After a little thought, Lu Chen made his decision.
His expression grew resolute!
For him at present, increasing his Soul Power and evolving his Martial Soul were not the most crucial things.
What mattered most was absorbing that eighty-five-thousand-year Blue Silver King Spirit Ring.
To that end, absorbing the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot to temper his physique, and absorbing the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew to strengthen his soul, became the most cost-effective choice.
Having made his decision, Lu Chen hesitated no longer.
He removed the Silver Bracelet Storage Soul Guidance Device from his wrist and tossed it onto the ground beside him, then took off his coat and tossed it onto the ground as well.
Absorbing the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot required jumping into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well to aid the process.
Neither the Storage Soul Guidance Device nor the clothes he wore could possibly withstand the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well's extreme heat and cold.
To avoid damage to his belongings, Lu Chen removed his Storage Soul Guidance Device and coat in advance.
Then Lu Chen approached the octagonal mysterious ice grass and, following the method it had told him, picked it without damaging its roots or stem.
Afterward, Lu Chen approached the infernal delicate apricot and, just as before, followed the method it had told him, picking it without damaging its roots or stem.
Only after harvesting the immortal herbs did Lu Chen let out a long breath.
Octagonal mysterious ice grass, infernal delicate apricot!
They were both immortal-grade medicinal herbs and deadly poisonous plants.
The extreme heat and cold they contained shared the same origin as those of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
The slightest mistake would allow that extreme heat and cold to invade his body.
Even with his full array of restorative Soul Skills, while his life would not be in danger, he would still lose a layer of skin.
Lu Chen was perfectly fine as he was and had no desire to suffer like that.
I've picked both immortal herbs, the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot, without damaging their roots or stems. In a treasured place like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, they should grow back in about a hundred years.
Now it's time to absorb these two immortal herbs. Water and Fire Refined Golden Body, I hope you won't disappoint me. Temper my body into a powerful physique capable of accommodating an eighty-five-thousand-year Spirit Ring.
With that thought, Lu Chen summoned his Blue Silver King Martial Soul and sent two blue silver branches extending to his left and right, wrapping them around the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot respectively.
Almost instantly, a layer of frost formed on the blue silver branch wrapped around the octagonal mysterious ice grass.
At the same time, the blue silver branch wrapped around the infernal delicate apricot was scorched black.
Lu Chen's heart tightened at the sight, and he marveled at how overbearing that extreme heat and cold were.
Then, with a thought from Lu Chen, the two blue silver branches pulled the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot in front of him.
The instant the two immortal herbs touched, their extreme heat and cold erupted, surging out to eat away at each other.
Strangely, rather than clashing, the two forces blended together, reaching a state of equilibrium.
Now!
The octagonal mysterious ice grass's extreme cold neutralized the infernal delicate apricot's extreme heat, while the infernal delicate apricot's extreme heat neutralized the octagonal mysterious ice grass's extreme cold.
Lu Chen moved swiftly, snatching up the octagonal mysterious ice grass in one hand and the infernal delicate apricot in the other, stuffing them into his mouth and chewing in great mouthfuls.
He practically swallowed the two immortal herbs whole, like gulping down dates without chewing.
In less than three breaths, the medicinal effects of the two immortal herbs began to take hold. Lu Chen's skin alternated between red and white, while inside, his body was one moment searing hot as though submerged in magma, and the next freezing cold as though trapped in a glacier.
As the two forces interwove back and forth, Lu Chen felt unbearably uncomfortable. He pushed off hard, his body springing into the air as he leaped toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
With a splash, he plunged headfirst into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Gurgle! Gurgle! Gurgle!
As Lu Chen jumped into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, the Yang Spring, scorching as magma, and the Cold Spring, frigid as ice marrow, instantly enveloped him.
Two diametrically opposed forces pressed against Lu Chen, letting him truly experience the two worlds of ice and fire.
Fortunately, at that moment, the extreme heat and cold of the two immortal herbs were rampaging back and forth within him.
They protected the flesh, tendons, bones, organs, and meridians inside his body in time... keeping him from being burned or frostbitten by the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well's Yang Spring and Cold Spring.
At the same time, under the external pressure exerted by the Yang Spring and Cold Spring, the various organs in Lu Chen's body began absorbing the medicinal power of the two immortal herbs more rapidly.
In the original story, Tang San had been merely a Soul Elder when he absorbed the two immortal herbs, the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot.
Although he had successfully absorbed both immortal herbs, their extreme heat and cold had tormented him to the brink of death throughout the process.
Now, Lu Chen was far stronger than Tang San had been!
As a Six-Ring Soul Emperor who had surpassed his limits every time he absorbed a Spirit Ring, he had greatly tempered his physique.
At the same time, his Soul Power, as high as rank sixty-nine, allowed him to absorb the two immortal herbs' medicinal power with much greater ease.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The octagonal mysterious ice grass's extreme cold and the infernal delicate apricot's extreme heat washed back and forth through Lu Chen's body.
The two diametrically opposed forces swept through his limbs and every bone in alternating waves.
This was torment, but also tempering!
Under the ravages of these two diametrically opposed, extreme forces, Lu Chen's body gradually became covered in wounds, with frostbite piled on top of burns.
But as he absorbed the immortal herbs' medicinal power, his battered body rapidly healed, growing stronger through the tempering.
During the healing process, the octagonal mysterious ice grass's extreme cold and the infernal delicate apricot's extreme heat also merged into his body.
His flesh, his tendons and bones, his organs, his meridians...
If he looked within, Lu Chen would discover that the organs which had absorbed those two forces of extreme heat and cold were shimmering with a faint, flickering golden light.
Water and Fire Refined Golden Body!
Lu Chen could clearly sense his physique rapidly growing stronger.
Although the process was painful, growing stronger was immensely pleasurable.
Overall, Lu Chen was suffering and enjoying himself at the same time.
Throughout this process, Lu Chen's Soul Power was exceptionally active, rushing through his meridians like a mighty, surging river, allowing him to absorb the two extreme forces of heat and cold more quickly.
Pop!
As though breaking through some bottleneck, the Soul Power within Lu Chen's body naturally surged from rank sixty-nine straight through the threshold of rank seventy.
This was an unexpected delight!
Absorbing the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot would not, in itself, increase Soul Power.
But absorbing the immortal herbs accelerated the circulation of Lu Chen's Soul Power, inadvertently allowing him to raise it by one rank.
Now that Lu Chen's Soul Power had broken through to rank seventy, he could absorb his Seventh Spirit Ring and become a Seven-Ring Soul Sage.
And there were Lu Chen's two great Martial Souls!
The Blue Silver King and Black Iron Sickle!
Under the repeated tempering of the two extreme forces of heat and cold, both his Martial Souls gained considerable benefits.
The Blue Silver King successfully gained immunity to ice and fire.
Although his Blue Silver King was not used for combat, immunity to ice and fire would still be of some help to him.
The Black Iron Sickle had originally been nothing more than an utterly ordinary Martial Soul, but under this tempering, it seemed to have had all its impurities forged away.
Its blade gleamed with a chilling light, its sharpness enough to make one's heart tremble.
Before he knew it, three hours had passed!
After three hours of absorption, most of the medicinal power of the two immortal herbs, the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot, had been absorbed by Lu Chen's body.
The small amount of medicinal power that remained had also settled dormant within his body.
As he cultivated, he could gradually absorb it completely.
Power!
It surged up in an endless stream!
Lu Chen opened his eyes. All the pain brought on by the two extreme forces of heat and cold had vanished, and now he felt clearheaded and refreshed.
Lu Chen swung his fist. The explosive power within his body invigorated him. With such a powerful physique, he was now strong enough to absorb that eighty-five-thousand-year Spirit Ring.