Divine Domain, Ice and Fire Dragon Pearl

A long time ago, Gan Lin had heard quite a few people speculate about the origins of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. There were many theories, and even the original story had hinted at it.

The ancient Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had perished here. Their dragon bodies had become the springs, and their dragon souls had condensed into veins, giving birth to this wonder.

The Dragon Kings were god-level beings who stood at the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent. Even among gods, they could rank as First-Level Gods, far above a host of other deities. Though they had been dead for tens of millions of years, a wisp of their lingering dragon might was enough to make an ordinary Titled Douluo shrink back.

He used no means to protect himself. He simply stretched his limbs and leaped into the center of the springs, where red and white met. He wanted to see whether the body he had forged through two rounds of ice and fire tempering could really treat the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well as a swimming pool, and just how much dragon might he could withstand. Besides, he also felt that using external means to protect himself would be more likely to disturb whatever lay at the bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Going in with nothing but his own flesh and blood was the safer choice.

The first few dozen feet beneath the water were fairly easy. To his left, the fire spring churned with scorching waves of heat; to his right, the ice spring carried a bone-piercing chill. The two forces tore at him from either side. An ordinary Soul Elder's meridians would already have been snapped inch by inch, but Gan Lin needed only to complete one minor circulation before the power of ice and fire flowed docilely through his meridians and into his dantian. Instead, it felt like two warm currents, soothingly nourishing his flesh and blood.

But as he descended deeper, the pressure began to bear down on him in layer upon layer.

At a depth of three hundred feet, the water pressure was already as heavy as a mountain. The currents slapped against his skin with dull thuds, squeezing it taut and pressing even his pores tightly shut. The ice and fire Qi were no longer docile. They began to bore into his meridians with a touch of frenzy, carrying a trace of the overbearing pressure of ancient divine dragons, as though a sleeping presence had shifted slightly and cast a careless glance over the intruder. Gan Lin gritted his teeth and steadied his mind, letting the power of ice and fire circulate through his body to disperse its force. Without stopping, he continued to sink.

By the time he reached a depth of a thousand feet, the water pressure had become terrifying beyond measure. The surrounding currents were as thick as molten crystal gel, and every inch he moved cost him several times the effort.

The pressure made his eardrums buzz, and searing pain bored through his ear canals into his skull. His bones creaked as though they would shatter the next second; his meridians were squeezed into thin threads, and even the flow of his Soul Power grew much more sluggish. More terrifying still was the invisible dragon might, which crushed down from all directions like solid mountains. It bore not only on his body but also on his sea of consciousness, making his very soul tremble and even his breathing difficult.

Gan Lin knew full well that this was merely the remnant might that had seeped out tens of millions of years after the Dragon Kings' fall. If the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had been in their prime, a single glance would probably have been enough to reduce him to ashes. The might of gods was indeed beyond the reckoning of mortal Soul Masters.

Rather than push himself to mobilize his Soul Power against it, he relaxed his body completely and brought his physique, immune to both ice and fire, to its limit. Using himself as a channel, he let the two forces flow through his body, shedding most of the pressure.

He had no idea how long he had spent gritting his teeth and descending. Just as he felt his body nearing its limit, the space beneath his feet suddenly opened up, and the immense water pressure vanished.

Gan Lin touched down lightly on his toes and steadied himself. He looked up and could not help holding his breath.

At the very bottom of the springs was a vast cavern carved out by dragon power. An invisible boundary cleaved the cavern precisely in two. On the left was a field of solidified crimson lava, where a fiery-red dragon skeleton hundreds of feet long lay coiled. Its backbone thrust toward the sky, and though nothing remained but bare bones, it still radiated an overbearing dragon might that could burn the eight directions to nothing. On the right was a field of ice crystals that had not melted since time immemorial. A translucent, pearly-white ice dragon skeleton lay there in silence, its edges sharp as blades, giving off a piercing chill that could freeze the heavens. The two skeletons faced each other, their dragon jaws both pointing toward the very center of the cavern. There, a pearl the size of a pigeon's egg floated in the air, half red and half white, with ice and fire Qi slowly circulating within it. It was the source of the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well's power.

Even from thousands of feet away, Gan Lin could feel the terrifying power surging within the pearl. He stopped tactfully at the dividing line, showing no intention of approaching it.

But just then, his sea of consciousness suddenly grew slightly warm.

Without warning, the Vision Martial Soul emerged of its own accord behind him!

He had not summoned it; the Martial Soul had reacted entirely on its own. Its blue-gold geo patterns slowly trembled, and its emerald wind patterns flowed gently. Immediately afterward, the ice and fire Qi within him also surged out of control, swirling into a small vortex around him.

The dragon skeletons on either side of the cavern seemed to sense something, and their previously restrained dragon might stirred slightly. A faint layer of firelight rose over the crimson skeleton, while a dusting of frost blossomed across the ice-white bones. Two immeasurably ancient presences slowly spread toward the youth in the middle.

The Vision Martial Soul trembled even more violently. The nearly invisible layer of red and white on its geo, wind, and lightning patterns deepened considerably once more. It was not imposed by an external force. It was more like a resonance from the depths of some source, like power that had wandered for ages encountering an ancient power of the same origin, or like the remnant souls of gods casually acknowledging the insignificant intruder before them.

Gan Lin himself, however, had a few guesses.

On Teyvat, there were many different theories about the origins of Visions.

And Gan Lin happened to know part of their origin.

Visions were bestowed by Celestia, and at their core were fragments of divine authority.

And the authority over Teyvat's seven elements was intimately connected to the ancient dragons.

According to legend, the Heavenly Principles had seized the Ancient Dragon Authority of the Seven Dragon Kings and used Gnoses made from the Third Descender's body to bear it, creating divine thrones.

After the Archon War ended, The Seven, who had emerged victorious, had also gained half of the Ancient Dragon Authority. Visions were fragments of the original Dragon Kings' authority.

Those conjectures might differ somewhat from the actual facts, but the elemental authority within a Vision was unquestionably connected to the dragon race.

Perhaps the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings buried beneath the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had resonated with the Vision because they sensed the familiar presence of a "dragon."

Gan Lin stood where he was, not daring to move a muscle. He could clearly feel two nearly imperceptible wisps of dragon Qi drift out of the fire and ice dragon skeletons, respectively. They passed around his body and went straight into the Vision Martial Soul.

The Martial Soul quivered gently, then slowly drew in its light and disappeared back into his body.

Silence returned to the cavern, and the dragon might of the skeletons sank back into slumber, as though the resonance just now had been nothing more than an illusion.

Just then, the pearl that had been floating above the bodies of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King also began flying toward Gan Lin.

Gan Lin had intended to reach out and catch it, but the instant the Ice and Fire Dragon Pearl drew near him, it went straight into the Vision.