"Little fellow, how is your medicine coming along?"
Ignoring his granddaughter's petulant complaints, Dugu Bo turned to ask Wang Zhong.
Wang Zhong was a bit bewildered by this question. To be honest, for the past half a month, he had been so engrossed in the burning sensation within him that he had completely forgotten about what Dugu Bo had mentioned.
Scratching his head awkwardly, Wang Zhong replied sheepishly, "Uh, about that..."
However, before he could finish speaking, a small cluster of vines suddenly appeared in his sight, bearing several bright red fruits.
"No way! Do these legendary things really exist?"
Wang Zhong murmured to himself, something flashing through his mind. He then said to Dugu Bo, "I can't make a poison that satisfies you for now, but I have found a medicine that can resist thirty percent of your poison!"
"Medicine?"
"You mean there's a medicine here that can resist thirty percent of my poison by itself!"
"Little fellow, you must know that all the medicinal herbs by this hot spring are planted by me. Such a medicine simply does not exist!"
Dugu Bo was quite confident about this. This was his medicinal garden; if there was a medicine that could resist his poison, he would know.
While mixing several herbs here could indeed achieve various combinations, not a single original medicinal plant could do it.
Wang Zhong glanced at Dugu Bo. He somewhat understood why such a thing would grow here. After all, with such a large venomous snake lurking around daily, it was hard for it not to grow.
He walked to the small cluster of vines and squatted down, examining them closely. The entire plant was covered in fine hairs, its leaves were ovate with blunt serrations, and the calyx, also ovate, cradled a small, thumb-sized, rough and uneven bright red fruit.
"Snakeberry!"
Staring at the small fruit before him, Wang Zhong gently plucked one and placed it in his palm. Then, he boldly declared to Dugu Bo with a proud demeanor, "This little fruit can not only resist thirty percent of your poison, it can easily neutralize a hundred percent of it."
Hearing Wang Zhong's confident words, Dugu Yan quickly ran over and peered closely at the small fruit in Wang Zhong's palm. After a long look, she found nothing peculiar and couldn't understand Wang Zhong's confidence at all.
Her grandfather, the Supreme of Poisons who shook the world with his toxins, had never had anyone claim they could neutralize a hundred percent of his poison.
Anyone struck by Dugu Bo's full poison, even a Titled Douluo, would die!
"Little fellow, boasting comes with a price!"
Dugu Bo's gaze turned dangerous. He was renowned throughout the world for his poison; claiming to neutralize a hundred percent of his poison was equivalent to explicitly stating that there was a way to counter him.
"Of course. If this little thing in my hand cannot neutralize your poison, Senior, then I'll let you do as you please!"
Still with a confident tone and demeanor, Dugu Bo grew somewhat suspicious. Wang Zhong, who had studied medicine deeply, couldn't possibly not understand how terrifying his poison was, yet he could still face him with such composure. Could it be that this small fruit truly could counter him?
He walked forward slowly and took the small fruit from Wang Zhong's hand, examining it carefully. Strangely, he had no memory of ever cultivating such a fruit.
"Where did this little fruit come from? I am certain I have never encountered anything like it!"
"Could it be that when I was cultivating herbs before, it accidentally mixed in?"
"But I've never seen this kind of fruit before either!"
Dugu Bo frowned deeply, pondering incessantly in his mind.
After thinking for a while with no result, he said to Wang Zhong, "Since you are so confident, let's give it a try!"
"Wait for me!"
Dugu Bo left on his snake and returned within a few breaths, this time carrying several lively rabbits.
"Now, we will use these rabbits as a test to see if the fruit in your hand is truly as potent as you claim, capable of countering me!"
A cloud of greenish-blue poisonous mist appeared in his palm, and Dugu Bo struck it into the rabbits. The once lively rabbits immediately became listless, their fiery red eyes dimming, a sign of impending death.
"This is the power of thirty percent of my poison! Now, use that little fruit to cure it!"
He threw the rabbits to Wang Zhong, his expression full of pride. Even with only thirty percent of his power, let alone a rabbit, even a ten-thousand-year-old rabbit spirit would not survive!
Taking the rabbits, Wang Zhong smiled slyly at Dugu Bo.
He pried open the rabbit's mouth, forced the snakeberry in, and placed it on the ground. After about dozens of breaths, the rabbit, which had been on the verge of death, suddenly became lively again.
Having arrived in an unfamiliar place, the timid rabbit instinctively tried to escape further away. But the distance was the ice and fire dual-element medicinal garden. Before the rabbit could get close, it was bitten and killed on the spot by a small greenish-blue snake. After a couple of twitches, it became still.
"Nine-section Emerald, the finest of the pit vipers!"
Wang Zhong was slightly surprised to see the small snake that suddenly appeared from nowhere.
However, compared to Wang Zhong's surprise, Dugu Bo was utterly stunned!
His poison, even at thirty percent of its power, hadn't killed that rabbit!
This was simply impossible!
He took a deep breath, and soul power surged in his palm, forming dense poisonous mist that converged in the center of his palm, swirling like boiling water.
The rabbit held in his other hand instinctively sensed a deadly danger. Out of instinct, they struggled incessantly.
The poisonous gas in his palm condensed to its extreme. Dugu Bo unleashed all the poisonous gas into the rabbit's body with a single palm strike. As before, he threw it to Wang Zhong, his gaze fixed on the latter's actions.
Holding this rabbit, which was almost killed with one palm strike, its entire body covered in poisonous gas, barely clinging to life, Wang Zhong sighed softly, not for the rabbit, but for Dugu Bo.
He picked a red fruit from the vine and stuffed it into the rabbit's mouth. But unlike before, even after eating this red fruit, the rabbit still bled from its mouth and died.
However, the blood from its mouth was red!
"How is this possible!"
"My poison... was actually neutralized!"
Dugu Bo truly could not imagine that the small red fruit in Wang Zhong's hand possessed such potent medicinal properties that even without using his soul skills, the snake venom condensed solely from his soul power was completely dissolved.
Dugu Yan was also equally amazed. Although the rabbit before them still died, the cause of death was not her grandfather's poison. It was the impact of the soul power. When it was thrown to Wang Zhong, the rabbit was already as good as dead. The only reason it was still alive was because Dugu Bo's poison was stimulating its muscles and body to make a final instinctive reaction.
Dugu Bo's poison had been neutralized! The bright red blood flowing from the rabbit's mouth was the best proof. Anyone or any animal poisoned by phosphorus snake venom would have their blood turn completely black due to the corrosive effect of the toxin!
"Nothing is impossible. All things in the world have their counterparts! Where there is poison, there must be an antidote!"
"The Two Elements are born together, but they also counteract each other!"
"Just as there is the Jadeite Snake Emperor's Poison, there is naturally an antidote for the Jadeite Snake Emperor's Poison."
"And this antidote was born because of you, Senior!"