"So, I want you to come with me."
"Me?"
"A treasure trove like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well might already be occupied by some powerful expert. It may not be safe for me to go alone."
"Your portal can get us out at any moment, and your strength would give me a tremendous degree of security."
Tribbie tilted her head.
"Dean, can't you beat a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"
A hint of fear flashed in Ye Qiong's eyes.
"My body isn't immune to poison."
"What if the other person is a master of poison? I might not even get to see what the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well looks like before I'm flat on my back."
"That would be so embarrassing."
Tribbie couldn't help laughing.
She hadn't expected the dean, despite being so powerful, to be so excessively cautious.
So she nodded and said with a smile:
"Sure, I'll go with you. Shall we leave now?"
"Right now."
At that, Tribbie raised her right hand. The next moment, a golden triangular portal slowly opened in the middle of the office.
Seeing this, Ye Qiong strode through it.
Sunset Forest.
All around was silent, save for the faint sounds of birds and beasts.
But just then, a golden rift suddenly opened in space, startling the nearby birds and beasts.
The rift vanished in a flash. The next moment,
two figures appeared in the forest.
They were Ye Qiong and Tribbie.
Ye Qiong looked around and, after confirming they were in the right place, let out a sigh of relief.
"We're here. This should be Sunset Forest."
Tribbie stood beside him.
"Dean, where exactly is the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well?"
Ye Qiong shook his head and pulled a map from his robes.
"I only know we're somewhere in Sunset Forest. I don't know the exact location either."
"But I have a clue. We just need to find a mountain with one half covered in ice and snow and the other half burning with flames."
Tribbie touched her chin with one finger, deep in thought.
"A mountain that's half ice and half fire shouldn't be too hard to spot."
"Exactly. It has such distinctive features, and it's a mountain, so we should find it quickly if we search carefully. Come on."
With that, Ye Qiong put away the map and set off ahead.
Tribbie followed him.
A clearing somewhere in the outer reaches of Sunset Forest.
A thousand-year Soul Beast lay in a pool of blood, turning into a purple Soul Ring.
A young woman sat down beside the corpse, closed her eyes, and circulated her Soul Power to draw in the Soul Ring.
A little farther away, a middle-aged woman stood with her arms crossed, watching the girl.
"This Soul Ring is seventeen hundred years old. Will Yue'er really be all right absorbing it?"
The speaker was another girl who looked just like the one by the corpse.
She was the girl's older sister, Shui Bing'er, while the middle-aged woman was the dean of Skywater Academy.
At that moment, she was watching her younger sister, Shui Yue'er, her face full of worry.
The dean shook her head.
"Bing'er, Yue'er's physical constitution is different from an ordinary Soul Master's. She's been cultivating in extremely cold conditions since she was little, and her meridians are far more resilient than those of her peers. It's only a seventeen-hundred-year Soul Beast. She can handle it."
Shui Bing'er was about to say something more when a girl with long, emerald hair came over.
"Don't worry, Shui Bing'er. My grandpa praised Shui Yue'er's constitution too. She'll be fine."
Shui Bing'er glanced at her and managed a faint smile.
"Thank you, Dugu Yan."
The girl called Dugu Yan waved a hand, then turned her gaze back to Shui Yue'er, her thoughts drifting away.
Why hadn't Grandpa come back yet?
He'd promised to bring her to Sunset Forest to find a place where she could suppress her poison.
But when they reached a cabin on the outskirts, he told her to wait while he went alone into the depths of the forest to scout ahead.
She'd been waiting for two whole days.
She'd been bored out of her mind.
Luckily, some people from Skywater Academy had passed by, and she'd joined them.
The dean of Skywater Academy was bringing Shui Yue'er to hunt a Soul Beast for her Soul Ring.
Since she was fairly well acquainted with the people from Skywater Academy, she'd naturally tagged along.
"Wait, could something have happened to Grandpa?"
But she quickly dismissed the thought.
How could that be?
Her grandpa was a Titled Douluo. Across the entire Douluo Continent, there were only a handful of people who could hurt him.
She was just scaring herself.
Inside the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
A figure slammed heavily into the ground, coughing up a thin stream of blood.
It was an old man.
He struggled to get back up, but the sharp pain in his chest kept him from even straightening his back.
All he could do was glare furiously at a gray-haired man standing in front of him.
The gray-haired man rested a baseball bat on his shoulder with one hand, his posture casual and carefree.
It was Ye Qiong.
"Poison Douluo? You're not much to look at."
Ye Qiong lightly tapped his shoulder with the bat, a trace of disdain in his eyes as he looked at the old man.
Dugu Bo gritted his teeth and struggled to prop himself halfway up.
"Who... are you?"
Ye Qiong smiled, patting the baseball bat with his left hand.
"Me? Just a passing Pathfinder."
Dugu Bo's pupils contracted sharply. He'd never heard the word Pathfinder before.
But he had no time to dwell on it. The broken ribs in his chest made even breathing difficult.
Ye Qiong glanced around, then looked at Dugu Bo.
"Though you found this place first, natural treasures have always belonged to the strong. And you've already lost."
Dugu Bo laughed in fury.
"You insolent brat! How dare you!"
"You're merely a Soul Saint. You must have used some secret technique to defeat me. In terms of actual cultivation, you're not even worth a single hair on my head."
Ye Qiong shrugged and waved a hand indifferently.
"Just tell me, did you lose or not? If you're not satisfied, you're welcome to challenge me anytime at Omphalos Academy in Suotuo City."
Dugu Bo narrowed his eyes, about to say something more, when the corner of his eye caught sight of the valley entrance.
A woman was walking in from the entrance, her bearing utterly unhurried.
Yet the aura she gave off made Dugu Bo feel as if he were looking upon a goddess from time immemorial!
Dugu Bo weighed his options for a moment.
In the end, he swallowed the harsh words that had nearly left his mouth.
As long as the green hills remained, there would be no shortage of firewood!
One word: run!
He struggled to his feet and fixed his gaze on Ye Qiong.
"Kid, tell me your name."
Ye Qiong smiled and made no attempt to hide it.
"I am Ye Qiong, by name and by nature."
Dugu Bo stared at Ye Qiong through gritted teeth, as though engraving his appearance into his memory.
"Ye Qiong... is it? Fine. I'll remember this humiliation."
With that, he said nothing more. Dragging his injured body, he turned and walked toward the valley entrance without looking back.
Watching him disappear at the entrance, Ye Qiong finally put away his baseball bat and looked at Tribbie.
"That nuisance is finally gone. I didn't expect him to be so easy to beat. That wasn't much fun."
Tribbie looked at Ye Qiong and gave him a helpless smile.
Wasn't he the one who'd clung to her before they left, saying he was scared?
Just then, Ye Qiong took a booklet from his robes.
"Here, take this manual."
Tribbie took the booklet and glanced at it, instantly startled.
"This is..."
Before you continue