Awakened Fallen Star Locust After Absorbing Immortal Herbs

Watching Xiao Wu begin to absorb the Immortal Herb, Chen Ling first set up a layer of Soul Power barrier around her to block out outside interference. Then he turned toward the rare Immortal Herbs scattered across the ground and carefully selected those suitable for himself.

With his current Titled Douluo cultivation, Immortal Herbs that worked slowly were no longer the optimal choice.

At this stage, the Immortal Herbs that would benefit him most were those capable of tempering his body and cleansing his meridians and marrow.

The answer was obvious: the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

The effects of these two Immortal Herbs perfectly matched his current needs.

The medicinal potency of ordinary, mild Immortal Herbs was too gentle. For a powerhouse at the Titled Douluo level, improvement through them would take an extremely long time.

The two Icefire herbs, however, complemented each other. Their medicinal effects were tyrannical and swift, producing immediate results, while their ability to temper one's foundation far surpassed that of ordinary marrow-cleansing Immortal Herbs.

As for the other assorted rare Immortal Herbs, Chen Ling did not intend to consume them together for the time being.

He knew nothing about medicinal combinations. If he carelessly mixed them and their properties clashed, the backlash could injure him, making the gains not worth the loss.

Having made up his mind, two solid yet invisible streaks of sword qi shot through the air, slicing precisely through the patch of Immortal Herbs. Chen Ling made a grasping motion with both hands, and the two herbs—one icy, one fiery—instantly flew into the air and landed securely in his palms.

Clearing his mind of distractions, Chen Ling held an Immortal Herb in each hand and swallowed them both almost simultaneously.

The next instant, two extreme forces erupted within his dantian.

The frigid power of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass instantly invaded his limbs and bones, freezing his bloodline and meridians. Its cold pierced straight into his marrow, freezing and shattering every trace impurity and cultivation toxin accumulated deep within his bones.

Immediately afterward, the heaven-burning fire poison of the Infernal Delicate Apricot swept through his entire body.

Torrential heat surged through his meridians and scorched his flesh, burning away all the impurities within him that the ice had crushed.

Ice and fire washed over him in repeated cycles. This was no longer a simple widening of his meridians, but a complete cleansing of his marrow and reforging of his bones.

Had any ordinary soul master undergone such violent tempering by ice and fire, they would have long been unable to withstand the collision of these two extreme forces and exploded on the spot.

But Chen Ling possessed a complete, fully equipped set of Spirit Bones. Combined with the powerful physique forged by his Titled Douluo cultivation, his foundation far surpassed that of ordinary people. Only then could he withstand this bodily refinement without relying on the Icefire Yin Yang Well's support.

He immediately circulated the Jiyuan Balance Control Art with all his strength, precisely controlling the two violent forces of ice and fire. The power that had been crashing around wildly became orderly, flowing slowly through the meridians across his body, steadily nourishing his physique and reforging his foundation.

At the very moment the icefire power stabilized, a strange ancient tree Martial Soul silently emerged over Chen Ling's left hand.

This was no ordinary plant Martial Soul. The entire ancient tree seemed forged from obsidian, meteorite iron fragments, and the grain of ancient locust wood, carrying an immense, archaic aura of the cosmos.

Its rough, heavy trunk was covered in impact craters and fine cracks like those left by meteorites. Its sturdy branches shot toward the sky like black dragon veins, while its spread canopy resembled a dark nebula frozen in time.

Slender black-violet locust leaves swayed gently, continuously scattering specks of fine stardust.

As the Martial Soul appeared, Tang Yan's eyes turned deep violet, rings of black stars emerging within his pupils.

A thin sheen resembling meteoric glaze covered the surface of his skin.

Countless black-violet locust-vein patterns quietly surfaced across the backs of his hands, chest, and arms. They spread and intertwined like ancient tree veins entwined with vast star trails, covering his entire body.

Martial Soul Possession.

Rather than calling the Fallen Star Locust a tool Martial Soul, it was more accurate to call it a special beast Martial Soul. It could even be considered a Body Martial Soul. The locust tree was merely an outward manifestation; its essence remained chaos and nothingness.

Drawn by the Martial Soul, the icefire power circulating through his body rapidly gathered along his veins, pouring continuously toward his chest. There, it slowly spiraled together before finally condensing into a two-colored vortex of rotating power.

The medicinal power of the two Icefire herbs was still insufficient. Even the special spiritual springwater of the surrounding Icefire Yin Yang Well was drawn in by this Chaos Vortex, rushing madly into his body to continuously fill and strengthen it.

When he opened his eyes, the Icefire Gold-Refining Body—which should have taken quite some time to complete—had been finished almost instantly in that state.

"What is this?" Chen Ling examined the changes in his body with astonishment.

His skin had shed its former color, becoming a translucent pale white with a fine silver-gray meteoric texture.

The interwoven patterns on his chest ran throughout his body. With every breath, red and blue streams of light flickered through them, endlessly waxing and waning.

He had originally believed the Fallen Star Locust to be a special plant Martial Soul. Now, however, that did not seem to be the case.

It was as though his formerly ordinary Martial Soul had been activated by the icefire elements, allowing it to enter this special state.

Chen Ling could sense that the Fallen Star Locust's possession would not hinder his use of the Qingming Sword. Previously, the sword possessed only pure strength in its blade and no other attributes.

Now, he could add icefire attributes to his sword techniques. In this state, the Chaos Vortex within him would also continue spinning, automatically drawing in the elements scattered throughout heaven and earth to replenish itself, even purifying them and further strengthening the power within.

This vortex was completely different from the Soul Power vortex formed when soul masters condensed a Soul Core. It stood on a far higher level, though his current opportunity had only unlocked the two attributes of ice and fire.

"Chaos power? Does that mean I need to gather all the remaining basic elements?"

Chen Ling slowly withdrew his Martial Soul, unable to stop a wry smile from appearing on his face as his heart filled with shock.

If this truly was a complete origin of chaos attribute power, then the potential of this Martial Soul was simply terrifying.

Water, fire, earth, wind, light, darkness, space, life, destruction—the nine fundamental origin elements. Did he need to gather all of them before the Fallen Star Locust Martial Soul could be fully completed?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Chen Ling immediately thought of the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King, split from the Dragon God.

Those two Dragon God origins encompassed nearly all fundamental laws. If he could obtain both of their origins, perhaps he could accomplish everything in one stroke.

But he soon realized that things might not need to be so troublesome.

The Chaos Vortex within his body possessed the ability to independently derive and assimilate. The Icefire Immortal Herbs he had just consumed were more like sparks that could ignite all things.

As long as he possessed an attribute sample, the Martial Soul could derive it on its own. For example, for the destruction attribute, Chen Ling would only need to find a lesser substitute in the future, and the Martial Soul could slowly derive it into the destruction attribute.

Thinking of this, Chen Ling stood and stretched lazily. It seemed there was no need to absorb any other Immortal Herbs.

He swept his gaze across the entire valley of Immortal Herbs and immediately noticed a remarkable sight.

The branches and leaves of every Immortal Herb in the valley had unconsciously tilted toward him, leaning in his direction with docile postures, like all things worshipping their origin and displaying complete submission.

This was not difficult to explain.

Although the Chaos Vortex within him had only formed the ice and fire attributes, it was constantly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and elemental power from its surroundings. With every breath, it absorbed and exhaled origin power.

At that moment, he had become a mobile, living Icefire Yin Yang Well. Compared to the origin of this valley, he was even purer and of a higher order.

Chen Ling shifted his feet slightly and discovered that a strand of Blue Silver Grass had already wrapped around his ankle.

Its leaves trembled faintly, as if expressing affection.