Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well

Dugu Bo froze.

He gave Wang Dong'er a long, deep look. There was no anger at having his secret exposed. Instead, he asked with surprising calm, "How did you know?"

"Jade Phosphor Serpents are Soul Beasts whose blood is poisonous down to the last drop. A Soul Beast this venomous, when manifested as a Martial Soul, is bound to turn its poison back on its wielder during cultivation. Senior Yan Yan is one example. As her grandfather, and a wielder of the Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor Martial Soul, how could you possibly escape the poison's backlash?"

Wang Dong'er spoke up.

"Poison Douluo, to be honest, anyone with eyes could tell you were carrying a deadly poison."

"After all, whose normal eyes and hair are... quite so distinctive, with that fishy smell clinging to them?"

"It's only because you're Poison Douluo, the Soul Master World's acknowledged number-one poison master, that no one would think you were poisoned yourself."

Dugu Bo smiled bitterly.

He had made his name through poison, striding unchecked across the Soul Master World. The world feared him, and even poison-attribute Soul Beasts kept their distance.

The joke was that he couldn't control the serpent poison in his own Martial Soul.

The harder he tried to suppress it, the more he suffered.

"Practice never left my hands, and poison never left my mouth. After so many years cultivating poison, my body is riddled with wounds. The serpent poison has nearly fused with my blood. If I'd met you ten-odd years ago, your methods might really have been able to suppress the poison inside me."

Dugu Bo sighed.

"But it doesn't matter anymore, as long as Yan Yan doesn't suffer the poison's backlash. Young lady, if you're willing to regularly suppress the poison for my granddaughter, I... can make an exception and take you as my disciple."

You get to have your cake and eat it too, huh...

Wang Dong'er grumbled inwardly.

"There's no need for all that talk of taking me as a disciple. After all, you and I follow different paths."

"Besides, it's not as though the poison in your body can't be cured. Why be so pessimistic?"

"What do you mean? Are you saying you have a way to cure it?" Dugu Bo's expression turned grave. He didn't believe her, but hope flared in his heart all the same.

"It's simple. Just transfer the poison in your body into a Soul Bone. Then the serpent poison will attack the Soul Bone instead of your flesh."

Wang Dong'er explained.

"But this Soul Bone method has one major drawback: Soul Bones can only withstand so much. If the poison you transfer exceeds that limit, it'll erupt, and even the gods won't be able to save you. This method treats the symptoms, not the root cause."

Hearing this, Dugu Bo mulled over her words. Before long, he realized she made a lot of sense.

He immediately wanted to try it. So what if the Soul Bone method had a drawback? As long as he could stop suffering from the serpent poison, that was enough. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in fifty or sixty years. The method might be crude, but it could save his life.

"I have another method of curing the poison. It has no drawbacks, but... it requires several kinds of precious medicinal herbs."

"Precious herbs? That's easy!"

Dugu Bo had only meant to make do with the Soul Bone method. Now that there was a better solution, he was naturally delighted.

Before Wang Dong'er could react, her vision blurred, and she found herself a hundred meters in the air.

The ground rushed by beneath them. The vast Royal Academy shrank to a speck, and the people of Heaven Dou City looked like ants. In less than half an incense stick's time, Dugu Bo had carried her to Sunset Forest.

By the time Wang Dong'er's feet touched the ground, they had already reached the forest's core: Dugu Bo's medicinal garden.

Dugu Bo was simply too fast. Wang Dong'er's thrill at their sudden burst of speed had barely risen before it was gone.

Ahem, don't get the wrong idea. This was about flying speed.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth here was more than ten times as dense as outside. After only a couple of breaths, Wang Dong'er's head began to swim. She felt almost drunk on Soul Power, as though the spiritual energy outside were all shoddy counterfeits made by nature...

She turned to look into the distance. In the middle of a cluster of rare flowers and herbs lay a spring divided into two distinct colors, ice and fire, each side keeping strictly to its own.

At last, she was here...

"This is my medicinal garden. It has every precious herb you can find on the market—and plenty you can't. Take whatever you like!"

Dugu Bo gestured toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

"But be careful. That spring is extremely dangerous. Even I don't dare stay beside it for long, so you'd best keep your distance."

"And don't go touching the rare flowers and herbs growing around it, either. Even I don't know what they do."

"Wang Dong'er, if you can cure my poison, I, Dugu Bo, will agree to any condition you name. I'd even swear brotherhood with you. Even if you can't, I'll still be deeply grateful, so don't feel pressured. Do as you see fit."

"Poison Douluo, if I only had a fifty percent chance of curing you before, then now I can say with complete confidence that I can. I won't just cure your poison; I can also help you advance your poison cultivation, break through in strength, and enjoy a second spring... Ahem."

Dugu Bo gave Wang Dong'er a strange look. "So you were just messing with me when you said you could cure it earlier?"

"Tell me, why are you now one hundred percent confident you can cure me?"

"Senior, do you know what that spring is? It's called the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, one of the Three Great Treasure Basins in the world!"

Wang Dong'er led Dugu Bo toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, explaining as they walked.

"The ice-and-fire spiritual energy produced by the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well doesn't just promote the circulation and absorption of Soul Power and suppress all poison attributes; it can also increase the growth rate of plants and animals by several hundred times."

"That's true." Dugu Bo nodded. "Without this... Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, I probably couldn't have broken through to Titled Douluo. I might not even have lived this long."

"The poisonous plants and medicinal herbs I grow near the spring grow dozens of times faster. It's astonishing. I never thought you knew so much."

"There's a golden house in every book. Read enough, and you're bound to learn a lot," Wang Dong'er continued.

"And the rare flowers and herbs growing beside this spring are even more extraordinary."

"They can all be called immortal herbs."

Wang Dong'er pointed to a golden, fuzzy chrysanthemum. "This flower is called the Heaven-Reaching Chrysanthemum. Eat it, and your energy will flow through all four limbs and eight meridians, forging an indestructible body!"

"Every immortal herb has an astonishing, heaven-defying medicinal property. Their effects differ, but if you absorb one that suits you, I can't promise how many levels your Soul Power will rise. I can guarantee, though, that it will improve your talent and raise your potential ceiling."

"Simply put, every immortal herb beside the Yin-Yang Well can defy fate and transform your life."

Dugu Bo stood rooted to the spot. His eyes widened, his pupils quivered, and his mouth fell open in a huge "O."