"Yuwen Tuo, no, now he should be called His Royal Highness Prince Yan. You'll reside here permanently from now on. This place is much more interesting than your lonely princely manor."
After Yuwen Tuo's arrival, Jing Hongchen did not immediately grant him an audience. Instead, he only dispatched Meng Hongchen to prepare a room for him.
As expected, he still wanted to observe. Only allowing Meng Hongchen to receive Yuwen Tuo implied a vastly different meaning.
If he had personally come, rumors would likely spread that he had already sided with Yuwen Tuo. But if it was Meng Hongchen, a prominent figure in the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, everyone knew she was a complete looks-fanatic.
Presumably, she had fallen for Yuwen Tuo.
"Thank you, Miss Meng," Yuwen Tuo chuckled. "However, I cannot simply live here for free. I don't understand soul tools, so I can't help you much in that regard. If you don't mind, how about I cure your cold affliction as payment for my lodging? It would also be repaying Senior Jing Hongchen for helping me in the canyon."
Yuwen Tuo knew she would go to Shrek for treatment later, but Shrek's treatment plan would at most be like Tang San saving Dugu Bo—using a soul bone for transference, which only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. However, he could not only completely cure Meng Hongchen but also greatly increase her power and enhance her potential. This would truly repay Jing Hongchen's favor.
This way, no matter whether he and Mingde Hall became enemies or friends later, they could stand on equal footing.
It was best to be friends. Even if they became enemies, there would be no need for scruples when they fought.
Meng Hongchen was startled. "How... how did you know?"
She was a poison soul master, but just like Dugu Bo, the Poison Douluo, back then, her poison would not only affect others but also herself.
As she entered the Soul King realm, and her cultivation deepened day by day, her body finally began to be slowly consumed by the poison's backlash.
Whenever it flared up, the cold poison would attack her heart, causing tightness and pain in her chest, shivers, and shortness of breath, as if she were in an icy hell.
Curing the cold poison was her greatest wish now.
This was also a major factor why Jing Hongchen wanted to propose an exchange study with Shrek. In terms of understanding martial souls, Mingde Hall was indeed inferior to Shrek. They had a way to resolve this cold poison and save his granddaughter.
"I noticed it when we fought last time. Although your complexion was rosy, there was a dark green tinge at the corners of your mouth. Even though you covered it with lipstick, it couldn't escape my eyes. Plus, cold air was emanating from all around you, indicating that your meridians had already been invaded by cold air," Yuwen Tuo said.
Meng Hongchen excitedly said, "Yuwen Tuo, can you really undo the poison in my body?"
What Yuwen Tuo said was exactly the same as what the palace physicians and the soul masters her grandfather specifically found for her had said. However, the palace physicians and soul masters needed a long time to roughly describe her condition after examination, while Yuwen Tuo saw it at a glance.
"Poison? A speck of dust, how can it be poison? To me, this is merely a cold affliction, it's just that—" Yuwen Tuo rubbed his chin, hinting at something but stopping short.
"Just what?" Meng Hongchen asked anxiously. She was afraid Yuwen Tuo would give her hope, then despair.
If it weren't for the need to detoxify, she wouldn't have been particularly keen on going to Shrek. Unfortunately, the list was already set. Although Wang Dong in Shrek was also very handsome, she still preferred Yuwen Tuo.
Yuwen Tuo said, "It's just that my resources are limited right now. The only ways I can save you, after much thought, are four kinds. I wonder if that's enough?"
"You, you bad guy!" Meng Hongchen was both angry and happy. This Yuwen Tuo was indeed a bad man. He was deliberately teasing her. Four methods, and he still asked if it was enough?
It was like telling someone you were homeless, arousing their sympathy, and then adding, "So I can only live in Mingde Hall." What was the difference between the two?
"Bad?" Yuwen Tuo was startled. He was trying to save her with good intentions, yet she called him bad. He hadn't said anything wrong. If he were still in the Xuanyuan Sword world, his rescue plan for her could add another zero to the "four" types.
Meng Hongchen pouted, "Hmph, anyway, you're just deliberately bullying me. Hurry up and tell me, what are the four methods to save me?"
"The first method: I will use my own flame to forcefully melt the cold poison in your body. It only needs one night. I guarantee you'll be completely healthy tomorrow. However, the drawback is that the ice attribute of your Jade-Eyed Ice Toad will also greatly decrease. In other words, it's equivalent to a decrease in martial soul quality," Yuwen Tuo said.
"No, I don't want this method!" Meng Hongchen decisively refused. In this world where strength reigned supreme, power was sometimes more important than life. She certainly didn't want to fall from being a nationally renowned genius to an ordinary soul master.
Yuwen Tuo wasn't surprised by her choice and continued, "The second method: I'll save you using a doctor's approach, through medicinal conditioning. I can prescribe medicine for you, and you'll decoct it daily, gradually resolving the cold poison in your body. The advantage is that your strength won't weaken, and it's safe and stable. The disadvantage is that it's time-consuming, estimated to take two years."
"Mm, that's doable!" Meng Hongchen nodded. This method was acceptable. Anyway, if she went to Shrek for exchange study, it would also take at least two years. However, she didn't immediately decide, intending to first listen to the next two methods.
"The third method is essentially the one Tang San used to save Dugu Bo: utilizing a soul bone to transfer the poison. The advantage is that it's quick-acting and you won't weaken. The disadvantage is that it treats the symptoms, not the root cause.
Soul bones, unless they are external soul bones that can grow with the owner, still have a limit. If you cultivate the cold poison to an extremely high level in the future, there might be a recurrence."
"The fourth method: self-rescue. The reason your cold poison invades your body is actually because you don't have a good cold-attribute cultivation method. If you trust me, I can create one for you. You'll diligently cultivate it daily, gradually transforming your physique into a cold body that can perfectly accommodate the cold poison.
The advantage is that this will not only completely detoxify you but also greatly increase your power. The disadvantage is that your body, already invaded by cold poison, will experience double the coldness when cultivating a cold-attribute cultivation method. Your willpower must be strong enough to endure it!"
Yuwen Tuo finished the remaining two methods in one breath. With his cultivation level in his previous life, comparable to an elder of an immortal cultivation sect, creating a set of cold-attribute internal cultivation methods was truly not difficult. Moreover, he had the Ice and Snow Empresses offering advice from the side.
In fact, he had already started creating it, but not for Meng Hongchen; it was for Ling Luochen and Senior Sister Wina.
"So powerful, Yuwen Tuo! You can create cultivation methods?" Meng Hongchen gasped, covering her small mouth. She realized she had underestimated Yuwen Tuo.
He wasn't just a combat expert; he might be a true master of martial arts.
Yuwen Tuo smiled slightly, "Have you thought about it? Which method will you choose?"
"Can I choose all four?" Meng Hongchen asked hopefully. She realized that although all four methods could cure her, combining them seemed to yield better results.
Yuwen Tuo smiled. This Meng Hongchen was indeed a clever girl.
She meant that when her cold poison flared up severely, she would first use the first method, using his flame to temporarily suppress it.
Then, she would use the second method, regularly taking medicine, to alleviate the frequency of the cold poison's attacks.
After a portion of the cold poison in her body was suppressed by the medicine, she would use the third method to transfer the remaining cold poison to a soul bone.
This way, when she proceeded with the fourth method cultivating a cold-attribute cultivation method to completely cure it she wouldn't have to endure the double suffering of the cold poison invading her body.
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