The Millennium Mystery, Earth Dragon Golden Melon

There were many Immortal Herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, many of which had been mentioned in the original work. However, Chen Ming had long since chosen his target.

His best choice was not the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot, born from the two springs of ice and fire and regarded as the kings of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, but the earth-element Immortal Herb that had not appeared until Douluo Continent III in the original work: the Earth Dragon Golden Melon.

There was no need to explain why. Its name said it all.

Chen Ming's Heavy Armored Earth Dragon Martial Soul was an advanced Sub-Dragon breed. It was said to possess the bloodline of an earth dragon and could strengthen its bones and scales by devouring metal. A well-developed Heavy Armored Earth Dragon possessed defenses no weaker than those of a true top-tier Spirit Beast.

Among ordinary Spirit Masters, this Martial Soul was quite good. However, when facing high-grade Martial Souls, especially dragon-type Martial Souls that also belonged to the dragon lineage but possessed purer bloodlines, it would fall into a severe disadvantage.

The Earth Dragon Golden Melon could greatly strengthen Chen Ming's foundation. While increasing his Soul Power, it could also enhance his physical strength, allowing Chen Ming to attempt absorbing a thousand-year Spirit Ring as his second Spirit Ring.

Most importantly, it had a great chance of helping Chen Ming transform his Martial Soul from a Sub-Dragon into a true Dragon Clan member. This bloodline evolution was what Chen Ming valued most. If he had the chance in the future, Chen Ming even wanted to see whether he could obtain the Mountain Dragon King's torso bone hidden within the Dragon Tomb.

It could both improve his current combat strength and raise his future potential. Therefore, Chen Ming's first target was the Earth Dragon Golden Melon.

Relying on Dugu Bo's Soul Power barrier to resist the intense elemental energy around them, Chen Ming continued walking through the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, occasionally crouching down to inspect the herbs by his feet.

"Ten-thousand-year Ginseng, ten-thousand-year Lingzhi, ten-thousand-year Fo-ti, ten-thousand-year Golden Marrow Grass..."

"Senior, these medicinal herbs all seem to be between ten thousand and twenty thousand years old?"

After inspecting them, Chen Ming found himself puzzled.

The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well had existed for at least ten thousand years, while the herbs here grew ten times faster than normal. It was also later stated that this environment could allow plant-type Spirit Beasts to evade their first Heavenly Tribulation.

By all reason, there should have been at least Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts of the plant type here. Even if there were none, there should have been plenty of seventy- or eighty-thousand-year medicinal herbs.

Yet even at the core of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Chen Ming's rough calculations placed these herbs between ten thousand and twenty thousand years old.

Compared to the outside world, that was absurdly high. Yet in an environment like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, it could only be called shockingly low. In reality, it amounted to barely more than a thousand years of growth. Moreover, such neatly matching ages were truly strange.

"When I came here, I had already noticed this. There was once a thirty-thousand-year Ginseng King here, which I took away for cultivation. The remaining herbs are all around the ten-thousand-year level. I simply do not know why there seem to be no plant-type Spirit Beasts here."

Dugu Bo spoke with equal confusion.

When he had first arrived at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, he had still been a high-level Soul Douluo. At the time, the Spirit Beast guarding the area outside the well was a top-tier Spirit Beast with seventy thousand years of cultivation: the Medusa Queen. Dugu Bo's ninth Spirit Ring and head Spirit Bone had both come from that powerful Spirit Beast.

Originally, he had also believed that with such an environment and so many high-age herbs, even if plant-type Spirit Beasts had a lower chance of appearing, there should have been more than one of them. Yet there were none.

Was Dugu Bo puzzled? He was extremely puzzled. It was simply that he had not dared reveal this place to anyone over the years, so he could only keep it bottled up. Now that Chen Ming had brought it up, Dugu Bo took the opportunity to voice his doubts as well.

"Senior, in this environment, the herbs grow several times faster than they do outside, correct?"

"I tested it before. It is roughly ten times faster. When I first discovered this place, I scattered a handful of Ginseng seeds in the outer area. Now, hundred-year Ginseng grows like weeds," Dugu Bo said.

"Ten times faster. That means, Senior, these herbs have only been growing here for between one thousand and two thousand years. But what about before that? The name Sunset Forest has been passed down for at least several thousand years, and legends even say that meteors fell here hundreds of thousands of years ago."

"Considering that amount of time, Senior, do you not think the ages of these herbs are far too low?"

"You mean I was not the first person in history to discover this place?" Dugu Bo bent down to look at the herbs. At first, he found the idea surprising, but afterward, it seemed only natural.

After all, this treasure land had existed for so long. The odds that someone had discovered it before him were far greater than the odds that he had been the first.

"I estimate that someone discovered this place several thousand years ago, cleared out the herbs that had originally grown here, and then deliberately planted some seeds. A thousand years later, Senior, you discovered this place."

"Senior, think about it. This treasure land can support the growth of many plants, but the seeds of those plants come from all over the world. Some grow inside volcanoes, while others grow in the legendary Far North Snowfield."

"Even if the environment here is extraordinary, could those seeds have appeared naturally? I believe that at least some of the seeds here were brought over by earlier people. It is simply that those people died before the seeds could grow."

"For plant-type Spirit Beasts, a thousand years is but the flick of a finger. But for us humans, it is the span of dozens of generations, enough to turn seas into fields. Perhaps someone once came here, or perhaps there were other reasons..."

Chen Ming sighed inwardly. The environment within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well made it extremely difficult for traces of artificial objects to remain. Even if earlier people had lived here, after several hundred or even a thousand years, all evidence would have vanished.

The Douluo World developed at an extremely slow pace, so slow that it was common for hundreds or thousands of years to pass without the slightest change.

Just like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well during the era of Peerless Tang Sect in the original work, after ten thousand years, few people even remembered Dugu Bo's name. Even the Spirit Beasts that had grown anew within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well did not know what had happened ten thousand years ago.

If he had the chance later, he could try searching the ice mountain of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and the nearby cliffs for anything left behind. For now, though, he would set it aside.

Chen Ming found several Immortal Herbs that had appeared in the original work, including the Ink Jade Divine Bamboo hidden underground with only its tip exposed, and the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, which looked as though it had been carved from metal. As for the other Immortal Herbs, Chen Ming did not see them.

Finally, after searching for quite some time, Chen Ming felt his Martial Soul suddenly tremble as he passed a certain spot. He turned his head and walked straight in that direction, eventually seeing a golden melon lying quietly on the ground.