The Two Girls Take the Herbs, Martial Soul Evolution

Dugu Bo stood to the side, his heart roiling.

In the past, he had taken the strange flowers and rare plants beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for ordinary medicinal herbs. He could not even name many of them and had dismissed them as weeds growing alongside the others, never giving them a second thought. Only after seeing Gan Lin's transformation today did he understand the wondrous properties of these Immortal Herbs.

But on second thought, he felt at ease—he had always intended to leave everything at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to Dugu Yan and Gan Lin.

It was better for Gan Lin to make full use of them than for them to lie forgotten in these remote mountains. Besides, the boy's courage in testing the herb on himself just now, and the care he had taken in choosing an Immortal Herb for Yanzi, made all those years Dugu Bo had spent looking after him worthwhile.

"Did it hurt when you took it?"

"Yes," Gan Lin answered honestly. "Like someone took my bones apart and put them back together."

"And you still dared to stuff it in your mouth?" Dugu Bo glared at him, hoping to teach Gan Lin a lesson.

"Because the book said it would hurt, but it also said what would happen after the pain passed." Gan Lin smiled. "Suffering is a little easier to bear when you know how it ends than when you don't."

Dugu Bo said nothing, but something stirred in his ever-clouded old eyes.

"Next," Gan Lin said, setting the three remaining wooden boxes out one by one, "we need to call Lingling over."

Dugu Bo frowned. "That girl from the Ye family? Are you sure her body can take it?"

"The Exquisite Jade-Stamen Flower is the gentlest of the four." Gan Lin pushed the lustrous white wooden box forward. "And she has the Nine Heart Begonia, so her Martial Soul Origin is inclined toward gentleness. Now's exactly the time to lay her foundation. Wait another two years, and once her healing power has taken shape, whatever she eats will only nourish it. It won't make it 'grow' anymore."

Dugu Bo was silent for a moment, then said, "I'll go get her."

"You'll go?"

"That woman Ye Huixin is terribly suspicious. If a little kid like you goes to deliver the message, nine times out of ten she'll think you're pulling her leg."

Gan Lin froze for a moment, then smiled. "All right. Take your time on the way, Grandpa. No need to hurry."

"Quit nagging."

The old man's figure disappeared into the passage, though his footsteps were much quicker than when he had arrived.

Ye Huixin brought Ye Lingling over herself.

Ye Lingling stood where she was, nervously clutching the hem of her skirt in both hands. She looked at Gan Lin, then at Dugu Yan, and asked in a tiny voice, "Xiaolin... can I really eat it?"

"Yes." Gan Lin handed her the lustrous white wooden box. "You'll feel a little warm when you eat it, like you're soaking in warm water. Don't be afraid. Follow that warmth, and stop wherever you feel most comfortable."

"Then... what about you?"

"I've already eaten mine." Gan Lin pointed to his chest. "See? I'm still standing here talking to you."

Only then did Ye Lingling breathe a sigh of relief and carefully accept the wooden box.

"Wait."

Dugu Bo suddenly spoke. He stepped forward, took the Azure Phosphorous Dew-Concentrating Grass from its wooden box, and pressed it into his granddaughter's hands. Then he stepped in front of the two girls, shielding them behind him.

"Let the two of them take theirs first," he said.

Gan Lin was somewhat surprised. "Grandpa, what about yours-"

"Mine can wait." Dugu Bo set the wooden box containing the Dark Jade Condensed Poison Flower aside, his tone as casual as if he were commenting on the fine weather. "Mine has the fiercest medicinal properties, and taking it will cause the biggest commotion. If something goes wrong, I won't even be able to look after anyone else. Those two are different. It's their first time dealing with heavenly treasures like these, so I need to stay here and keep an eye on them."

He paused and shot Gan Lin a sidelong glance. "Besides, if I really do end up flat on my back, someone has to be able to drag me out, right? That book of yours should say how to deal with a backlash from the medicinal properties too, shouldn't it?"

"...It does."

"Then that's fine." Dugu Bo had already seated himself on a flat bluestone slab. He closed his eyes, and the Soul Power around him slowly spread out like an invisible net, enveloping the two girls. "Begin. With me here, even if the sky falls, it won't land on their heads."

Dugu Yan held the bluish-purple grass and looked at her grandfather's hunched yet upright back. Her lips moved, but no words came out. She merely lowered her head and said very, very softly, "...Grandpa, when I'm done, it'll be my turn to stand guard for you."

"Cut the nonsense and eat it."

Watching the scene, Gan Lin suddenly felt a little tightness in his chest.

He took a deep breath, pushed down those ill-timed feelings, and walked over to Ye Lingling. He crouched beside her and spoke very gently:

"Sister Lingling, close your eyes. Follow my voice."

The mist around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well gradually thickened.

The fragrances of the two spirit herbs slowly mingled amid the cold and heat, spreading layer upon layer over the stone walls, over the spring water, and into the breaths of the four people.

Dugu Yan swallowed hers first.

The moment the Azure Phosphorous Dew-Concentrating Grass entered her mouth, it turned into a stream of icy juice that slid down her throat. It was too cold to be a plant; it was more like a mouthful of water from a deep well. She had kept her shoulders tense, intending to put on a brave front, but after only two breaths, the chill spread through her stomach and climbed along her veins.

"Cold..." Her teeth began to chatter.

"Don't talk." Gan Lin knelt on one knee beside her, one hand pressed against the center of her back. "The cold means the medicinal properties are moving through you. Just follow it. Don't block it."

Before his voice had faded, a sudden change occurred.

A dense tracery of blue-green lines appeared beneath the skin on the side of Dugu Yan's neck, as though something were slowly swimming beneath it. The lines spread from her neck to her cheeks and arms, leaving an extremely faint, scale-like sheen on her skin wherever they passed. She grunted and pitched forward, clawing at the ground with both hands, her nails scraping several white marks into the bluestone.

"Does it hurt?" Gan Lin asked bluntly.

"...Yes!"

"It's supposed to." He pressed his palm more firmly against her back. "Bear with it. This herb's medicinal properties will change your poison from something 'attached to your Martial Soul' into something 'born within your Martial Soul.' The old shell has to break before a new one can grow."

Dugu Yan no longer had the strength to answer. She lay on the ground with her back arched, the blue-green lines growing brighter and brighter until, at last, they formed a hazy, snake-shaped phantom behind her. The phantom was only three feet long and emerald green from head to tail, with flecks of gold glimmering along the edges of its scales. When it raised its head, its vertical pupils swept coldly across the stone platform-

At that instant, the poisonous insects that had long infested the outskirts of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well all froze and died.

It was then that Ye Lingling swallowed the Exquisite Jade-Stamen Flower.

She had been nervous to begin with, and the sight of Dugu Yan in that state made her hands tremble so badly she could barely hold the flower. Gan Lin didn't rush her. He only lowered his voice and said, "Sister Lingling, look at me."

Ye Lingling raised her head and met Gan Lin's eyes.

"You're not doing this to bear pain for someone else," Gan Lin said earnestly. "You're doing it so you can bear it, so you can grow stronger. Now, Sister Lingling, close your eyes."

Ye Lingling obediently closed her eyes.

Although Ye Lingling was older and bigger than Gan Lin, at that moment, he seemed more like the older brother, comforting his little sister who refused to take her medicine.