Douluo Dalu - Volume 10 - Ice Fire Alchemical Body

by Tang Jia San Shao

  Some had to be picked with gold and packed with jade, some had to be picked with silver and stored with iron. With just the slightest mistake, their efficacy would diminish greatly, or even immediately wither. Therefore Tang San had made a lot of preparations.

  Of course, it still wasn’t time to be packing herbs. Once Tang San had inspected these tools, he once again withdrew them into the Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges, afterward starting to carefully catalogue each treasure around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

  There were a lot of medicinal herbs, and some with extremely similar appearance could have effects that were diametrically opposed. Tang San couldn’t allow himself to make any mistake. There were accidents where poison was mistaken for tonic even at Tang Sect.

  The way of poisons was wide-ranging and broad. He couldn’t be the slightest careless, or he would be gambling with his own life.

  That evening, when Dugu Bo came once again to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to bring Tang San food and water, he couldn’t help be angry. Because Tang San basically didn’t have any medicine for him. But Tang San’s reasoning was extremely dignified: There was nothing here, so how could he make drugs?

  Helplessly, Dugu Bo had no choice but to bring him some the medicine making tools he personally used every day. Even more at Tang San’s request, he went to buy him a large cast copper cauldron.

  There was no need for fire in this place, the blazing hot yang side of the spring was more terrifying than any flame, practically like magma. Even if it was just a bit, it could melt gold into iron.

  Just like this, from this day onward, Tang San lived at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. As long as Dugu Bo wasn’t present, he soaked in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to cultivate.

  This didn’t just boost his Mysterious Heaven Skill circulation, at the same time it also accelerated his absorption of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Precious Apricot’s properties.

  In the afternoon he made drugs. He hadn’t worked with these things for very many years, so in order not to make any mistakes he was extremely careful. As time passed he gradually grew more skillful.

  However, Tang San did after all come from Tang Sect, and was an expert in refining poison. That he couldn’t refine tonics was regretful. Tang San used a whole three months to gain a clear grasp on the herbs around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and tried making practically every kind of poison.

  As for the doses of the antidote he gave Dugu Bo, it wasn’t anything worth mentioning. Just some muscle relaxing and blood circulating medicine, that was all. But with each dose of this medicine Tang San included a drop of his own blood.

  Actually, Dugu Bo was still being swindled by Tang San. The poison in his body, most crucial was the location, as well as the two kinds of extreme properties of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Precious Apricot.

  However Tang San didn’t cheat him completely. If Dugu Bo directly ate the two herbs, it would immediately drive out the poison skills in his body.

  But after being transformed within Tang San, their properties became a lot milder, and with the imperceptible influence of a small dosage, it became a therapeutic effect.

  After Dugu Bo had taken it for a week, the pain of the poison side effects had clearly alleviated. And slowly accumulating the poison in his spirit bone like Tang San said, not only didn’t weaken him, but even showed signs of fracturing the ninety first rank bottleneck he had been unable to break through for years.

  One must know that past the ninetieth rank, each rank was an enormous bottleneck. Dugu Bo had already been stuck at the same level for a decade. How couldn’t these signs of breaking through make him wildly excited?

  The merits of the antidote clearly improved Dugu Bo’s attitude toward Tang San. Not only was he more amiable, but every night when he came to take the medicine and deliver basic articles, he would also talk about some knowledge relating to poison.

  Tang San had inherited the Tang Sect’s poison capability, but there were some things different between his old world and this one. And in this world, there was no one more knowledgeable about every kind of poison than Dugu Bo.

  Tang San naturally learned a lot from him.

  But as Dugu Bo came to know Tang San, he became more and more fearful. This just ten-something kid seemed to have a mind as vast as the boundless ocean, in all kinds of poison lore he sometimes gave him the feeling of producing sudden flashes of insight.

  Part 3 (TL by Bagelson)

  Originally when Tang San refused becoming an apprentice, Dugu Bo had been extremely indignant. But after some time he discovered that Tang San wasn’t being arrogant. With regards to poison, even if he wasn’t as experienced as himself, his theoretical understanding wasn’t unlike his own. With the two mutually researching the use of poison, they both profited a lot. And as time passed their mutual wariness dulled.

  Of course, Dugu Bo’s pearl was still within Tang San’s dantian, but Tang San didn’t protest. One old and one young were like close friends, passing every day similarly.

  Funnily enough, Dugu Bo relying on his own understanding of drugs, after eating the antidote Tang San gave him would return to make it on his own, but even though his antidote used precisely the same ingredients as Tang San’s, it still didn’t have any effect. He had no way of knowing that Tang San’s version contained the most important ingredient.

  In the blink of an eye, half a year had already passed. In the past half year, Grandmaster and Flender had visited twice, but as they saw the harmonious relationship between Tang San and Dugu Bo didn’t seem fake, and further adding Tang San never voicing concerns about his safety, the two were finally relieved. They only repeatedly reminded Tang San that after this learning period finished, he would return directly to join the new Shrek Academy.

  Dugu Bo was after all a Title Douluo, even though Tang San could match him in knowledge of poison, he was far from comparing with Dugu Bo in spirit power and cultivation.

  Dugu Bo fondly remembered Tang San’s work in detoxifying him and occasionally gave him pointers, making Tang San’s understanding of spirits even more profound. Dugu Bo’s theoretical understanding didn’t match Grandmaster’s, but he had after all experienced the whole process of cultivating to the Title Douluo level, and possessed experiences Grandmaster didn’t. As a result, Tang San benefited not a little from him.

  Further adding the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well continuously helping Tang San absorb the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Precious Apricot to transform his body, as well as the effect from Dugu Bo’s pearl, in this half year Tang San’s spirit power could be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds. From his original thirty fourth rank, he had already advanced three ranks to reach the thirty seventh ranked realm, about to catch up to where Dai Mubai had been.

  “Little freak, I’m here.”

  Dugu Bo dropped from the sky with a smirk.

  “Yi.”

  Dugu Bo looked to where Tang San habitually rested. Every night when he came here Tang San would also greet him, but today there wasn’t any sound. Could he have gone out for something?

  Dugu Bo was inwardly alarmed, and in several leaps, as he saw Tang San sitting there he breathed out slightly. Even if he didn’t admit it even to himself, Dugu Bo no longer had the previous ill will towards Tang San, and even regarded him as a friend.

  Dugu Bo was naturally eccentric, and he cultivated a poisonous spirit. Ordinarily there wouldn’t be any Spirit Masters that wanted anything to do with him. Even if there were, they’d mostly be afraid. But even though Tang San always called him ‘old freak’, these days had had imperceptibly given rise to a kind of familiar feeling for Dugu Bo. A bit like a senior to a junior, or the concern between friends. Besides, he still needed Tang San’s antidote.

  Tang San sat upright, lifelessly staring ahead. And in front of him was the drug refining copper cauldron.

  Right now the copper cauldron was supported over the blazing hot yang spring, the bottom slig
htly touching the spring water, using the yang water’s heat. If an ordinary copper cauldron had come into even the slightest contact with the blazing hot yang waters it would have turned into liquid copper, but Tang San had smeared this cauldron with a kind of herb from the extremely cold side of the well, allowing it to withstand the extreme heat. Further adding his own fearlessness of the blazing heat of the yang spring, it could be controlled.

  Dugu Bo somewhat curious crouched at Tang San’s side,

  “Little freak, what are you doing this time?”

  Tang San brought a finger to his lips, making a silencing gesture, his eyes still fixed with full concentration on the copper cauldron.

  Dugu Bo followed Tang San’s gaze. He only saw faint purple smoke constantly flow out through a small crack in the cauldron’s lid. He had long ago already become used to this kind of situation. Tang San would frequently concoct some kind of poison making him unable to help sighing in admiration. Only Tang San’s refusal to speak of his recipes made Dugu Bo constantly depressed.

  That purple smoke rising from the cauldron didn’t scatter above, swaying slightly. Dugu Bo’s nose twitched slightly. With his internal poison skills, his ability to resist poison was even more powerful, and naturally he wouldn’t be afraid. But he quickly discovered that the purple smoke didn’t have any smell, leaving him without hints as to its composition. For some reason, looking at that purple smoke rising in spirals, he felt a slight chill in his heart.

  As a Spirit Master with poison abilities, Dugu Bo understood very clearly that what he felt was a kind of intuition exclusive to him, only appearing when he encountered something that could threaten his life. This little freak had actually refined a poison that could even make him feel threatened.

  In fact, even though Tang San had refined a lot of poisons and even clever drugs that had made Dugu Bo sigh in admiration in the last half year, he had still never produced something that could threaten even him like today. He didn’t dare disturb him, and just sat next to Tang San, waiting calmly.

  Tang San’s expression was unprecedentedly serious, constantly watching the copper cauldron and the purple smoke rising from its lid. As time passed, the purple smoke became thinner and thinner, and at the same time the color changed from purple to white, then once again from white to black, in a bizarre process.

  Over the course of this process, Tang San used Blue Silver Grass to open the cauldron and insert some medicinal plants three times. Even though by now his Blue Silver Grass had already attained Ice Fire Protection, each time it still withered.

  Thus, Dugu Bo’s curiosity increased even more. After drinking his tonic, he quietly operated his poison skills, trying out the energy within that smoke.

  However, no matter how he tried he was still unable to figure out just what medicaments had gone into that purple smoke. Dugu Bo only felt that it should be a mix of several kinds of poisons, complementing each other to create an extreme toxicity.

  ‘Don’t tell me this kid wants to kill me?’ Dugu Bo thought to himself. Otherwise, why would he be refining such an extremely poisonous drug?

  But he quickly dispelled this thought. Let alone their relationship having become friendly, even if Tang San really wanted to poison him, he wouldn’t refine it right in front of him.

  The refining process was endless, and by the morning the next day, the sky already bright, and Dugu Bo felt a bit impatient, that black smoke rising from the copper cauldron finally stilled and withdrew within the cauldron.

  “It’s done.”

  Tang San suddenly leapt up, an uncontainable excitement in his voice. His current excitement actually matched his age.

  “Little freak, what is it you’ve done?”

  Dugu Bo couldn’t help asking.

  Tang San released a long breath, looking at Dugu Bo he mysteriously said:

  “It’s a treasure. The treasure of a lifetime. I can guarantee that even if it hit you, you would still only have time for three breaths. Of course, it’s no threat to you; your skin is too thick and it couldn’t enter your body. I’ll let you see my masterpiece in a bit.”

  A dozen Blue Silver Grass strands whirled out, dragging the copper cauldron back to shore, he waited for the cauldron to slowly cool without urgency.

  Since Tang San had already said this, Dugu Bo could only wait. After no less than an hour, after the cauldron had completely cooled, Tang San stepped forward and cautiously uncovered the lid.

  Dugu Bo used his poison skills to protect himself, stretching forward his head to look inside the cauldron. Inside, in the center was a small metal disc, surrounded by completely dried up remains, probably the remnants of dried out plants. And in the center of that disc were three one cun[ 1寸 = 10/3 cm.] long, completely unreflective pitch black little needles.

  “You’ve worked for half a day, what is?”

  Dugu Bo snorted unhappily,

  “What use is this toy?”

  Tang San grinned and, using Mysterious Jade Hand, cautiously took out the mold, further taking out a prepared small jade case from Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges and slipping the three needles into three grooves.

  “It’s a poison capable of killing a Title Douluo, and you’re asking what use it is?”

  A burning light flickered in Tang San’s eyes. Back at Tang Sect, this kind of gaze would appear every time he produced a super hidden weapon.

  “This thing can kill a Title Douluo? Don’t joke with me.”

  Dugu Bo’s expression was disbelieving,

  “This little toy wouldn’t even penetrate a Title Douluo’s defense, what use is the poison?”

  Tang San glanced at Dugu Bo,

  “Do you know about what’s called hidden weapons? Hidden weapons are weapons used surreptitiously. Even if it can be blocked from the front doesn’t mean it can never have any use. Besides, in order to use these three needles I have to first break through the fortieth rank of spirit power. They require a special technique to use. They’re called Yama’s Invitation[ (阎王贴) Literally “Yama’s Sticker”, but in the next bit they speak of the invitation (请帖) of the god of death with a similar character with identical pronunciation. May be a typo.].”

  “Yama’s Invitation? Why so?”

  Dugu Bo couldn’t make sense of it.

  Tang San looked at the three small needles in the jade box in his hand, his eyes expressing an infatuated light, as if looking at a rare treasure,

  “‘Yama’ refers to the god of death. When speaking of gods in antiquity, if saying that the god of death had invited you, what did that mean? Naturally it was to have you return to the embrace of the god of death. If Yama called for your death at the third watch, nobody would dare wait until the fifth watch.”

  * * *

  1寸 = 10/3 cm.

  (阎王贴) Literally “Yama’s Sticker”, but in the next bit they speak of the invitation (请帖) of the god of death with a similar character with identical pronunciation. May be a typo.

  Chapter 068: Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse And Cluster Soul Chasing Ball

  Part 1 (TL by Bagelson)

  “Pei, you can return to the arms of death.”

  Dugu Bo snappily rapped Tang San on the head. From his expression, Tang San could see he didn’t believe in the power of the Yama’s Invitation in his hand.

  Actually, even Tang San hadn’t expected he would be able to refine the Yama’s Invitation.

  As the third ranked in the Hundred Weapon Separation of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, how couldn’t he be excited? In his previous world, any one in the martial world would tremble when hearing the name of the soul and life capturing Yama’s Invitation.

  In order to refine Yama’s Invitation, Tang San used forty nine kinds of precious herbs near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, in order to make this Yama’s Invitation’s poison irresistible.

  These black little needles basically weren’t metal, but were completely condensed from poisonous substances. Once it entered the body it would immediate
ly turn back into poison, taking effect immediately.

  Let alone an antidote, even if one existed, there wouldn’t be a chance to use it. There wouldn’t even be enough time for a hero to cut off his wrist.

  Yama’s Invitation, how could it be so easily received?

  However, the technique for launching Yama’s Invitation required enormous internal strength. By Tang San’s calculations, to have enough Mysterious Heaven Skill to use Yama’s Invitation, he would need to reach at least the fortieth rank, and moreover his entire internal strength would only be enough for one attack.

  But this was already sufficient. Even if Tang San hadn’t tried it, he could be certain that even if he was unable to kill powerful opponents, as long as he could get the Yama’s Invitation to pierce the skin, then the opponent would soon have his life and soul captured.

  Cautiously putting the jade box within Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges, Tang San thought to himself that this was fortunately at the side of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, otherwise, where would he find so many precious herbs? Unfortunately, the two higher ranked hidden weapons couldn’t be created just with herbs.

  Sorting out his thoughts, Tang San looked at Dugu Bo. Over this past half year, Dugu Bo’s appearance had changed considerably. The originally wretched green hair had already become an ordinary grizzled color and, besides his eyes, his green tint had gradually vanished.

  Half a year of medication left Dugu Bo practically without the pain from the poison backlash. But he had after all been poisonous for many years. Completely purging himself was practically impossible.

  Dugu Bo was already extremely satisfied with his present condition. Naturally he was aware of his circumstances. At the same time he could be certain that using the same method to eliminate his granddaughter’s poison wouldn’t be a problem.

  “Little freak, return it to me.”

  Dugu Bo noticed Tang San looking at him, and extended his right hand to make a gesture.

  “Return it? Return what?”