Returning Fully Loaded! Researching the Poison Mist!

In the original story, by the time Dugu Bo found it, he was already a peak-level Soul Sage.

Only then had he been able to suppress those poisonous Soul Beasts, kill Medusa, and break through in the process, absorbing a Soul Ring and a soul bone.

But Lan Tian was not Dugu Bo.

He did not dare gamble rashly.

But it was not entirely hopeless either.

If he could slowly map out the distribution of the Jade Phosphor Seven Absolute Flowers and the activity patterns of those highly poisonous Soul Beasts along the edge of the poison mist, find a suitable opening and sneak inside, then swiftly pluck the immortal herbs before alerting that fifty-thousand-year Soul Beast, it might not be completely impossible.

However, this plan was extremely risky. One misstep, and he would be left without even a corpse.

And he did not have the Wishful Hundred Treasure Pouch. Once immortal herbs left the valley, they would quickly wither.

With his current strength, he could not cultivate them either.

So even if he took them, he could not take them all.

He could only take a few.

He took a deep breath and put away the map and parchment scroll.

The search of the sixth year had finally yielded something substantial. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well did indeed exist within Sunset Forest, and he had already found its approximate location.

But now was clearly not the time to barge in. He was far too weak and had to wait until he became stronger and better prepared before challenging that defensive line of poison mist.

"Withdraw first."

Lan Tian gave the valley shrouded in green poison mist one last look, carefully committing its coordinates and terrain details to memory. Then he turned, slipped through the entrance concealed by vines, and headed back the way he had come without looking back.

By the time the sun rose overhead, he had passed through the dense forest again, leaving that hidden valley far behind him.

His steps were steady, and he did not turn back, but everything he knew about the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was repeatedly being deduced, analyzed, and planned out in his mind.

After returning, he would need to spend at least two years, perhaps even longer, accumulating resources and improving his strength in Nuoding City before finding a chance to return here.

By then, even if the poison mist remained dense and the Soul Beasts remained powerful, he at least needed the confidence to face them head-on.

Before leaving, he had also used a bottle forged from refined iron to collect some poison mist for careful study, to see whether there was a way to counter it.

That would also provide greater security for entering the place in the future. After all, the poisonous Soul Beasts inside had absorbed this poison mist for years.

His countermeasures might not be able to kill those creatures, but they could at least restrain them to some extent. As long as he had some breathing room, there would be more he could do. The more it came to a time like this, the less he could afford to rush.

Now that he had found the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, he had plenty of time to slowly conquer it. After all, Dugu Bo would not arrive for nearly another century.

After leaving the hidden valley, Lan Tian hurried all the way without lingering on the road again.

Although he encountered several century-old Soul Beasts blocking his path, his mind was occupied with the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and he truly had no interest in tangling with them. Most of the time, he used Blue Silver Grass vines to bind them and slow them down, then swiftly passed through with the acceleration effect of Sun and Moon Power.

Whenever a few troublesome thousand-year Soul Beasts caught up to him, he drove them back with Rasengan. He did not linger to fight, continuing on his way after each strike.

Three days later, he set foot once more on the official road outside Nuoding City's north gate.

The city gates looked as they always had. Two new faces stood among the guards at the watchpost, but the old guards smiled and greeted him as soon as they saw him. "Doctor Lan, you're back? You were gone for quite a while this time!"

Lan Tian nodded to them and strode into the city.

The first thing he did after returning to the clinic was remove all the door panels to air the place out. The Nine Heart Begonia in the courtyard had grown a little taller than before he left. Its nine heart-shaped leaves stretched beneath the afternoon sun, its pinkish-white glow as gentle as ever.

He crouched down and used Blue Silver Grass to probe its roots. Only after confirming that everything was normal did he straighten up with a relieved sigh.

Then he shut the doors and took everything from his storage ring, sorting it out across the open space in the courtyard.

A large pile of medicinal ingredients filled the ground: thousand-year lingzhi, the claws and fangs of Ironback Wolves, venomous python gallbladders, the paws and gallbladders of Black-Mane Bears, mature leaves and rhizomes of Sun-Moon Grass, along with all sorts of miscellaneous herbs he had picked up along the way. They covered nearly half the courtyard.

It took him an entire afternoon to clean, process, sort, jar, and store everything away in the medicine cabinets and his storage ring. By the time he finished, night was already falling.

But there was still one most important thing left to do.

He went into the kitchen, took out the refined iron bottle, and set it on the table to study for a moment.

The bottle was sealed tightly, with a layer of wax over its mouth. The pale green mist within had settled quietly at the bottom, glimmering with a dark sheen beneath the dim yellow lamplight.

This was the poison mist sample he had brought back from the outskirts of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Lan Tian set the bottle on the table, pulled over a chair and sat opposite it, lit an oil lamp, and began considering where to start his research.

He guessed that the main component of the poison mist was some kind of highly toxic gas released by the Jade Phosphor Seven Absolute Flowers. But what kind of poison it was, how it harmed living organisms, and whether common medicinal herbs could neutralize or counter it—all of that needed to be verified one by one.

Opening the bottle and smelling or touching it directly was obviously out of the question. That would be courting death.

He first found a discarded ceramic bowl and poured in some clean water. Then he used Blue Silver Grass vines to coil around the stopper, carefully opened a narrow gap, and guided a wisp of pale green mist into the water.

The mist dissolved quickly upon touching the surface, turning the water pale green and giving off a crisp yet pungent scent.

He then went to the backyard and caught a lively field mouse, tied one of its hind legs with thin string, dipped a wooden stick into the bowl of green poison water, and lightly touched the mouse's front paw.

The mouse began struggling violently almost at once. In less than ten breaths, it convulsed and collapsed limply, its breathing rapid and its eyes unfocused. After another dozen or so breaths, it stopped moving completely.

Lan Tian frowned and quickly recorded his findings on paper. "Poison mist dissolves in water. Symptoms occur roughly ten breaths after skin contact. No obvious external injuries. Cause of death suspected to be paralysis of the respiratory center caused by neurotoxins."

Next, he switched to another field mouse. This time, he first wrapped the tip of the wooden stick in the life energy of Endless Life, then dipped it in the poison water before making contact.

The mouse struggled noticeably longer, only beginning to convulse after roughly twenty breaths, but in the end, it still could not endure it.

The conclusion was that Endless Life could delay the toxin to a certain extent, but could not completely neutralize it.

Then came Sun and Moon Power.

He gathered Sun and Moon Power at his fingertips, dipped them into the poison water, and touched a third field mouse.

This time, the effect was better. The mouse struggled for nearly half an hour before gradually weakening, and even after it finally fell unconscious, it did not die immediately. Its heartbeat continued weakly.

Sun and Moon Power had a clear suppressive effect on the toxin, but it likewise could not cure it completely.

Lan Tian recorded every experimental procedure and result in his notebook, including detailed data such as toxin concentration, onset time, and the effectiveness of different abilities.

Judging from the preliminary results, Sun and Moon Power was the most effective means of countering the toxin, but it was still far from enough to let him pass through that poison mist unscathed.

He needed to find a more thorough solution, perhaps a specific herb or an antidote brewed from a certain formula that could greatly reduce the toxin's effects while retaining its potency for a long time.

He sealed the refined iron bottle again and placed it in the safest corner of his storage ring.

This thing would still be very useful in the future. Every experiment could potentially bring a new breakthrough, so he had to keep it safe.

After putting everything away, he sat in the courtyard and gazed up at the starry sky for a while.

Six years of searching had finally produced results. Although he had not been able to charge in and pluck the immortal herbs right away, at least his goal was now clear, the location was locked down, and he had even brought back a poison mist sample.

Next, he only needed to advance his research step by step and build up his strength until he was confident enough to face that poison mist and every hidden danger within it head-on.

Nearly a century.

That window of time was enough for him to do many things.

The night breeze swept through the courtyard, and the leaves of the Nine Heart Begonia swayed gently in the faint light, as if welcoming him home.

He stood up, returned to the room, and lay down on the bed. The moment he closed his eyes, he sank into peaceful sleep.

He had been away for nearly half a month, with his mind constantly taut. Only now that he had returned to his own territory in Nuoding City did he truly relax.