"Teacher, are you going alone tomorrow?" Yu Xiaogang lowered the carriage curtain and turned back, asking with a hint of hesitation on his face.
Li Qingshan nodded and said solemnly,
"There are quite a few soul beasts in Sunset Forest, and I also have to search for the herb garden. There's no telling what I might encounter. Your cultivation is still low, so taking you along would be inconvenient."
"Stay here in the city and put your mind at ease. Consolidate the progress you've made these past few days, and wait for me to return."
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his request to accompany him.
His teacher was going to find immortal herbs for him. If he tagged along, not only would he be unable to help, but his teacher might also have to divide his attention to protect him when they encountered soul beasts.
At that thought, he nodded earnestly.
"I understand."
"Then please be careful on your journey, Teacher."
Li Qingshan smiled faintly.
"Don't worry. Just take good care of yourself and Sanpao."
Teacher and disciple found an inn in the city and settled in.
After a simple meal, Yu Xiaogang returned to his room to cultivate, while Li Qingshan asked the innkeeper about the roads out of the city and bought a map of the surrounding area.
By the time everything was ready, darkness had fallen.
Early the next morning.
Li Qingshan left the inn alone, departed Heaven Dou City, and headed straight toward Sunset Forest. Without Yu Xiaogang to look after, he naturally traveled much faster.
As the trees lining the road grew denser, a vast forest stretching over rolling terrain gradually came into view.
"Sunset Forest. Finally!"
Li Qingshan stopped outside the forest and looked up, then strode inside.
The forest was much quieter than the world outside. Towering canopies blocked most of the sunlight, thick layers of fallen leaves covered the ground, and the occasional roar of a soul beast sounded in the distance.
As Li Qingshan headed deeper inside, he recalled the original novel's descriptions of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
A valley and a hot spring, with poisonous substances around the perimeter that kept soul beasts from approaching.
He remembered all those features. The problem was that the book had never told him which direction to take after entering Sunset Forest.
What was more, this was over thirty years before the original story. No one knew exactly what the place looked like now.
"Knowing a place exists and actually finding it really are two different things." Li Qingshan glanced at the map in his hand and shook his head.
The map only marked roads around the forest's outskirts and a few places soul masters frequently passed through. The deeper into the forest it went, the fewer details it recorded.
Naturally, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was even less likely to appear on it.
He put away the map and continued onward.
Li Qingshan encountered several soul beasts along the way, but did not get entangled with them. He went around those he could avoid and only released his soul power to frighten off those that truly blocked his path.
However.
As time ticked by, his brows gradually knitted.
More than half a day had passed since he entered the forest. He had crossed several hills, followed streams in his search, and even discovered a valley hidden behind dense woodland.
But when he entered it, he found only a group of soul beasts occupying the place, without the slightest sign of a hot spring.
After climbing another rise, Li Qingshan stopped and gazed at the layers upon layers of treetops ahead. He slowly exhaled and said,
"If I keep searching like this, even another few days might not get me anywhere."
Sunset Forest was even larger than he had imagined. Finding a hidden valley within it based solely on those scattered memories was no easy task.
"Looks like I'll still have to rely on you."
Li Qingshan pondered for a moment, then gradually sank his awareness into his Sea of Consciousness. After several days of nurturing, that strand of spiritual power belonging to a Limit Douluo had already recovered.
He had only three breaths. Within that time, he had to investigate as much of the surrounding area as possible.
With that thought, Li Qingshan closed his eyes and instantly activated that strand of spiritual power.
The next instant, an invisible spiritual ripple spread rapidly outward in every direction, with him at its center!
Trees, rocks, and soul beasts hidden in bushes and caves appeared in his perception one after another. Places previously concealed by branches and leaves gradually became clear as well.
The first breath.
Li Qingshan extended his spiritual power forward, passing over a stretch of dense woodland and several hills, but still found no trace of what he sought.
Without pausing, he immediately changed the direction of his search.
The second breath.
More scenes flooded his mind.
The auras of soul beasts, underground waterways, and mountain gullies of varying depths...
Li Qingshan frowned slightly and continued pushing his perception farther into the distance.
Just as the third breath was about to end.
Something different suddenly appeared in one direction.
It was an area screened by the mountains, with noticeably fewer soul beasts nearby. Deeper within it, he faintly sensed two utterly opposing auras.
One was bitterly cold.
The other was scorching hot.
Found it? Li Qingshan's heart stirred. He was about to take a closer look when that extraordinarily clear perception rapidly receded.
The three breaths were up, and the strand of power in his Sea of Consciousness fell dormant once more.
Li Qingshan opened his eyes and immediately looked toward the direction where he had sensed the anomaly.
Although he had not seen the hot spring directly, the simultaneous presence of ice and fire in one place was enough to warrant a look.
"I hope I haven't found the wrong place this time."
He pushed off the ground and shot forward, speeding into the distance through gaps between the trees.
The farther he traveled in that direction, the quieter his surroundings became.
The soul beasts he had occasionally encountered earlier were now rarely seen. Even the vegetation on the ground gradually began to differ from that elsewhere.
Li Qingshan stepped over a rock.
Then abruptly stopped.
A pale green mist drifted slowly among the trees ahead.
The mist was not particularly thick, yet the outlines of the trees looked blurred through it. The leaves of several vines growing along its edges bore an unnatural dark tint.
"Poisonous miasma!"
At the sight, Li Qingshan's gaze shifted slightly, and his expression changed.
After receiving the alchemy legacy, he was naturally far more sensitive to such things than before.
This mist looked ordinary, but it contained potent poison. An ordinary soul master who ventured into it unprepared would likely collapse before getting very far.
"No wonder there are so few soul beasts nearby."
Rather than approach recklessly, Li Qingshan slowly raised his right hand. Silver light gathered, and the Passionate Sword appeared in his palm.
Immediately afterward, his fourth soul ring lit up.
Looking at the poisonous miasma ahead, he slowly recited,
"One sword kindles fury's flame; a thousand layers of miasma part."
"Fourth soul skill, Fury!"
Pale red flames rapidly climbed the silvery-white blade.
Li Qingshan tightened his grip on the hilt and slashed forward. A streak of sword light wrapped in emotional flames plunged straight into the mist.
"Hiss, hiss..."
Wherever the blade passed, the pale green miasma churned violently before the sword light and flames tore an opening through it.
The mist on either side tried to gather again, but Li Qingshan swung his sword once more to force it back. Without lingering, he darted into the passage before it could close.
After he passed through the poisonous miasma, the scene before him changed completely.
Li Qingshan reached a steep cliff and looked down, his gaze immediately fixing on the sight below.
A valley lay hidden among the mountains.
At its center, a hot spring was clearly visible. Strangely, the spring was divided into two utterly different colors: milky white on one side and vermilion on the other.
The two currents touched within the same pool yet remained as distinct as the Jing and Wei rivers, never mixing. A faint mist rose from the water, shrouding the nearby vegetation.
And all around the hot spring grew great swaths of herbs in all manner of shapes!
"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well! I finally found it!" Li Qingshan's eyes lit up at the sight, and he spoke with excitement.
He found a foothold along the cliff and reached the valley floor in several successive leaps. The moment he steadied himself, a breath of air laced with delicate fragrance washed over him.
Li Qingshan looked up, and a flowering plant nearby soon caught his attention. He murmured, "This is singular velvet sky chrysanthemum..."
He stepped closer, but before he could examine it carefully, another herb beside it caught his eye.
"Eight-petal immortal orchid."
"And aromatic silk beauty!"
As his gaze swept across them, the names and characteristics of the herbs rapidly matched up in his mind.
Some were immortal herbs. Others did not quite qualify, but were still precious medicinal plants rarely seen in the outside world. Now, all of them grew within this valley.
The sight set Li Qingshan's heart ablaze, and his hand involuntarily tightened around the Passionate Sword.
Used properly, these herbs could bring tremendous benefits not only to Yu Xiaogang, but to him as well!
"This trip certainly wasn't wasted."
He murmured the words and was about to continue examining the herbs along the spring.
But just then.
An unrestrained scream of agony suddenly rang out from the depths of the valley.
"Aah-!"
Before you continue