Entering the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well

Faced with Dugu Bo's pessimism,

Bai Yi took the initiative to speak:

"I can't completely remove the poison from your body for now. But I can suppress it temporarily and let you live a few more years."

Dugu Bo's brow twitched.

A few more years.

Those words meant more to him than anything else.

Bai Yi glanced at Dugu Yan. "I'll treat her first. Go wait outside."

Dugu Bo did not move.

Bai Yi said, "You'll affect me if you stay here."

Dugu Bo fell silent for a moment, but eventually turned and walked out.

When he reached the door, he paused and added a pointed threat.

"If anything happens to her, you know the consequences."

The door closed.

Only Bai Yi and Dugu Yan remained in the room.

Dugu Yan sat on the edge of the bed, her hands resting on her knees.

Bai Yi walked up to her. "Give me your hand."

Dugu Yan held out her hand.

Bai Yi grasped her wrist and closed his eyes.

He drew upon the power of the Great Immortal Art of Grand Quality within him and injected it into Dugu Yan's body through her meridians.

Unlike Soul Power, the spiritual power was a lighter, more translucent warm white.

That power traveled up Dugu Yan's meridians, flowing through her arm, shoulder, chest, and back.

Wherever it passed, Dugu Yan felt a faint warmth spreading through her.

The meridians that had always felt subtly tight seemed to be loosened by something.

She felt as if her Soul Power had been combed through anew.

Whenever she circulated her Soul Power before, there had always been a sense of stagnation clogging her meridians.

Like a riverbed filled with silt.

But now, that silt was being washed away bit by bit.

The river channel became smooth, and the current quickened.

She opened her eyes and glanced at Bai Yi.

His expression was deeply focused, his brows slightly furrowed.

Half an hour later, Bai Yi withdrew his hand.

A thin layer of sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing was heavier than before.

Dugu Yan lowered her head to look at her palm.

The pale green lines that had long covered it had faded.

She stood and gave Bai Yi a deep bow:

"Thank you, Bai Yi. Thank you."

The door was suddenly thrown open.

Dugu Bo strode in, seized Dugu Yan's wrist, and checked her meridians.

His expression changed from solemn to surprised.

Then from surprise to shock.

Finally, it became a complicated look Bai Yi had never seen before.

He released Dugu Yan's hand and turned to Bai Yi.

His gaze burned as though he were looking at some priceless treasure.

Bai Yi leaned back in his chair, his face slightly pale and looking exhausted.

"Treating your granddaughter was only the first step. I haven't stated my condition yet. I need a place to cultivate my body, somewhere where ice and fire meet."

Dugu Bo's eyes flickered.

A place where ice and fire met.

He immediately thought of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well deep within Sunset Forest.

That was the secret place he used to suppress his snake poison.

No one but him knew that place existed.

How did this child know it was there?

Dugu Bo looked at Bai Yi's exhausted face, calculating rapidly in his heart.

He had begun to believe that Bai Yi could solve the snake poison.

If this deal could spare Dugu Yan from the torment of Jade Phosphorous Serpent poison,

what did it matter if he gave up the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well?

"Fine," Dugu Bo said. "I'll take you there."

Leaning against the chair back, Bai Yi's lips twitched slightly.

He said nothing.

The sky outside had already darkened.

Dugu Yan stood in the doorway, watching Dugu Bo help Bai Yi toward the guest room.

She held the wrist that had been treated, feeling the lingering warmth in her meridians.

She stood there for a long time before turning and returning to her room.

For the next seven days,

Bai Yi visited Dugu Yan's room once each day, for half an hour at a time.

Dugu Yan's meridians gradually recovered, and the pale green lines on her palms faded more with each passing day.

On the seventh day, when she circulated her Soul Power, there was no longer any feeling of stagnation in her meridians.

At the end of the seventh day, Bai Yi withdrew his hand and glanced at Dugu Yan.

"That's about enough. The snake poison won't erode you anymore. Unless you break through to Titled Douluo, in which case it'll need to be reinforced once more."

Dugu Yan looked down at her palm, then raised her eyes to Bai Yi again, her expression complicated.

She had never imagined that her snake poison could be resolved by someone younger than her.

Dugu Bo stood beside them without speaking, but his gaze remained fixed on Bai Yi.

Early the next morning, Dugu Bo took Bai Yi out of Heaven Dou City.

They headed south, and after roughly two hours, they entered the bounds of Sunset Forest.

Sunset Forest was somewhat smaller than Star Dou Great Forest, but its trees were denser and its light dimmer. Fallen leaves lay thick across the ground, making no sound beneath their feet.

Dugu Bo walked ahead, thoroughly familiar with the route.

He skirted several patches of brush that looked no different from the rest, then wound back and forth between several large trees.

Bai Yi noticed inconspicuous signs on the ground in the places he avoided: a few leaves of slightly different colors and several dead branches arranged unnaturally.

Dugu Bo stopped at the entrance to a valley.

The stone walls on either side were covered with dark purple vines, their surfaces glistening with a moist sheen.

A faint fishy scent hung in the air, the same as the scent in Dugu Bo's courtyard, only stronger.

"Jade Scale Seven Absolute Flowers."

Without turning around, Dugu Bo said,

"I planted them. Without me leading the way, you'd already be dead by the time you got here."

He raised a hand and pushed aside several vines, revealing a narrow crack in the rock behind them.

The crack was only wide enough for one person to pass through sideways. After roughly twenty steps, the view suddenly opened up.

The valley was not large, enclosed on all sides by towering stone walls like a natural well.

The inner faces of the stone walls were covered in vividly colored plants. Some bloomed with flowers, some bore fruit, each with a different form.

At the center of the valley lay a round spring pool, roughly ten paces in diameter.

Its surface was tranquil. One half was vermilion red, with faint steam drifting above it; the other half was icy blue, coated with a thin layer of white frost.

The two colors met in the middle, clearly divided and never encroaching upon one another, like a painting split in two.

All kinds of herbs grew in the soil around the spring, their colors more vivid than those of any plants Bai Yi had seen outside.

Bai Yi recognized several of them.

Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Infernal Delicate Apricot, and several other plants he did not recognize but that clearly looked extraordinary.

Dugu Bo stopped by the spring and looked at its two-colored waters, an indescribable note in his voice.

"I discovered this place by chance. The Cold Extreme Yin Spring and the Blazing Yang Spring, born from the same source, the two forces restraining each other. Extreme fire and extreme cold can both suppress toxins. This is how I managed to survive until today."

He paused.

"This treasure ground is the holy place where I suppress my snake poison. I can let you cultivate here, but first you must initially suppress the snake poison in my body and let me see hope of continuing to live."