When they reached the poisonous miasma outside the valley, Zhang Lexuan from the future stood beside Liu Lin, gazing at the roiling miasma. Her tone was calm.
"Do you remember what I told you on the way here? Use the Ultimate Ice of your Second Martial Soul to form a protective barrier. Take us inside."
"Don't worry about anything else. Leave it to me."
Liu Lin nodded. The phantom of a giant ice-blue dragon appeared behind him as he activated Martial Soul Possession.
Then ice-blue light shone in Liu Lin's palm, and the temperature around them plummeted.
He used his Soul Power to form a protective barrier around himself and Zhang Lexuan, then headed into the miasma.
Zhang Lexuan placed a hand on Liu Lin's back, lending him her Soul Power.
Together, they headed into the valley. As the protective barrier formed from Ultimate Ice neared the poisonous miasma, it dissolved, and a thin layer of frost spread across the ground behind them.
They walked for about the time it took an incense stick to burn before the poisonous miasma vanished.
At the very center of the valley lay a pool of spring water. One half red, the other blue, it resembled a taiji symbol: the two sides were clearly divided, yet also intertwined.
A layer of icy mist hung over the surface of the ice spring, radiating a bone-chilling cold.
The fire spring bubbled and frothed, and every bursting bubble sent a wisp of scorching sparks into the air.
Once Liu Lin entered the valley, he could clearly feel both of his Martial Souls stirring at once, as if they were about to break through.
As Liu Lin felt the icy and fiery power within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, a clear voice rang out from deep in the valley, interrupting his concentration.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well?"
Hearing the voice, Zhang Lexuan didn't answer. Instead, she led Liu Lin straight to the center of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
"Who dares trespass into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well?"
When the two didn't respond, the voice from within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well sounded again, this time even angrier.
After Zhang Lexuan brought Liu Lin inside, he finally saw the figure that had spoken.
A large pink flower, its petals crystalline and translucent, with a purple-crystal pistil, released a faint fragrance.
The Aromatic Silk Beauty's voice was gentle yet authoritative, and a pink halo shone around it.
"Intruders, since you won't answer, I'll send you on your way. Attack!"
After speaking, the Aromatic Silk Beauty directed several Immortal Herbs nearby to attack.
After hearing what the Aromatic Silk Beauty said, Zhang Lexuan stepped in front of Liu Lin. Silver light shone around her, and a glimmer of moonlight appeared.
Silver-white light rippled outward like water, keeping flames, ice spikes, poisonous powder, and ripples in space at least three feet away.
Her brows furrowed slightly. She clenched her right hand, and a sharper burst of silver moonlight exploded.
The aura that erupted in that instant injured the several Immortal Herbs attacking her to varying degrees.
As soon as the seven Immortal Herbs sensed Zhang Lexuan's aura, they all froze.
Infernal Delicate Apricot had been mustering its strength to spit out an even larger ball of fire. But when it sensed that aura, its petals stiffened midair, and it couldn't bring itself to release the flames.
When the Aromatic Silk Beauty sensed Zhang Lexuan's aura, it thought of the person who had come here ten thousand years ago.
"A god-level powerhouse?"
Zhang Lexuan didn't answer its question. "We're here to take the essence of a few Immortal Herbs. We'll leave as soon as we're done."
"Please, go ahead. Just don't damage the core of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well."
After speaking, the Aromatic Silk Beauty was the first to draw in its halo. Seeing it stand down, the other Immortal Herbs also withdrew their domain powers.
Infernal Delicate Apricot was the last to relent. Its petals quivered in protest again and again, but in the end, it swallowed back its flames.
Seeing that the sentient Immortal Herbs had agreed, Zhang Lexuan nodded. Then she pointed at the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot.
"I'll take your essences first."
The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass said nothing and readily handed over its essence.
Infernal Delicate Apricot shook its body. After struggling for a long while, it finally handed over part of its essence.
After all, when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head. If it could beat the people facing it, it wouldn't have to be afraid of them.
Zhang Lexuan accepted the two essences and nodded. She handed them to Liu Lin and explained how to consume the two herbs.
Liu Lin listened carefully to Zhang Lexuan's instructions, then took the essences of the two herbs and headed toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Liu Lin swallowed both essences at once, then leaped into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
In an instant, two utterly different energies—one icy, one fiery—exploded inside him.
Liu Lin clenched his teeth and urged both Martial Souls to circulate at once. The phantoms of an ice dragon and a fire dragon appeared in turn as he tried to tame the two raging sources of power.
But just then, the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well beneath him seemed to awaken at the call of his aura.
The red and blue springs suddenly churned, and two streams of pure, boundless energy surged up from the ground like giant dragons, pouring into every part of his body one after the other.
Liu Lin grunted, the veins at his temples bulging as his bones crackled. His Soul Power rocketed upward, surging straight toward the level-forty bottleneck.
Above the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Zhang Lexuan sensed that Liu Lin's aura had grown unsteady. A soundless glow of silver moonlight spilled from her palm, calming the turbulence around him.
But just then, Liu Lin sensed an exceedingly faint call.
The call came from deep within the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. Two ancient echoes sounded at once in the depths of his consciousness.
One icy, one fiery, two forces entwined within his Sea of Consciousness, beckoning him toward the depths of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. Liu Lin thought it over briefly, then swam deeper into the well.
When he reached the depths of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, blue and red light flashed, plunging him into unconsciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself floating in a boundless space of consciousness.
This space was divided in two by color. On the left was a Domain of Extreme Cold, ice-blue; on the right was a World of Blazing Flames, red-gold.
At the border between the two domains, two enormous phantoms hovered silently in the air, gazing down at him. They were two dragons.
One was entirely ice-blue, its scales carved from ten-thousand-year-old profound ice and its eyes the palest shade of blue. With every breath it exhaled, fine ice crystals formed in the air.
The other was entirely red-gold, its scales cast from molten rock and its eyes burning with an undying golden flame. Every flap of its wings sent waves of scorching heat rolling outward.
Seeing that Liu Lin was no longer in danger, Zhang Lexuan chose two Immortal Herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well to repair her divine consciousness and increase her Soul Power.
She chose Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew to boost her spiritual power, and Heaven Soul Grass to repair her soul.
After all, her body was that of a twenty-year-old Zhang Lexuan, but the soul within her came from the future. The damage to her divine soul had always been her greatest hidden danger.
Though these two Immortal Herbs couldn't completely repair her damaged divine consciousness, they could at least spare her from needing to sleep for a long time to come.