Infernal Delicate Apricot, Comprehensive Growth in Strength

Yan drew back his thoughts and turned his gaze once more to the herb garden centered around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He carefully made his way into the herb garden, passing rare medicinal herbs all along the way.

Yan had secretly made ample preparations for this trip to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Fairy herbs had appeared throughout the history of Douluo Continent, and some had been recorded.

Many of those records had been collected in Spirit Hall's library.

As the number one power on the continent, Spirit Hall not only crushed the continent in combat strength, but also stood unrivaled in its research on Martial Souls and its collection of all kinds of Soul Master knowledge.

The reason Shrek Academy in Douluo II was able to swiftly surpass countless academies and sects, eventually even overtaking the Tang Sect to become the continent's foremost power—

Besides the existence of Tang San and the other first-generation Shrek Seven Devils, a major reason was that they had inherited all of Spirit Hall's accumulated collections and knowledge.

That was what forged an academy that endured for generations and eventually became the number one power on the continent.

The systematic knowledge Yan had learned at Spirit Hall gave him a fair understanding of the various herbs within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Snow Silkworms and Cinnabar Lotuses might not be fairy herbs, but out in the world, they were still top-tier medicinal herbs.

Even the best-quality, oldest herbs and flowers in Chrysanthemum Douluo's herb garden could not compare to any random herb growing around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

"If Yue Guan came here and saw these peerless herbs covering the ground, he would probably be so excited that he fainted on the spot."

Having lived in Spirit Hall for so many years, Yan knew full well that Chrysanthemum Douluo's reputation for being obsessed with flowers was no exaggeration.

He truly loved flowers to madness. For a single rare plant, Chrysanthemum Douluo could wait painstakingly for months without finding it tedious.

Even his close friend, Ghost Douluo Gui Mei, found such perseverance hard to understand, let alone everyone else in Spirit Hall.

If someone like Yue Guan truly came to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, who knew what he might do.

Just imagining it made Yan shudder.

He shook his head, casting that terrifying thought from his mind.

Yan walked straight up to the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

Though called a fairy herb, the Infernal Delicate Apricot looked remarkably like a large crimson cabbage.

Yet the blazing heat it radiated proved its identity as a fairy herb.

Yan formed his hand into a blade and slashed directly at the root of the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

With a soft hiss, like a hot knife slicing through butter, Yan cut it free without the slightest resistance, and it fell into his palm.

An extreme heat instantly spread across Yan's hand. Even with Yan's current physical strength, he felt his palm burn.

A cluster of dark-red flames immediately surfaced in Yan's palm. It was the flame he had already evolved to the level of Half-Ultimate Fire.

Even with the flames acting as a barrier, an indescribable heat and tyrannical vitality still seeped through, making Yan's palm grow faintly hot.

The Flame Overlord Martial Soul within him instantly became active and restless, sending out an incomparably eager intent.

Carefully wrapping the Infernal Delicate Apricot, Yan hesitated no longer and quickly returned to the spring beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He swiftly removed his clothes, leaving only his close-fitting shorts.

His bronze skin was exposed to the strange air where ice and fire intertwined, gleaming faintly with health and concealing explosive power beneath.

Without a moment's hesitation, he took a deep breath, leaped forward, and plunged straight into the crimson, churning Yang Spring, where the heat waves scorched the sky.

The instant his body entered the water, unimaginable extreme heat engulfed him, as though he had jumped into molten magma at the earth's core.

A needle-like, searing pain spread across his skin, and even his bones seemed to groan.

Had his body not already been tempered far beyond his peers by the Yan God Body Refining Technique, and had he not protected himself with Origin Energy beforehand, that alone would have been enough to seriously injure or even kill him.

Enduring the burning pain that was enough to shatter the soul, Yan steadied his mind and sat cross-legged within the Yang Spring, leaving only his head above the water.

He held the Infernal Delicate Apricot in both hands, his gaze unwavering. Opening his mouth, he bit down fiercely on the cluster of core leaves at the top of the fairy herb, which resembled solidified flames.

Crack!

A crisp breaking sound rang out, followed by a stream of scorching liquid, hot as lava yet carrying a strange fragrance, rushing down his throat.

Wherever the liquid passed, it felt as though his esophagus and stomach had been pierced by red-hot irons.

Yan let out a muffled groan. Veins instantly bulged across his forehead, while beads of sweat the size of soybeans evaporated the instant they emerged.

He did not dare stop. In just a few bites, he swallowed the entire Infernal Delicate Apricot whole.

Once the fairy herb entered his stomach, the true trial began.

A surge of ultimate flame energy, even more blazing and violent than the Yang Spring itself and a hundred times purer, erupted completely within his body like a volcano suppressed for ten thousand years.

The energy transformed into a crimson-gold torrent that brutally flooded every one of his meridians, every acupoint, and every inch of flesh, blood, and bone.

Yan could not help releasing a low roar, suppressed to the utmost limit.

The skin across his entire body instantly turned crimson and translucent, as though it were about to ignite, sending the surrounding Yang Spring water into violent turmoil.

Outside his body, the Flame Overlord Martial Soul manifested on its own. The dark-red phantom of the Flame Overlord behind him swayed and expanded wildly, letting out a pained roar.

Yet beneath the impact and infusion of that crimson-gold energy, the phantom's color began changing at a visible rate, shifting from dark red to crimson gold, while its form became increasingly solid and majestic.

Vaguely, that savage humanoid shape seemed to be evolving toward a more perfect human form. Its lines became smoother, filled with the beauty of strength and flame.

At the same time, his forty-fourth-level Soul Power soared under the push of that vast energy as though mounted on a rocket.

Forty-fifth level, forty-sixth level, forty-seventh level, forty-eighth level, forty-ninth level!

It surged all the way to the peak of the forty-ninth level, only one step away from becoming a fifty-level Soul King, before gradually coming to a halt.

Not only did his Soul Power increase tremendously in quantity, but its density and purity underwent a qualitative transformation. It carried a faint crimson-gold sheen and brimmed with explosive might.

His Martial Artist cultivation benefited as well.

The Yan God Body Refining Technique operated madly, guiding part of the flame energy to temper his body.

The bottleneck at the initial stage of Apprentice Rank Seven shattered instantly. He broke through the middle stage of Apprentice Rank Seven in one rush, reaching the late stage of Apprentice Rank Seven.

His muscles and bones resonated in unison, his blood and vitality became like mercury, his muscle fibers grew denser and tougher, and his bones faintly took on a pale golden hue. The strength of his entire body reached a completely new height.

However, this was not the end!

Just as the ultimate flame energy of the Infernal Delicate Apricot washed over and transformed his entire body, about to reach a certain critical point—

Deep within Yan's soul, that wisp of dark-golden residual origin belonging to the Flame Emperor seemed to be stirred by the flames, which had finally reached the ultimate level because of the Infernal Delicate Apricot, and trembled faintly.