Were All Immortal Herbs Born from Mutation?

Qin Yun had said it could kill even a Titled Douluo at full strength.

Dugu Bo, standing beside him, did not argue.

If anyone else had told him

that this little thing could kill a Titled Douluo, he would never have believed it.

But he had already seen too many impossible things from Qin Yun.

Besides, he had made an assumption from the start.

He instinctively classified the dark crystal fragments as some kind of extraordinary poison.

He pulled back his outstretched hand.

Looking at Qin Yun, he asked, "Qin Yun, is this little thing really that poisonous?"

At that, a faint smile touched Qin Yun's lips.

He did not explain to Dugu Bo that it was not poison.

Nuclear Fission, Microscopic Particles, Elemental Decay—these mysteries lay far beyond the understanding of the Douluo Continent.

Explaining them would only waste his breath.

Qin Yun rapidly worked through the properties of Natural Uranium Crystal in his mind.

The Natural Uranium Crystal before him

was more than ninety-nine percent Uranium-238. Its structure was relatively stable and could not sustain Chain Fission on its own.

The core material capable of sustaining Chain Fission and being used to make a Nuclear Bomb was Uranium-235.

But that did not mean these Uranium Crystals were harmless.

Even if Uranium-238 could not produce a true nuclear explosion,

he could use his Martial Soul's elemental catalysis to induce a brief period of fission.

It would not be as powerful as a real Nuclear Bomb,

but the force of its instantaneous blast could still gravely injure a Titled Douluo.

Qin Yun carefully extracted every piece of Natural Uranium Crystal from the cracks in the rock, storing and sealing them one by one in the special Jade Bottles he carried. He did not dare let his attention slip for an instant.

These Uranium Crystals were arguably his greatest gain from this trip.

And he was certain of one thing.

Once his Martial Soul advanced again and he unlocked the Seventh-Period Heavy Element Control Authorization,

he would have a chance to master Isotope conversion.

He could turn the abundant, relatively stable Uranium-238 into rare, readily fissile Uranium-235.

Then he would wield genuine nuclear deterrence.

After safely storing all the Uranium Crystals,

Qin Yun finally took a close look at the peerless immortal herbs growing throughout the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

His careful observations just now

had also allowed him to grasp the underlying principle by which this hidden realm nurtured its treasures.

The Supreme-Cool Yin Spring and Supreme-Yang Spring washed through the valley day and night. Their extreme shifts between cold and heat, and the collision of yin and yang, forcibly altered the plants' physical structures and their Soul Power channels, tempering their roots and stems again and again.

More importantly, the two springs had seeped into the bedrock for years, steadily dissolving trace amounts of radioactive minerals deep underground.

That left the entire valley bathed in mild but persistent low-level Radiation.

This prolonged exposure to Radiation was the key to the plants' mutation into immortal herbs.

Ordinary plants either withered under the extreme temperature swings and Radiation

or adapted through directed mutation, their medicinal potency and spiritual properties transforming layer by layer until they became immortal herbs.

Having seen through the workings of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well,

Qin Yun already had a complete plan.

He was in no hurry to pick the ready-grown immortal herbs.

Their medicinal potency would be consumed in an instant.

The system of mutation that could cultivate immortal herbs without end was the true priceless treasure.

He stood still and carefully recorded the bedrock structure, Radiation levels, and soil humus parameters around the herbs.

Those records would lay a solid foundation for cultivating and improving immortal herbs himself.

Dugu Bo grew impatient as he watched and urged him on.

"Didn't you come to pick herbs and cure my granddaughter and me? Why haven't you chosen any?"

"Don't worry, Senior. I haven't forgotten my promise, and I won't go back on it."

"I'll ease some of the poison's backlash in your body first."

It was inconvenient to have Dugu Bo here the whole time. Better to send him away for now.

With that, Qin Yun stepped forward.

A strand of gentle, pure elemental Soul Power flowed from his fingertip and entered Dugu Bo's meridians with precision.

It targeted, broke down, and purified the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor's deadly poison that had lodged in his body for decades.

This innate poison had long since become deeply bound to Dugu Bo's Martial Soul and Soul Power. It was too entrenched to remove all at once and would continue to build up and harm him.

But Qin Yun's precise purification directly cleared some of the loose poison from his meridians.

In moments, Dugu Bo felt clear and unburdened. The oppressive feeling that had weighed on his body and mind vanished, leaving him wonderfully at ease.

Dugu Bo let out a long breath, his face full of amazement.

"Ah, that feels good! So good!"

"After years of suffering from this stubborn condition, I finally have some relief!"

Dugu Bo stopped pressing him.

"Take your time looking around."

"I'll leave you to it."

With that, Dugu Bo turned and strode away.

In an instant, he vanished into the depths of the forest.

Once Dugu Bo was gone, Qin Yun was alone on the spacious Ice and Fire Valley Floor.

Currents of hot and cold air mingled around him, immortal mist drifted through the valley, and all was quiet.

He settled his mind completely and continued recording and working out every essential condition for improving immortal herbs.

The conditions that caused each kind to mutate were different.

There were some immortal herbs Qin Yun did not recognize.

But he could identify several with distinctive features at a glance.

For instance, beside the valley grew a tulip that gleamed gold from stem to petal. Its bloom was lush and regal, and golden light flowed across it. It was most likely the Aromatic Silk Beauty that Ning Rongrong had taken;

not far away stood an upright chrysanthemum with neatly layered petals. That should be the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum.

The higher an immortal herb's grade, the denser the spiritual energy gathered around it. Its presence, color, and concentration of energy far surpassed those of ordinary spiritual herbs. The difference was obvious at a glance.

After working out how the different herbs mutated,

Qin Yun decided to run an experiment and test his cultivation theory.

He chose several unremarkable, poorly growing spiritual herbs from the edge of the hidden realm.

Carefully, he transplanted each one, roots and soil intact, to the central area.

He then used pure Elemental Power to make precise adjustments to the surrounding soil structure and trace Radiation levels.

He recreated the conditions in which immortal herbs were born,

attempting to induce the spiritual herbs to mutate and advance.

The process was bound to be slow, though.

It would take at least a week to see whether it worked.

At last, Qin Yun decided to consume the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and Infernal Delicate Apricot to temper his body.

Two vast and opposing medicinal forces entered him.

Extreme cold and supreme yang energy swept through every part of his body at once.

Bone-piercing cold and flesh-searing heat surged through his meridians and blood in turns, an agonizing assault of ice and fire.

Qin Yun circulated his Soul Power, guiding the two violent forces to mingle and balance each other.

As the opposing energies continued to neutralize and refine each other,

impurities were flushed from his body.

His bones, muscles, flesh, and meridians were remade under the repeated tempering of the Ice and Fire Power.

When the intense refinement was over,

Qin Yun's body had undergone a complete transformation. Its resilience had increased severalfold.

He now had a formidable constitution immune to all poisons, as well as to both ice and fire.