At the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, days rose and set, and time slipped quietly by, soundless as flowing water.
As mist gently roiled above the spring, Jiang Li slowly awoke in the lake, bare-chested.
The water's sheen revealed the fine texture of his evenly proportioned, supple skin. A faint golden radiance shimmered across its surface, as if he had been reforged, giving him an extraordinary air.
After completing the Ice and Fire Golden Body Refinement, Jiang Li could clearly feel that the ice-and-fire energies of the two Immortal Herbs had formed a Taiji fish pattern in his dantian, much like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, circulating endlessly.
He summoned the Blue Silver King in his hand again. It was easy to see that the Martial Soul, once marked by only a single faint silver line, was now covered in red and blue patterns.
Jiang Li glanced at Tang San, who was refining his Immortal Herb. After confirming there was nothing amiss with Tang San's aura, he flipped upright like a carp and swam down toward the bottom of the spring.
The remains of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings lay dormant ten thousand meters beneath the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
In that lightless abyss, their enormous skeletons had not only given birth to the Soul Bones that emerged when the Dragon Kings fell, but still radiated an overpowering dragon might that had endured for ages.
It was precisely because this dragon might suppressed the area that the Immortal Herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well had never gained sentience and transformed, avoiding their evolution into Immortal Plant-type Soul Beasts.
For Jiang Li, who had just taken the Immortal Herbs, this mountain-like pressure instead became a rare source of help.
He could use it to refine the medicinal power within him, allowing the Immortal Herbs' potency to merge with his body more quickly.
As he went deeper, Jiang Li soon felt immense pressure. It made him realize that his current physique and Soul Power were not enough to support any further exploration.
But return empty-handed?
Jiang Li couldn't accept that outcome.
He clenched his left hand in the air, and a shadow shaped like a flagpole appeared in his grasp!
"Banner, come!"
At first, it was only a dim line. Then it rapidly unfurled at the bottom of the dark spring.
The Human Emperor Banner, which always spewed black qi, shook violently beneath the water, as though silently howling.
Countless blurry human and beastly figures flickered across the banner before vanishing, accompanied by roars suppressed to the breaking point.
The once-calm water began to boil. Black light flashed in Jiang Li's eyes as he raised his hand and clenched it. The shadow instantly solidified!
"Ke ke ke ke ke ke—"
"It's been a long time since I summoned you, my old friend!"
The banner billowed. The outlines of ghostly souls appeared across it, their quiet sobbing, wailing, and furious roars blending into a shuddering tremor that made one's scalp crawl.
It wasn't a sound, yet it seemed to strike straight into the depths of every living being's soul.
How had Jiang Li reached Soul Saint cultivation at such a young age? His Second Martial Soul, the Human Emperor Banner, had played a huge part!
Did they even understand the value of refining someone in an instant?
Every bit of cultivation he had gained along the way could be credited to those lucky souls' help.
You dared to snarl at me?
Then you had a death wish!
Ke ke ke, I'm magnanimous. I'll simply punish you by sending you into my Human Emperor Banner to reflect!
Grandmist Purple Qi, blackened to a deep purple, streamed out of the Human Emperor Banner and wrapped around Jiang Li.
In an instant, the pressure that had stopped him from going any farther vanished without a trace. Jiang Li seized the opportunity and pushed on to the deeper reaches of the spring.
The deepest part of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was a vast, shadowy space.
There, a red dragon skeleton and a white one coiled into the shape of a Taiji. Their imposing presence was like that of ancient deities laid out across the world.
By a rough estimate, each dragon skeleton was a thousand meters long.
Their terrifying size alone was enough to imagine the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' former majesty and might. Even the Sky Azure Bull Python, hailed as the Forest Emperor, would have been no more than a tiny snake before them.
Near the heads of the red and white dragons floated a ball of crimson flame and one of icy white light, both churning without rest like eternally burning torches.
The pressure they released spread through the distinct streams of hot and cold spring water, covering the entire Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
This was the dragon might that had not fully dissipated even after the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' deaths.
Had Jiang Li not taken the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot, whose origins shared the Dragon Kings' source, and gained the support of his Human Emperor Banner Martial Soul, the dragon might would have crushed him to pieces by now.
Through the Human Emperor Banner's unique sense, Jiang Li discovered that the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' souls seemed to be asleep.
Ke ke ke—
In that case, this Outer Realm Heavenly Demon of his was going to help himself!
After all, Soul Bones had no Soul Power Level restrictions for absorption, let alone these Dragon King-level bones!
This treasure was practically destined for him.
Since he had come today, he would leave with more than he came for.
He was taking the dragon bones. When the time came to leave, he could even show mercy and let the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' souls lodge in his Human Emperor Banner and live a second life.
At that moment, Jiang Li felt that he was truly far too kind!
Once he became a god in the future, they could even serve as his mounts and be truly resurrected in the Divine Realm.
Tsk, what an enormous stroke of fortune!
With that thought, Jiang Li began searching the two Dragon Kings' bodies for their bones.
Before long, he found two arm bones gleaming with different lights near the forelimbs of the Fire Dragon King and the Ice Dragon King.
One blazed with scarlet flames, the other was as cold as ice. They were none other than the Fire Dragon King Left Arm Bone and the Ice Dragon King Right Arm Bone.
Though he wanted to absorb and refine the two Soul Bones right away, he knew this wasn't the time.
Jiang Li swept the Human Emperor Banner in his hand. Streams of black qi wrapped around the two special Soul Bones, and in no time, they vanished into his Martial Soul.
Such an enormous disturbance naturally woke the two Dragon Kings' souls from their slumber.
After all, their Soul Bones contained a huge portion of their source power. That was why they had not dissipated despite having been dead for so many years.
Now that Jiang Li's Martial Soul had absorbed their Soul Bones, if they still couldn't wake up, they might as well never wake up at all.
"Where did this little insect come from? How dare it lay hands on our Soul Bones!" ×2
The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings roared furiously, their voices like those of ferocious beasts from the primordial wilds.
"Don't get worked up. I've come to offer you two a stroke of fortune."
The Ice and Fire Dragon Kings stared at each other, wide-eyed. Clearly, neither had expected Jiang Li to resist their dragon might and then have the gall to claim he'd brought the two of them a stroke of fortune.
But Jiang Li didn't give them a chance to say another word.
He swept the Human Emperor Banner in his hand, and the two enormous dragon souls were drawn into his Martial Soul.
Whatever they wanted to ask could wait. Once they were inside his Human Emperor Banner, they were all brothers!
Ke ke ke—
Before you continue