When Gai Yue first came on this trip, his heart was heavy with grief. But the moment he saw Oscar alive, all that sadness instantly vanished like smoke.
After Oscar clearly explained the sequence of events, both Dugu Bo and Gai Yue understood the real cause behind the misunderstanding.
And when Dugu Bo learned the definite news that Oscar could actually help them detoxify their poison, he didn't delay for even a moment—he left the Sunset Forest immediately. He declared that within half a month, he would secure a soul bone for Dugu Yan.
Oscar wasn't sure how Dugu Bo was going to acquire a twenty-thousand-year soul bone in such a short time, but judging from his expression, it was clear the old man already had a target in mind. The only question was—who would be the unlucky one?
After Dugu Bo left, Oscar asked Gai Yue not to rush back either. Oscar planned to refine a batch of pills for him to bring back to Shrek Academy. Meanwhile, Oscar himself would remain in the Sunset Forest for training—half a year at the shortest, a full year at the longest.
As soon as he completely absorbed the medicinal power of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot, fully tempering his Ice and Fire Alchemic Body, he wouldn't need to stay at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well any longer.
But he had no intention of wasting that period of time. He wanted Gai Yue to deliver the refined pills to Shrek's teachers and Ma Hongjun.
However, among these pills, only Ma Hongjun's was a genuine Immortal Pill. For Flender and the others, Oscar deliberately withheld immortal-grade pills. Not because he was stingy, but because he was still hesitating—after all, there were only a dozen immortal herbs in the entire Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. He had to consider carefully how to allocate them.
In the end, while Oscar did not refine individual immortal-grade pills for Flender and the others, he did create a special type of pill that rivaled them in effect. Though slightly weaker than true immortal herbs, they were still far stronger than ordinary pills refined from ten-thousand-year spirit herbs.
Over the next half month, Oscar refined a variety of different pills. Among them were the Ninefold Unity Pill, made with the ten-thousand-year Purple Ganoderma and the immortal-grade Mixed Essence Grass as the main ingredients, supplemented with dozens of foundational spirit herbs.
That single furnace produced twelve pills. The Ninefold Unity Pill's effect was astonishing—helping break through bottlenecks, strengthening the body, and remodeling marrow. Its efficacy was already comparable to that of an ordinary immortal herb.
However, Oscar only reserved these pills for Flender, Zhao Wuji, and Shao Xin. Li Yusong and Lu Qibin were excluded. Their talent was simply too weak— even if they took the Ninefold Unity Pill, breaking through to Contra was unlikely. Reaching Soul Sage would already be their limit.
To avoid wasting such precious pills, Oscar did not prepare them for those two.
Still, they weren't left with nothing. Oscar refined other precious pills from ten-thousand-year herbs for them—these would still allow their strength to improve, though naturally not on the same level as the Ninefold Unity Pill.
For Gai Yue, Oscar specially crafted an Immortal Pill. The main herb was the Jade Bamboo of Divinity, an immortal herb perfectly suited for a sword cultivator. The Jade Bamboo Pill refined from it would massively increase Gai Yue's future chances of breaking through to Title Douluo.
Oscar gave this to him not only because he was his teacher, but also because Gai Yue's own talent had the foundation to reach Title Douluo. With this added boost, he might one day even surpass the current Number One Sword of the continent—Sword Douluo Chen Xin.
Thus, everyone in Shrek Academy had been accounted for. The only exception was Dai Mubai, who had just entered the academy.
Oscar wasn't familiar with him yet and wouldn't casually hand him such treasures. After all, they had only spent a single afternoon together. Though Dai Mubai had seemed fine that day, who could say if it wasn't just an act? He was, after all, a royal prince. And in the original story, his character wasn't exactly spotless.
Even if those portrayals had been filtered through the perspective of the protagonist group, the fact that he was depicted that way at all meant there were indeed issues.
So until Oscar fully saw Dai Mubai's true nature, he would never hand him external benefits.
This was the same principle Oscar had followed when he accompanied Flender to harvest whale glue in the past—future Shrek students would only be given such rare resources after being approved by the teachers for their character and temperament.
Compared to whale glue, immortal herbs were far more precious. Naturally, Oscar would be even stricter about keeping them secret.
After preparing Gai Yue's pill, along with those for Ma Hongjun and the others, Oscar sent them back with his teacher, while he himself remained behind to continue cultivation at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
In those two weeks, besides alchemy, his interactions with Dugu Yan grew steadily more natural. Even in front of Gai Yue, the two no longer bothered to hide their closeness.
Their mutual admiration was already obvious, even to Gai Yue. If Dugu Bo had been around, Oscar might not have dared to be so bold.
Still, Gai Yue warned him seriously—he was only eleven years old. He must keep cultivation as his priority and never let emotions distract him, much less indulge in desire. That path only led to ruin.
Oscar sincerely agreed. Even if he and Dugu Yan truly ended up together, he would never let himself be consumed by lust. The word "desire" carried a blade above it—without restraint, it could cut down an entire lifetime.
And Oscar now had grand ideals and lofty goals. He would never allow himself to lose them. No matter how alluring Dugu Yan was, as long as he held firm to his heart, nothing could derail him.
Half a month passed in a flash. On the day after Gai Yue left— the sixteenth day after he himself had departed—Dugu Bo returned.
He brought with him a 24,500-year-old right arm bone.
According to Dugu Bo, this soul bone came from a Bone-Eating Venomous Python. The skill it would grant was almost certainly a venom-based explosive attack. Being from a serpent-type beast, it was a perfect match for Dugu Yan.
Yet when Oscar and Dugu Yan asked where exactly the soul bone came from, Dugu Bo's eyes flickered with an unreadable emotion. He only said they were not qualified to know yet and would learn in the future.
But one thing did sour his mood—after being gone for half a month, he returned to find his granddaughter and Oscar even closer than before. The way they spoke to each other carried an unspoken understanding.
Running the timeline in his head, Dugu Bo realized: from the day Dugu Yan chased the Violet Poison Viper into Oscar's camp, until now, nearly a month had passed. And throughout that time, his granddaughter had been almost constantly alone with Oscar. Even when not alone, Gai Yue was so cold and distant that he never really joined their circle.
So basically, two children who already liked each other had been left alone together for nearly a month? No wonder sparks were flying!
Dugu Bo could understand it logically, but he was still bitter—because this was his granddaughter!
But what could he do? During this time, he had no choice but to be away, or else Dugu Yan's poison problem would have been delayed.