Can It Still Be Bound by Blood?

"What's wrong with you?"

Danheng had already returned to his original form. Seeing Dugu Bo in such agony, he was somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that the spiritual energy around them had developed a problem so quickly?

Then should he go down there again? The change had happened way too fast.

"N-Nothing. An old problem."

Dugu Bo let out a muffled groan. Seeing Danheng emerge, he forced himself to stand despite the needle-like pain stabbing at the crown of his head and the soles of his feet.

"Your toxins are acting up again?"

Dugu Bo nodded with difficulty, his forehead already covered in beads of sweat the size of soybeans.

"It's nothing serious. It'll pass soon."

"Why didn't you go back and rest? It's already the middle of the night."

Danheng glanced at the sky. Quite some time had passed since he entered the bottom of the spring. There was no need for Dugu Bo to keep watch here, was there?

"I wanted to wait until the toxins passed, then enter the spring to suppress them again."

"Oh, then be my guest."

Those toxins really were something else, tormenting even someone like Dugu Bo, who specialized in poison, to this extent.

"Thank you."

Dugu Bo thanked him, then dragged his weakened body—having just endured the most painful period of the day—into the spring.

After all, this place theoretically belonged to Danheng now. He was borrowing someone else's property.

Danheng did not mind. After Dugu Bo entered the spring to suppress his toxins, Danheng began wandering around the area.

He needed to make sure that taking the Soul Bones of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King would not render this treasured land useless and gradually cause it to fall into ruin.

"It seems there's no real effect."

After inspecting the area, Danheng found nothing abnormal. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth around them remained dense, so he returned to the spring.

"No, there seems to be a problem with this spring."

Just as Danheng had relaxed, his expression turned serious again while examining the spring.

The surrounding spiritual energy had not been affected much, but the spiritual energy within the spring itself seemed to have changed somewhat.

As the source of the surrounding spiritual energy, the spring had originally operated at perhaps one hundred in terms of its efficiency at sending spiritual energy outward. But now, that output efficiency had been drastically reduced.

It was still releasing spiritual energy into the outside world, but its efficiency might not even be fifty anymore.

"If this continues, this place won't become ordinary, but its usefulness will be greatly diminished."

With that thought, Danheng took out the two Soul Bones again.

Unlike when they had been underwater, the instant the two Soul Bones appeared this time, they unleashed a violent surge of energy.

With Danheng at the center, vast swathes of ice spread out on one side, the biting cold instantly freezing the surrounding environment.

On the other side, scorching heat spread forth. Even without flames erupting, the extreme temperature reduced a large stretch of land to barren wasteland in the blink of an eye.

"Behave yourselves!"

Danheng abruptly tightened his grip, and the spreading calamity of ice and fire came to a sudden halt. The energy fluctuations erupting from the two Soul Bones were suppressed in an instant.

If those two things were allowed to run wild, this entire Herb Garden would probably be destroyed!

"Fortunately, those two are fine."

Danheng looked toward the two medicinal herbs beside the spring, one icy and one fiery. Seeing that they had not been affected by the two Soul Bones, he could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In Danheng's eyes, those two plants were even more precious than the other herbs in this Herb Garden. They could not be destroyed so easily.

The Herb Garden itself had not been affected much either. None of the medicinal herbs Danheng had seen earlier had been caught in the disturbance.

"Seriously, I nearly crushed them."

Turning back, Danheng looked at the two Soul Bones in his hands and realized that he might have used too much force just now.

Still, this showed that these two Soul Bones were indeed far tougher than the few he had obtained before.

If it had been those previous Soul Bones under the force he had just used, they would likely have been ground into dust already.

"Tch, how should I fix this?"

Holding two Soul Bones that could drive the entire continent mad, Danheng sat by the spring and pondered how to remedy the situation.

Still, the two Soul Bones felt quite comfortable in his hands. It would be a pity to put them back.

"The reduced spiritual energy output efficiency should be because losing these two Soul Bones cut the amount of energy it can release by more than half."

"Then..."

Danheng stared at the spring, an idea forming in his mind. He would try it once Dugu Bo came out!

That wait lasted until the next morning.

"Phew... I finally suppressed it again."

Dugu Bo emerged from the spring, only to discover that Danheng was standing by it waiting, just as he himself had done earlier.

"Is something the matter, sir?"

Danheng's gaze made Dugu Bo's entire body prickle. He only felt a chill run up his spine and straight to the top of his head.

"Come out first."

"Oh, all right."

Dugu Bo obediently stepped out of the spring, then honestly moved to the side and stood properly, waiting for Danheng's next move.

"Sir, you—"

Before Dugu Bo could finish, he saw Danheng summon a spear, startling him so badly that he shuddered.

No way? Is he really going to silence me?

However, Dugu Bo had overthought it.

Danheng merely used the spear to lightly prick his finger, then squeezed out a single utterly ordinary-looking drop of blood and let it fall into the spring.

"What is he doing? Binding it as his master with blood?"

Could this spring be bound by blood? How had he never noticed before?

No, the spring was just an inanimate object. What master could it possibly acknowledge!

After dripping out that single drop of blood, Danheng immediately stopped the bleeding.

I can't drip any more. If I do, this place probably won't be able to withstand it.

"Sir, may I ask—"

Suddenly, the ground trembled, cutting off Dugu Bo's words.

The next moment, Dugu Bo clearly sensed an incomparably vast and immense energy abruptly erupt from the spring before him.

"What's going on?!"

Dugu Bo crossed his arms before his chest and circulated all his Soul Power, barely managing to steady himself against the impact of that energy.

"Could even this be too much?"

Feeling the fierce wind rushing at him, Danheng stared fixedly at the changes in the spring.

He had only dripped in one drop of blood. Surely this place could not be unable to withstand even a single drop of his blood?

Danheng's original idea had been simple: since it lacked an energy source, he would just replenish it himself.

As for what to use as a supplement, there were no suitable materials nearby. And Danheng suspected that there were no materials on this continent capable of replenishing this place's energy.

After all, the things that nourished this place were the remains of two beings who transcended the continent itself. Filling that gap was not something materials from the continent could accomplish.

So Danheng chose to use his own blood. Since he was also considered part of the dragon race, he thought his blood should be able to nourish this place.

But he had not expected that a single drop of his blood would cause the energy here to erupt!

"Huh? There seems to be another change?"

Just as Danheng was preparing to intervene and regulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth here to avoid any unexpected circumstances, the spring suddenly underwent a change.