Guarding a Treasure Mountain in Vain

Around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well grew all manner of plants in countless forms, making it look like a paradise for vegetation.

At that moment, Li Chang'an was like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar. He eagerly led Dugu Yan around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, inspecting the surroundings and occasionally letting out startled cries.

"Th-this is a Snow Silkworm? The finest among winter worm summer grass—Snow Silkworm."

"This is a Cinnabar Lotus? It actually grew this large?"

"Heavens! Myriad Poisons Bane, Quiet Fragrance Qiluo Immortal Grade!"

"This is! Fire-Type Immortal Herb, Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower!"

"...Aromatic Silk Beauty!"

"...Eight Petal Immortal Orchid!"

"...Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum!"

"...Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew!"

"...There are actually so many immortal herbs growing here!"

After roughly making a round of the area, Li Chang'an had become so excited that he was practically numb.

He found a place to sit and slowly calmed his agitated emotions.

Dugu Yan looked at him with some concern and asked, "Chang'an Gege, are you... all right?" Having no understanding of the value of immortal herbs, she found it difficult to comprehend why Li Chang'an was so excited over medicinal plants he had never seen before.

"Yanzi, I'm fine."

Li Chang'an let out a long breath before saying, "I was just too excited to suddenly see so many precious immortal herbs."

"Are these herbs really that precious?" Dugu Yan asked in confusion.

"It's not a matter of whether these immortal herbs are precious or not... They're the kind of things that are exceedingly rare in this world..." Li Chang'an wore an expression of not knowing how to describe it. In the end, he simply said, "Let me put it this way. Every immortal herb here is worth as much as a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone! You should understand how precious these immortal herbs are now, right?"

"What? As valuable as a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone?" Dugu Yan's rosy red lips parted slightly. She was truly shocked. There was no need to mention how precious soul bones were; Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones were the finest of the finest! She had never heard of anyone possessing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, which showed just how valuable such things were.

Yet now, Li Chang'an was saying that every one of these unknown herbs growing here was comparable to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone???

That couldn't be possible, could it?

Was her family really this rich?

Dugu Yan's eyes were filled with disbelief.

At this stage on Douluo Continent, aside from a limited few people, no one recognized the true value of immortal herbs. Thus, Dugu Yan found it extremely difficult to understand how immortal herbs could be worth as much as Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.

"Yanzi, the reason I say that each of these immortal herbs is comparable to a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone is because, according to that ancient book, if consumed properly, these immortal herbs can allow the consumer's Martial Soul to evolve. At the very least, they can greatly improve one's aptitude and make up for flaws in one's Martial Soul," Li Chang'an explained.

He did not mind letting Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo know how precious immortal herbs were, because even if they knew these herbs were valuable, it would be useless if they did not know their effects.

Medicinal herbs could not be eaten carelessly.

If someone accidentally consumed an immortal herb that conflicted with their constitution, they could truly die.

Without knowing the individual effects of these immortal herbs, even if Dugu Bo knew they were precious, he could only guard a treasure mountain in vain. He would be unable to turn these immortal herbs into practical benefits.

Moreover, there was basically only one of each type of immortal herb. This meant that he could not even capture people to use as test subjects to determine their effects.

After all, there was only one of each immortal herb. Once it was used, it would be gone.

And if one wanted to use people as test subjects to determine their effects, it would inevitably require repeated trials. Without hundreds or thousands of test subjects for a single immortal herb, one should not even dream of figuring out its effects. After all, different people sometimes displayed different effects after consuming the same immortal herb. On top of that, factors such as dosage also had to be considered.

Therefore, using people as test subjects to discover the medicinal effects of immortal herbs was fundamentally impossible. The practical conditions simply did not allow it.

To be honest, when Li Chang'an had read "Douluo Continent" in his previous life, he had been deeply curious about how those predecessors who recorded the effects of the various immortal herbs had accurately learned what each one did.

For immortal herbs with unknown medicinal properties, how could they possibly know their effects without conducting hundreds or thousands of experiments on different individuals?

There was basically only one of every immortal herb, and their growing conditions were exceptionally harsh. This essentially ruled out the possibility of using people as test subjects to determine their effects. So how had those people who compiled the records of immortal herb effects known?

"What? These herbs can make Martial Souls evolve?" Dugu Yan was greatly startled after hearing this, then her face filled with disbelief. It truly went against everything she knew.

"These aren't ordinary medicinal herbs, but immortal herbs that are rarely seen in this world!" Li Chang'an shook his head and said, "If not for the unique environment of this Treasure Basin Land, immortal herbs could never grow in the outside world."

"But making Martial Souls evolve... isn't that simply too unbelievable?" Though Dugu Yan wanted to believe him, the education she had received for years told her this was absolutely impossible.

"Before seeing this Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, I also wouldn't have believed that such a treasure land existed in the world." As he spoke, Li Chang'an swept his gaze over the surroundings, his expression somewhat dazed. "If that ancient book was not fabricated or exaggerated, then the immortal herbs growing here truly possess the effects recorded in it."

"Yanzi, this is a serious matter. We need to inform Grandpa about this discovery," Li Chang'an said, turning toward her.

Dugu Bo was currently staying in the cave from before. He had deliberately given the two young people some space, allowing them to wander around and cultivate their feelings.

When the two came to find him, he was idly concocting some pills to strengthen the kidneys and invigorate the body. With such a treasure land that could nurture medicinal herbs at his disposal, combined with his family's use of poison, he naturally knew how to prepare pills, prescribe remedies, and understand medicinal principles. Since ancient times, medicine and poison had never been clearly separated.

Thus, after hearing Li Chang'an explain how precious those unfamiliar herbs were, Dugu Bo also found it hard to believe. Given his knowledge and experience, he had never known that immortal herbs even existed in the world. How did this little fellow Li Chang'an know about them?

Li Chang'an explained that, when he was young, he had happened to find an old book at a street stall that was nearly rotten away. Most of its contents had decayed beyond recognition, and only a small portion recorded the Treasure Basin Land and the almost miraculous immortal herbs.

At the time, he had only regarded the book as something that recorded myths and legends, and had not taken its contents seriously at all. Yet he had never expected that today, he would be fortunate enough to witness the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, as well as the actual immortal herbs recorded in that book.

Only then had he become certain that the contents of that book were genuine.

Upon hearing this, Dugu Bo hurriedly asked where the old book was.

Li Chang'an said that the book might have existed for an extremely long time. Its pages had nearly rotted away and it looked terrible, so after finishing it, he had thrown it out.

Dugu Bo was immediately extremely disappointed upon hearing this. Fortunately, Li Chang'an then added that although he had thrown the book away, he had remembered its contents. Therefore, while he did not recognize most of the many immortal herbs growing around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he still recognized some of them.