Taking the Immortal Herbs-What a Monster

Mo An took his place beside the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass. He stowed his valuables, put on the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Silkworm Silk Gloves, picked up the Dagger meant for harvesting the grass, and tucked the Jade Shovel for digging up the Infernal Delicate Apricot into his belt.

He took a deep breath and ate the Essence-Consolidating Grass he had found earlier. Once he had brought himself to peak condition, he swept the Dagger through the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, severing the entire plant.

The instant it was cut, a bone-chilling cold spread outward, sending the already low temperature around the Extreme Cold Yin Spring plunging even further.

Ignoring the onslaught of cold, Mo An grabbed the grass and sprinted toward the Infernal Delicate Apricot as fast as he could. Even through the Ten-Thousand-Year Golden Silkworm Silk Gloves, he could clearly feel the extreme cold it gave off.

The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass was a flower of extraordinary cold and possessed a rare, deadly poison. It could chill a person's heart and numb their central nervous system. But brought near the Infernal Delicate Apricot, its opposing counterpart, that frigid poison would be temporarily neutralized. That would be the best moment to consume both Immortal Herbs.

Dugu Bo, standing at the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, was dumbstruck. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected the boy to be so bold. He himself did not dare go near either of the Immortal Herbs Mo An had chosen, yet the boy had grabbed one with his hands.

When Mo An dug up the flame-colored, cabbage-like herb with the Jade Shovel and held it in his hand, Dugu Bo saw the two deadly herbs grow mild. He could not help muttering another curse: "What a monster."

With the Infernal Delicate Apricot in his left hand and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass in his right, Mo An waited until their poisons neutralized each other, then immediately ate them.

The Infernal Delicate Apricot tasted like stir-fried spicy cabbage. The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass tasted like ice cream that had been frozen too hard.

Not bad.

The thought had barely passed through Mo An's mind when a wave of cold spread from his stomach through his entire body. He shivered, and his body turned blue.

Before long, heat from the Infernal Delicate Apricot followed, spreading from his stomach through his body. A red glow appeared over him.

Red and blue made his body their battlefield, surging back and forth in turns. Pain filled every inch of his skin, flesh, and bone. If absorbing Whale Rubber earlier had not greatly increased his ability to endure torment, the clash between the two Immortal Herbs might have made him pass out.

"Hey, Little Monster, are you all right?"

Having witnessed everything, Dugu Bo called out to ask how Mo An was doing. He was genuinely afraid the boy would die here—not because he cared about Mo An, but because he feared Sword Douluo and Ning Fengzhi would come to settle accounts with him.

"I'm... I'm fine. No need to worry, Senior Dugu Bo. Once I've absorbed the medicinal power of these two Immortal Herbs, I'll come out and make your pills."

Standing beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, red and blue crossing over his body, Mo An forced out a reply with the last of his strength. Then, smiling, he jumped into the well of his own accord.

?

??

Startled, Dugu Bo rushed to the well in a few quick strides. To his amazement, Mo An was lying at its center, and the pain on his face was gradually fading.

???

No longer needing to worry for Mo An's life only left Dugu Bo with more questions. He did not understand. He could not understand. He truly could not understand why this was happening.

The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, the Infernal Delicate Apricot, and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were each harmful on their own. But brought together, the three produced a marvelous reaction.

The two utterly opposite Immortal Herbs affected each other, temporarily canceling out their deadly poisons so they could be eaten safely.

But eating them did not mean Mo An could absorb their medicinal power. That was where the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well came in.

The well helped those who consumed the Immortal Herbs absorb their properties and better transform the ice and fire energies into part of themselves, achieving perfect absorption.

At the same time, the medicinal power of the two herbs kept the person who ate them safe inside the well.

Together, the three formed a perfect cycle. Not one could be missing. This was the great opportunity the author of Douluo Continent—the creator—had bestowed upon the future Tang San. Now, it belonged to him, Mo An.

The vast and opposing medicinal powers of the two herbs battered his body without pause. Even with the well's aid, Mo An suffered tremendous pain. He desperately wanted to pass out, but the extraordinary mental strength brought by his transmigration would not let him lose consciousness so easily.

Unable to faint, Mo An could only use the Green Bamboo Meditation Method to circulate the herbs' medicinal power. It was like an ant trying to move a mountain, but lying there and taking the torment without doing anything was not his style. He had to find some direction in which to struggle.

Dugu Bo stood on the bank of the Ice and Fire Spring Water and watched Mo An gradually return to normal in the well. Full of questions, he retreated to a relatively safe spot. Getting too close to the well's core was still too dangerous for someone afflicted with Jade Scale Snake Poison.

Once there, Dugu Bo took out the small note Mo An had given him and crouched beside the Phoenix Sunflower and Snow-Colored Swan Kiss, the two Immortal Herbs whose names and effects he now knew. He gazed at them as though admiring rare treasures.

To test the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss, Dugu Bo searched through everything he carried. At the very bottom of his Storage Soul Tool, he found a laxative he had made before becoming a Soul Master, one that could only give people diarrhea. He enclosed it in a special implement and brought it close to the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss.

Then Dugu Bo watched the laxative change under the Snow-Colored Swan Kiss's influence. He could not understand what caused the change, and it astonished him.

In the end, a laxative that could only give people diarrhea had become a poison capable of making a Soul Saint suffer.

Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Dugu Bo would never have believed it.

Holding the new poison, Dugu Bo glanced at Mo An, who still appeared to be doing all right in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. He flew out of the Poison Formation, found a reasonably strong Soul Beast in the Soul Beast Forest, and captured several reasonably strong Soul Masters. Then he tested the enhanced laxative on them.

The results far exceeded Dugu Bo's expectations. The laxative's potency had multiplied countless times. The Soul Beast and Soul Masters he had fed it to nearly emptied their guts.

After more than half an hour of torment, Mo An finally passed out from the pain. He closed his eyes peacefully and sank into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

The spring grew calm again. Milky white and crimson remained as sharply divided as ever, while mist filled the valley. Everything returned to silence.

Time flowed like water. On the morning of the third day, ripples spread across the still surface of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. A figure burst from the water, laughing.