Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well

"Young friend! How exactly does this method work? If you can save Yanyan's life, then this old life of mine—Dugu Bo's—is yours to command from now on!"

Dugu Yan stood beside him, utterly dumbfounded.

As far as she knew, her grandfather had always been proud and unruly. He barely gave the princes and nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire the time of day. When had he ever treated a twelve-year-old boy like this?

Xue Beng, who was playing dead in the bushes, was so frightened he even forgot his aching teeth. He buried his head deep in the mud, not daring to draw a full breath.

"Don't make promises just yet, Senior Dugu."

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and cut through Dugu Bo's excitement.

"Driving the poison into her bones would treat the root of the problem, but your granddaughter hasn't even reached level thirty. Her body is far too fragile, and she has no spare Soul Bone to bear such a potent poison. To stabilize her condition at once, I'll also need a few exceptional herbs of extreme heat and cold. They'll serve as catalysts to cleanse her marrow, remake her bones, and neutralize the poison."

A hint of amusement entered Huo Yuhao's eyes.

"I hear you have a private estate deep in the Sunset Forest, where you keep a garden of rare plants... Might it have the herbs I need?"

Dugu Bo's heart jolted again.

That treasure trove in the Sunset Forest was the greatest secret of his life. Even Prince Xue Xing knew nothing about it. How did this boy know?

But at a time like this, how could Dugu Bo spare a thought for investigating him?

Saving his granddaughter mattered more than heaven itself!

"Yes! My herb garden has all manner of rare plants. There's even a strange spring, half scorching hot and half bitterly cold!"

Without a moment's hesitation, Dugu Bo swept out his hand and declared,

"If you can save Yanyan, take your pick of anything in my garden! Pick whatever you please! If anyone tries to stop you, I'll skin him alive!"

At last, a smile touched Huo Yuhao's lips.

"Good. You're a straightforward man, Senior Dugu."

Huo Yuhao turned and beckoned to Tang Sanmei behind him.

"Sanmei, put the academy paperwork aside for now. Come with Senior Dugu to the Sunset Forest. I'll show you what truly peerless Immortal Herbs look like."

"Yes, Senior Brother!"

Tang Sanmei answered respectfully and hurried to Huo Yuhao's side.

Dugu Bo gave Huo Yuhao a long look. Ignoring Xue Beng's whimpering in the bushes, he set off toward the Sunset Forest in a rush of wind, shielding Dugu Yan as he led the way.

Dugu Bo was a Titled Douluo, after all. Traveling at full speed, he brought them deep into the Sunset Forest in half a day.

Before a bare hill, a layer of oily green poison mist drifted through the air, carrying the sickly sweet stench of rotten fish.

"All right, stop here."

Dugu Bo grudgingly fished out two red pills and held them out.

"Eat these. The Poison Formation I laid stretches ten li. One breath of it would turn even a Soul Douluo to pus. Don't complain about the taste—they'll keep you alive."

Tang Sanmei did not take one. She leaned closer, sniffed, and immediately curled her lip.

"Ugh, it reeks. Realgar mixed with rotten snake gall, rolled into little mud pellets, right? The workmanship's as crude as a barefoot village doctor's. Senior Brother, these things would give you heartburn and make you sick. Don't eat them."

Dugu Bo's hand froze around the pills. His aged face darkened.

"What the hell do you know, little girl? My Antidote Pills sell for thousands of Gold Soul Coins apiece in Heaven Dou City!"

"That's enough, old poisoner. Put them away. No one wants your mud pellets."

Huo Yuhao, hands in his pockets, cut off his boasting.

He did not so much as glance at the poison mist. A faint golden gleam flashed between his brows, and an invisible barrier of spiritual power pushed outward.

"Let's go."

Huo Yuhao strode into the mist.

The menacing green haze seemed to have eyes. Wherever it met his barrier, it recoiled like a mouse before a cat. It was forced aside into a broad passage without a single wisp touching him.

Tang Sanmei hurried after him.

"..."

Dugu Bo stood rooted to the spot, pills in hand, his eyes nearly bulging out.

Spiritual power could be used like that?

He was pushing my life-bound snake venom aside like air!

Dugu Yan tugged at Dugu Bo's robe and added softly,

"Grandpa... your Poison Formation doesn't seem all that effective."

Dugu Bo's back teeth ached with anger. Swallowing his temper, he hurried after them.

As they crossed the ridge, a wave of air both icy and scalding struck their faces.

A great pool lay embedded in the valley below.

An invisible force divided it straight down the middle.

Steam billowed from one half, where thick, searing waves churned like molten rock.

The other half was a deep, crystalline milky white, radiating a piercing chill.

Red and white stood as distinct as the Jing and Wei Rivers, yet somehow mingled and gave rise to each other.

Countless rare plants, long extinct elsewhere, grew thick across the fertile earth around the spring.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

"Holy shit! Yuhao! This place!"

Deep in the Spiritual Sea, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm sprang to life and burst out from the depths of Huo Yuhao's consciousness.

His two round little eyes widened. He laughed so hard in the Sea of Consciousness that he nearly rolled over.

"Hahahaha! Heaven has a sense of humor! Isn't this the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well in the Sunset Forest?"

"Ten thousand years from now, that hypocrite Tang San will have plastered this damn place with Tang Sect restrictions. That big fat flower, the Fragrant Silkflower, and the rest of those ancient fossils will have gained sentience. They'll pull rank on you, force you to drink poison, and put you through some bullshit True Love Test. They'll nearly torment you to death!"

Brother Sky Dream bounced wildly around Huo Yuhao's mind, his voice brimming with vindication.

"Just look! It's ten thousand years earlier now! These old herbs haven't even gained intelligence yet. They're just plants, sitting obediently in the ground!"

Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath of air rich with medicinal fragrance. The miniature Soul Core turning slowly within him immediately spun faster, as if delighted.

He sneered inwardly.

That's right. Today, I'll collect some interest on that ten-thousand-year-old debt.

"Boy, we're here."

Dugu Bo landed with Dugu Yan on a rock nearby. Hands clasped behind his back, he resumed his lofty Titled Douluo manner and began pointing things out.

"That pool is wicked. Touch it and you die. All these flowers and grasses around it are deadly poisonous too. Even I wear three layers of gloves when I gather herbs. Pick your catalysts, but don't get handsy and poison yourself."

Hearing the old man show off again, Huo Yuhao could not help turning to stare at him as though he were an idiot.

"Deadly poisonous?"

Huo Yuhao gave a derisive laugh and pointed to a white-jade herb shaped like an eight-pointed diamond beside the cold half of the pool.

"That's Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass."

Then he pointed to a red flower flickering like a flame beside the hot half. "And that's Infernal Delicate Apricot."