Dugu Bo looked at Tang San, a reserved light in his eyes,
“Little freak, I’ve wanted to kill you repeatedly, do you really want to help cure me? Aren’t you worried I will kill you after being detoxified?”
Hearing Dugu Bo say this, Tang San knew that he already believed him, and calmly said:
“Regardless of whether you believe me, I will never reject poison. On the contrary, I’m very fond of it. And there is perhaps only one person as poisonous as you on the entire Continent. As far as I’m concerned, the process of treating you is also an experimental process. As for whether you would renege, even though I can’t be sure, I can explicitly tell you that killing me will also mean your granddaughter’s death. I can treat you here, and when I treat your granddaughter I want to invite the teachers to observe. After treating her, there will be no relation between you and me. What do you think?”
Dugu Bo pondered it, saying:
“Fine. Little freak, there are very few people I admire, you are one. I believe you. We’ll do everything as you say. I, Dugu Bo, will always keep my word, and as long as you cure me and my granddaughter, there will be no issues with the three things I promised you, and I further won’t kill you. But, right now I’ll first ask you to eat this. My old life might not be of much value, but I still want to live a few more years. If you kill me, then I’ll take you with me.”
While speaking he opened his mouth, spitting out a green light, precisely a jade green pearl. Under Dugu Bo’s control the jade green pearl slowly floated over to Tang San. Tang San extended his right hand, letting it fall into his palm. He didn’t know precisely what this thing was, but he still clearly remembered that when Dugu Bo had eliminated the True Saint Dragon, this was what he had used.
Tang San said with a wry smile:
“Having me eat something you spit out, this seems a bit nauseating.”
Part 2 (TL by Bagelson)
Dugu Bo’s cold gaze swept across him,
“I’m not afraid of telling you that this pill was coagulated after my Jade Phosphor Serpent evolved to Serpent Emperor. One might say that it contains half of all my power. If I die it will burst inside your body. Let alone you, even a Title Douluo couldn’t endure such an internal explosion. You little freak is quite cunning, so this old man has no choice but to reserve some tricks.”
Tang San directly threw the pellet into his mouth and swallowed, suddenly feeling a warm flow down his throat, and a warmth in his dantian[ The dantian is the energy center two fingers below the navel.]. Not only wasn’t there any bad feeling, that hot feeling instead scattered into the bones of his four limbs, indescribably comfortable.
Dugu Bo indifferently said:
“You felt it. As long as you don’t play any tricks on me, the pellet will only benefit your cultivation, boosting your spirit power aggregation. Once you’ve cured me, I’ll remove it.”
“Old freak, I also have a condition.”
Tang San knew Dugu Bo hadn’t cheated him in this respect. Without investigating too much, at least right now he knew there was no danger to him. Judging by Dugu Bo’s affection for Dugu Yan, as long as he didn’t remove Dugu Yan’s poison, this old freak would hate to kill him.
Dugu Bo’s brows wrinkled minutely, his face showing a ridiculous expression,
“Little freak, did you know that in these last few decades you’re the only person who has dared make demands on me. Even that Heaven Dou emperor would be deferential when meeting me.”
Tang San still smiled, saying:
“Then wouldn’t what I’m enjoying now be an emperor’s treatment? Old freak, my condition is very simple: While I make the medicines for you, you can’t peek. This will be where I make the drugs. You only need to bring me a bit of food and drinking water every day. Afterwards you can come here every evening in the hours before your attacks to take the medicine. I don’t know how much time it will take to cure you. A conservative estimate is half a year or more.”
Dugu Bo nodded, naturally he knew Tang San was afraid he would learn the detoxifying method and kill him. To this meticulous youth in front of him, he didn’t know if he felt regret or admiration,
“Tang San, do you wish to take this old man as teacher?”
If it had been an ordinary Spirit Master, on hearing Dugu Bo’s words they might have shed tears of gratitude and immediately kneeled to become an apprentice. But Tang San didn’t, he only shot Dugu Bo a glance, saying:
“Old freak, I think this term of address suits you quite well, I wouldn’t want to change it. Besides, you think you can teach me anything about poison? Perhaps in some things you should be consulting me.”
“You…… Fine. Fine, little freak, we’ll wait and see who’s right.”
Dugu Bo resisted his anger, resolutely glaring at Tang San, then leapt up towards the mountain top. In a few leaps his silhouette had already disappeared.
With Dugu Bo gone, Tang San sat down on the ground as if he had lost all his strength, heaving great mouthfuls of air. He found that his back was ice-cold from sweat. Even if he had grasped Dugu Bo’s personality, deep in his heart he still didn’t have perfect confidence, and if by some chance the old freak went crazy in spite of everything, he’d immediately become a corpse.
Looking around him at all those rare and precious medicinal herbs, a small smile appeared at the corners of Tang San’s mouth, ‘Dugu Bo, oh, Dugu Bo, it seems I must thank you. There isn’t any place more perfect than this.’
Searching his chest pocket with a hand, he pulled out that Nine Segment Jade. With a trembling hand he directly threw it at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
This Nine Segment Jade had sucked his blood. If it didn’t have the assistance of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, even though it was poisonous itself it would still die. But it could take refuge in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Tang San naturally wouldn’t show his secret escape route to Dugu Bo.
Feeling his stomach, Tang San couldn’t help smiling wryly. He knew he didn’t have any way of contending with that pellet. Let alone basically being unable to extract it, even if he could he still wouldn’t do it.
The pellet was linked to Dugu Bo’s heart’s blood, if he did something to it, Dugu Bo would discover it immediately, and he’d meet a dead end.
It was a pity, truly a pity. Tang San looked at the surrounding herbs, inwardly sighing in regret. Each immortal treasure here was unique, but as they said, delicacies didn’t have many uses.
Tang San knew that if he greedily ate any one of the great immortal treasure herbs, not only wouldn’t it be beneficial, he might immediately be out of luck.
Only after the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Precious Apricot had been absorbed as far as possible within his body could he think about it again.
Among the immortal treasure herbs were at least seven or eight kinds that could greatly boost his internal strength, at least advancing his spirit power by five ranks, or even more.
‘It doesn’t matter, can’t I still take what I can’t eat?’
Tang San showed a smiling expression, stretching out his hand to feel at his waist. In a moment, a mess of things was laid out on the ground. These things were largely some small cases and bottles, each one different from the next.
Gold, silver, copper, iron, jade, various kinds of cases and bottles were arranged on the ground.
These were all things Tang San had prepared long ago in order to go find herbs suitable for making poison for hidden weapons. The more precious the herbs, the higher the requirements for storing them.
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 slightly 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 crouch
ed 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.
Douluo Dalu - Volume 01-48 Page 121