"You said… he can unleash Jade Phosphor Violet Venom through his fingers, as fast as a sword strike?" Dugu Bo asked again to confirm.
Dugu Yan quickly nodded, her eyes faintly filled with expectation.
In that instant, Dugu Bo understood his granddaughter's thoughts. She was envious of Dugu Feng's spirit skill and its sheer destructive power.
He pulled her down to sit beside him.
His expression turned sorrowful, a sigh escaping his lips.
"Yan'er, you're grown now. It's time you knew the truth of our martial spirit.
"Our Jade Phosphor Serpent spirit carries a fatal flaw. Its venom is terrifying! Once an enemy is struck, they'll rot into pus within moments.
"But before it poisons others, it poisons its own host. Your father died because of this. Your mother too couldn't withstand the Jade Phosphor Poison.
And you…" Dugu Bo's voice faltered. "Your bloodline carries this poison from birth. Once you reach a certain cultivation level, it will inevitably erupt."
Dugu Yan's face went deathly pale. Her suspicions were confirmed, only the truth was even crueler than she had imagined.
"Then… what about Grandpa?"
"I? Heh… even as a Titled Douluo, I endure constant agony from poison outbreaks. It's only because I found a special medicinal garden that suppresses the venom within me that I've survived until now." Dugu Bo's tone was weary.
Others only saw his strength but they never knew the torment he endured in silence.
"Then… what about Dugu Feng and his branch?" Dugu Yan asked sharply.
If they didn't suffer poison backlash, while also wielding such powerful poison skills, her heart couldn't accept it.
"They're worse off than us. I told you before, the clan split into two branches: we walk the Serpent path, which is control-type; they walk the Poison path, assault-type.
"You absorbed spirit rings that weren't from venomous beasts. That's why your first two skills are augmentation-based. My calculation is that your poison outbreak won't occur until at least the Soul King stage.
"But Dugu Feng… he was born carrying poison. To already wield Jade Phosphor Poison so skillfully at this age? He'll probably die through poison eruption even before reaching Soul Grandmaster.
"More the talent, the earlier the death!" Dugu Bo said coldly.
Dugu Yan froze. No wonder her spirit rings were chosen like this. Her grandfather wasn't restraining her, he was trying to delay her death.
"But then why… why keep cultivating like that?" she murmured, confused.
"They're all madmen," Dugu Bo spat bitterly. "Starting from your great-grandfather, they all have gone utterly insane.
"For the so-called glory of the clan, he insisted Jade Phosphor Serpent spirits must attach venomous beasts, must mix poisons.
"Either solve the problem or die! He even said, 'Better to die of poison than to die of old age!'
"That was my father. He cut off all clan resources from me, poured everything into my elder brother, and mocked me for being cowardly, too afraid of death.
"But what was the result? He died before reaching Soul Sage, devoured by his own toxins. My brother too never broke through Soul Sage.
"Your uncle Dugu Shuo managed to advance, but even he is plagued by raging toxins. How long can he live?
"And his son, Dugu Feng, inherits that poison. Sooner or later, he'll keel over.
And me? I'm a Titled Douluo!"
His face twisted with bitterness. These were memories carved deep in his bones.
Back then, he was treated with scorn and contempt by his entire family.
Until the day he and his brother Dugu Hao dueled before reaching Soul Sage, that was when all his resentment erupted. His strike nearly destroyed his brother's martial spirit.
That was the day he proved himself! That was the day every mocking voice was silenced!
Dugu Yan finally understood why her grandfather's face always darkened at the mention of that other branch. Why, even when her father died, he refused to let Dugu Shuo attend the funeral.
It all made sense now.
After a long silence, Dugu Bo finally calmed down.
"Yan'er, even walking the Serpent path only delays the outbreak, it just lessens the agony. In the end, survival still depends on one's will.
"Your father and mother loved each other too much. After your mother died, your father's heart broke. His will collapsed and that's why he couldn't endure.
"But you… you won't leave me behind. I believe in you."
In the Dugu Clan, love was a luxury. Death was too common.
Dugu Bo knew about it very well well. Dugu Shuo had burned through countless women, he was cold-blooded to the core.
That entire branch was ruthless, raising offspring like venomous vipers.
"Grandpa, don't say anymore. I'll work hard. I won't leave you." Dugu Yan threw herself into his arms, sobbing.
Dugu Bo patted her shoulders gently, eyes filled with sorrow and hope.
Yes, Dugu Feng might be a prodigy.
But the more brilliant the talent, the fiercer the poison and the earlier the death.
In truth, if not for the transmigration, the original Dugu Feng would have succumbed to his toxins at age four.
Father, Brother… you were wrong. I was right.
Dugu Bo believed it firmly. That branch would all perish in time.
To him, they were already dead men walking.
Meanwhile, in another Dugu estate.
Inside the ancestral shrine, Dugu Shuo and Dugu Feng knelt before the spirit tablets of Dugu Hao and their ancestor, Dugu Hai.
After returning home, Dugu Feng had pressed his father for the truth of the past and it had brought them here.
"Your great-grandfather believed… that if the Poison Path was cultivated to its peak, then at the level of Titled Douluo one could condense a Seven-Colored Poison Pill—a vessel to absorb and contain all venom.
"That pill would completely end the curse of poison outbreaks. It might even alter the martial spirit itself.
"That's why he decreed: from then on, all descendants must walk the Poison Path. Those who walked the Serpent Path would be cut off, denied all resources.
"He would rather see the bloodline severed than see our spirit remain flawed.
"That's why your Second Granduncle stormed off, cultivating alone.
"But when he dueled your grandfather before Soul Sage, he already saw him as an enemy. My father still thought of him as a brother… and paid the price.
"He hesitated. His martial spirit was struck, crippled. So he never reached Soul Sage."
Dugu Shuo's voice was calm as he spoke of those bloody years.
So ruthless Dugu Bo!
Dugu Feng's heart trembled. This was practically murder of his own elder brother. It was fratricide!
The ancestor's decree wasn't necessarily wrong but it birthed hatred.
Hatred that poisoned blood ties until they ended in slaughter.
"Before your grandfather died, your Second Granduncle had already reached Soul Douluo.
"And he remained convinced that the Poison Path was the only path. Better to die than give it up.
"But the ancestors blessed us. You awakened innate full spirit power.
"I believe you can realize your grandfather's dream. Condense the Seven-Colored Poison Pill. Break our martial spirit's curse once and for all!"
Dugu Shuo's voice grew fervent.
Inevitably, came the ritual kowtows.
Dugu Feng sighed inwardly. His father's obsession ran deep.
Three generations bound to the same obsession, to cultivate poison, condense the Poison Pill, even if it meant death.
If he hadn't transmigrated, Dugu Shuo would surely have gone on siring child after child, coldly raising them for the same doomed gamble… until the bloodline was snuffed out entirely.
But what if… the ancestor was right?
If I reach Titled Douluo… will I truly be able to condense such a Poison Pill?