"Strip... strip naked?!"
Dugu Yan's pretty face, which had still looked somewhat bewildered, instantly turned bright red.
Like a ripe apple, she instinctively crossed her arms over her chest and took two steps back.
"N-no!
Absolutely not!"
Dugu Yan shouted furiously in her heart:
*Senior, men and women should keep their distance, and Grandpa's right here!
How could we... how could we do something like that?!*
Seeing his granddaughter suddenly blush, her expression strange, Dugu Bo hurried forward and asked anxiously:
"Yan Yan, what did that senior say to you?
Is something wrong with your body?"
Dugu Yan bit her lip, finding it difficult to speak. But under her grandfather's anxious gaze, she could only stammer:
"G-Grandpa...
That senior said I should take off my clothes and jump into that red-and-white pool..."
"What?!"
At those words, Dugu Bo's expression changed drastically, fury and alarm surging in his emerald eyes.
He whipped his head around and shouted:
"Senior!
I respect you as an unparalleled powerhouse, but that joke is going too far!"
"The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well's springs are deadly! The Extreme Yin Spring is bone-chillingly cold, while the Extreme Yang Spring is hot enough to melt gold!
Forget a forty-ninth-level Soul Ancestor like Yan Yan—even I, a Titled Douluo, wouldn't dare stay in those waters for long!"
"You want her to jump in?
That's not cultivation; that's suicide!
It's murder!"
Dugu Bo was frantic to protect his granddaughter.
At that moment, he couldn't care less that the other party was a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast. Soul Power surged around him; he had clearly lost his temper.
"Tsk, ignorant."
Just then, a purple-gold stream of light shot from Dugu Yan's forehead and gathered in midair, forming Yu Nan's translucent soul shadow.
Yu Nan folded his arms across his chest and looked at the agitated Dugu Bo with disdain.
"Old Poison Freak, what the hell do you know?"
"If she jumped in directly, the girl would naturally be reduced to bones.
But with the help of the two peerless Immortal Herbs in this treasure land, this would be an unparalleled opportunity to shed her mortal shell and be reborn!"
With that, Yu Nan ignored Dugu Bo's anger and pointed toward the center of the spring:
"Look carefully!
At the center of the Extreme Yin Spring, there's a white herb with a star-shaped tip.
And at the center of the Extreme Yang Spring, there's a red herb that looks like a cabbage."
"They're the 'Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass' and the 'Infernal Delicate Apricot'!"
"Both of these Immortal Herbs are deadly poisons.
An ordinary person who touched either one would turn to pus or be burned to ash in moments."
Hearing the words "deadly poisons," Dugu Bo's face darkened further.
"If they're deadly poisons, then why are you telling Yan Yan to—"
"Shut up and let me finish!"
Yu Nan snapped, cutting Dugu Bo off.
"Poisons, too, can counterbalance each other!
Taken individually, these two Immortal Herbs would be fatal. But if consumed together, their extreme cold and heat would neutralize each other inside the body.
They'd become the purest energy!"
"But that energy is too immense. She has to use the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well's extreme cold and heat as external pressure to fully refine it and merge it with her bones and blood!"
"Once she succeeds, your granddaughter will not only become immune to all poisons, she'll also gain a diamond-hard body impervious to water and fire!"
At this, Yu Nan fixed Dugu Bo with a burning gaze.
"Old Poison Freak, fortune favors the bold.
Your granddaughter may have evolved into a Poison Dragon, but compared to a two-hundred-thousand-year Soul Bone, her physical foundation is still too weak."
"If you don't want her to be burst apart by the Soul Bone later, do as I say!"
At Yu Nan's words, Dugu Bo's expression shifted between uncertainty and resolve. He stared at the two herbs, waging an intense battle within himself.
At last, Dugu Bo gritted his teeth, a resolute glint in his eyes.
"Fine!
I'll trust you this once!"
"If anything happens to Yan Yan, I'll blow myself up if I have to, and take your remnant soul down with me!"
Yu Nan curled his lip in disdain.
"Relax. She's my host now. I'm even less willing than you are to let her die.
If she can't hold on, I'll personally protect her heart meridians."
With that promise, Dugu Bo no longer hesitated.
Dugu Bo took a deep breath and carefully followed Yu Nan's instructions.
He flew toward the center of the spring.
He used an iron implement to pick the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and a jade implement to pick the Infernal Delicate Apricot.
A moment later.
Wrapped in Soul Power, the two Immortal Herbs, radiating extreme cold and scorching heat, were delivered to Dugu Yan.
Even through the Soul Power barrier, Dugu Yan could feel the terrifying aura washing over her.
One seemed to freeze her soul; the other, to evaporate her blood.
"Yan Yan, don't be afraid."
Yu Nan's voice rang out in Dugu Yan's mind, carrying a hint of encouragement.
"Trust me, and trust yourself.
Eat them, then jump straight into the boundary between the red and white springs!"
"As for your clothes... If you don't want them burned off and everything exposed, keep your under-armor on.
Once the medicinal power takes effect, you won't have the time to worry about that anyway."
Dugu Yan looked at the two strangely shaped Immortal Herbs before her, then at her grandfather, whose eyes were full of worry even as he forced himself to remain calm.
She took a deep breath, and her gaze gradually grew firm.
"Grandpa, Senior Yu Nan, I'll eat them!"
She knew this was her opportunity—and the crucial moment that could change her fate.
Without the slightest hesitation, Dugu Yan snatched up both Immortal Herbs. Ignoring the pain in her palms, she stuffed them into her mouth.
She chewed a few times, then forced them down!
Boom—!
The instant the Immortal Herbs entered her stomach, Dugu Yan's body changed color.
The left half of her body was instantly covered in icy blue frost.
The right half turned red-hot, like iron fresh from the forge.
Red and white steam rose from her head.
Pain!
An indescribable pain swept through her entire body in an instant!
"Now!
Jump!"
Yu Nan's roar exploded in her mind.
Dugu Yan fought to keep her consciousness from crumbling and summoned every last bit of strength to leap!
Splash!
Her delicate body traced an arc through the air and landed precisely at the point where the red and white waters met in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Hisssss—
The spring boiled in an instant. Dugu Yan's figure sank beneath the water in the blink of an eye and disappeared from sight.
"Yan Yan!!!"
Dugu Bo leaned over the bank, his eyes bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the churning water, his heart in his throat.
"Stop shouting. She won't die."
Yu Nan's shadow floated above the water, his gaze penetrating the spring.
He watched the cocoon of light below, where Dugu Yan struggled in agony, and a hint of satisfaction glinted in his eyes.
"This girl has more willpower than I expected."
"Now, we'll see how much of this fortune she can absorb..."
Time flew by, and before long, two months had passed.
Throughout those sixty days and nights, beside the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well in Sunset Forest, it was as though a statue called "Dugu Bo" had appeared.
The Poison Douluo, whose name had once shaken the continent, had long since lost his former air of authority.
Dugu Bo's beard was unkempt, his eyes sunken, his robes stained with dew and dust.
Yet he remained utterly motionless, staring fixedly at the eerily calm surface of the water.
Before you continue