The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well

"Whoosh—!"

A powerful gust burst out from around him, pressing the nearby plants low and sending the Skywater Academy girls' hair and robes fluttering in the wind. It wasn't an attack, merely the buildup before takeoff.

"It's flying away!" Shui Yue'er cried, reluctant to see it go.

Xiao Yu gave them one last glance, especially their composed captain, Shui Bing'er. Once he was sure they had no intention of attacking, he beat his wings hard!

"Boom!"

His blue-white figure shot into the sky like an arrow loosed from a bow.

"S-so fast!" one team member gaped.

"What is it..." Shui Yue'er stared up at the sky, her eyes filled with shock and curiosity. "It feels so... different from every flying Soul Beast we've ever seen."

Shui Bing'er watched the direction Xiao Yu had disappeared in, her brows drawing together as she pondered.

The Soul Beast's gaze, its calmness and nobility, had left a deep impression on her.

She had never sensed such a complex presence from any Soul Beast.

"All right, stop staring," Shui Bing'er said, turning her gaze away and returning to her usual cool tone. "Remember what it looked like. We can look it up when we get back, but don't tell anyone else."

"Now, focus on our own task! Keep searching for traces of the Ice Crystal Spirit Salamander. Yue'er, your Soul Ring is what matters."

"Yes, Sister!" Shui Yue'er answered quickly, though she couldn't help glancing at the sky again. She was filled with curiosity about the beautiful and powerful "bird" she had glimpsed for only a moment.

By then, Xiao Yu, who had flown deeper into Sunset Forest, had already put the chance encounter behind him.

To him, it had been nothing more than an insignificant interlude.

The people from Skywater Academy would only take him for a rare, unknown Soul Beast.

The blue-white streak circled above Sunset Forest, its sharp eagle eyes scanning the lush yet perilous woodland below.

Relying on his hazy memories of the original story, along with the increasingly active and clashing energy fluctuations in the air—the extreme heat mingled with bitter cold—Xiao Yu pinpointed his destination.

The closer he got to the forest's core, the stranger its colors became.

The once-green vegetation gradually took on an ominous dark purple and deep green hue. The air was filled with a strange, nauseating smell, sweet yet rotten.

His vision began to blur. Layer upon layer of colorful, dreamlike mist flowed through the forest as if it were alive.

Poison Miasma! Sunset Forest's natural defense, a terrifying barrier that made anyone below the rank of Titled Douluo turn back—and meant certain death to those who touched it.

Poison Douluo had been poisoned because, in the end, he had overlooked that he was merely a Soul Master who knew how to use poison, not avoid it. As the saying went, those who drowned were the ones who knew how to swim. It was no wonder Poison Douluo had been poisoned.

Anyone who stayed for a long time in a place where the air couldn't circulate would fall ill and might even die. And Poison Douluo had spent a long time in a place blanketed by Poison Miasma.

Xiao Yu plunged downward, the airflow scattering the poison mist ahead of him. It quickly gathered again, trying to seep into his body.

But as the Wing-Type Elf King, Xiao Yu couldn't be sullied by even a speck of dust, let alone poisonous mist made primarily of gas. It was like the mist had met its natural enemy: it couldn't get within three inches of him.

The Poison Miasma parted around him on its own, like the waters before Moses.

Wherever he passed, the colorful mist roiled and retreated, leaving a temporary passage that the Poison Miasma surging behind him promptly filled.

He crossed the Poison Miasma faster than expected.

Soon, the view opened up before him!

A valley surrounded by steep cliffs appeared below. At its center lay two distinct pools, merging like a Taiji symbol yet remaining separate.

One pool was scorching hot, a molten red, with searing bubbles roiling on its surface. Billowing white steam rose from it, and the suffocating heat had turned the nearby rocks red—the Yang Spring!

The other was bone-chillingly cold, milky white and smooth as cream. Its surface was still, yet it radiated a frigid chill that seemed capable of freezing the soul. Thick black ice covered the ground around its spring, and even the air seemed frozen—the Yin Spring!

The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well! One of the Three Great Treasure Basins formed where the coldest and hottest energies in the world converged!

Strange plants of all shapes and colors grew along the edge of the springs and on the surrounding cliffs.

There was the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, shaped like a chrysanthemum and radiating a rich golden glow.

There was the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, its entire body ice-blue and its leaves as clear as crystal.

There was the Infernal Delicate Apricot, scarlet as fire, seemingly ablaze.

And...

Life energy so dense it was almost tangible, along with the purest ice-and-fire energy, filled the entire valley. Just one breath swept away all the fatigue in Xiao Yu's body, and the dull ache in his left wing eased considerably.

"Found it!" Xiao Yu exclaimed inwardly, overjoyed. He slowly descended to a relatively safe spot at the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

"Looks like Dugu Bo really isn't here." Xiao Yu relaxed when he sensed no powerful presence. He still wasn't strong enough to face a Titled Douluo.

Fortunately, the Spirit Master Tournament was approaching, giving him this opportunity.

"System, you should be able to pick these Immortal Herbs, right?" Xiao Yu had no human hands, and these Immortal Herbs required special methods to harvest.

But even if he couldn't, that didn't mean the system couldn't.

[Host, just touch them.]

The system's simple reply put Xiao Yu's mind at ease. He hadn't wanted to make the trip for nothing.

Xiao Yu didn't know which Immortal Herbs would help Yu Yi and the others, but he knew there had to be some. Better to take them all than risk missing one.

Of course, he had left the seeds behind. It was a habit from his previous life.

But just as Xiao Yu put the last plant—a Radiant Silk Beauty wreathed in a hazy purple glow—into his System Backpack, felt the weight lift from his heart, and prepared to flap his wings and leave this treasure trove, something unexpected happened!

A nauseatingly sweet pink mist surged without warning from the entrance to the valley, instantly spreading across most of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

The poison mist hissed as it touched the airflow shield around Xiao Yu, seeming to corrode it.

"Waaah—!!!"

A shrill, ear-piercing cry packed with mental force pierced the pink mist and struck straight at Xiao Yu's mind!

Right after it came the sound of countless tiny legs scuttling. An overwhelming number of pink shapes emerged from deep within the mist and from cracks in the cliffs!

It was a massive swarm of Pink Ladies!

Each one was the size of a millstone, its body covered in a hard pink shell.

Most of them had been around for more than a thousand years. They moved swiftly, closing in on Xiao Yu like a pink tide!

At their center stood a giant insect several times their size.

Its shell was a deeper, more alluring rose pink, with several fearsome bone spurs growing from its back. Its huge compound eyes glowed like twin balls of burning pink fire, radiating a pressure that made one's heart tremble—a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast, the Pink Matriarch!