Chapter 49: The Three-Day Agreement!
Facing Dugu Bo's unfriendly interrogation and the Jade Phosphor Serpent poison surging around him, Fu Ze's expression remained unchanged. He calmly cupped his hands and said in a deep voice, "I am Fu Ze. By order of my Young Master, I have come specifically to deliver a letter to Your Excellency, the Poison Douluo."
His voice was neither humble nor overbearing. At the same time, the dense soul power aura belonging to a Rank 95 Titled Douluo was slightly released and then immediately retracted, allowing Dugu Bo to instantly perceive that soul power which far exceeded his own.
Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing Fu Ze up from top to bottom, the vigilance and suspicion in his eyes growing even deeper.
He had a perverse temperament, but he was by no means brainless.
Not only was the opponent's strength unfathomable, but his demeanor was also steady and composed, definitely not that of an ordinary rogue cultivator.
That phrase "Young Master" sent a jolt through his heart!
A faction capable of commanding such a powerhouse was probably no small matter.
The toxic fog tumbling around him unconsciously receded by thirty percent. Though his tone remained cold and gloomy, it lost a bit of its arrogance: "This old man has never met your Young Master. What letter is there to deliver?"
Fu Ze did not say much. Following the telepathic instructions from Fu Shiyan's hidden vegetation incarnation, he directly drew the slip of paper from his robe.
He did not hand it over directly. Instead, with a flick of his wrist, the slip of paper was steadily supported by pure soul power, slowly flying toward Dugu Bo and hovering a foot away from his face.
"Your Excellency will know once you look at it."
Dugu Bo snorted coldly, still cautiously enveloping the paper with his soul power. Only after carefully sensing and confirming it was non-toxic did he draw it through the air before his eyes. With a scrutinizing and somewhat dismissive gaze, his eyes fell upon those few lines of text.
However, just the very first line--"Jade Phosphor Serpent poison, devours the body and erodes the soul; at the midnight hour, pain pierces to the marrow"--
Was like an icicle, stabbing fiercely into his heart!
The fingers holding the paper suddenly tightened, his knuckles turning white. His face instantly became extremely unsightly, and his pupils contracted violently.
How is this possible?! This is a secret that even Yan'an doesn't know! How did this person find out?!
After the immense shock came an even stronger rage and a panic from having his secrets pried into!
Without even thinking, he fiercely denied it almost subconsciously: "Nonsense! When has this old man ever been afflicted by any poison?! Simply absurd!"
However, when he frantically looked further down and saw, "Your granddaughter, Dugu Yan, possesses decent talent, yet her bloodline's hidden peril has already manifested. If not eradicated, it will be difficult for her to surpass the Spirit Saint realm," the fury of his denial seemed to have a basin of ice water poured over it, freezing instantly.
Yan'an--his most beloved granddaughter, was his only weakness.
The other party not only knew his own symptoms, but even pointed out Yan'an's still slight, almost imperceptible hidden peril!
Looking further at "The wondrous scenery of the medicine garden, ice and fire sharing the same source, extraordinary herbs growing aside, surrounded by deadly poison. A reckless waste of natural treasures, a pearl covered in dust, uselessly guarding a mountain of treasure while sighing in vain," Dugu Bo only felt a chill rush from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head. The hand holding the paper began to tremble slightly.
That medicine garden was his greatest secret, a treasure land that absolutely no one knew about except Yan'an!
Not only did this person know, but they even evaluated him as "a reckless waste of natural treasures" and "uselessly guarding a mountain of treasure while sighing in vain"?
The final sentence read, "The bearer of this letter can resolve your generational plight, and can also fulfill my need to gather herbs. Three days from now, at the southeastern entrance of the Sunset Forest, I shall quietly await."
Detoxification? Generational plight? Gathering herbs?
After seeing this passage, his mood was like suddenly seeing a glimmer of hope within a desperate predicament.
He abruptly raised his head, the green light in his eyes flaring up intensely as he stared fixedly at Fu Ze. His voice sounded hoarse and distorted from trying his utmost to suppress his emotions: "Utterly arrogant! Relying merely on a slip of paper with hearsay and fabrications from god knows where, you expect this old man to believe this nonsense?"
"You are nothing more than coveting this old man's things!"
"Just who is your Young Master? How did he learn of these things?! If there is a single false word, this old man--"
Although he was putting on a fierce front while being weak inside, he did not dare to truly break all decorum with the opponent.
Whether it was the pressure caused by the Rank 95 soul power Fu Ze had released earlier, or the overly precise, critical information on the paper, both had thrown his mind into complete disarray.
At this moment, Fu Shiyan's vegetation incarnation in the dark saw that Dugu Bo had already lost his composure somewhat, and understood that the timing was ripe. Through soul power transmission, the instructions were clearly delivered into Fu Ze's ears.
Receiving the instructions, Fu Ze remained calm in the face of Dugu Bo's questioning. Responding according to the rhetoric taught by Fu Shiyan, he said, "Why be in such a hurry to deny it, Your Excellency? What the truth is, Your Excellency knows best in your heart."
"As for how my Young Master found out--"
He paused, his gaze meeting Dugu Bo's eyes, which were filled with suspicion and dread, without any hesitation: "The Young Master has unique and profound research regarding herb pharmacology, martial soul origins, and even many strange ailments and exotic poisons in the world."
"The backlash caused by the martial soul defects of Your Excellency and Miss Dugu Yan, and even the characteristics and principles of mutual generation and inhibition of the many rare and exotic herbs in that place where ice and fire share the same source, the Young Master has long understood thoroughly."
"Precisely because he understands, he has a method to resolve it."
Seeing Dugu Bo's expression shifting unpredictably, he continued to speak according to Fu Shiyan's directives: "The Young Master said that he has no intention of becoming enemies with Your Excellency, nor is he the type of person who covets Your Excellency's belongings to take them by trickery or force."
"Sending me here this time is merely to deliver an invitation for a mutually beneficial transaction."
"Nothing written on the paper is false. The specific solution and the strategy to eradicate the hidden peril have already been prepared by the Young Master."
"Whether it is true or false, once Your Excellency meets him in three days, you can naturally verify it in person."
"As for what Your Excellency said about coveting your things!"
Before Fu Ze's voice could fade, his right hand slowly summoned the Destruction Heavenly Astral Halberd, and nine soul rings slowly rose accordingly.
The soul power pressure of Rank 95 fell directly upon Dugu Bo!
"Everything depends on Your Excellency's own judgment."
And seeing Fu Ze's nine rising soul rings, as well as that final, blood-red 100,000-year soul ring!
Dugu Bo's face looked exceptionally unsightly, but he also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. After all, if the other party really had any malicious intentions, he had no room to refuse anyway.
More crucially, the information on the paper was too fatal, precisely pinching all of his lifelines and secrets, leaving him no choice but to believe in this thread of survival!
Ultimately, the desire for relief from his own pain, the worry for his granddaughter's future, and that faint glimmer of hope outweighed his suspicion and fear.
He took a deep breath and spoke slowly, "Fine--this old man shall see just what kind of sacred existence your Young Master is, and what heaven-defying methods he possesses!"
He tightly clutched the slip of paper in his hand, then turned around and walked toward the toxic fog.
"Three days from now, at the southeastern entrance of the Sunset Forest, this old man will definitely arrive on time!"
Dropping these words, he no longer looked at Fu Ze. With a flash of his body, the surrounding toxic fog surged, enveloping his figure and causing it to blur rapidly, leaving behind only a faint, fishy scent on the spot.
Fu Ze only breathed a slight sigh of relief after confirming that Dugu Bo's aura had completely distanced itself.
He nodded slightly toward the direction where Fu Shiyan's vegetation incarnation was hidden, and immediately transformed into an inconspicuous stream of light, quietly leaving this border area of the poison formation.