Not a Bad Deal

For the next half hour, Ah Yin absorbed the energy of heaven and earth in the valley.

The pace was nothing extraordinary, but it far surpassed what she could manage in an ordinary environment.

The Blue Silver Grass, which had only a few leaves, gradually began to glow faintly blue-gold at its roots.

Once the leaves unfurled, her life force grew much steadier.

Tang Hao crouched beside her and watched closely.

According to the original story, after growing in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well for many years, Ah Yin would have the foundation needed to form a body again.

Bringing her here much earlier did not mean she could revive at once.

After a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast sacrificed herself, all that remained was a seed.

To cultivate a human form again would still take a long time.

Still, seeing hope was always a good thing.

"She's absorbing your Soul Power."

Dugu Bo stood a few steps away, scrutiny in his eyes.

"Ordinary Blue Silver Grass can't do that."

"She was never ordinary."

Tang Hao withdrew his finger.

Ah Yin's leaves seemed reluctant to let go and brushed softly against the back of his hand a few more times.

Dugu Bo fell silent for a moment.

"That old friend of yours—was she a Soul Master?"

"More or less."

"Is this grass connected to her Martial Soul?"

Tang Hao looked up at him. "You're asking a lot of questions today."

Dugu Bo gave a cold snort.

"This is my herb garden. You planted something of unknown origin here. Of course I need to know what it is."

"She won't damage your garden."

"How can you guarantee that?"

"Because she cares more about plants than you do."

Dugu Bo's face darkened.

Compared with a stalk of Blue Silver Grass, he had somehow become the one who didn't care for medicinal plants.

But when he thought of how he usually tested medicines, he couldn't exactly say Tang Hao was wrong.

Tang Hao rose and walked to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

"Get me two Wooden Buckets."

"What for?"

"To hold springwater."

Dugu Bo stared at him as though he were mad.

"The springwater here can't stay out of the pool for long. An ordinary wooden bucket would crack from the cold or burn through the moment it touched the water."

"Then use something else."

"You want to use the springwater to heal your injuries?"

"I want to test it first."

Tang Hao had no intention of taking the Immortal Herbs immediately.

Rather than gamble his life outright, he preferred to test how much of the icy and fiery energy his body could withstand.

Dugu Bo took two jade bottles from his Soul Tool.

"These Cold Jade Bottles are what I use to hold poisons. They can carry only small amounts of springwater."

"That's enough."

Tang Hao took the bottles and approached the cold spring.

With three steps still between him and the water, the bone-piercing chill penetrated his Soul Power barrier.

As soon as a bottle's mouth neared the surface, white frost spread over his right hand.

Tang Hao collected half a bottle of springwater and retreated quickly.

Then he drew the same amount from the hot spring.

He set the two bottles on the ground. One was coated in frost; the other radiated waves of heat.

The nearby blades of grass began to curl slightly.

"And then?" Dugu Bo asked.

Tang Hao took a porcelain bowl from his Soul Tool.

"Mix them."

"Wait."

Dugu Bo had barely begun to stop him when Tang Hao poured in one drop from each bottle.

The instant the red and white drops touched, the porcelain bowl cracked without a sound.

Before the fragments hit the ground, they crumbled into powder.

Tang Hao stared at his empty palm.

Beside him, Dugu Bo sneered.

"That's your plan?"

"At least we've proved ordinary porcelain won't work."

"And that you wasted a bowl."

"It was my bowl."

"The springwater is mine."

Tang Hao ignored him and took out a sheet of metal.

This time, instead of letting the two kinds of springwater touch directly, he placed a drop at each end.

Half the metal swiftly turned red, while ice covered the other half.

A few breaths later, the forces of heat and cold met in the middle, and the metal snapped in two.

"That's probably what would happen to a person's body if it tried to withstand both forces," Dugu Bo said.

"Which is why the Immortal Herbs are needed."

Tang Hao looked toward the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

The two Immortal Herbs grew beside the cold and hot springs respectively, and each could withstand the extreme energy around it.

Only after swallowing them, when their medicinal powers balanced each other, could someone enter the springwater to temper their body.

The principle was simple.

Putting it into practice left no room for error at any step.

"If you know the method, why not try it?" Dugu Bo asked.

"Because I don't know how much to take, and I'm not sure either herb is mature."

Tang Hao answered frankly.

"I'm injured. If their medicinal powers fall out of balance, I might not be able to save myself in time."

Dugu Bo approached the two Immortal Herbs and examined them carefully.

"According to my records, these herbs have been growing for at least several hundred years."

"I can't tell whether they're mature, but their medicinal properties should be extremely potent."

"Could we cut off a little leaf from each to test?"

"No."

Dugu Bo shook his head at once. "These two herbs are highly unusual. If damaged, they might wither almost immediately."

Tang Hao glanced at him in surprise.

"I thought you didn't recognize them."

"Not recognizing them doesn't mean I haven't studied them."

Dugu Bo said coldly, "If I could simply try them, I would have eaten them long ago."

It seemed the old poison freak liked testing medicines, but he hadn't quite started treating his life as expendable.

Tang Hao put away the two bottles.

"There's no rush."

"Of course you're in no rush."

Dugu Bo raised his left arm. "My meridians still hurt."

The minor damage left by the first poison expulsion had yet to heal.

After examining him for a while, Tang Hao picked out two herbs from the medicinal records.

"This one repairs meridians, and this one improves blood circulation. You know better than I do how to combine them."

Dugu Bo looked at the herbs he had chosen.

"Their medicinal properties conflict."

"Use less of the blood-circulating herb."

"How much less?"

"You're the one who studies Pharmacology."

A vein twitched on Dugu Bo's forehead.

Tang Hao had given him a method, then left all the practical work to him.

Something about that felt wrong, though Dugu Bo couldn't quite say what it was.

After all, Tang Hao had said from the start that he wasn't a professional.

"We'll expel the poison a second time tomorrow," Dugu Bo said. "This time, I'll control it myself."

"Fine."

"You only need to suppress it if I lose control."

"No problem."

Tang Hao nodded. "That'll give me a chance to see just how poor your control over your own Soul Power is."

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with my control!"

"Then why did your meridians nearly burst last time?"

"Because you pushed too fast!"

The two Titled Douluo argued for a while, but neither managed to convince the other.

In the end, Dugu Bo took the herbs and left the valley to prepare a medicinal solution for repairing his meridians.

Tang Hao returned to sit beside Ah Yin.

In just one afternoon, Ah Yin's roots had adapted to the new soil.

Her life force was still weak, but she was far more lively than she had been in Holy Soul Village.

Tang Hao held out his hand and let her leaves curl around his finger.

Since coming here, Ah Yin had clearly begun recovering faster.

They had also found a direction for Dugu Bo's treatment.

Only his own injuries had yet to show any real progress.

Did I fucking transmigrate here to go around saving everyone else's life?

At the thought, Tang Hao couldn't help sighing.

At least the grass was his, and Dugu Bo didn't seem all that bright.

All things considered, it wasn't a bad deal.