Little Thief, Give Me Back My Medicinal Ingredients

The pain of the Ice-Fire Body Refining grew increasingly intense, forcing Ling Yun to grit his teeth and circulate his cultivation technique with all his might to refine the medicinal power.

Half a quarter of an hour later, unable to endure it any longer, he let out a cry.

"Hiss—ah..."

Just as he was on the verge of fainting, his martial soul, the Yin-Yang Mirror, manifested, suppressing the agony to a range he could withstand.

The heaven and earth energy within the Scorching Yang Spring and the Extreme Cold Ice Spring was continuously drawn in by the Yin-Yang Mirror, surging into his body to temper him from head to toe. From skin and flesh to blood, from blood to the internal organs, from the organs to the meridians, and from the meridians to the bones—it was a layer-by-layer progression.

As expected of my martial soul. A drumstick for you! You definitely deserve a drumstick!

The extreme cold and extreme heat transformed incessantly within him, pushing Ling Yun's comprehension of his technique further and lending a hint of fluid perfection to his yin-yang energy.

The Yin-Yang Mirror continuously channeled the yin-yang energy of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, converting it into Ling Yun's soul power; the process was one of pain mixed with pleasure.

Three days passed in a flash.

Ling Yun's soul power broke through to level sixteen, and the Ice-Fire Body Refining neared its end.

Just then, Ling Yun sensed Dugu Bo approaching at high speed.

A Titled Douluo traveled with immense velocity; in less than a quarter of an hour, Dugu Bo would be right before his eyes.

Ling Yun summoned his Chaos Bead martial soul. It flew toward the shore, a radiance sweeping out as his storage Soul Tool was pulled into the space contained within the martial soul itself.

With that done, Ling Yun seized the remaining time to refine the medicinal power, waiting for Dugu Bo's arrival.

The Scorching Yang Spring and the Extreme Cold Ice Spring were his trump cards against Dugu Bo; now, it was time to put his silver-tongued skills to the test!

Dugu Bo flew down from the top of the valley. Once he descended to a height where the mist thinned, he caught sight of Ling Yun and was filled with shock.

Even he dared not touch these spring waters; to touch them was to be injured.

Who was this brat before him? Why was he unharmed?

In that instant, Dugu Bo felt that Ling Yun was unfathomable.

He was a Titled Douluo, yet a mere child was bathing in water that even he could not endure—the impact of this was immense.

A few breaths later, Dugu Bo could no longer contain himself, his reason consumed by rage.

They were gone! The medicinal herbs whose effects he hadn't even fully grasped were all gone! The brat before him had picked his herbs.

Dugu Bo had seen the Chrysanthemum Douluo before and recognized the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum among the immortal herbs; it was a martial soul capable of helping one reach the rank of Titled Douluo.

Its value went without saying.

Including the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, there were at least eight herbs of such quality, and now they were all gone.

Many other rare herbs were missing as well.

Dugu Bo didn't recognize most of the herbs that had vanished, but that didn't mean he was ignorant of their worth.

Dugu Bo now had only one thought: kill this brat and recover his herbs.

The energy within those herbs was extremely high; clearly, this brat couldn't have consumed them all.

"Little thief, return my herbs!"

"Hand them over, and I'll grant you a quick death!"

Terrifying killing intent surged as the soul power pressure belonging to a Titled Douluo instantly descended upon Ling Yun.

The Yin-Yang Mirror martial soul spontaneously protected its master. His first soul ring rotated rhythmically within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, and the Scorching Yang Spring and Extreme Cold Ice Spring formed a red-and-white water barrier, shielding Ling Yun in the center.

The soul pressure of a Titled Douluo was formidable; without the water barrier of the two springs, he would never have been able to withstand it. He would have been severely injured by the pressure in the blink of an eye, his bones shattered.

But now, thanks to this natural environment, Ling Yun was temporarily standing on invincible ground.

"Senior, there's no need to be so hot-headed!"

Dugu Bo didn't listen at all; he had only one thought: kill, kill, kill!

Seeing that ordinary moves were ineffective, the next moment, nine soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—rose from beneath his feet.

That wasn't all; Dugu Bo directly activated his Avatar of the Martial Soul. As his seventh soul ring flickered, he instantly transformed into a thirty-meter-long Jade Phosphorous Serpent as thick as a water vat.

His vertical snake eyes stared at Ling Yun, exuding a cold, sinister aura.

The giant serpent opened its maw, and a sheet of emerald-green poisonous mist surged toward the water barrier. However, before the mist could even touch the barrier, it collided with the water vapor formed by the interaction of the two springs and was dissolved into nothingness.

Dugu Bo's pride and joy, his toxins, appeared utterly ridiculous beneath the extreme cold and heat of the springs.

"Hmph! Don't think that just because your martial soul is special and can control the spring water, this old man has no way to deal with you!"

"Taking advantage of my absence to steal so many of my herbs—I will make you wish you were dead!"

Dugu Bo had figured out a few things. Ling Yun's Yin-Yang Mirror martial soul was connected to the aura of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well; looking at the mirror's surface, it featured the same red and white yin-yang fish as the well itself.

Dugu Bo felt he had discovered the secret to why Ling Yun was unaffected by the springs.

His guess wasn't entirely wrong. Even without the Ice-Fire Body Refining Pill made from the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot, the Yin-Yang Mirror could protect Ling Yun from the harm of the springs.

However, it required constant consumption of soul power. With his level sixteen soul power, he could only stay in the springs for three quarters of an hour.

Now, having consumed the Ice-Fire Body Refining Pill, the Yin-Yang Mirror no longer needed to expend massive amounts of soul power to protect him. It could even absorb the heaven and earth energy of the springs, converting it into soul power to supply Ling Yun.

Dugu Bo's snake pupils locked onto Ling Yun. He retracted the poisonous mist, and the next moment, his eighth soul ring erupted with black light.

"Eighth Soul Skill, Time Solidification!"

A jade-green bead was spat out from the mouth of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent, and the valley fell into a state of stillness; the water shield ceased its flow, the mist stopped rising, and the currents of cold and heat were likewise suspended.

Immediately following, the thirty-meter-long serpent body turned transparent, and the figure of Dugu Bo manifested, hovering in mid-air.

His palm cradled the jade-green bead as he slowly approached the spring eye.

"Watch how this old man shatters your water shield and uses your life to accompany my medicinal herbs to the grave!"

Dugu Bo's plan was simple: with the water shield frozen, he would blast a hole through it at will, and a single strike of soul power would be enough to finish off Ling Yun.

At the critical moment, the Chaos Bead martial soul manifested of its own accord, and the water of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well resumed its flow; within a ten-meter radius centered on Ling Yun, space and time remained completely unaffected by Dugu Bo's eighth soul skill.

"Twin Martial Souls!"

"No, that's not right. Twin Martial Souls cannot be used simultaneously, yet this is undeniably the fluctuation of a martial soul! Could it be that this brat before me has overcome the problem of being unable to use two martial souls at once?"

If Ling Yun knew his thoughts, he would only sneer in derision.

Twenty thousand years later, there would even be self-martial soul fusion skills.

Dugu Bo was shocked by Ling Yun's talent, and now, he felt a slight reluctance to destroy such potential.

"Good lad, to think you possess Twin Martial Souls! This old man is starting to find it hard to kill you! If you take this old man as your master and return my medicinal herbs, I can let bygones be bygones and even cultivate you with all my might!"

Though Dugu Bo spoke these words, in reality, it was because he was temporarily unable to deal with Ling Yun, and combined with Ling Yun's truly astonishing talent, he was willing to waste his breath.

"I'm afraid you are still lacking if you wish to take me as your disciple, Senior!"

"Don't be ungrateful, brat! Even if I cannot deal with you for the moment, I refuse to believe it! Your martial soul manifestation must consume soul power; once your soul power is exhausted, you will still be at this old man's mercy!"

"When that time comes, don't come begging to be my disciple!"