This Isn't a Dream (First Update)

Undead Plane.

Huo Yuhao opened the jade bottle's stopper. A mass of Gray Mist emerged in the void, drawing Spiritual Liquid from the bottle and giving off a faint glow.

When the Spiritual Liquid was exhausted, the gray mist gathered into a pill bead. Electrolux's figure descended once more, his black robe drifting as he wore a slightly bewildered expression.

"Old Yi, you're awake." Huo Yuhao was somewhat excited.

Electrolux regained his clarity. Looking at the boy below whose face was filled with delight, he softly answered, "Mm."

"How are you feeling?" Huo Yuhao asked with concern.

"My soul has recovered some strength, and my form has stabilized. I no longer need to rely on sleep to sustain myself. Yuhao, thank you." Electrolux's hoarse voice sounded.

Huo Yuhao shook his head. "If not for Old Yi's help, I would have long become a dead skeleton when facing the Hell White Tiger."

"Old Yi, we still need to remain vigilant outside. It's good that you've awakened. I'll head back first," Huo Yuhao said.

Electrolux nodded slightly as he watched Huo Yuhao step out of the Undead Plane.

Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Huo Yuhao returned from the Undead Plane in quite a good mood.

Old Yi had already awakened, so Dugu Bo's threat was naturally resolved as well.

With light steps, he arrived before the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and sat cross-legged. He picked the immortal herb, tilted back his head, and let the "dew" on its leaves drip into his eyes. After closing his eyes and immersing himself in the sensation for several seconds, he chewed and swallowed the entire herb, then began circulating his power to refine it as time quietly passed.

The sun sank beyond the western hills, and the evening glow dyed the clouds in the sky crimson.

Huo Yuhao restrained his aura, awakened from his cultivation state, and slowly opened his eyes.

Faint mysterious patterns had appeared around his Spiritual Eyes, giving off a flickering Purple-Gold glow.

Huo Yuhao lowered his gaze and swept it over the ground. The grass roots were like the tangled roots of ancient trees, crisscrossing one another. The dirt and dust resembled scattered boulders, their boundaries distinct. Ants looked like jackals, and he could clearly see the fine hairs on their antennae.

Purple Demon Eyes - Micro Realm (Second Realm)

Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze and let out a long breath of turbid air.

He could sense that his Soul Power had become even more abundant, yet he was still at level twenty.

The main reason was that he had not obtained his Second Soul Ring, so his level naturally could not rise further.

Secondly, the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew mainly cultivated eye techniques and provided little improvement to Soul Power.

Though the increase was small, it was still an increase. It simply did not show in his level, more like suppressing his level to accumulate experience.

The immense Soul Power brought by the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and soul bone was still sealed within his body, so naturally he did not dare absorb too much Soul Power from the outside.

A heart-rending wail of agony came from the distant cave, immediately drawing Huo Yuhao's attention.

He stared at the cave entrance, unable to help feeling surprised.

Half the day had already passed. That old fellow still had not suppressed the snake venom?

"His cultivation is decent. With a few measures, both favor and intimidation can be used to make him useful," Electrolux's voice came from the Sea of Consciousness.

"That was precisely my intention." Huo Yuhao nodded approvingly.

Although Old Yi had already awakened and could crush heaven and earth in terms of power, expending strength was easy while replenishing it was difficult.

Dugu Bo was a Titled Douluo. Though not among the strongest, he could still deal with troubles below nine rings.

As for troubles above nine rings, Old Yi could handle the vast majority of them.

"Do you have a plan?" Electrolux asked.

He had planted a Heart Gu in Dugu Bo's Sea of Consciousness. Taking the man's life would be effortless.

"The best strategy is to attack the heart." Huo Yuhao's gaze fell upon the two immortal herbs at the center of the Ice Fire Spring.

It seemed he had his own method.

Electrolux remained silent, simply watching how things would unfold.

He had countless methods, yet he did not speak of them. He mainly wished to see what kind of temperament and wisdom this boy possessed.

One could not fully trust the words of others.

Only seeing for oneself could allow a decision to be made.

Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, center of the valley.

Huo Yuhao stopped at the edge of the pool and looked out.

The pool ahead was extremely peculiar. Though it was one spring, its waters were distinctly divided into red and white, like a yin-yang fish diagram.

This was the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

The milky-white pool was the Extreme Cold Yin Spring, while the vermilion pool was the Blazing Sun Spring. These two spring pools had left an unforgettable impression on him.

His gaze shifted toward the fish-eye sections of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. There were two circular depressions in the center, each growing a strange plant.

At the center of the Extreme Cold Yin Spring grew a white herb. Its top looked like a large white flower, shaped like an octagon, with flower stamens that glittered like ice crystals at its center.

At the center of the Blazing Sun Spring grew a plant resembling Chinese cabbage, crimson throughout like jade and flowing with a faint orange-red radiance.

Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Infernal Delicate Apricot.

"Old Yi, if I consume those two herbs as well, can my body suppress their medicinal effects?" Huo Yuhao stood at the pool's edge, the heat waves of the blazing spring and the chill of the cold spring reflecting against one another.

"I do not recommend it," Electrolux calmly advised.

Though he was merely in a remnant soul state, he could still sense the pure power contained within those two herbs.

Yuhao's cultivation was still shallow, yet the power of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and soul bone already existed within his body. If more were added, it might break the balance and cause his body to collapse from being unable to bear it.

This course of action was far too risky.

"Old Yi may not know this, but both immortal herbs are highly poisonous. They need to be refined by entering the Blazing and Frigid Dual Pole Spring, complementing one another. They can greatly improve the body's resistance, open up the meridians, and grant the miraculous effect of being impervious to water and fire. They can also help purify and refine the mixed Soul Power within my body, turning it into my own," Huo Yuhao explained calmly.

"Old Yi, do you trust me?"

Through Huo Yuhao's perspective, Electrolux stared at the ice-and-fire spring pool.

This pool could be soaked in?

Electrolux fell silent for quite some time.

"I will do my best."

In the end, he compromised. Mainly because he truly did not understand this matter very well.

"Thank you," Huo Yuhao said softly.

He bent slightly to gather strength, then suddenly pushed off with the tips of his feet and leaped up. He crossed the Extreme Cold Yin Spring in a single bound and landed steadily on the small patch of land in the center.

He approached the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, used his palm like a blade, and directly split open its flower body, grasping its stamen core with his fingers.

Terrifying frost instantly spread from his palm toward his entire arm.

Huo Yuhao paid it no mind. Instead, he leaped toward the other patch of land and rushed straight for the Infernal Delicate Apricot. Using the same method, he took only its core, and the scorching heat instantly burned his arm.

He immediately swallowed both the ice core and fire core at once, then dove without hesitation into the ice-and-fire pool, sending up great waves as he rapidly sank.

Within the scorching and freezing spring water, a few bubbles escaped from Huo Yuhao's mouth and nose and floated upward. Fiery magma-like patterns appeared over the right side of his body, while frost marks spread across his left half.

At that moment, he seemed like a porcelain figure on the verge of shattering, sinking into familiar pain amid an ocean of destruction and decay.

It was as if he had returned to the past.

Everything was like an illusionary dream.

Only...

Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes at the bottom of the pool, a trace of sorrow flickering within them.

Like a dying fish restored to life, he shot rapidly upward and burst from the water's surface, coughing violently and gasping for air.

This was an unchangeable fact. No matter how painful it was, it had never shattered.

This isn't a dream!