The treatment was far more complicated than expected, because Yu Tiancheng faced a fundamental problem: neither Dugu Yan nor Dugu Bo could enter the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well directly.
Standing at the edge of the spring, Yu Tiancheng carefully studied the starkly divided red and blue pools, rapidly working out a treatment plan.
The waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well contained extreme energies of heaven and earth. Anyone who had not taken a specific Immortal Herb would be injured upon contact. This was an ironclad rule clearly recorded in the Myriad Poisons True Explanation.
"Senior, Miss Yan," Yu Tiancheng said, turning to face them. "Neither of you can touch the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well directly."
Dugu Bo nodded. "I've lived in seclusion here for decades and only cultivated at the edge. I've never dared to actually enter the waters. I know their power better than anyone."
"Then how will you treat us?" Dugu Yan asked urgently.
Yu Tiancheng thought for a moment, then his eyes suddenly lit up. "I've got it."
He took a large number of Jade Bottles, jade boxes, and a set of specially made silver needles from his Time-Space Ring.
These needles were unlike ordinary acupuncture needles. They were translucent throughout, with faint streams of light moving within them.
"These are Energy Guiding Needles. They're made from deep-sea cold jade mixed with spatial crystals, and can briefly withstand the power of ice and fire."
Yu Tiancheng explained, "I'll use them to draw out the energy of the spring and treat you with it."
"Draw it out?" Dugu Bo frowned. "The energy of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is incredibly violent. How will you control it?"
"Please wait and see, Senior."
Yu Tiancheng said no more. He first walked over to Dugu Yan. "Miss Yan, please sit cross-legged here."
He chose a flat rock five zhang from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and had Dugu Yan sit down.
Then he went to the edge of the spring and carefully filled a few Jade Bottles with water—half a bottle from the red spring and half a bottle from the blue spring.
The process looked simple, but was extremely dangerous. Yu Tiancheng covered both hands in a layer of silvery-white Time-Space Power before he dared touch the water.
Even so, he filled the bottles with the utmost care, afraid that a single drop might splash out.
Once the bottles were filled, Yu Tiancheng returned to Dugu Yan. He set the two bottles on the ground and held three Energy Guiding Needles in each hand.
"I'm beginning."
As soon as he spoke, Yu Tiancheng drove three needles from his left hand into three acupoints on Dugu Yan's left shoulder, and three from his right hand into three acupoints on her right shoulder.
The moment the needles entered, he formed hand seals with both hands and activated the secret art of the Myriad Poisons True Explanation.
A shocking scene unfolded—
The red spring water in the Jade Bottle on the left turned into a thin crimson stream and flowed slowly along the Energy Guiding Needles into the acupoints on Dugu Yan's left shoulder. The blue spring water in the bottle on the right likewise became an icy-blue stream and flowed into the acupoints on her right shoulder.
The two energies, one hot and one cold, converged inside Dugu Yan. Yet they did not clash. Instead, guided by the Myriad Poisons True Explanation, they formed a miniature Ice-Fire Tai Chi Diagram that slowly revolved.
"Ah..." Dugu Yan groaned. The left half of her body burned with heat, while the right half turned icy cold.
But she soon felt the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison buried deep in her marrow begin to loosen and stir under the stimulation of the ice-and-fire energy.
"Hold on," Yu Tiancheng said steadily. "Miss Ye, please help me protect her heart meridians."
Ye Lingling had been ready. The Nine Heart Begonia bloomed, enveloping Dugu Yan in a pale-blue healing glow.
For the next three hours, Yu Tiancheng focused entirely on controlling the ice-and-fire energy. The Energy Guiding Needles in his hands shifted positions again and again, moving from Dugu Yan's shoulders to her back, then to her limbs, and finally into the vital acupoints on her head.
Green poison seeped from every pore on Dugu Yan's body. At first it emerged as fine beads of sweat, but soon it turned into a viscous venom.
The venom dripped onto the ground, corroding the rock into countless small pits and giving off a pungent stench.
When the last wisp of dark-green poison gas was expelled from Dugu Yan's Baihui acupoint, she slumped forward as if utterly drained.
Ye Lingling hurriedly caught her and poured all her strength into the healing halo.
"Four-tenths of the poison has been expelled." Yu Tiancheng withdrew all the silver needles, sweat on his brow from exhaustion. "The rest will take time to treat, but at least it won't threaten her life anymore."
Dugu Yan slowly opened her eyes. Feeling a lightness in her body she had not known for years, she silently let her tears fall.
Next came the real challenge: detoxifying Dugu Bo.
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison of a Titled Douluo had already penetrated his marrow and merged with his martial soul. Treating him would be more than ten times as difficult as treating Dugu Yan.
Yu Tiancheng and Dugu Bo sat facing each other, with eight Jade Bottles between them—four filled with water from the red spring and four with water from the blue spring.
"Senior, your poison has penetrated too deeply. It will take a stronger burst of energy to drive it out." Yu Tiancheng's expression was grave. "I'll first use sixteen needles to set up an Ice-Fire Spirit Guiding Array on your body, then channel the energy from all eight bottles into you at once. It will be ten times more painful than Miss Yan's treatment. You'll have to stop suppressing the poison completely."
Dugu Bo took a deep breath. "Go ahead. I've endured it for decades. I can bear a little more pain."
The treatment began.
Sixteen Energy Guiding Needles pierced sixteen vital acupoints across Dugu Bo's body at once.
Yu Tiancheng's hand seals moved so quickly that afterimages appeared as he pushed the Myriad Poisons True Explanation to its limits.
The spring water in all eight Jade Bottles boiled at once, turning into eight streams of energy that surged wildly into Dugu Bo along the Energy Guiding Needles!
"Ugh—!"
Dugu Bo threw back his head and let out a muffled roar, his whole body convulsing.
The terrifying Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison erupted inside him. Dark-green poison gas blasted from every pore and gathered behind him into the apparition of a gigantic Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor!
The apparition raised its head and hissed, releasing the terrifying pressure of a Titled Douluo!
Liu Erlong's expression changed drastically. She instinctively moved to intervene, but Yu Tiancheng stopped her with a look.
"This is a necessary part of the process!" Yu Tiancheng gritted his teeth, his hands never stopping as he changed seals. "Unless the poison is fully activated, it can't be expelled!"
One day, two days, three days...
The entire valley was shrouded in dark-green poison gas. The ground around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was riddled with corrosive pits, and even the trees in the distance began to wither.
Dugu Bo's aura grew weaker and weaker, but the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor apparition behind him gradually turned transparent—the poison was being expelled!
At dusk on the third day, as the sun set,
Yu Tiancheng drove in the final set of needles—nine at once, each piercing one of the nine poison sacs in Dugu Bo's dantian.
"Nine Needles Return to Origin, poison dispersed, soul cleansed!"
"Pfft—!"
A torrent of poison blood, thick as ink and nearly solid, burst from all seven of Dugu Bo's orifices at once! When it struck the ground, it corroded a pit three feet deep in the rock!
The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor apparition let out one final mournful cry and vanished with a thunderous crash.
Dugu Bo opened his eyes.
For decades, his eyes had been green, with vertical pupils. Now they had finally returned to their normal brown. Though still old and cloudy, they held more clarity and vitality.
He slowly rose to his feet, feeling a lightness in his body unlike anything he had ever known. Decades of torment had vanished in an instant!
"Haha... Hahahaha!"
His laughter began low and grew louder, finally becoming a skyward roar. It echoed through the Sunset Forest, startling countless birds into flight.
Then a powerful surge of Soul Power erupted from his body!
Level ninety-one, level ninety-two, level ninety-three!
With the accumulated poison purged and his body cleansed by the energy of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, the old poison expert broke through three levels in one go, reaching level ninety-three as a Titled Douluo!
"Good! Good! Good!" Dugu Bo repeated, each time pounding Yu Tiancheng on the shoulder. "From today on, you're my benefactor, Yu! I'll remember this kindness for the rest of my life!"
The blows made Yu Tiancheng stagger. He smiled wryly. "You're too kind, Senior."
"I'm not!" Dugu Bo said solemnly. "You saved my life, and you saved Yan'er's too. From today on, you may take any herbs you want from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!"
Before you continue