Ice and Fire Body Tempering

The two arrived at the very center of the valley floor.

Zhang Fei was so stunned by the sight before him that he froze in place.

At the center of the valley floor lay a spring, with water endlessly gushing up from underground and splitting into two utterly different streams.

One stream was crimson red. Steam rose from its surface, and the air was thick with scorching heat. Even from several meters away, he could feel the waves of heat rushing toward him.

The other stream was icy blue. Its water exuded a biting chill, and white mist slowly rose from the surface, coating the nearby rocks with a layer of frost.

The two streams met and merged within the spring. Red and blue swirled and intertwined beneath the water, yet though they occupied the same pool, they remained sharply distinct, neither encroaching upon the other.

Red and blue intertwined, magnificent and mysterious.

All around the spring grew countless varieties of plants. Every one of them radiated extraordinarily dense energy fluctuations, with strange forms and vivid colors.

Nourished day and night by the aura of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, each plant contained pure, refined energy.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Zhang Fei stared fixedly at those plants, his heart pounding.

Immortal herbs!

These were the most elite cultivation resources on the entire continent—without equal.

In the original story, Tang San had relied on several immortal herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to forcefully raise the Shrek Seven Monsters' overall strength by an enormous margin.

Any one of these plants, if taken outside, would be enough to make Soul Masters across the continent fight until their heads bled.

And now, they were right before him, within easy reach.

How could he not be excited? Zhang Fei felt even his breathing tremble.

But he quickly forced down the urge to rush forward and turned to She Long beside him.

She Long swept his gaze around several times. Though astonished, he was not overly excited. "This place... has something unusual about it. Those two streams, one hot and one cold, have extraordinarily pure energy fluctuations. And the plants beside them don't look like ordinary medicinal herbs either. I don't understand them, but I can sense that they contain incredibly dense energy."

He turned toward Zhang Fei and asked seriously, "Xiao Fei, do you know these plants?"

Zhang Fei nodded. "A little... just a little..."

She Long rolled his eyes and raised a hand as if to smack him. "Speak properly, or I'll knock you!"

Zhang Fei grinned without explaining much. He merely warned him, "Grandpa, these plants are all incredibly precious, and most of them are highly poisonous. They require special harvesting methods, so don't touch them carelessly."

His gaze swiftly passed over the immortal herbs before finally locking onto two growing near the boundary between the Yang Spring and the Yin Spring. The Infernal Delicate Apricot. The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass.

She Long nodded slightly. "Then what do we do now?"

He looked around again, but when his gaze returned to Zhang Fei, he found that the boy had efficiently stripped off all his clothes and was now completely naked.

She Long asked in confusion, "What are you doing? Are you some kind of exhibitionist?"

Zhang Fei was speechless. Pointing at the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass, he said, "Grandpa, in a moment, help me pick that red flower with a jade tool, then pick that star-shaped grass with an iron tool. Once you've picked them, send them to me at the same time."

He then pointed at the spring of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. "I'll take these two herbs, then jump in there for a bath."

She Long's expression changed drastically. "Are you crazy, or am I crazy? Even I wouldn't dare touch that spring water. If you jump in, will there even be a bone left of you? Don't even think about it!"

"Uh..." Zhang Fei scratched his head, unsure how to explain.

He said anxiously, "Grandpa, time is tight. There's no time to explain it all in detail. What if Dugu Bo changes his mind and comes back? Then there'll be more complications."

But She Long remained unmoved. His instincts told him that Zhang Fei had gone mad and wanted to kill himself.

Seeing this, Zhang Fei earnestly persuaded him, "Grandpa, trust me. When have I ever been wrong?"

She Long thought carefully. The boy had always been rather odd, but he really did not seem to have been wrong about anything.

He hesitated for a moment before finally saying with difficulty, "You... are sure you'll be fine if you jump in?"

Zhang Fei nodded, his gaze resolute. "I'm sure. Those two herbs will protect me, and the spring water can also help me absorb their medicinal effects, completely remaking my body. It might take a while, though. Grandpa, don't worry. Just stand guard for me on the shore."

"...Fine. I must have owed you in a past life." She Long sighed and reluctantly gave in.

Zhang Fei chuckled. Seeing that She Long had finally agreed, he immediately reminded him, "Just as I said: don't damage their roots. Use jade to pick the red flower and iron to pick the star-shaped grass, then send them to me at the same time."

She Long sighed again and helplessly did as he was told.

He first took a small jade knife from his storage soul tool and carefully picked the Infernal Delicate Apricot. Then he took out an iron dagger and picked the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass, using his soul power to send both of them toward Zhang Fei at once.

Zhang Fei immediately brought the two immortal herbs close together. The Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass met in midair, their two extreme energies forming a brief balance.

Without hesitation, he seized both immortal herbs at once and stuffed them into his mouth.

The two immortal herbs melted as soon as they entered his mouth, sliding down his tongue and into his throat.

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Fei's entire body turned icy blue. Then it turned red, shifting endlessly between red and blue.

She Long watched from the side, terrified.

"Boom!!!"

The two extreme medicinal energies exploded within Zhang Fei's body at once. The tearing agony wrung a hoarse scream from his throat.

Zhang Fei gathered every ounce of strength in his body and leaped forward.

"Splash!" Water burst upward as Zhang Fei's figure disappeared into the boundary between ice and fire.

In that instant, the blazing heat of the Yang Spring and the frigid cold of the Yin Spring invaded his body at the same time, forming a strange balance with the medicinal effects of the two immortal herbs.

The ice-and-fire spring water continuously washed over him, colliding with and neutralizing the herbs' medicinal power.

His meridians were repeatedly torn apart and instantly reassembled, sending his entire body into convulsions from the pain.

At the same time, a sacred yet domineering aura quietly rose from the depths of the spring.

That was dragon aura.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was the burial ground of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings. The two Dragon Kings had fallen here. Though their flesh and blood had long since decayed, the dragon aura lingering within their skeletons had seeped into the spring water, accumulating at the bottom over countless years.

Now that every meridian in Zhang Fei's body was open and his soul power was circulating frantically, that dense dragon aura seemed to answer a summons. It surged up from the spring bottom and seeped layer by layer into his body along with the water.

His skin, muscles, bones—every part of his body greedily devoured that dragon aura like a sponge soaking up water.

Pain. Worse than absorbing a soul ring.

His soul power churned wildly through his body as his entire physique was remade. Zhang Fei was nearly passing out from the agony.

An unknown amount of time passed.

She Long remained at the shore without moving a step. If he had not still been able to sense Zhang Fei's life aura, he would have tried to find a way to pull him out.