A World of Ice and Fire! We're Already an Old Married Couple, So What's There to Be Shy About?

Dugu Bo watched Ye Qing walk toward the two Immortal Herbs, a complicated look flickering in his jade-green eyes.

In the end, he still spoke up. "Kid, I'll remind you one more time."

"The water in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is a wondrous treasure of heaven and earth, formed where extreme cold and extreme heat meet."

"Even a Titled Douluo like me wouldn't dare touch it lightly. You're only a Level 10 Soul Master without a Soul Ring..."

"Senior."

Ye Qing interrupted him and shook his head. "It's precisely because I'm a Level 10 Soul Master that I have a chance."

Dugu Bo furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"The water in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well contains opposing forces of ice and fire that keep each other in check, forming a delicate balance."

"The Soul Power inside a Titled Douluo is too potent. If one entered the water, it would instead disrupt that balance and invite the backlash of the forces of ice and fire."

Ye Qing explained, "But I only have ten levels of Soul Power right now. The fluctuations in its attributes are weak, so I won't disrupt the balance."

"On top of that, the medicinal properties of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot will neutralize each other. I have a seventy percent chance."

"..."

Dugu Bo fell silent.

He had never considered that before.

But on closer thought, it did seem to make some sense.

"Seventy percent."

Dugu Bo repeated the figure, then suddenly scoffed. "You sure have a lot of nerve. You think seventy percent is high?"

"Seventy percent is the highest odds I've ever had in my life."

Ye Qing grinned. "Back when I was a good-for-nothing, I didn't even have the right to choose."

With that, he no longer hesitated and strode toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He plucked the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass with his left hand. Bone-chilling cold instantly crept up his arm, covering his left hand in a thin layer of ice.

He plucked the Infernal Delicate Apricot with his right hand. A scorching wave surged into his palm at the same time, turning his right hand red.

One ice, one fire: two forces at opposite extremes repelled and drew each other in within his hands.

Ye Qing took a deep breath and stuffed both Immortal Herbs into his mouth!

Boom—!

Ice and fire exploded inside him!

Ye Qing's eyes flew open. His body pitched forward, and he leaped!

He plunged into the water of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!

"Ye Qing!"

Dugu Yan rushed to the edge of the pool, terror filling her jade-green eyes.

Dugu Bo appeared beside the pool in a flash, ready to leap in and save him at a moment's notice.

But the next second, both of them froze.

Ye Qing hadn't dissolved into pulp as Dugu Bo had imagined.

He floated quietly in the water, where icy blue and fiery red intertwined, a strange sheen appearing across his skin.

The left side of his body was coated in thin ice.

The right side of his body was covered in flames.

Ice and fire clashed fiercely across his body.

Yet somehow, in a mysterious way, they gradually began to merge.

Dugu Bo's eyes widened, disbelief filling his jade-green gaze.

"This kid..."

His voice was a little hoarse. "He actually endured it?"

Dugu Yan clenched her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms, but she didn't even notice.

She stared at the young man floating with his eyes closed in the water, her heart gripped tight by an invisible hand.

You have to succeed.

You must succeed!

If you dare fail, I'll chase you all the way to hell and kick you back here!

Dugu Bo stood by the pool with his hands behind his back, watching the young man undergo the baptism of ice and fire. His jade-green eyes glittered.

Suddenly, he had a powerful premonition.

The moment that young man emerged from the water, the entire Douluo Continent would be shaken.

One month.

A full month.

Dugu Yan felt she had never endured such agony in her life.

She was more nervous than she'd been at her first Martial Soul awakening, more anxious than she'd been during the Heaven Dou Royal Academy entrance exam, and even more flustered than she had been the morning after getting blackout drunk, sleeping with Ye Qing, and having it all come to light.

The water in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well still mingled icy blue and fiery red, like two paints stirred together by a mischievous child, yet never truly blending.

The black-haired young man floated quietly in the water.

Half his body was coated in thin ice; the other half burned with flames, like a statue that had been both frozen and set alight.

Dugu Yan squatted by the edge of the pool, her arms wrapped around her knees, her jade-green eyes fixed on Ye Qing in the water without blinking.

She had been squatting there for a whole month.

She squatted there while eating, while drinking, even while dozing.

If Dugu Bo hadn't dragged her away every few days and forced her to rest, she probably would've taken root by the pool.

"Grandpa, how is he today?"

Dugu Yan asked without turning her head.

Dugu Bo stood behind her with his hands behind his back, his beard twitching slightly. "Yanyan, you asked me that yesterday."

"And the day before."

"And the day before that—"

"Grandpa!" Dugu Yan bristled and turned to glare at him.

Dugu Bo immediately shut his mouth and raised both hands in surrender.

A dignified Titled Douluo, the greatest poison expert on the continent, was as timid as a student called out by the homeroom teacher in front of his own granddaughter.

Timid or not, Dugu Bo felt a rush of emotion.

His jade-green eyes settled on Dugu Yan. Seeing the worry and anxiety written across her face, he felt a jumble of emotions.

Yanyan had always been proud, ever since she was little.

She barely gave a glance to the many gifted students at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

That boy from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had chased after her like crazy back then, but at first, she couldn't even be bothered to give him a smile.

But now?

For this little brat she'd known for less than a month, a brat with only ten levels of Soul Power, she was sitting out in the wind and sun, eating poorly and sleeping badly, and she'd even lost weight.

She really did like him.

It seemed Yanyan had truly set her heart on this kid.

Dugu Bo felt both comforted and heartsick at the thought.

He was glad his granddaughter had finally found someone she wanted to entrust her life to.

But his heart ached that the little darling he'd raised for over a decade had been whisked away by some handsome stranger of unknown origins.

And this kid didn't seem to have entirely innocent motives, either.

"Don't worry. This kid's vitality is astonishing."

Dugu Bo sighed. "From what I can tell, the forces of ice and fire inside him have nearly reached equilibrium. Unless something unexpected happens, he should wake up in the next day or two."

Dugu Yan's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"When have I ever lied to you?"

Dugu Yan turned back toward Ye Qing in the water, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly despite herself.

Dugu Bo saw it, and his heart ached all over again.

Just as Dugu Bo was about to inspect the Medicine Garden, the pool suddenly changed!

Bang!

The previously calm surface exploded, and a column of water shot into the sky.

Icy blue and fiery red light intertwined into a dazzling beam, illuminating the entire valley as bright as day.

A figure leaped out of the column of water!

His black hair swept through the air in a sharp arc, while sparkling droplets slid from his body, reflecting countless colors in the light of ice and fire.

Dugu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

He was out.

Ye Qing had finally come out!

But the next second, her face turned bright red—so red it looked ready to drip blood.

The clothes on Ye Qing's body had been completely eaten away by the water of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

He stood there stark naked by the pool, not a stitch on him.

His skin gleamed like colored glass beneath the light of ice and fire.

That body, those lines, that...

Dugu Yan hastily covered her eyes, but the gaze peeking through her fingers drifted uncontrollably in a certain direction.

She could look all she wanted, but she hadn't lost a bit of her modesty.

"Y-you, you, you! Hurry up and put your clothes on!"

Dugu Yan's voice was both flustered and mortified, and her jade-green eyes seemed ready to spit fire.

You bastard!

So you're out. Fine. But what's with the dramatic pose?

And if you're going to show off, at least put some clothes on!

Ye Qing looked down at himself, then up at Dugu Yan, who had covered her face.

The corner of his mouth curled into a thoroughly punchable grin.

"What are you afraid of? We're already an old married couple. It's not like you haven't seen it before."

"Who's an old married couple with you?!"

Dugu Yan was so mortified that her voice cracked. "Get dressed!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get dressed."

Ye Qing agreed, but moved so slowly you'd think he was livestreaming in slow motion.

He pulled out a spare set of clothes and muttered as he got dressed, "You've already seen it so many times. Isn't it a little late to get shy now...?"

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing! I said the weather's great today!"

"Hmph!"

Dugu Yan glared fiercely at him through the gap between her fingers.