Sunset Forest, Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well

The Sunset Forest is not as vast as the Star Dou Great Forest.

However, because it is located in the heart of the Heaven Dou Empire and shielded by a natural toxic miasma deep within the vale, it is rarely visited by humans.

Instead, it serves as a habitat for many poisonous soul beasts rarely seen in the outside world.

Qian Anci chose to come here to hunt for his fourth soul ring for another reason.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He recalled the records regarding this place in his mind. It was one of the three great treasure basins, the burial ground of the Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King.

The remains of the two dragon kings were buried at the bottom of the pool, their residual power remaining undissipated for ten thousand years, with the two extreme forces of ice and fire intertwined.

This had transformed the valley into a natural medicinal garden filled with rare treasures.

If he could claim this place as his own, it would be immensely beneficial for the future development of himself and the Martial Soul Hall.

The mist in the forest gradually changed color.

The originally gray-white fog began to mix with wisps of dark green toxic miasma.

A faint, sweet, and fishy scent permeated the air, and the vegetation at his feet took on an unnatural dark purple hue.

Qian Anci's expression remained unchanged as the gray-white Death Qi flowed naturally around him, forming a thin film of energy over his body.

The moment the toxic miasma touched this film, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, quietly decomposed by the Death Qi.

Death and virulent poison shared common ground. His Underworld Death Qi could erode even life force; ordinary poisonous fog could do nothing to him.

He continued to walk deeper.

The toxic miasma grew thicker, and visibility was now less than ten zhang.

Scattered remains of soul beasts began to appear on the ground, some already withered and blackened, as if they had succumbed to some potent poison.

Dark red vines were coiled around the tree trunks, their bodies covered in barbs that glinted with a ghostly light.

He traveled forward for about another half an hour.

The toxic miasma began to thin out instead.

The sweet, fishy scent in the air gradually dissipated, replaced by two distinct auras.

One was extremely cold.

One was extremely hot.

The two auras entangled and ebbed and flowed against each other, yet they maintained a strange balance, shrouding the entire area ahead.

Qian Anci paused his steps.

Within his body, the Shadow of Pollux trembled slightly before falling silent once more.

It was the aura of the Dragon Clan.

"It seems I am nearing the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."

Although that aura had been dormant for countless years, it still carried an inviolable majesty.

It was the residual pressure belonging to the level of a Dragon King; even a mere trace was enough to keep ordinary soul beasts from approaching.

He quickened his pace, passing through the final layer of toxic miasma.

The view before him suddenly opened up.

It was a massive circular valley, shaped like a giant bowl, with sheer cliffs towering into the clouds on all sides, isolating the inside from the outside world.

Above the valley walls, the toxic miasma churned like boiling water, but the scene within the valley was entirely different.

The vegetation was astonishingly dense.

Every flower and blade of grass emitted a faint luminescence, red and blue intermingled, casting the entire valley in a bizarre and fantastical light.

Qian Anci could not even name some of the strange-looking plants, but from the spiritual fluctuations they emitted, he knew they were no ordinary objects.

In the center of the valley, a pool of spring water was divided into two colors.

Half was as white as snow, with cold air rising, covering the stone walls by the spring in a thick layer of frost.

The other half was as red as fire, with heat waves surging and viscous bubbles constantly rolling on the surface.

Where the two springs met, mist filled the air, and the ice and fire intertwined, emitting a series of hissing sounds.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Qian Anci's gaze swept across the edge of the spring.

Right there on the rock wall beside the cold spring, an eight-petaled flower, white as jade, bloomed silently, its petals covered in fine ice crystals—it was the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.

And beside the fire spring, an immortal herb as red as fire corresponded to it, its petals flickering like flames—it was the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

His gaze did not linger too long on these two immortal herbs.

He knew how to harvest them, but not now.

Qian Anci composed his mind and stepped forward to enter the valley.

"BOOM!"

A terrifying pressure suddenly descended from the sky, slamming onto his shoulders like Mount Tai.

Qian Anci's figure sank abruptly, his feet crushing two deep fissures into the stone ground.

His knees bent slightly, but he forced himself to hold firm just before they could touch the earth.

A Titled Douluo.

He made the judgment in the very first instant.

The intensity of this pressure was not far off from the feeling Azure Luan Douluo gave him.

"Junior."

An aged, gloomy voice drifted from the valley, carrying an unquestionable majesty.

"You dare come to this old man's territory to steal?"

Before the voice had even faded, a mass of ink-green poisonous mist surged out from the depths of the valley, sweeping toward Qian Anci like a living creature.

The poison mist was so thick it was nearly liquid; wherever it passed, the grass withered instantly, and even the surface of the rocks was corroded into fine, dense pits.

Qian Anci's pupils constricted.

This was no ordinary poison.

This was a highly toxic substance produced by a Soul Skill released from a Martial Soul.

If it were an ordinary soul master, inhaling even a trace would be enough to kill them.

He retreated violently, simultaneously swinging his right hand out with a jerk.

The Scythe of Death condensed in his palm, gray-white Death Qi swirling around the blade like a thin mist.

"First Soul Skill, Guidance of the Underworld Path."

As the scythe blade swept through, a thin line of gray-white mixed with dark red tore through the air, slashing head-on into the mass of poison mist.

Hiss.

The moment the thin line collided with the poison mist, it emitted a teeth-grinding sound of corrosion.

Death Qi and the potent poison eroded each other; the poison mist was sliced open by the thin line, but it did not dissipate entirely, instead splitting into two streams to continue flanking him.

Qian Anci seized the opportunity to widen the distance, landing on a high ground ten zhang outside the valley entrance.

He held the scythe horizontally before him, his gaze fixed coldly on the depths of the valley.

"You are a Titled Douluo, after all. Do you not feel ashamed to attack a junior?"

There was a moment of silence in the valley.

Then, a hoarse, low chuckle drifted out.

"Interesting."

A figure slowly walked out from the depths of the valley.

It was a hunched old man wrapped in an ink-green robe, his face gaunt and his frame frail.

His pupils were vertical slits, a ghostly green light flickering in their depths like the eyes of some cold-blooded animal.

Behind the old man, nine soul rings rose slowly.

Two yellow, two purple, five black.

The standard configuration of a Titled Douluo.

Qian Anci's gaze tightened.

He knew who this person was.

Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo.

During this period of time, this Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was occupied by this very Titled Douluo.

Dugu Bo stood with his hands behind his back, his vertical pupils sizing up Qian Anci, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes.

"A little brat barely over ten years old, yet you can actually take a hit from this old man's Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison."

His gaze fell upon the Scythe of Death in Qian Anci's hand, his vertical pupils narrowing slightly.

"No wonder you dared to trespass on this old man's territory. However..."

His tone shifted, his voice turning abruptly cold.

"This place belongs to this old man. Anyone who dares to take another step, do not blame this old man for being heartless."

Qian Anci did not speak.

He simply stood there quietly, planting the Scythe of Death into the ground and resting his hands on the top of the handle.

"What if I told you I have a way to solve the problem plaguing your own body?"