Beiming Lieyang looked Dugu Bo straight in the eye, his gaze calm and sharp.
Although Douluo Continent was at the bottom rung of fantasy worlds,
it was still connected to the realm of fantasy.
There was never any right or wrong in this world, only the survival of the fittest.
The Chinese had always held only one belief.
Fight against heaven, fight against earth—man could conquer fate.
If one did not even have the courage to fight and seize what they wanted, they might as well crawl back somewhere safe and hide.
The survival of the fittest was simply the law of heaven and earth. He had never felt there was anything to hide about it.
Weakness itself was the original sin.
He had to keep growing stronger so he could protect the people and things he cared about.
Since he could still rely on Mother Xue and Auntie Bing's strength now, why would he not use it?
Once he had grown strong enough, he would be the one protecting Mother Xue and Auntie Bing.
A drop of kindness should be repaid with a gushing spring.
Much less the grace of raising him.
"?!"
Dugu Bo's expression darkened completely.
He had never seen anyone dare to be so arrogant before him, much less a mere youth.
He had steeped himself in poisons for decades. Although he was known as a frail Title Douluo, his Jade Phosphorus Snake Emperor Poison was still enough to make others wary.
And now, a child had actually told him to his face that "the strong possess everything." It was utterly absurd!
"Good, good, good! Brat, you're courting death!"
In an instant, he no longer concealed his aura!
Level 91 Title Douluo!
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
The utterly standard Spirit Ring configuration of Douluo Continent rose and fell around him.
Green light flared in Dugu Bo's eyes. He abruptly raised his right hand, gathering several streams of dark green poisonous mist between his fingers that took the form of venomous snakes.
Hmph!
The Ice Empress snorted coldly.
Before those streams of poisonous mist could even take shape, they silently froze in midair, shattered, and scattered as icy dust.
Dugu Bo's whole body stiffened. He suddenly looked toward the two figures beside Beiming Lieyang, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
Then, the temperature of the entire world plummeted.
The Snow Empress raised her eyes. Snow filled the sky out of nowhere, and the radiance of the red and blue springs dimmed.
Dugu Bo's knees buckled as he staggered backward, his throat dry. "This aura... could it be..."
"You think a mere level ninety-one Title Douluo can lay a hand on my Xiaoyang?"
The Snow Empress lightly tapped a finger. A snowflake abruptly vanished, and an invisible force crushed down.
Before Dugu Bo could even form the thought of resisting, he was violently slammed into the mountain wall. Rubble exploded, dust surged, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
He struggled to raise his head from the shattered stones. "Y-Your Excellency... that boy trespassed into my forbidden ground first..."
"Forbidden ground?" The Ice Empress tilted her head at him, revealing sharp little canine teeth. "This place has existed longer than you have. You say it's yours, and that makes it yours?"
Dugu Bo's face turned alternately green and pale.
The Snow Empress pressed down with her hand, and an ice-blue barrier enveloped the entire valley. Dugu Bo's poison arts were suppressed by the Ultimate Ice barrier to the point where he could not even wield thirty percent of their power.
He was shocked and furious, but he understood something even more clearly.
The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well itself was a clash between ice and fire. He normally only dared to remain around its outskirts; if he went deeper, he would suffer backlash.
Now that the barrier had sealed off his retreat, he was completely trapped.
"Since my Xiaoyang has taken a liking to this place,"
the Snow Empress's calm gaze fell upon him, "then it belongs to him. Do you have any objections?"
Dugu Bo was embedded in the mountain wall. The dignity of a Title Douluo had been shattered, yet he did not even dare utter a harsh word.
He knew that woman truly would crush him to death with a casual gesture,
without caring in the slightest, as if crushing a poisonous bug.
The Snow Empress withdrew her gaze and gently brushed aside the hair over Beiming Lieyang's forehead. Her voice softened. "Go have a look. Take whatever you want."
Yet Beiming Lieyang did not move. Instead, his eyes shone brightly. Mother Xue like this was simply too domineering!
It was his first time seeing her like this.
Beautiful and cool.
"Your eyes are practically glued to her." The Ice Empress gave a soft snort from the side. "What, I didn't do anything?"
"Auntie Bing was domineering too!" Beiming Lieyang hurriedly added, turning his head.
"That's more like it." The Ice Empress's lips curled upward. She snorted in satisfaction but did not continue demanding praise. Her gaze had already settled on the spring ahead, where red and blue radiance intertwined.
"What are all these spiritual herbs?"
Since the path had been guided by that sun in Xiaoyang's dream, he surely knew what was here. Otherwise, he could not have found this place so precisely.
Beiming Lieyang then explained their medicinal effects and harvesting methods to the Ice and Snow Emperors one by one, based on information from the original work and the Immortal Herbs' growth locations and appearances.
There were some he did not recognize, so there was nothing he could do about those.
Still, he could obtain an Immortal Herb guide later from the Breaking Clan or Yue Guan.
The two women's eyes brightened slightly as they listened. They had not expected this valley to conceal so many Immortal Herbs with such unusual effects.
Beiming Lieyang walked to the edge of the springs, his gaze locking onto three directions.
"Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Infernal Delicate Apricot, and Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew. Those three Immortal Herbs are exactly what I need."
The Ice Empress and Snow Empress followed his gaze, both showing a trace of surprise.
Two plants with completely opposing attributes living peacefully so close together was already a marvel in itself.
Beiming Lieyang walked straight toward the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, plucked it, and drank it all.
The liquid slid down his throat, cool and clear as spring water. A gentle power surged toward his brow, nourishing his Spiritual Sea.
After closing his eyes for a moment, he opened them again, and his gaze had become even brighter.
He looked between the two Ice and Fire Immortal Herbs, took out an iron tool and a jade shovel, then flicked both wrists.
The two tools shot out like hidden weapons, precisely slicing through the intertwined roots and severing the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot at their bases.
Soul Power condensed into cords and pulled them back. The two Immortal Herbs collided in midair, their ice and fire energies canceling each other out before they landed in his hands and were stuffed directly into his mouth.
Dugu Bo, who had been silently healing his injuries in the distance, saw his pupils contract sharply.
He had guarded this place for decades. Most of the spiritual herbs here, he only knew were poisonous, not what they were called. He did not even dare touch them too much.
This boy being able to accurately name these Immortal Herbs had already made his heart sink.
Yet he had swallowed those two poisonous herbs of absolute cold and blazing heat—the kind that would kill anyone who consumed them—in one bite, and remained perfectly unharmed.
Dugu Bo stood there with his mouth open, unable to squeeze out a single word.
Then he saw Beiming Lieyang turn toward the Ice and Snow Emperors.
"Mother Xue, Auntie Bing, I'm about to temper my body with ice and fire. Don't worry."
With that, he leaped into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"No!!"
Dugu Bo almost shouted instinctively.
Even a Title Douluo like him only dared use the residual warmth from afar to suppress the fire poison. He did not even dare approach the extreme cold and extreme heat within those springs.
For this boy to jump in was no different from seeking death!
What made cold sweat pour down his body even more was that if the boy truly died here, who would those two terrifying women blame?
Dugu Bo's lips trembled as he turned stiffly toward the Ice Empress and Snow Empress.
They stared fixedly at the water's surface, yet neither moved to stop him.
"You... you two!" Dugu Bo panicked. "Why aren't you making him come out?! Those springs aren't something a human can endure! Even a Title Douluo would die if he went in!"
His voice had changed pitch. He was terrified that these two women would take their anger out on him and tear him apart later.
However, bubbles rose to the surface the next moment.
Golden light seeped up from beneath the water, spreading a small warm domain through the red and blue springs.
Beiming Lieyang's figure drifted beneath the surface.
Dugu Bo stared blankly.
That boy, who should have been instantly reduced to dust by the power of ice and fire, was soaking in the springs completely unharmed.
The golden glow around his body was growing brighter bit by bit, and his posture was as relaxed as if he were bathing in a hot spring.
"How is this possible..."
"How could anyone survive in there?"
He recalled how thoroughly the boy seemed to understand the herbs here.
Combined with the fact that he himself could only rely on the energy from the distant clash of ice and fire here to suppress his fire poison,
a bold thought suddenly emerged in his heart.
Does this boy know how to neutralize the toxicity of these herbs?
Then what about the snake poison in his body?
Can he cure it?
Before you continue