Ice and Fire Dragon Kings

The instant the Soul Core took shape, a towering cloud of jade-green poison erupted around Dugu Bo. His aura surged, and his soul power climbed until it finally stopped at level 95.

At the same time, a roar tore from his throat. His martial soul appeared of its own accord, beyond his control, and the phantom of the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor began to transform again beneath the force of the vast power flooding through heaven and earth.

Scale after scale cracked and fell from its serpentine body. Its long form stretched farther, horns broke through its brow, and its claws became dragon claws. Its jade-green scales took on a dark emerald sheen. The serpent's savagery faded, replaced by the immense majesty of an ancient dragon.

The roar became a dragon's cry that shook the mountains!

Above the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well coiled the phantom of a giant dragon covered in venomous scales—the Poisonous Nether Prison Dragon!

The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor had shed its old form and ascended into a poison-aligned dragon martial soul: the Poisonous Nether Prison Dragon. Its draconic might spread far and wide, trailing wisps of poisonous dragon energy. But that energy no longer ran wild and turned against Dugu Bo. The dark-green Soul Core in his dantian held every wisp firmly in check.

Dugu Bo slowly drew his martial soul back into his body, and the turbulent poison around him subsided. Yet he could not fully conceal the power radiating from him; it drew every eye. The poison that had tormented him for so long was gone, leaving him with an indescribable sense of ease. A century of gloom had lifted. His once jade-green hair had turned black again, his complexion had improved, and his former brooding look had vanished.

He fixed his dark-green eyes on Jiang Baiyu and bowed deeply, his expression solemn. "Young friend Jiang, you freed me from a century of poison, helped me break down my inner core and forge a Soul Core, and brought about my Martial Soul Evolution. You've given Dugu Bo a second life. I can never repay this debt. I'm willing to serve as your protector. Whatever you ask of me from now on, I'll do it, even if it costs my life."

Su Wu stood stunned beside them. A level-95 protector Douluo with poison abilities! Even before this, Dugu Bo could have slaughtered everyone below Title Douluo in any faction. Now, with the nature and power of his new martial soul, even an ordinary Title Douluo could die at his hands. His standing could no longer be underestimated.

But Jiang Baiyu immediately pulled Dugu Bo upright. "Senior Dugu, please, get up. I'm still learning. I only thought of the Soul Core Method after seeing your inner core. Besides, both forging the Soul Core and advancing your martial soul were achievements of your own."

Seeing the little fellow put on such a modest act, Dugu Bo burst out laughing and gave Jiang Baiyu a hard slap on the back. "All right, enough about me. You and Su Wu can study the Immortal Herbs here. I'll stand guard for you." Before either of them could object, Dugu Bo flew off and vanished.

That old poison freak. Grandfather and grandson had the same thought. Though Dugu Bo was nowhere in sight, they were certain he was hiding somewhere nearby, ready to act the moment they faced danger.

The two began exploring the valley, studying the hillsides full of awakened spirit herbs. They spoke with each immortal herb, asked about its innate medicinal properties, and recorded what they learned. Throughout it all, Jiang Baiyu's Shennong Cauldron and the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica deep in his spiritual sea kept flashing with light. Su Wu also gained a great deal from speaking with so many immortal herbs, and the Jade-Green Nine-Jointed Bamboo acquired a trace of the spirit of a hundred herbs.

Several days passed in a rush. Jiang Baiyu walked to the place where the ice and fire springs met.

A few days earlier, Su Wu had accepted the innate essences of the Black Jade Divine Bamboo and the Eight-Petaled Immortal Orchid. With the essences of other spirit herbs as well, he and Jiang Baiyu had refined a Barrier-Breaking Pill. After taking it, Su Wu had found another place to enter seclusion. His soul power had already reached level 87; perhaps when he emerged this time, he would be Jade Douluo. As Jiang Baiyu considered that possibility, he came before two immortal herbs.

The two peerless immortal herbs grew quietly beside the springs. One had eight-pointed petals like ice crystals: the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass. The other burned bright, its flowers and leaves resembling flames: the Infernal Delicate Apricot. Both were extraordinary to begin with, and Jiang Baiyu's Spirit-Awakening Method had long since granted them considerable intelligence. Sensing the deep Shennong aura around him, they edged closer and sent out faint tendrils of consciousness.

"You're saying the two immense powers sleeping in your memories are down below?" Jiang Baiyu asked the two Immortal Herbs playing around his feet.

"Mhm! Yes, yes. Hug us. You smell so nice (ᐡ⦁⩊⦁⸝⸝ᐡ)₊୭." Their voices were young. The two Immortal Herbs were children, and Jiang Baiyu's life-filled presence made them wish they could take root on him.

He approached the spring and looked at the water, which gave off a chilling aura. "This water could melt a Soul Saint outright. Even a Title Douluo couldn't descend into it easily."

The two little herbs swayed gently. They gathered their innate essences—one of extreme cold, the other of extreme heat—and offered them to Jiang Baiyu without the two forces interfering with each other. "Here," they said in their young voices.

Looking at the two guileless little ones, Jiang Baiyu felt embarrassed. He had spoken partly because the problem was real, but also because he wanted to coax a little essence out of them. To his surprise, when the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot offered theirs, every spirit plant across the hillsides began to glow and contributed some of its own. Jiang Baiyu had helped them all awaken. They had held back only because they thought someone favored by the supreme aura of a hundred herbs would have no interest in their essences.

"This..." As he looked at the sphere of essence gathered by the countless plant spirits, Jiang Baiyu felt ashamed. Even he, who had always held fast to the path of a hundred herbs, could not help feeling guilty before such innocent beings.

Still, Jiang Baiyu summoned the Shennong Cauldron and drew the vast sphere of essence inside. Yin and yang revolved within the cauldron, yet not a trace of impurity appeared. Each Immortal Herb had offered precisely the part best suited to him. Before long, dense creation energy welled up, and a pill slowly rose from the cauldron, half icy white like jade and half fiery red like flame. Rings of yin-yang patterns flowed across its surface. This was the peerless Yin-Yang Creation Origin-Returning Pill, formed from the essences of countless Immortal Herbs and tempered in Jiang Baiyu's Shennong Cauldron.

As the pill appeared, the sky outside darkened. Thunder rumbled, as though even heaven coveted it.

Jiang Baiyu channeled his soul power and divided the pill into two, one large and one small. The spiritual energy throughout the hillsides remained undiminished, while the thunder outside dwindled and finally died away.

Looking at the two pills that had drawn heaven's envy, Jiang Baiyu picked up the larger one and swallowed it. The Yin-Yang Creation Origin-Returning Pill instantly became two torrents within him. One chilled his organs; the other burned through them. They surged and collided in his meridians, only for the pill's origin-returning power to bring them into balance and reshape his body. Two gentle currents of innate essence enveloped him, shielding him from the spring's bone-scorching, soul-freezing extremes.

Feeling his soul power continue to rise, Jiang Baiyu raised a hand and drew water from the Ice and Fire Spirit Spring. He dissolved the smaller pill in it. His Medicine Flame appeared again, refining the spring water until it brimmed with creation energy. With another lift of his hand, the water became a nourishing rain that fell over every Spirit Herb on the hillsides.

The rain carried not only the varied plant energy of each Spirit Herb, but also the Shennong vitality and power of creation within Jiang Baiyu's martial soul.

He cupped his hands and thanked the plant spirits. "Thank you, everyone. To be honest, I meant to coax those two little ones into giving me some essence. I'm sorry."

Washed by the nourishing rain, the valley's countless plants grew even more aware. At his apology, they all swayed as if telling him it was all right.

Once he had made every preparation, Jiang Baiyu walked to the spring where ice and fire met and leaped in.

At first, wrapped in the essences of the two Immortal Herbs, Jiang Baiyu felt as though he were diving through ordinary water. But the deeper he swam, the more heavily the power accumulated over countless ages pressed down on him. Piercing cold and searing heat struck in turns. The cold nearly froze his blood; the heat threatened to roast his flesh dry. His body suffered under both extremes. Even after taking the Yin-Yang Creation Origin-Returning Pill, he was nearing the limit of what he could bear.

Under that immense pressure, Jiang Baiyu could not even let out a breath. At that desperate moment, the Shennong Cauldron in his dantian emerged with a hum. Abundant vitality, mingled with the power of ice and fire, formed a thick barrier around him and kept both forces at bay. Yet the ancient weight rising from the depths still bore down in layer after layer, as though the whole earth rested on his shoulders. Descending even a little farther took tremendous effort. With room to breathe at last, Jiang Baiyu continued downward.

After an unknown length of time, the spring water before his eyes suddenly vanished. In its place was a strange, enclosed space cut off from the outside world.

The space was dim. Two enormous ancient dragon skeletons lay across it. One was crimson, with flames still burning over its bones. The other was translucent ice-blue, its bones giving off an ageless frost. Neither skeleton held any sign of life now; only their vast auras remained.

But the little Spirit Herbs would not lie. Their immense divine souls must have fallen into a long sleep deep within the bones.

With a thought, Jiang Baiyu summoned the Shennong Cauldron. A surge of plant energy swept through the space. If their spirits were still here, then he would wake them! Golden-green light shone from his fingertips.

Spirit-Awakening Method!

The light of a Hundred Herbs surged like a tide over the two vast skeletons and roused the divine souls that had slept within them for ages.

The space shook violently. Like undead bone dragons from a Western fantasy film, the two skeletons stirred, their empty eye sockets filling with eerie blue and deep red light.

Roar! A tremendous dragon's cry rang out.

The Ice Dragon King and the Fire Dragon King, two supreme powers from the age of the Dragon God, had returned at the call of Jiang Baiyu's Spirit-Awakening Method.