"Bing'er, that's enough."
Xue Tianyu spoke coolly, his voice icy.
When the Ice Empress heard Xue Tianyu, she gave a cold snort.
Only then did she reluctantly withdraw her jade hand, which had been like the hand of Death.
She flicked her fingertips in the air.
The thick ice encasing Dugu Bo instantly dissolved into countless tiny droplets.
Dugu Bo's whole body went limp.
He had completely lost the bearing of a Titled Douluo, collapsing onto his knees on the wet ground.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
He coughed violently, his chest heaving.
He gulped down the hard-won fresh air.
His eyes, fixed on the Ice Empress, were filled with overwhelming reverence and a fear that pierced to the bone.
In that instant, he had truly felt death descend.
If she had only added a little more force,
his internal organs would have been crushed to pulp.
"Thank you... thank you for sparing my life, Your Excellency."
Dugu Bo lowered his once-proud head, his voice frighteningly hoarse.
Though his temper was eccentric and solitary, he wasn't a stubborn fool.
In the face of utterly overwhelming strength,
admitting defeat was the only way out.
What's more, at the moment he'd been frozen,
he'd discovered something that shocked him to the core.
The poison that tormented him whenever it rained,
the backlash inside his body,
had completely stopped acting up under the suppression of that extreme cold.
The agony that had plagued him for most of his life,
leaving him wishing he were dead,
had vanished for the first time!
Dugu Bo abruptly raised his head.
His gaze toward Xue Tianyu had changed.
The contempt from before was gone, replaced by a feverish intensity, as though he'd just grabbed a lifeline.
"You... you can really cure our poison?"
Dugu Bo's voice trembled despite his efforts to control it.
Xue Tianyu stood with his hands behind his back.
He looked down at the once-arrogant Titled Douluo.
"Curing the poison won't be difficult."
"But there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Xue Tianyu cut straight to the point, unwilling to waste words.
"I can help you."
"I can remove the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison plaguing you and your granddaughter."
"I can even help clear your meridians and improve the strength you haven't been able to advance for years."
"But in exchange, I want something."
Hearing this, Dugu Bo nodded frantically without hesitation.
"As long as you can cure the poison, you can have more than one thing!"
"I'd give you everything I own without a second thought!"
He'd truly had enough of that hellish existence, worse than death.
And he was even more afraid that his precious granddaughter would follow in his footsteps and die young.
"I want your medicinal garden."
Xue Tianyu lifted his eyes slightly and looked straight at Dugu Bo.
"The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well in Sunset Forest."
At those five words,
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted to pinpricks.
It was the greatest secret in his life.
Aside from him and Dugu Yan, no one knew that such a peerless treasure lay at the heart of his poisonous formation.
How had this mysterious young man found out?
But things had come to this, and with the Ice Empress's terrifying pressure bearing down on him,
he had no room to bargain.
"Fine!"
"I agree!"
Dugu Bo clenched his teeth and nodded firmly.
Compared to his and his granddaughter's lives,
what did a medicinal garden full of strange weeds matter?
Seeing how sensible the other man was, a satisfied smile touched Xue Tianyu's lips.
"Good. You know what's best for you."
"Ultimately, the poison in your bodies is caused by the flaws in your Martial Souls, which make them backfire."
"If you force the poison into a Soul Bone and use it as a container to store the toxins,"
"you can eliminate the danger to yourselves."
Xue Tianyu freely revealed the crucial secret in front of everyone.
"I'll teach you a method for suppressing the poison in your meridians."
"Circulate your Soul Power along this route,"
"and within three days, the poison will be suppressed. It won't flare up even once."
With that, Xue Tianyu pressed his index and middle fingers together.
He tapped twice.
Two streaks of icy-blue light sank into Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan's foreheads.
Dugu Bo immediately closed his eyes and tried out the method that had appeared in his mind.
He could no longer hide his joy; his entire old face flushed with excitement.
The method was incredibly ingenious.
After circulating it for just one cycle, it had actually stabilized the poison that had raged inside him for years!
"Truly miraculous!"
"Absolutely miraculous!"
Dugu Bo was so moved that tears streamed down his face. He didn't care in the slightest about the dignity of a Titled Douluo.
He bowed again and again to Xue Tianyu.
Dugu Yan was even more overcome with gratitude.
Besides the admiration she'd already felt, her gaze toward Xue Tianyu now held an unspeakable devotion and passionate affection.
"I'll take you to Sunset Forest right away, Young Master!"
Dugu Bo eagerly rose to his feet.
He bowed with great respect and gestured for them to proceed.
The temporary Shrek Academy residence outside Heaven Dou City.
Several extremely battered figures stumbled through the dilapidated courtyard gate, supporting one another.
Tang San was ashen-faced, his clothes in tatters.
Dozens of horrifying bloody holes, left behind by removed Hidden Weapons, still marked his body.
Though the poison had been removed, he'd lost so much blood that he could barely stand.
Yu Xiaogang and Dai Mubai were just as disheveled, their faces utterly dejected.
Flender had been sitting in the courtyard, leisurely drinking tea.
When he looked up and saw them in such a wretched state, like stray dogs, the teacup in his hand fell to the ground with a crash and shattered.
"Xiaogang! San! How did you end up looking like this?"
Flender was furious. He hurried forward and caught Yu Xiaogang, who was about to collapse.
Seeing his old friend of many years, all of Yu Xiaogang's pent-up grievance instantly turned into towering rage.
He pointed a trembling finger toward the Great Soul Arena, his voice as hoarse as a broken bellows.
"Flender, we were publicly humiliated in Heaven Dou City today!"
"That man not only seriously injured San, he also forced him to kneel and kowtow in front of everyone, shouting that he was a despicable villain!"
"That brat ground Shrek's reputation into the dirt!"
Hearing this, Flender trembled with rage. The veins on his forehead stood out one by one.
"What!"
"Is there really someone in the Heaven Dou Empire who dares to bully our people like this?"
Dai Mubai clenched his teeth and piled on, his face full of venom.
"Dean, that brat Xue Tianyu was far too arrogant."
"He relied on having a little strength and didn't take Shrek seriously at all."
"We were no match for him. All we could do was watch Tang San suffer the humiliation—we didn't even have a chance to fight back."
Tang San kept his head bowed.
His fists were clenched tight, his nails digging deep into his palms until thin threads of blood seeped out.
That overwhelming humiliation gnawed furiously at his heart.
Flender laughed in fury, the eyes behind his glasses flashing with deadly intent.
"Well, well, Xue Tianyu!"
"You dare lay a hand on my students and brothers? Do you really think Shrek is some soft persimmon anyone can squeeze?"
He spun around and roared toward the inner room.
"Wuji, get out here!"
Heavy footsteps rang out.
Zhao Wuji strode out of the room, his build as imposing as a brown bear.
His muscles bulged with every step, and each footfall left a deep print on the ground.
Seeing the state Tang San and the others were in, Zhao Wuji's brows shot up, menace spilling from him.
"Boss Fu, which blind fool did this?"
Flender gave the order, his eyes cold and murderous.
"Find out where Xue Tianyu is, then ambush and kill him on the way!"
"Whatever forces he has behind him, anyone who hurts our people will pay in blood!"
"I want his head to wash away Shrek's shame!"
Zhao Wuji squeezed his fist, which was as big as a clay pot. His joints crackled like popping beans.
"Leave it to me."
"He's just a kid in his teens. Even if he started cultivating in the womb, he can't be more than a Soul Ancestor at most."
"I'm a level seventy-six Soul Saint. Taking him down will be as easy as lifting a finger."
"I'd like to see how hard that brat's bones are—and whether they can withstand my Vajra Palm!"
Seeing Zhao Wuji's absolute confidence, Tang San suddenly raised his head.
His bloodshot eyes gleamed with fierce excitement and anticipation.
He swore to himself,
Xue Tianyu, I'll make you pay for humiliating me today—with your body shattered into a thousand pieces!
Yu Xiaogang patted Tang San on the shoulder and comforted him.
"San, don't worry."
"With the Immovable Wisdom King taking action himself, that brat won't live to see tomorrow."
Meanwhile,
deep in Sunset Forest, in the heart of the poisonous miasma,
Dugu Bo led Xue Tianyu and the Ice Empress through layers of sickly green fog that could corrode flesh and bone in an instant.
They arrived at the peak of a steep mountain.
Ahead lay a huge crater, as though a meteor had smashed into the earth.
The strong smell of sulfur and the bone-piercing cold clashed wildly in the air.
Xue Tianyu stood at the crater's edge and looked down.
A strange spring, split into two sharply distinct colors, lay quietly at the bottom.
On the left was a milky-white spring wreathed in mist, radiating such extreme cold it seemed capable of freezing space itself.
On the right was a churning vermilion spring, seething with a terrifying, lava-like heat.
The two utterly different springs met perfectly in the middle without disturbing one another, forming a natural Taiji symbol.
Countless exotic flowers and rare herbs, long extinct elsewhere, grew on the surrounding rock walls and soil.
This was a blessed cave-heaven, a miraculous place shaped by the powers of heaven and earth—the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well!
Dugu Bo stood to one side, bowing with utmost respect.
"Young Master, this is my medicine garden."
"For all these years, I've relied on this place's unique environment to barely suppress the poisonous backlash inside me."
Xue Tianyu gave a slight nod, his gaze sweeping over the glowing Immortal Herbs.
"This is a fine place."
"From now on, it belongs to me."
Dugu Bo didn't dare hesitate for even a moment. He hurriedly agreed, afraid of angering this living ancestor.
"Please, Young Master. Yan Yan and I will guard you outside the poison array. We won't let a single Soul Beast come anywhere near."
With that, he led Dugu Yan out of the area, showing admirable tact.
Ice Empress looked around, sensing the ancient energy fluctuations in the air. Her brows lifted slightly.
"The aura here is a little strange."
"It feels like something enormous is buried under the water."
Xue Tianyu chuckled, not taking it to heart at all.
"If there's something there, we'll find out by giving it a try."
He leapt forward like a graceful bird, landing steadily on the bank where the red and white springs met.
Once he was standing, Xue Tianyu released his Martial Souls without holding anything back.
A clear, high-pitched phoenix cry soared into the sky.
The phantom image of a gigantic Ice Phoenix suddenly spread its wings behind him.
At the same time, an Ice Heaven Snow Lotus radiating endless cold bloomed proudly beneath his feet.
The overwhelming pressure of his Twin Martial Souls expanded outward at blinding speed, utterly unrestrained.
The terrifying aura of the Ultimate Ice bloodline swept through the entire Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well like a hurricane.
The instant that bloodline aura seeped into the spring water,
the lake's surface, originally smooth as a mirror, suddenly began to churn violently.
"Rumble!"
A muffled boom sounded from the deepest part of the springs.
The entire valley shook violently, and countless loose stones tumbled down the cliffs.
Two enormous dragon-shaped phantoms, one red and one blue, were like gods who had slept for a million years, suddenly awakened.
They shot up separately from the bottom of the springs, soaring into the sky and circling overhead.
Two terrifying dragon auras, far surpassing those of Titled Douluo and even towering above mortals, instantly blanketed the whole region.
The immense dragon roars were deafening.
The gigantic phantom on the left was an icy-blue dragon, its body surrounded by fearsome frost capable of freezing all things.
The crimson dragon phantom on the right was completely engulfed in flames that could scorch the heavens and boil the seas.
They were none other than the lingering souls of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings, who had perished here!
Ice Empress stood not far away, her expression turning grave in an instant.
As the ruler of the Far North, she could truly feel the divine power these two lingering souls had possessed in life.
In the face of this supreme dragon might, powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, Xue Tianyu stood with his hands behind his back, his expression still as calm as water.
That aura was enough to make even a level ninety-nine Peerless Douluo tremble in fear.
Yet it couldn't even stir the hem of his clothes.
The Ice Dragon King's enormous eyes fixed on Xue Tianyu below.
Its massive dragon head showed an expression of utter shock.
"Human, why do you possess such a pure bloodline of the Ultimate Ice?"
"Even... the level of this power makes my heart pound with fear."
The Fire Dragon King let out a thunderous cry beside him.
"Not only that, the strength of his body is simply terrifying, like a true dragon!"
"How can a mere mortal withstand the pressure from both of us without kneeling?"
Xue Tianyu raised his chin slightly and looked straight at the lingering souls of the two Dragon Kings in the sky.
"You're nothing but two lingering souls that died ten thousand years ago, and you think you can make me kneel?"
"Perhaps you were once exalted Dragon Kings."
"But before me, you're nothing more than conscious clumps of energy now."
His tone was utterly calm, yet it carried an absolute arrogance that seemed to put him above all things.
There was no reverence in his gaze, only an unruffled, lofty composure.
Hearing this, the Ice Dragon King wasn't angered. Instead, it laughed.
Its booming voice echoed through the valley again and again.
"What an arrogant brat!"
"But you have the power to back up your arrogance."
"I've been asleep for so many years, and you're the first human I've ever seen with such monstrous talent."
Before you continue