"Who knows?" Lin Yuan shrugged helplessly.
"Never mind." Du Busi closed the book and tossed it into his Soul Tool.
"Medicine and poison have always been two sides of the same coin. With this Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record: Poison Chapter, the Body Sect's medicinal cuisine and medicated bath techniques will both improve by a whole level."
"When we get back, we can at least put up a plaque for Tang San. That way, we'll be carrying on what he left behind."
At the mention of putting up a plaque for Tang San, Lin Yuan's expression turned strange.
"Master, maybe we shouldn't. Since Tang San left this book here instead of giving it to his descendants in the Tang Sect, he probably had his reasons for not wanting his name remembered."
"We can just put it to use. From what I understand, there are still people from the Tang Sect alive, even if the sect has fallen into decline. It wouldn't be right to hang a plaque honoring someone else as our founding ancestor inside the sect."
Du Busi thought it over. That was indeed a consideration.
"Fair point. We've searched pretty much everything here, so let's get out of here."
"We can discuss how to divide up these Immortal Herbs in detail after we get back. I can't shake the feeling that something's following us. Maybe it's just my imagination?"
Lin Yuan nodded, and Du Busi led him away from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Meanwhile, God of Destruction, who had been covering their tracks, finished his work.
From the moment Lin Yuan and Du Busi entered the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he had been working nonstop to conceal their traces.
"Master, which herb do you think I should absorb?" Lin Yuan asked God of Destruction, barely able to contain his excitement.
With these Immortal Herbs, even the Ice and Fire Golden Body without the springs of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would benefit him greatly.
"There's no need to rush. Once we find the Spirit-Devouring Fierce Blade you mentioned earlier, we'll wake Xiao Lu and have her refine all these herbs into pills."
"Then we can use some supplementary herbs to improve your absorption of their medicinal properties. Aside from the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, absorbing the other herbs directly would be far too crude."
"Too crude? How much would refining them into pills improve their absorption?" Lin Yuan asked God of Destruction.
"Conservatively speaking, with the help of supplementary ingredients, an Immortal Herb pill could be twice as potent as the herb itself. Even Immortal Herbs leave behind quite a bit of toxic residue when eaten raw."
Lin Yuan nodded in agreement. He understood the idea that all medicine carried some poison.
In his previous life, many Douluo fanfics had claimed that three was the maximum number of Immortal Herbs a person could take.
Eat too many, and even the most potent tonic could become too much of a good thing, turning from a boon into a crushing burden.
"I recommend an Immortal Herb pill made from the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass: the Yin Yang Wuji Pill. After taking it, your constitution will be greatly enhanced, and you'll also gain the effects of the Ice and Fire Golden Body."
"Second, there's the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew. With these three Immortal Herbs, you'll be able to lay a solid foundation for your first Soul Ring..."
"Wait, wait!" Lin Yuan suddenly realized something and hurriedly interrupted God of Destruction.
"Teacher, according to what you said before, you never included the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in the plans for my growth, at least not before I reached level fifty?"
Hearing Lin Yuan's question, God of Destruction paused, then nodded to confirm it.
"Then why were you so confident I could form my first Soul Core at level thirty? Aside from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, did you leave some other treasure on Douluo Continent that I don't know about?"
"I thought you were going to ask something serious." God of Destruction sounded amused.
"Not to mention the Star Dou Great Forest, which we might ally with in the future, and the friendship you've struck up with a whale. Aren't there plenty of Evil Eye Tyrants in the Evil Demon Forest? And you have a few Titled Douluo-level fighters around you, too."
Lin Yuan swallowed, stunned. "So you mean..."
"Your master knows a few methods that go against the natural order. But do Evil Eye Tyrants even count as people? In a way, they don't even count as Soul Beasts."
Holy crap!
So the plan was to sacrifice weaker Evil Eye Tyrants to improve my aptitude?
As long as I didn't take on that Evil Eye Tyrant overlord head-on, with Du Busi backing me, I really could farm Evil Eye Tyrants under two hundred thousand years old to my heart's content.
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying!
Seeing Lin Yuan's dumbfounded expression, God of Destruction smiled faintly.
"Kid, keep this from your mistress. It hasn't actually happened yet. I was planning to wake her after we pulled this off."
Lin Yuan nodded blankly, then asked, "Then, Master, are we still going to sacrifice the Evil Eye Tyrants?"
God of Destruction pondered for a moment, then said, "We'll see. Once you're strong enough, we'll capture that overlord, too."
Good grief...
No wonder the Divine Realm's highest governing body took the shape of a balance: Life and Kindness on one side, Destruction and Evil on the other.
Though Asura in the middle was questionable, at least he helped preserve the Divine Realm's dignity.
The two returned to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect laden with treasures. If they were going to divide up the spoils, they ought to discuss it with Ning Zhiyuan.
Ning Zhiyuan stared at the Immortal Herbs scattered across the ground—the very treasures the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had sought in vain for ten thousand years—and was too excited to speak.
The Aromatic Silk Beauty especially seemed like a priceless treasure to him.
"Sect Master Ning, Sect Master Ning."
Du Busi's calls brought Ning Zhiyuan back to his senses. He realized he had almost reached out to touch the Aromatic Silk Beauty.
Ning Zhiyuan had spent most of his life carrying himself with impeccable dignity, so this was a rare lapse. To Lin Yuan, his yearning expression made him look just like Gollum when he saw the One Ring.
"Ahem, my apologies. I did lose my composure." He coughed awkwardly twice and straightened up.
"It's only human nature. If I were in your position, with my temperament, I'd have gone even crazier." Seeing Ning Zhiyuan regain his composure, Du Busi genuinely admired him.
He knew how the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had been tormented for ten thousand years by their obsession with the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda Martial Soul. Since becoming sect master, he had seen the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect search the mainland for information about the Aromatic Silk Beauty more than ten times.
They buried that obsession deep, deep inside, but whenever word spread of an Immortal Herb on the mainland, they were always the first to leap into action.
"Let's sit down and work out how to divide these herbs and Soul Beasts." Du Busi sat right down and propped his chin on his hand, looking troubled.
Ning Zhiyuan's expression grew solemn as well. With stakes this high, dividing things fairly was always a major headache.
The Plant-type Soul Beasts were easy enough to deal with. They could all continuously produce treasures like natural spiritual materials.
In the long run, it would be far more worthwhile to keep them producing Blazing Glue, Ice Crystals, and other treasures.
But the Immortal Herbs were different. Each had extraordinary effects, and there were only so many of them.
Du Busi could have used the Body Sect's power to seize everything by force, but he had his pride, and so did the Body Sect.
Some principles couldn't be violated—not when the benefits at stake still fell short of making such a violation worthwhile.