Dugu Bo's Dumbfounded Look

When all is said and done, these are nothing more than weeds growing on a grave, nourished by the lingering aura of the deceased Ice and Fire Dragon Kings.

It is only natural that Giratina looks down on them; such scraps hold no appeal for it whatsoever.

The only thing it anticipates is breaking through that barrier to devour the Ice and Fire Dragon Souls!

Lin Chuan, however, is a different story.

Holding to the philosophy that even a mosquito's leg is meat, he harvests not only all the immortal herbs but also a great many spirit herbs he recognizes.

Spirit herbs are plants that have grown for thousands of years, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon to possess significant medicinal properties.

While they cannot bring the dead back to life, they possess immense power to heal or mend congenital deficiencies.

Because they have not reached full maturity, their effects are somewhat weaker than those of immortal herbs.

Aside from a few immortal and spirit herbs that must be consumed on the spot, Lin Chuan happily takes everything else, leaving nothing behind.

Once the harvest concludes, the once-lush area containing nearly a hundred plants is left with only a few strangely shaped flowers standing in isolation.

He has never seen those before and, not knowing their medicinal properties or how to harvest them, he simply leaves them be.

After finishing his work, Lin Chuan realizes he is still alone at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He takes two deep breaths and wipes the sweat from his forehead.

The energy near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is dense, and the initial comfort he felt in his pores has already faded.

His body, now satisfied, feels as if it has undergone a long, strenuous workout.

When he tries to clench his fist, his fingertips feel weak—the kind of exhaustion that comes when one's strength has been drained and not yet replenished.

Approaching the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, Lin Chuan bows his head, swallows the two drops of water—clear as pure dew—from its leaves, and sits cross-legged to begin refining them.

The pure energy flows down his throat, merges into his limbs, and finally pours into his sea of spirit.

The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew offers him little in terms of raw power, but its benefit lies in its ability to purify the sea of spirit, ensuring it remains untainted by evil.

Under this cleansing, his sea of spirit, vast as a rushing river, becomes even more pristine.

It glows brilliantly, as if illuminated by the sun.

Throughout the process, his body feels unexpectedly comfortable, as if a gentle breeze is flowing through his meridians, washing away the inexplicable heat and weakness like a receding tide.

Time passes in a blur.

Having absorbed a portion of the medicinal properties from the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, Lin Chuan feels light and refreshed.

He opens his eyes and scans his surroundings; it remains empty.

Dugu Bo truly trusts him, to have left just like that.

However, this suits him perfectly.

Feeling his body brimming with strength once more, Lin Chuan clenches his fist and exhales softly.

As he looks toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth. With wind beneath his feet, he flies toward a protruding fire crystal on one side of the well.

Upon drawing near, he discovers an intense red immortal herb growing on the stone platform, its petals blooming like a rose, though they are thin and slender with slightly curled tips, resembling a spider lily.

Lin Chuan strikes quickly; spirit power condenses at his fingertips, severing the stem in an instant as he lifts the Infernal Delicate Apricot into his hand.

At the same time, his figure flashes.

Activating his Spirit Bone skill, he crosses a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, arriving at the protruding ice crystal on the other side.

Rooted there is a dandelion-like plant, blue-white in its entirety.

It features eight petals with an icy, crystalline texture, wrapping around a round, plump stamen at the center.

With a mere flick of his fingertip, Lin Chuan uses his spirit power to lift the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass before him.

Once plucked, the two immortal herbs seem to have reached a silent agreement, simultaneously radiating scorching heat and bone-chilling cold.

That surge of extreme heat and cold energy erupts, instantly shattering Lin Chuan's spirit power restraint.

The stinging pain in his hands leaves him momentarily stunned, but he reacts quickly.

Seeing the two immortal herbs about to fall into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Lin Chuan grits his teeth and pushes his spirit power, the violent momentum blasting a massive crater into the water's surface.

Blue water splashes everywhere, and the crater begins to mend itself.

The Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass are lifted once more. This time, he does not hesitate, shoving both herbs into his mouth.

Though the energies of the two herbs are mutually antagonistic, they reach a strange, eerie balance as he chews them.

They cause no discomfort in his mouth, and after a few casual chews, he swallows them.

Once the immortal herbs enter his stomach, their latent medicinal power erupts like a burst dam within a few breaths, surging forward like a tidal wave.

Lin Chuan's body jolts, and his abdomen instantly erupts with red and blue light, clearly visible to the eye.

Immediately, a heart-wrenching burning sensation and a bone-piercing cold intertwine.

The energy in his abdomen erupts again and again, with red and blue light flashing alternately across his body.

Lin Chuan's body is currently enduring the impact of two extreme energies: intense heat and bitter cold.

The icy chill in his lungs makes every breath as painful as swallowing razor blades, yet he feels a strange numbness.

With every breath he exhales, shards of ice mixed with blood are cast out.

A sharp, stabbing pain gripped his heart, as scorching as if it were being seared by fire.

It hammered against his chest like a war drum, a rapid, relentless thump-thump-thump!

Lin Chuan's face was deathly pale. Enduring the agony, he pinpointed the boundary where the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well met and plunged headlong into it.

Splash—

A spray of red and blue water erupted, and the tranquil surface of the lake instantly began to boil, as if water had been tossed into a vat of hot oil.

Lin Chuan gritted his teeth, using his soul power to block the stagnant water from entering his nasal passages.

His limbs and bones oscillated between the extremes of ice and fire, held in a precarious balance by the medicinal power within his body.

One day later.

Dugu Bo returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, his gaze sweeping across the surroundings.

Finding no sign of Lin Chuan, he once again probed the entire area with his spiritual power.

Because the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well blocked external spiritual detection, Dugu Bo failed to notice Lin Chuan submerged at the bottom. Assuming the boy had left, his eyes glinted with a cold, frigid light.

He had harbored this suspicion ever since he escorted Dugu Yan back to the academy.

When it came down to it, it had only ever been a test.

A test to see if the boy was truly capable of detoxifying them, grandfather and granddaughter alike.

After all, he had once had the continent's premier healing soul master, the Nine Hearts Begonia soul master, examine them; if even the Nine Hearts Begonia could not cure the poison, who else could?

The test had revealed that the boy was merely playing him for a fool.

Yet, he still had to find an opportunity to hunt for a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone for Dugu Yan to absorb.

It could force the toxins that had not yet attached to her bones into the soul bone, slowing the rate at which the poison eroded her body.

Although Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone were incredibly rare and difficult to obtain, the empire or the major factions surely held some in their reserves.

In his previous state of decadence, he had overlooked this stopgap measure due to the sheer value of soul bones.

Thinking this, Dugu Bo returned to the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He had scanned the area briefly with his spiritual power earlier, but he had felt as though something was missing.

When he arrived in person, he was completely dumbfounded.

Aside from the small patch of soil he had recently cleared, where a few medicinal herbs were just beginning to sprout, the lush, exotic flowers and grasses that had once surrounded the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had vanished entirely!

Looking closer, only one or two lonely, exotic flowers remained standing on the barren ground, swaying gently in the breeze.

Stunned for a moment, he stared at the herb garden that had been all but harvested clean. Veins bulged on Dugu Bo's forehead, and his monstrous killing intent nearly materialized into physical form.

"Damn you! I am going to kill you!!"