Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well

"Hoo--!"

A powerful gust of wind instantly radiated from his center, flattening the surrounding grass and trees while causing the hair and robes of the Skywater Academy girls to flutter in the breeze. This was not an attack, merely the buildup of momentum before takeoff.

"It's going to fly away!" Shui Yue'er called out with a hint of reluctance.

Xiao Yu cast one final glance at them, particularly at the calm captain, Shui Bing'er. After confirming they had no hostile intentions, he flapped his wings violently!

"Boom!"

The cyan-white figure shot into the sky like an arrow released from a bowstring.

"So... so fast!" one team member stammered, dumbfounded.

"What exactly is it..." Shui Yue'er gazed at the sky, her eyes filled with shock and curiosity. "It feels more... special than any flying spirit beast we've ever seen."

Shui Bing'er watched the direction in which Xiao Yu disappeared, her brows slightly furrowed as she fell into deep thought.

The gaze of that spirit beast, that sense of calm and nobility, had left a profound impression on her.

She had never felt such a complex temperament from any spirit beast before.

"Alright, stop looking." Shui Bing'er withdrew her gaze, her voice returning to its usual cold detachment. "Remember what it looked like. You can look up information when we return, but do not spread word of this."

"For now, focus on our own mission! Continue searching for traces of the Ice Crystal Spirit Salamander. Yue'er, your spirit ring is the priority."

"Yes, sister!" Shui Yue'er quickly replied, though her eyes couldn't help but steal one last glance at the sky, her heart filled with curiosity about the beautiful and powerful "bird" she had caught a fleeting glimpse of.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yu, having flown deeper into the Sunset Forest, had already cast the encounter to the back of his mind.

To him, this was nothing more than an insignificant interlude.

The people from Skywater Academy would only view him as a rare, unknown spirit beast.

A cyan-white streak of light circled above the Sunset Forest, his sharp eagle eyes scanning the lush yet perilous woodland below.

Based on the vague impressions from the original story in his memory, as well as the energy fluctuations in the air that were becoming increasingly active and conflicting—a convergence of extreme heat and deep cold—Xiao Yu locked onto his target area.

The closer he got to the core, the more bizarre the forest's colors became.

The originally emerald vegetation was gradually stained with ominous shades of dark purple and ink green, and the air was filled with a strange, cloying scent of decay that was nauseating.

His vision began to blur as layers of colorful, dreamlike mist flowed through the trees like living things.

Poison Miasma! The natural defense of the Sunset Forest, a terrifying barrier that would make anyone below the rank of Titled Douluo turn back, a place where one would die upon contact.

The reason Poison Douluo himself would get poisoned was that he ultimately neglected the fact that he was merely a spirit master who knew how to use poison, not how to avoid it. As the saying goes, those who drown are usually the ones who know how to swim; it was no surprise that Poison Douluo would fall victim to his own poison.

If a person stayed in a place with poor air circulation for a long time, they would get sick or even die, let alone the fact that Poison Douluo spent long periods in this area dense with Poison Miasma.

Xiao Yu dove downward, the airflow scattering the poison mist in front of him, but it quickly gathered again, attempting to invade his body.

But as the Wing-Type Elf King, not even dust could stain him, let alone these poison mists that existed primarily as gases. They were like creatures encountering their natural predator; they could not get within three inches of Xiao Yu's body.

The Poison Miasma parted automatically around him, like Moses parting the sea.

Wherever he passed, the seven-colored mist rolled back, leaving a brief path that was immediately filled in by the poison miasma surging from behind.

Crossing the Poison Miasma zone was faster than expected.

Soon, the scene before him opened up!

A valley surrounded by steep cliffs appeared before his eyes. In the center of the valley were two pools of water, distinct and clear, blending together like a Taiji diagram yet never encroaching upon one another.

One pool was incredibly hot, red as molten lava, bubbling with scorching heat and steaming with thick white smoke, emitting a suffocating temperature that baked the nearby rocks until they glowed red—the Yang Spring!

The other pool was bone-chillingly cold, milky white like congealed fat, the surface calm and waveless, yet it radiated an extreme chill capable of freezing the soul. Thick black ice had formed around the spring, and even the air seemed to be frozen—the Yin Spring!

The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well! One of the three great treasure basins formed by the convergence of the world's most frigid and scorching energies!

Along the edges of the springs and on the surrounding cliffs grew strange plants of various shapes and vibrant colors.

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

There was the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, icy blue throughout with leaves as clear as crystal.

There was the Infernal Delicate Apricot, red as fire, appearing as if it were burning.

There was...

The rich life energy, almost tangible, and the pure ice and fire energy filled the entire valley. Just by taking a single breath, Xiao Yu felt his exhaustion vanish, and the dull ache in his left wing was significantly relieved.

"Found it!" Xiao Yu was ecstatic. He landed slowly in a relatively safe area on the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

"It seems Dugu Bo is indeed not here." Xiao Yu, sensing no powerful aura, breathed a sigh of relief. He did not yet possess the strength to confront a Titled Douluo-level powerhouse.

Fortunately, the upcoming Spirit Master Tournament had provided him with this opportunity.

"System, you should be able to harvest these immortal herbs, right?" Xiao Yu did not have human hands to delicately pick these herbs, which required special methods to harvest.

But just because he didn't, didn't mean the system didn't.

[The host only needs to make contact]

A single sentence from the system set Xiao Yu's mind at ease; he didn't want to have made this trip for nothing.

Xiao Yu didn't know which immortal herbs would be helpful to Yu Yi and the others, but he knew there must be some. As the saying goes, it is better to kill the wrong one than to let one slip by.

Of course, he still left behind some seeds, a habit carried over from his past life.

However, just as Xiao Yu stowed the last Aromatic Silk Beauty, which radiated a misty purple aura, into his system inventory and felt a weight lift from his heart, preparing to spread his wings and depart from this treasure trove, a sudden change occurred!

A cloyingly sweet, nauseating pink mist surged in from the valley entrance without warning, instantly permeating more than half of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well area!

These toxic fumes emitted a sizzling sound upon contact with the airflow shield around Xiao Yu, appearing to corrode the current.

"Wooo--!!!"

A sharp, ear-piercing screech, laden with a mental shockwave, pierced through the pink mist and stabbed directly into Xiao Yu's mind!

Immediately following, countless fine, rustling crawling sounds erupted, and a dense swarm of pink figures emerged from the depths of the mist and the crevices of the rock walls!

It was a staggering number of Pink Lady!

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

Their auras were generally over a thousand years old, and they moved with agility, surging toward Xiao Yu like a pink tide!

And at the center of their formation, a giant insect several times larger than the others stood tall.

Its shell was a deeper, more bewitching rose-pink, with several ferocious bone spurs growing from its back, and the massive compound eyes on its head resembled two burning pink flames, radiating a heart-stopping pressure—a ten-thousand-year soul beast, the Pink Matriarch!