Chapter 59: Shocking My Mom for a Hundred Years

"My boy, you've got quite some talent." At this moment, Dugu Bo no longer addressed him casually as "kid," but instead called him "my boy" with a wide smile.

To be honest, when Dugu Bo's aged face had turned angry and stern just moments ago, Chen Ming had felt a genuine sense of intimidation—he had at least looked the part of a Title Douro. Yet the moment he broke into that smile, Chen Ming almost associated Dugu Bo with the perverted, creepy old men he had encountered in his past life.

The neighborhood security near his home had been poor during his childhood, and coupled with his exceptionally handsome appearance, not only normal grandpas, grandmas, uncles, and aunties favored him, but some abnormal ones had also set their sights on him...

Although nothing actually happened that would fail censorship, Chen Ming still had a bit of PTSD regarding such smiles.

"That trick of yours must have been learned from books. I wonder which clan you hail from, given such high martial soul quality and equally outstanding hereditary teachings. I, Dugu Bo, have traveled across the continent for so many years, so how is it that I've never heard of such a prominent venom-attribute master sharing the surname Chen?"

"Senior Dugu, I—"

"Hey, calling me senior sounds so distant, making me seem utterly heartless. Just call me grandfather," Dugu Bo interrupted Chen Ming, speaking with a smile.

"Dugu... grandfather." Even though his combined age across two lifetimes made him no more than a grandson compared to Dugu Bo, Chen Ming still felt rather awkward addressing him as such.

"Ah," Dugu Bo nodded benevolently.

"I hail from the Chen family of Biluo City. Our family's hereditary martial soul is the Emerald Scorpion, and our founding ancestor originated over five years ago—wait, over five hundred years ago—rising from the common folk. Later, he was granted a hereditary earldom for his military merits, with his fief located right there in Biluo City."

"In fact, Biluo City was constructed by our family's ancestors, and the city lords for the first several generations were also members of the Chen family."

"Biluo City, you say? That wasteland just outside Biluo Gorge? Though reputed to be one of the rare gathering places for venom-type soul beasts across the entire continent, it's a place where even ten-thousand-year venom-type soul beasts are few and far between?"

Dugu Bo spoke his mind bluntly, blurting out his inner thoughts before realizing his aged face couldn't quite hold the expression.

"Ahem, my point is that although ordinary people cannot survive in that place, it is an absolute paradise for venom soul masters. I visited there in my youth, and it is practically a natural venom-type mimetic cultivation ground. It seems your ancestors moved there precisely to inspire you younger generations."

"Indeed," Chen Ming nodded and continued.

"Grandfather Dugu, I possess a secret concerning my family's heritage, and I am uncertain whether I should speak of it. Logically speaking, such matters ought not to be disclosed to outsiders for fear of attracting unwanted attention."

"However, you are the peerless Poison Douro, whose majesty shakes the world and who stands without equal in the Dao of venom. Who across the Douro Continent does not know your name? It is said that when you became the very first Title Douro of the venom path, venom-attribute soul masters throughout the entire world shouted your name aloud. I grew up listening to my grandfather recount your legendary tales. Therefore, sharing this with you can hardly be considered telling an outsider, can it?"

Chen Ming sought to rouse Dugu Bo's curiosity by leveraging his own family background, deliberately elevating Dugu Bo to lofty heights.

Sure enough, upon hearing Chen Ming's words, Dugu Bo's complexion instantly flushed with vitality, and his back straightened unconsciously by a fraction.

"Since you address me as grandfather, you are my junior. Old man that I am, I swear by the name of the Poison Douro that without your explicit consent, I shall never reveal even half a syllable of this matter to the outside world!"

Dugu Bo patted his chest, giving Chen Ming his solemn guarantee.

Though he did not believe that a clan seemingly devoid even of a Soul Saint could harbor any monumental secret, he was a man of his word and would undoubtedly lock this matter deep within his belly, never letting it leak to outsiders.

"The reason our ancestors settled near Biluo Gorge was because of a great secret..."

Chen Ming slowly recounted the tale of his family's ancestors to Dugu Bo. Yet upon hearing the five words "Seven-Absolute Emerald-Green Flower," the smile on Dugu Bo's face froze entirely; his eyes widened in shock, and a twitch of his fingers nearly tore out several strands of his own beard. Only through decades of mental discipline did he manage to maintain his composure.

However, when Chen Ming began to speak of the hereditary flaws within the family's martial soul, Dugu Bo completely lost his restraint, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets as profound shock gripped his entire being.

By the time Chen Ming described how he had absorbed the soul rings of both the Seven-Absolute Emerald-Green Flower and the Emerald Scorpion, thereby rectifying the flaws in his martial soul and triggering its evolution, Dugu Bo leaped up in sheer excitement. His aged face pressed directly toward Chen Ming, inspecting him as though he were examining some peerless, priceless treasure.

Everything Chen Ming had shared delivered a tremendous shock to Dugu Bo's mind.

Whether it was the Chen family's Seven-Absolute Emerald-Green Flower, the subsequent martial soul mutation caused by cultivating with it, the inherent flaws of the martial soul revealed thereafter, or the dozens of generations spanning hundreds of years spent searching for a solution, culminating in Chen Ming descending like a deus ex machina to absorb a soul ring that no one else could possibly absorb and thus perfecting his martial soul...

Every single detail slammed heavily into the deepest recesses of Dugu Bo's heart. Every word rang deafeningly loud to his ears.

Merely listening to this brief narrative sparked a dozen potential methods in Dugu Bo's mind for mitigating his own family's martial soul affliction, even sparking a rough hypothesis on how to resolve the issue completely.

If his own family's martial soul accumulated virulent poison due to a fundamental flaw, what exactly was the initial influence that triggered the mutation in the first place?

If he altered the target soul rings absorbed by his descendants, attempting to compensate for innate deficiencies through external forces, could that alleviate or even outright cure the problem?

If he were to find a treasured venomous sanctuary, imitating the ancestors of the Chen family by cultivating venomous plants and raising Biluo Serpents, could he steer his family's martial soul mutations as close as possible to his desired outcome?

Solving it directly, solving it indirectly, solving it through roundabout means, solving it for his descendants...

Dugu Bo had once believed his family was unique, but now, presented with this precedent, decades of dormant knowledge and inspiration within his mind were instantly ignited.

"You rascal are truly the blessing of our family! You are simply a treasure bestowed upon the Dugu family by the Angel God!" Dugu Bo's expression was ecstatic, his words verging on delirium.

"If Yan Yan agrees, you shall be my grandson-in-law; if she refuses, I shall take you as my disciple."

"Xiao Ming, when you stabilized Yan Yan's soul power back then, did you sense a peculiar toxin creating chaos within her body?"

"Indeed." Having reached this point, Chen Ming had grown remarkably calm, answering Dugu Bo's inquiries in an orderly fashion.

"I did indeed sense a peculiar toxin... Could it be that I inadvertently pried into the Dugu family's heritage?"

"What heritage?" Dugu Bo felt a complexity of emotions twelve layers deep.

Anyone who wanted this kind of heritage was welcome to take it; as far as he, his wife, his son and daughter-in-law, his granddaughter, and all his ancestors were concerned, none of them wanted any part of it.

With a hardened heart and clenched teeth, enduring the agonizing pain of backlash, Dugu Bo slowly forced a tiny fraction of the bone-deep poison within his body toward the surface.

He had only barely managed to suppress these toxins a few days prior, leaving his condition unstable and plagued by dull, intermittent internal aches. Actively stimulating them like this made Dugu Bo feel as though tens of thousands of insects were gnawing continuously at his flesh, and sweat already bathed his cheeks.

"Xiao Ming, use your soul power to feel this. Is this what you sensed that day?"