Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes. "Kid... I’m a Titled Douluo. Do you really think you can just spit conditions at me? Tell me, what’s stopping me from torturing you and taking the cure?"
"You can try to kill me," Dave said with a slight shrug, "but my death would only bring more of me. My family doesn’t just have one Titled Douluo—we have several. You kill me, and by the next day... the Dugu family might find itself reduced to ashes."
Dugu Bo’s aura flared for the briefest moment.
His pressure rose like a sudden storm, ready to crush Dave where he stood.
But then... he froze.
Because in that same instant, Dave didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink.
"You can take back your aura, old man," Dave said calmly, sipping his tea without a single ripple of concern in his voice. "It’s pointless. I’m under protection—you’re not the only Titled Douluo in this city."
Dugu Bo’s eyes narrowed as he hesitated mid-release, his pressure faltering for just a second.
Dave leaned back casually. "You can’t sense him, can you? That’s because you’re too weak to notice the one behind me."
It wasn’t arrogance—it was certainty. And that certainty carried a weight that made Dugu Bo second-guess his own instincts. For someone so young, Dave’s ability to remain completely unaffected by a Titled Douluo’s spiritual suppression... it shouldn’t be possible.
Unless someone stronger was masking him. Shielding him. Watching from the shadows.
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Dugu Bo’s temple.
If he truly is a Soul Lord... and he’s being protected by someone even I can’t detect... then this kid isn’t someone I should treat lightly.
His aura disappeared at once. All hostility vanished.
He straightened up, lips tight, expression calm and respectful now.
"...What are your conditions?" Dugu Bo asked evenly, like he was speaking to a fellow expert rather than a mere teenager.
Dave set down the teacup and smiled, his eyes cool and steady.
"As for the condition—starting now, you work for me," Dave said plainly, cutting off any protest before Dugu Bo could respond. "My family had the option to end you permanently. But I stepped in. Once the poison is cured, you’ll no longer be a danger. The blend will no longer flow through your old martial spirit."
Dugu Bo opened his mouth to ask about further conditions, but Dave continued before he could speak.
"From now on, your Dugu family will support mine," Dave said casually. "Though I don’t need you to bow or call me master. Just become a teacher at Shrek Academy—that’ll be enough."
He then gestured toward Dugu Yan. "Also, I’ll need her to stay with me for a while. I can sense her martial spirit’s potential, and I can help awaken it properly. She’ll need guidance."
Dugu Yan looked startled but didn’t object. Somehow, from Dave’s tone and presence, she sensed that he wasn’t lying. She didn’t know what sort of technique or knowledge he possessed... but from her grandfather’s reaction, it was clear that Dave could really help her.
"Also, you have a medicine garden, right?" Dave asked, his tone casual but deliberate.
Dugu Bo nodded. "Yes, I have, but its mostly have Posionous herbs."
Dave said, standing, "Lest go I want to see it."
Dugu Bo nodded as he stood up too.
Without further delay, Dugu Bo rose, and with a subtle gesture, they both took to the skies—Dave, Dugu Bo, Meilin and Dugu Yan flying side by side as they headed toward the hidden treasure of Dugu Bo’s cultivation: his famed medicine garden.
It didn’t take long to reach it. Nestled deep within a mountain range shrouded in mists and clouds, the land changed drastically as they descended into a natural basin cradled by stone peaks. The moment they stepped into the area, the environment shifted—heat and cold clashed in the air with surreal harmony.
This was the Heavenly Land of Ice and Fire, where the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well bubbled at the center of the terrain.
The garden was quiet, almost mystical. One half of the spring glowed a chilling blue, frost lining the edges and covering nearby rocks. The other boiled with crimson heat, steam rising in thick wisps, the temperature scorching just from being nearby. Yet between them, a narrow border of land remained in perfect balance—neither freezing nor burning.
Spiritual herbs dotted the perimeter: thousand-year-old plants with glistening leaves, luminous petals, and strange fruits that pulsed faintly with internal energy. Even with much of it used, the garden still felt alive with power.
"Still impressive," Dave murmured. "Though the balance here is delicate. No wonder the herbs grow so well—this is a natural extreme-yin and extreme-yang convergence."
Dugu Bo folded his arms. "Most people can’t even approach the well. Their bodies collapse just from exposure to the two conflicting forces."
Meilin looked surprised as she heard him and looked around curiously.
"Hmph," Dave muttered, shaking his head slightly as he glanced around the garden. "You had a treasure ... and yet you never truly used it."
Dugu Bo frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked, his brow furrowing.
Dave turned to him, his voice calm but cutting. "If you had understood the herbs here properly—especially the edge-of-field harmonics—you would’ve solved the defect in your martial spirit a long time ago."
He looked at Dave in silence for a moment, then slowly turned to Dugu Yan, who stared back at him with wide eyes.
"Is this true?" he asked softly, almost hoping for a denial.
But Dave nodded without hesitation. "The poison backlash in your body, the instability of your spirit—it could have been mitigated, even neutralized. The garden’s yin and yang balance, combined with the correct medicinal herbs... it’s not just for cultivation. It can purify."
Dugu Bo looked around at the well—the boiling crimson, the freezing blue, and the sacred land caught between them.
And then he looked at Dave again.
For the first time in years, the old poison master looked... uncertain.
His shoulders slumped slightly, his stern face softening as his thoughts drifted inward.
"All these years... I lived with poison eating away at me. Fighting to suppress it. All this time, the cure was beneath my feet."
He let out a long, quiet sigh.
"Maybe... this is fate," he murmured.
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