Chapter 129: The Special Effect of the Jade

“What a monster’s Physique.”

Dugu Bo did not know what to say, but at the very least, the Danzhu could still enhance Tang Shan’s Soul Power cultivation speed; otherwise, there would be no benefit at all, and it genuinely felt no different from forcing the other party to eat poison.

“Alright, Senior, since I have already swallowed the Danzhu, you should be rest assured as well. Can you tell me now what flaws your Martial Soul actually has?”

Tang Shan did not engage in further pleasantries, instead going straight to the point and beginning to consider how to help Dugu Bo resolve the problem on his body.

Xue Qinghe had also returned to her previous gentle state at this moment, waiting for Dugu Bo’s revelations. She was also very curious; how could a Titled Douluo’s cultivation actually encounter problems? This was truly baffling.

Dugu Bo hesitated for a moment, but since things had already reached this point, there was no need to conceal certain matters. He slowly opened his mouth, and the very first sentence he spoke subconsciously made Xue Qinghe’s mouth drop open.

“I am poisoned.”

For a powerhouse whose Titled Douluo was based on poison to say that he was poisoned was simply the height of absurdity: it was as incredible as saying to the Angel Family, which was basically either of the sacred or light attribute, “There is a fallen one and an Evil Spirit Master in your Family.”

Tang Shan had long since obtained the answer from the original work, so he only displayed symbolic astonishment at the result given by Dugu Bo.

“Although our Dugu Family’s Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul is formidable, even if it hasn’t yet evolved into the Jade Phosphorus Snake Emperor, it still belongs among the top-tier Martial Souls. However, this formidable talent has also brought us immense hidden dangers, and that is the innate virulent poison that comes with the Jade Phosphorus Snake.”

Dugu Bo’s expression was somewhat gloomy, and his voice carried an even greater trace of hoarseness.

“This virulent poison will appear alongside the Soul Master’s Martial Soul Awakening, and then begin to corrode the Soul Master’s body, causing trauma to it. Furthermore, the stronger the cultivation, the stronger the toxicity attached to it, until it loses control and one is abruptly poisoned to death by their own innate virulent poison. My son died because his innate virulent poison went out of control.”

Clearly, Dugu Bo truly wanted to solve the problem of his Family’s Martial Soul’s generation-to-generation Legacy, and many secrets that were only passed down by word of mouth within their Family were all spoken out by him.

“In fact, this is still not the most terrifying part of our Family’s innate virulent poison. The most terrifying thing is that this poison will be inherited by the next generation, making infants deeply plagued by the virulent poison right from their mother’s womb. When the Martial Soul Awakening arrives, this poison will increase exponentially in toxicity precisely because of the Awakening.”

“In other words, this toxicity is constantly accumulating, and each generation is stronger than the last.”

Xue Qinghe clearly discovered the key point and could not help frowning slightly.

“That’s right, each generation is stronger than the last. My son Dugu Xin died of the poison erupting at the age of thirty-five; at that time, I was undergoing a Breakthrough to Titled Douluo and had no chance to rescue him at all. And now, my granddaughter is likewise afflicted with the virulent poison. If not for the help of that special medicinal garden, she probably would have had the poison erupt long ago. Even so, I estimate that at most I can suppress it until she is twenty-five; the toxins inside her body will inevitably erupt by then, and by that time it truly will be beyond redemption.”

Speaking to the end, the Aura on Dugu Bo’s body uncontrollably vented out, showing how intense his emotional fluctuations were at this moment.

“With such a huge problem, did the Seniors of your Dugu Family never think of a way to resolve it?”

Tang Shan was somewhat puzzled; it couldn’t possibly be that the Dugu Family only started establishing itself in Dugu Bo’s generation.

“In reality, the problem of the poison erupting only started from my generation. Perhaps the ancestors had also noticed it before, but compared to the special advantages brought by the Jade Phosphorus Snake, the ancestors might have thought that the poison eruptions could be controlled.”

“What special advantages?”

Tang Shan grew increasingly curious. He had a feeling that he might be about to touch upon the true core secrets and the essence of Cultivate of the Dugu Family.

“Perhaps the Jade Phosphorus Snake underwent a certain mutation in our Family. The various Seniors of the Family discovered that before the Martial Soul Awakening, the more virulent poison contained within the body, the higher the final Innate Soul Power possessed during the Martial Soul Awakening. I am an exception in the Dugu Family, having awakened an Innate Soul Power of rank eight during my Martial Soul Awakening. Before me, my father and grandfather both only had an Innate Soul Power of rank six; as for my son Dugu Xin, his Innate Soul Power barely reached rank seven; as for my granddaughter Dugu Yan, her Soul Power reached the peak of rank seven, infinitely close to rank eight.”

Shocked. When he heard that the Dugu Family’s Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul possessed such an outrageous effect, Tang Shan felt an incomparable shock in his heart first, followed by skepticism: how could a Martial Soul possess such an outrageous function?

“Could it be a coincidence? How could the amount of virulent poison in the body affect the level of Innate Soul Power?”

“It is not a coincidence. My Family has a genealogy, and the genealogy records that the earliest Dugu Family Soul Master awakened a Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul with an Innate Soul Power of only rank one, and the Soul Masters of the next few generations basically never reached a Spirit Elder. However, although there were no Spirit Elders, our Family had already awakened a large number of Soul Masters with rank two and rank three Innate Soul Power. The Family Seniors at that time were also very curious about this situation. After a long period of research, they discovered that the more virulent poison there was in the body, the higher the Innate Soul Power during the Martial Soul Awakening would be. As for the accumulation of toxins, because the Family Seniors’ cultivation never went up, coupled with the fact that the accumulation of toxins wasn’t much at the very beginning, they didn’t notice it, until my generation, when it completely erupted. This is the drawback of our Family’s Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul; if this continues, I am afraid the Dugu Family’s Legacy will be completely severed. Tang Shan, I hope you can help solve this problem. If it cannot be solved, I also hope you can try your best to help me contact Grandmaster. To be honest, a few years ago I also lost my head, only thinking about detoxification while forgetting that the root cause lay with the Martial Soul itself, and I should have solved the problem of the Martial Soul itself.”

Speaking to the end, Dugu Bo’s tone contained self-mockery, helplessness, and even a trace of desolation.

To be honest, whoever could see their Family’s destined dark future so early on, how could they not despair?

“Then if the toxins continue to accumulate, does that mean every future generation might have Innantly Full Soul Power?”

Xue Qinghe subconsciously deduced according to the Dugu Family’s method of talent development, suddenly thinking of a very terrifying future.

“Theoretically it is so, but according to my estimate, this accumulation of toxins to enhance talent can reach at most the peak of rank eight. Once the toxins in the body accumulate to an amount sufficient to awaken rank nine Innate Soul Power, the child will probably perish directly in the mother’s womb.”

Dugu Bo’s expression was calm; obviously he had long since had Xue Qinghe’s deduction, but unfortunately, it was ultimately a mirage, visible but unattainable.

“Fallen Soul Master, or it can also be said to be an Evil Spirit Master.”

The two terms that suddenly popped out from Tang Shan, who had been meditating in silence all along, left Xue Qinghe and Dugu Bo somewhat puzzled.

Tang Shan straightened out the thoughts in his mind, and the inference he gave was extremely bold: “Let’s put aside how to solve it for now; let’s first talk about the core essence of an Evil Martial Soul: exchanging power gains at the cost of’sacrifice’, and the side effects are irreversible. Senior, look, the core of an Evil Spirit Master is sacrificing others’ lives and absorbing others’ Soul Power to accelerate one’s own Cultivate, whereas your Dugu Family’s Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul uses one’s own vitality as a’sacrifice’ in exchange for the enhancement of Innate Soul Power.”

Tang Shan’s gaze was deep, and his tone was nonchalant yet exploded like a thunderclap in Xue Qinghe and Dugu Bo’s minds: “Senior, the first time we met, I noticed an abnormality: even if a Titled Douluo is elderly, they should still have restrained blood Qi and robust muscles and bones, yet your complexion is withered, your blood color is thin, and even your voice carries the hoarseness of toxin erosion. This is clearly the result of Martial Soul backlash. Evil Spirit Masters fall into evil by harming others, while you are backlashed by toxins by harming yourselves. The essence is both the price that should be paid for acquiring this power. Therefore, the Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul is not a flaw of an ordinary Martial Soul, but a special Evil Martial Soul at the cost of self-harm.”

Silence. The entire side hall fell into a death-like silence. Dugu Bo opened his mouth and his Adam’s apple rolled several times, yet he could not find any angle to refute.

Although Tang Shan’s inference was bold, it was also clear in logic and progressive step by step.

From the essential definition to the specific characteristics, and then to the corroboration of his own observations, every point precisely poked at the core problem of the Jade Phosphorus Snake Martial Soul, leaving Dugu Bo speechless.

Furthermore, this was not a debate, but rather helping their Dugu Family solve a problem. Forcibly quibbling would not have any benefits either.

“Then how should this Martial Soul drawback be resolved?”

Seeing that Dugu Bo had not spoken for a long time, Xue Qinghe simply asked on behalf of the other party directly.

“Senior Dugu’s situation is hard to say, but your granddaughter’s poison is still considered easy to resolve.”

“What?!”

Hearing the words “your granddaughter’s poison is still considered easy to resolve,” Dugu Bo, who was still immersed in the shock that the Martial Soul was an Evil Martial Soul, sprang up from his seat as if struck by a bolt of thunder. His withered hands tightly clutched his collar, his knuckles turning white from the force, and his emerald-green eyes instantly burst forth with a scorching light close to madness. His voice suddenly raised, carrying an irrepressible tremble: “What did you say? Yan Yan’s poison can be cured? How can it be cured?! This old man is not important, and it doesn’t matter if I die; as long as Yan Yan can survive, as long as she can grow up safely, this old man is willing to pay any price! Even if this body of Soul Power is crippled, even if I have to bear all the virulent poison for her, I am willing!”

Tears could no longer be held back as they rolled down his gully-lined cheeks, dripping onto his collar and blooming into dark traces.

His body swayed slightly, and his heart was full of the vulnerability and eagerness of something lost and regained. Heaven knows how many midnight dream-returns he could see his son’s body corroded full of holes by toxins, foreseeing his granddaughter’s painful, curled-up appearance under the torture of the virulent poison.

He had already lost his son; he must absolutely not lose this only granddaughter again.

If a white-haired person sent off a black-haired person once more, what face would he have left after a hundred years to see his son beneath the Nine Springs?

“Senior Dugu, I just haven’t thought of a treatment plan for you yet, which doesn’t mean there is truly no way to treat you.”

“First worry about Yan Yan! First tell me how Yan Yan should be treated!”

Dugu Bo completely ignored Tang Shan’s second half sentence, his hands unconsciously reaching forward as if trying to grasp this only straw, his gaze burning.

“I have two methods to treat your granddaughter. One can preserve her poison arts, while the other can only preserve a part of them. However, the former treats the symptoms, while the latter treats the root cause.”

Dugu Bo abruptly swallowed back the words “I choose the former one” that were about to spill from his mouth, intending to listen to the specific methods given by Tang Shan before making a decision.