? That is the sign of your toxins rampaging and striking at your sea of consciousness."
Each word was like a cold awl puncturing Dugu Bo's heart, stabbing through one thin layer of psychological defense after another. These were all things he had buried deep, secrets even he had nearly forgotten. Now, they were precisely, unerringly spoken aloud by this youth. The resulting shock and fear overwhelmed even the pressure of the two Titled Douluo.
"You—how do you… how could you possibly—"
Dugu Bo's voice trembled slightly, something he himself failed to notice. He realized that in front of this youth, he had virtually no secrets.
Chen Yi did not explain how he knew all this. Instead, he delivered his heaviest blow yet:
"If my sect's records are correct, your son and daughter-in-law were both individuals of uncommon talent. Yet each of them, after their spirit power reached a certain critical level, or after giving birth to a child, had their bodies suddenly collapse. Their toxins erupted throughout their bodies, and in the end… they died beyond saving."
"Am I correct?"
"And your granddaughter, Dugu Yan." Chen Yi's tone slowed, but the pressure in it only grew heavier. "She is still young and her cultivation is shallow, so the toxins have yet to be fully activated. But if you look carefully, is her hair color not even deeper than yours was at the same age? Do her eyes not occasionally show a hint of fatigue far beyond that of her peers? And when her emotions run high, doesn't the soul power around her carry a faintly sweet, uncontrolled, restless scent of blood and poison?"
These past few days, Chen Yi and his companions had hardly been idle. To obtain first-hand information, the Grand Elder had personally visited Ye Cien and his granddaughter, asking some carefully chosen questions. As physicians, they hadn't revealed much, but what they said was more than enough.
"Senior, poison in the blood cannot be hidden. You might be able to protect her for a few more years, but when she begins to strike at higher realms, or one day marries and has children, will the dormant toxins in her body not simply replay the tragedy of your son and daughter-in-law?"
"Enough! Don't say another word!!"
Dugu Bo suddenly roared, like a wounded beast. His straight back hunched slightly; all his toughness and stubborn front collapsed in an instant, leaving only unending pain and regret… and a despair born from being laid bare to the bone.
He stumbled back a half-step, bracing himself against a rock near one of the boiling springs to barely remain standing.
After a long time, he finally raised his head. Bloodshot veins marred his eyes; his voice was hoarse.
"You… what you said… is right. My Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul may seem mighty, but in truth it's a curse handed down generation after generation…"
Having spoken, it was as if he'd shouldered off a weight of a thousand pounds, yet at the same time fallen deeper into an abyss. He muttered:
"The Jade Phosphor poison is tyrannical beyond compare. As one's cultivation rises, the poison's backlash only grows stronger. The higher the realm, the harsher the backlash. This poison… is born from the martial soul itself, inborn. It cannot be purged by external force. My son… and my daughter-in-law… they all died… because of this damned martial soul…"
His words choked with anguish so deep it seemed to cut to the bone.
"Yan Yan is still young. The poison in her isn't obvious yet, but I don't know how much longer this can last. I'm terrified… terrified that one day, she'll end up like her parents, dying in front of my eyes…"
In this moment, the Poison Douluo who'd made the entire continent tremble in fear was no longer a peerless powerhouse looking down upon all. He was just an old man shackled by his clan's curse, who had watched his loved ones die and could do nothing.
The intertwined red-and-blue glow of the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well played across his weathered face, giving him an air of bleak desolation.
Chen Yi listened quietly, not interrupting. Only when Dugu Bo's emotions had settled somewhat did he finally speak, his voice as calm as ever but now with a steadying warmth to it.
"Senior, the past is over. What matters is the future. Since this junior can see the root of the problem, naturally, I also have the means to resolve it."
Dugu Bo's head snapped up, a light of desperate hope bursting forth from his clouded eyes. He stared fixedly at Chen Yi.
"You… can you truly detoxify it? Save Yan Yan? Save the Dugu family?"
"Not only can I save her, I can also address the hidden dangers in the inheritance of the Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul at their root." Chen Yi nodded solemnly. Then his tone shifted, growing serious and formal.
"But this method is one of my sect's core secrets—its very inheritance. It's impossible for my sect to simply hand such a crucial secret over freely to an outsider like Senior. There would be great dissent within the sect, so…"
The map of Dugu Bo's weaknesses had been flipped through to the last page. Chen Yi's gaze sharpened, locking onto Dugu Bo's eyes.
"If you wish to obtain this method of salvation, Senior will have to pay a corresponding price."
"What price? Name it!" Dugu Bo blurted out in agitation. "Spirit bones, wealth, the secret poison manuals I've collected over my life—anything that I possess, you can have!"
For the life of his granddaughter and the continuation of his family line, he was prepared to sacrifice everything.
But Chen Yi shook his head. "These external things are not what my sect needs."
He paused a beat, then spoke each word clearly:
"My condition is this—
You, Dugu Bo, Poison Douluo, must swear upon your own martial soul to serve the sect I belong to from this day forth. You must obey its orders and live and die with it. Only once you become one of us will the sect's secrets be fully revealed to you."
"What?! Serve?"
Dugu Bo's face changed drastically. The hope that had just flared within him felt as if doused by a bucket of cold water. He had lived his life proud and untamed, always acting alone. Even with the Heaven Dou royal family, he was only a guest elder. He had never once considered swearing fealty to a power. To him, that was handing over his freedom and dignity entirely.
"Impossible!" he reflexively rejected. The pride of a Titled Douluo would not permit such a condition. "I, Dugu Bo, have roamed free all my life. I have never—"
"Senior." Chen Yi cut him off. His voice was not loud, but it carried the harsh weight of reality.
"Please look clearly at your current situation. If my sect did not have the intention of recruiting you and had not offered this path, then given the state you're in now, and the fate waiting for your granddaughter, the end of the Jade Phosphor line is already sealed."
"You can cling to your lofty freedom and pride and watch your bloodline be severed while you yourself die in agony from your own poison. Or you can let go of some insistences and trade them for the continuation of your family, a chance for you yourself to break your shackles, and perhaps even… for the Jade Phosphor Serpent's martial soul to truly shine across the continent in the future."
"Remember—this chance comes only once."
Each word fell like a heavy hammer upon Dugu Bo's heart. He forced himself to look away from Chen Yi and glance toward the two silent Titled Douluo at his side. The gray-robed elder's eyes were as calm as an ancient well; the black-robed elder's sharp gaze made even Dugu Bo's soul quiver.
He had no doubt that if he refused, it would be impossible to leave this place safely. Even if he miraculously escaped, how would he cure his granddaughter's poison then?
His freedom and pride weighed on one side of the scale; his bloodline's survival and future hope on the other. The balance swung wildly.
He thought of his son and daughter-in-law's agonized, unwilling gazes on their deathbeds. He thought of Dugu Yan's sunny, innocent smile and the danger lurking beneath it. He had pursued power his entire life and stood at the pinnacle of the soul master world, yet he couldn't even protect the ones he loved most. That sense of helplessness hurt more than any poison.
The silence dragged on, feeling as long as a century. The insects around the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well chirped intermittently, as if urging him to decide.
At last, Dugu Bo took a deep breath, as if it cost him everything. He straightened his slightly stooped back; the struggle, pain, and unwillingness in his expression all finally condensed into a resolute acceptance.
He looked at Chen Yi, his eyes complicated, voice rough.
"Fine… I… agree."
With that, he did not hesitate further. Slowly, he raised his right hand, his five fingers coming together as he forced a drop of blood from his fingertip. It shimmered with a dense emerald glow and terrifying soul power.
The blood hovered in the air, emitting a strange light. The shadow of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor flickered faintly within. Dugu Bo's expression turned solemn, even faintly tragic, as he spoke in a deep voice:
"I, Dugu Bo, hereby swear upon my Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor martial soul. I willingly pledge myself to… uh—"
He suddenly realized he didn't even know what sect they belonged to and turned to Chen Yi.
"Junior, your sect is called…?"
"The Body Sect," Chen Yi replied calmly, giving three simple words.
A flicker of puzzlement crossed Dugu Bo's eyes. He had never heard of such a sect, but this was not the time to ask. He resumed his oath:
"I pledge myself to the Body Sect! From this day forth I shall heed the sect's commands, sharing its fortunes and its hardships, living and dying with it! Should I break this oath, may my martial soul shatter, my soul be scattered, and may I never be reborn!"
As his voice fell, that drop of blood suddenly burst into green flame, collapsing into a complex emerald sigil. It flashed once before sinking into his brow. An invisible binding force formed, tightly tying his fate to that mysterious Body Sect.
Once the oath was complete, Dugu Bo seemed to age several years in an instant. Yet in the depths of his eyes, there was also a hint of relief at having laid down a burden… and a faint spark of hope for the future.
Seeing the oath take hold, a satisfied smile finally surfaced on Chen Yi's face. He stepped forward and made a token gesture of support.
"Elder Dugu, please, there's no need to bow so low. From today onward, you are a member of my Body Sect. Rest assured, our sect has never treated its own unfairly."
Facing the expectant look in Dugu Bo's eyes, Chen Yi turned to the lush medicinal herbs growing around the Ice-Fire Yin Yang Well. His tone grew relaxed and confident.
"Now, we can begin to address the chronic affliction that has haunted your Dugu clan for generations."
PS: Read advanced chapters at patreon.com/AbsoluteCode