"Kid, amazed?"
Dugu Bo watched Xue Yao's slightly dazed expression, a hint of pride appearing on his aged face.
He gestured toward the plants all around them, each radiating an unusual glow and sporting its own distinctive shape. Yet his tone held a trace of helplessness.
"This place is the greatest secret I've kept in my life, and the reason I've managed to cling to life until now. The extreme cold and heat here can effectively suppress the Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison inside me. As for the exotic flowers and herbs growing all around..."
At that, Dugu Bo sighed. A flash of regret and frustration passed through his old eyes. "I'm known as the greatest poison master under heaven. I've spent most of my life dealing with poisonous herbs and medicinal ingredients. But I have to admit, I don't even recognize a tenth of the things in this garden!"
"This place is a mountain of treasure I can't make use of. I know these things are anything but ordinary, but since I don't understand their medicinal properties, I don't dare pick or eat them. All I can do is waste them by treating them like decorations."
Hearing Dugu Bo's lament, Xue Yao chuckled inwardly.
This was the classic case of begging for scraps while sitting on a mountain of treasure.
The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was one of the three great treasure troves between heaven and earth. The immortal herbs it nurtured were all rare treasures that stole the blessings of heaven and earth.
A Titled Douluo who specialized in poison was trying to study immortal herbs using ordinary theories of poison. Of course he wouldn't get anywhere.
But Xue Yao remained impassive on the surface.
"Elder, every field has its own specialty. You're not to blame. On this continent, power doesn't just take the form of Soul Power and Martial Souls. There's another, even greater kind of power that people often overlook—knowledge."
"Knowledge?" Dugu Bo was taken aback. Clearly, he hadn't expected an eight-year-old boy to speak to him in such an old-fashioned manner.
"Exactly."
"The Heaven Dou Empire has stood for a thousand years, and its foundations run deep. That strength isn't limited to its armies and Soul Masters. Deep in the Royal Library of the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace lies a Top Secret Library, accessible only to direct members of the Imperial Family. It holds more than seventy percent of the ancient texts and rare manuscripts on the entire continent, recording countless secrets passed down from the Archaic Era."
Xue Yao's gaze grew profound as he began his flawless "cover story."
There was no way he could tell Dugu Bo that he knew about these immortal herbs because he was a transmigrator.
Attributing his "foresight" to the deep foundations of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and his own extensive studies was not only perfectly reasonable, it also let him elevate his own image.
"This junior may be unworthy, but for the past two years, aside from my daily meditation and cultivation, I've spent most of my time in that library. Among the sea of ancient books, there was a damaged bamboo manuscript titled Chronicles of Archaic Exotic Herbs. It contained detailed records of extreme terrain like this, as well as the... immortal herbs that grow there!"
"Immortal herbs?! You mean... you recognize these things?!"
"I know a little."
Xue Yao smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping precisely over the multicolored flowers.
Knowledge changes fate. The ancients hadn't lied!
Today, he would show this Titled Douluo exactly what it meant to strike from a higher dimension!
Soon, Xue Yao's gaze settled on an unusual plant near the outer edge of the garden.
Large leaves grew at its base, and in their center, a strange flower clustered like an eye.
The flower was pale purple, and its stamen seemed to hold a pool of clear water. Even from a distance, it gave off a refreshing coolness. Just looking at it was enough to make one's spirits rise.
"Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew."
A flash of light passed through Xue Yao's eyes as he named it without hesitation.
Inwardly, Xue Yao was already calculating at top speed.
The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew was an exceptionally rare spiritual-type immortal herb.
Eating it could grant one piercing sight, greatly improve vision, and even reveal illusions.
But to Xue Yao, its greatest value lay elsewhere: it could vastly expand and strengthen the user's spiritual sea!
As a summoning-type Soul Master, Little Griffin was his foundation, but there was no downside to having a stronger body and mind.
Take the immediate concern of absorbing a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring. He would have to withstand the lingering spirit of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and that required spiritual power.
The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew was practically the perfect support herb for him!
Xue Yao's gaze shifted to the right and settled on a plant near the Yang Spring, radiating a faint golden light.
It was a huge chrysanthemum, its petals strangely soft and downy, like countless peculiar plumes reaching for the sky. Its entire form blazed with golden light, no less dazzling beneath the red and blue glow of the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.
"Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum!"
Xue Yao's heart stirred.
A neutral immortal herb. Eating it would infuse the limbs with energy and open the blood flow through all eight extraordinary meridians, allowing one to cultivate an Indestructible Diamond Body.
This was another divine treasure Xue Yao was determined to claim.
What was the greatest weakness of a summoning-type Soul Master? Their own frail bodies!
If an enemy got past Little Griffin and beheaded him, everything would be over.
His affinity for wind did make him extremely fast, but who would complain about having a tougher body?
After being tempered by the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, his body would reach an inconceivable level of strength, filling in his final weakness.
At last, Xue Yao reluctantly tore his gaze away from the immortal herbs around the edges of the garden and looked straight toward the point where the red and blue hot springs met.
There, two especially conspicuous and domineering immortal herbs grew in quiet splendor.
At the edge of the freezing Yin Spring stood a plant with eight icy-blue leaves, as though carved from ice crystals. It radiated a terrifying chill, cold enough to freeze even Soul Power.
At the edge of the scorching Yang Spring stood a strange plant resembling a cabbage. It glowed fiery red from end to end, radiating heat intense enough to melt steel in an instant.
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass! The Infernal Delicate Apricot!
At the sight of the two undisputed heart-of-the-well treasures, Xue Yao's heart gave two unsteady thumps.
These were the most important treasures in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to him, apart from the remains of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings beneath the spring. They were also the ultimate treasures capable of granting him the heaven-defying physique of immunity to both ice and fire!
Watching Xue Yao move his gaze from one plant to another, naming each as though he knew them by heart, Dugu Bo was completely convinced. The boy not only recognized these immortal herbs, he even knew how to use them!
"Xue Yao, you... are you really sure you can use them to cure the poison in me and my granddaughter?" Dugu Bo's voice trembled slightly with excitement.
"Rest assured, Elder."
Xue Yao drew back his gaze and took a deep breath, forcing down his excitement and returning his mind to perfect calm.
He knew that a meal had to be eaten one bite at a time.
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot were the finest immortal herbs, but the ice and fire within them were far too domineering.
If he were Tang San from the original story, perhaps he would dare swallow them directly and use the Mysterious Heaven Skill and his past-life experience to balance them out.
But Xue Yao was cautious. He would never gamble his life on a one-in-ten-thousand chance of exploding.
With immortal herbs growing all over this place, why not build a solid foundation first?
"Elder, I already have a clear plan for the poison. But I need to borrow this treasured place of yours and cultivate in seclusion for a few days, to improve my body's capacity first."
"To ensure I absorb the two most important ice-and-fire immortal herbs without a hitch, I've decided to take the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew and the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum first!"
First, he would use the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew to expand his spiritual sea. Then he would use the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum to temper his meridians and flesh into an Indestructible Diamond Body.
That was the perfect way to maximize his opportunities and minimize the risks!
Before you continue