Li Qinglian's Plan to Absorb the Immortal Herb, Goodbye Shui Bing'er

"Tempering the golden body with ice and fire."

"Tang San used the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to forge a golden body. Immune to all poisons, impervious to ice and fire."

"Though that was exaggerated quite a bit, the boost Tang San received from the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Blazing Apricot Delicate Herb was enormous."

"Those two immortal herbs were very likely the two most valuable immortal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. One on the left, one on the right, each located at the core of the two spring eyes..."

Li Qinglian thought.

Those two immortal herbs were practically like the fish eyes in a taiji yin-yang diagram, nourished by the purest ice and fire energy.

Under all heaven, there would never be a second pair of sacred ice- and fire-attribute herbs so exquisitely formed.

"What a pity. I'm different from Tang San. Tang San wasn't an ice-attribute or fire-attribute Soul Master. That was why he could absorb both immortal herbs at once and use them to balance each other."

"But I'm a fire-attribute Soul Master. If I swallowed an ice-attribute immortal herb, it would be like pouring water into a pot of boiling oil. It would explode instantly."

Li Qinglian understood.

Tang San's method of absorbing the immortal herbs was not suitable for him.

He was a fire-attribute Soul Master. Even if he absorbed both immortal herbs at the same time, the environment inside his body would still lean toward the Blazing Apricot Delicate Herb.

When that happened, the immortal herb energy in his body would become unbalanced, and he would blow up.

As for absorbing only one of the two immortal herbs, that was also impossible.

Those two immortal herbs did not merely contain terrifying ice and fire energy; they also held a vast amount of ice poison and fire poison.

When Tang San absorbed the immortal herbs, the ice poison and fire poison canceled each other out, and the ice energy and fire energy canceled each other out as well. Only then did that extreme balance known as tempering the golden body with ice and fire come into being.

"But I've already found a method suited to me."

The corner of Li Qinglian's lips curved upward.

The image of that mature, intellectual young woman appeared in his mind—Shui Bing'er!

If he and Shui Bing'er each swallowed one immortal herb, with any Martial Soul fusion and their soul power circulating together...

When the time came, the same scene from the original plot, where Tang San tempered his golden body alone, would appear between the two of them.

This method was definitely superior to Tang San's.

Tang San's method might have been clever, but in truth, the two mutually restraining immortal herbs had canceled out ninety-nine percent of their energy inside his body.

In the end, even after absorbing the immortal herbs, the benefits Tang San received were actually not that great.

In other words...

Tang San's method allowed absorption, but brought no real benefits.

At least...

In Li Qinglian's eyes, those two top-grade immortal herbs had only given Tang San a paltry bit of water-fire immunity and immunity to all poisons that went unused most of the time. That was severely inadequate.

"If I absorb the Blazing Apricot Delicate Herb, the Fire Phoenix can evolve into Ultimate Fire. At that point, the phoenix flames will become this Martial Soul's greatest foundation."

Li Qinglian murmured.

If he copied Tang San and let ice and fire cancel each other out, Li Qinglian reckoned it would be very difficult to use that to evolve into Ultimate Fire.

Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

"Dugu Yan. You crazy woman. Where did you take Qinglian?"

"If you don't hand him over, I'll kill you!"

Huo Wu grabbed Dugu Yan by the collar.

She was furious.

Dugu Yan had said she could take good care of Li Qinglian, and only then had Huo Wu quickly returned to Blazing Fire Academy to report that he was safe.

"Dugu Yan. What exactly are you trying to do? If Qinglian suffers even the slightest harm, you definitely won't get off easy."

Shui Bing'er, who had learned that Li Qinglian was injured, rushed over in a panic, only to find him gone. Her temper flared at once.

Dugu Yan's reputation had never been particularly good.

Because of that, they were truly worried about Li Qinglian.

"Yanyan, stop messing around. Where is he?"

Ye Lingling tugged at Dugu Yan's sleeve.

Whether Huo Wu or Shui Bing'er came alone, either one would be hard to deal with.

Let alone the two of them joining forces.

Shui Bing'er was the captain of Tianshui Team. Only Yu Tianheng could contend with her.

Dugu Yan did not respond to Ye Lingling. After breaking free from Huo Wu, she folded her arms in front of her chest.

"Well, well."

"I hid Li Qinglian away. What are you going to do about it?"

Dugu Yan stared fixedly at the two girls in front of her, her emerald-green eyes filled with indifference.

So even Shui Bing'er liked Li Qinglian.

That made things even more interesting.

When the time came to snatch him away, it would be even more thrilling.

"You!"

Huo Wu's brows drew together.

"Dugu Yan. Do you think that just because you have a Title Douluo grandfather, we won't dare touch you?"

"So what if I do? I'm someone who's going to die anyway. Do you think I'd be afraid of you?"

Dugu Yan let out a cold laugh.

"Going to die? What do you mean?"

It wasn't just Huo Wu and Shui Bing'er—even Ye Lingling looked at Dugu Yan in shock.

"My parents were both poisoned to death, and my future will be the same... In truth, I don't have many years left to live."

"Huo Wu. I should thank you, really. You let me meet such an outstanding boy."

"Down in the underworld, having such an outstanding boy accompany me would make me very happy."

Dugu Yan crooked her fingers at the two girls, her smile twisted.

If Li Qinglian could cure her poison, then of course she was willing to live well. But if he failed, then even if she was willing to let Li Qinglian go, Grandfather would definitely arrange a ghost marriage for her.

Because Grandfather loved her. He would definitely send everything she liked down to accompany her.

"You crazy woman. If you want to die, then die by yourself. What does that have to do with Qinglian..."

Huo Wu and Shui Bing'er released their Martial Souls at the same time.

Only after they pressed Dugu Yan down and beat her for a while did she finally settle down.

"This is the letter he gave you."

Dugu Yan unwillingly handed a letter to Huo Wu.

Huo Wu hurriedly opened the envelope, and only after seeing that it was Li Qinglian's handwriting did she let out a breath of relief.

"Bing'er, Little Brother Qinglian wants you to follow Dugu Yan to see him."

"He said he understands the crux of the problem with your fusion skill."

Huo Wu said sourly.

But she understood now.

The Dugu Family's secret forbidden ground was not somewhere one could intrude on at will.

Li Qinglian must have paid a great price and made a deal with the Dugu Family.

If the deal failed, then perhaps, just as Dugu Yan said, Li Qinglian would be in trouble.

And Li Qinglian clearly did not want more people to be dragged into it.

"He's already figured it out?"

A faint blush dyed Shui Bing'er's mature face.

The Martial Soul fusion skill between her and Li Qinglian had always been her greatest regret.

For the past two years, she had buried herself in bitter cultivation, holding in a breath of frustration.

And now, could the Martial Soul fusion between her and Li Qinglian finally be reproduced?

When Shui Bing'er was brought by Dugu Yan to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Li Qinglian was comprehending the sword.

The environment of heaven and earth here brought Li Qinglian much inspiration.

He wanted to create a Blazing Fire Sword Technique different from the Green Lotus Sword Technique.

A sword technique that belonged solely to flame.

"Qinglian."

Seeing Li Qinglian again, Shui Bing'er's beautiful eyes were filled with tenderness.

The little boy from back then had already grown to a level no less than hers.

If it were a battle to the death, perhaps she might not even be Li Qinglian's match.

But she and Li Qinglian would never have such a battle to the death in this lifetime.

"Sister Bing'er."

Li Qinglian put down the sword in his hand, and Shui Bing'er could not wait any longer. She threw herself over and hugged him tightly.

It had been two years.

The truth was, she had missed him all this time.

Feeling the girl's soft body against him, Li Qinglian stiffened for a moment, then gently wrapped his arms around her.

"Qinglian, you said you'd found the reason we couldn't carry out Martial Soul fusion anymore back then. What exactly happened?" Shui Bing'er couldn't help asking.

"Sister Bing'er, look over there and you'll understand."

As Li Qinglian spoke, he pointed toward the ice spring and the fire spring.