The vapor above the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well refracted the sunlight into a seven-colored rainbow. Where the milky-white cold spring met the vermilion hot spring, rising mist curled like gauze, making the valley's exotic flowers and herbs look like spirit plants in an immortal paradise.
The singular velvet sky chrysanthemum beside the pool swayed gently in the warm breeze, crystalline dewdrops rolling across its pale golden petals.
"A Soul Ring Age Pill."
Dugu Bo's hoarse voice echoed through the mist. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his emerald eyes were full of bewilderment.
As a Titled Douluo who had spent half his life studying poisons, he had at least heard of every pill with any reputation on the continent. Yet this "Soul Ring Age Pill" was completely unheard of.
He unconsciously rubbed his gaunt fingers, his gaze shifting between Yue Guan and Qian Daoliu. Judging by its name, did this pill have something to do with Soul Rings?
Qian Daoliu stood beside the cold spring, brushing his fingertips over a blade of grass coated in ice crystals. His tone was calm, yet enticing:
"Hahaha, this pill doesn't do much. If you're interested, you might study it together with Elder Yue Guan."
Dugu Bo snorted coldly and turned his back to look toward the hot spring.
"I have no interest in anything from your Spirit Hall."
Despite his words, the slight trembling of his shoulders betrayed his inner turmoil. It didn't do much?
If it really didn't do much, would you have come to me to buy herbs? Just what medicine is Spirit Hall hiding in its gourd?
Seeing this, Yue Guan suddenly gave a knowing smile.
Without answering, he walked straight toward the Medicine Garden beside the pool, bent down, and began harvesting with practiced ease.
His fingers flew, precisely pinching off tender leaves of dragon blood grass and extracting the cores of Icefire Fruits. He even carefully scraped up a few patches of seemingly ordinary moss, as though this Medicine Garden were already his for the taking.
"What are you doing?"
Dugu Bo spun around, his brows knotting tightly.
This Medicine Garden represented years of his painstaking work. Even if he did not know the true names of those immortal herbs, he knew they were all treasures. Yet Yue Guan harvested them even more casually than he did, treating the place like his own backyard.
Without so much as lifting his head, Yue Guan waved a shimmering purple herb between his fingertips.
"Relax, old poison master. I'm only taking the ingredients needed to refine a Thousand-Year Soul Ring Pill. I promise not to touch those treasures of yours."
As he spoke, Golden Crocodile had already spread an animal hide nearby. Yue Guan sorted the gathered ingredients onto it, his movements flowing like clouds and running water. He was clearly an old hand at pill refinement.
Dugu Bo's face darkened, but he did not stop him again.
He wanted to see just what tricks Yue Guan could pull off.
Yue Guan took out a small Purple-Gold Cauldron and placed several vermilion fragments of spring rock beneath it. They had been retrieved from the bottom of the hot spring and contained the energy of utmost yang fire.
As he poured in his soul power, pale golden flames instantly rose beneath the small cauldron, and he added the ingredients one after another.
His control over the flames' temperature was exquisitely precise. At times they blazed like a prairie fire; at others they glimmered faintly like candlelight. The ingredients tumbled inside the cauldron, gradually turning into a dark green medicinal liquid that released a peculiar fragrance, lightly bitter yet pure.
Dugu Bo's eyes gradually widened.
Although he knew nothing of pill refinement, he could see how unusual Yue Guan's methods were. Ordinary refinement emphasized balancing water and fire, yet Yue Guan directly used the hot spring's fire to drive the process, occasionally dripping milky-white water from the cold spring into the cauldron. As ice and fire alternated, the medicinal liquid's hue became increasingly lustrous, and even the poisonous miasma in the air was partly dispersed by its fragrance.
"Hmph. All smoke and mirrors."
Dugu Bo stubbornly scoffed, yet his feet seemed nailed to the ground.
A moment later,
Yue Guan abruptly drew his hands back. The Purple-Gold Cauldron's lid sprang open, and a vermilion pill the size of a longan fruit floated out. A faint halo flowed across its surface, and its medicinal fragrance instantly filled the air.
With a flick of his finger, the pill landed securely in his palm. He turned toward Dugu Bo, his smile carrying a hint of mockery.
"Old poison master, do you dare eat it?"
Dugu Bo stared at the pill like a venomous snake.
He had watched Yue Guan through the entire process, from harvesting the herbs to refining the pill, and had not seen him make a single move to poison it. With his sensitivity to poisons, he truly had detected nothing unusual.
But these were people from Spirit Hall... He instinctively wanted to refuse, yet his Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily.
"What? You don't dare?"
Yue Guan deliberately tossed the pill between his fingertips.
"Fair enough. It was refined by our Spirit Hall, after all. It's only natural to be afraid it's poisoned."
"Trying to goad me?"
Dugu Bo's face instantly flushed red, pride surging up from the depths of his heart.
He had spent his entire life studying poisons. What strange toxin had he not encountered? How could he let someone call him a coward?
"What poison haven't I tasted? You think I'd fear one lousy pill of yours?"
Before he had finished speaking, he stepped forward, snatched the pill, and shoved it into his mouth.
The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth, becoming a warm current that slid down his throat. Wherever it passed, a tingling itch spread through his meridians, as though countless tiny strands of energy were seeping into them.
"Guide it toward your first soul ring."
Having taken many pills herself, Bibi Dong spoke at just the right moment. Standing beside the cold spring, she offered the reminder with a calm expression.
"Concentrate."
Although Dugu Bo harbored resentment toward the people of Spirit Hall, he instinctively did as instructed.
He circulated his soul power, guiding the warm current toward his first soul ring.
In an instant, an astonishing sight unfolded. The yellow hundred-year soul ring encircling him suddenly trembled violently, its light growing brighter and brighter. Its color deepened at a speed visible to the naked eye, changing from pale yellow to bright yellow, then to deep yellow, before finally settling into a rich purple!
Under the pill's effects, a hundred-year soul ring had actually been forced up to the thousand-year level!
"This... this is impossible!"
Dugu Bo cried out involuntarily, his emerald eyes wide and round, the wrinkles on his face twisting with shock.
He unconsciously raised his hand and watched the purple Soul Ring slowly rotate above his palm. Feeling the soul power within it, several times more vast than before, he stood rooted to the spot as though struck by lightning.
He had studied poisons all his life. He had seen pills that increased soul power and pills that healed injuries, but he had never heard of a pill that could directly increase a Soul Ring's age!
This had already surpassed everything Soul Masters knew. It was nothing less than defying heaven and rewriting fate!
After a long while, Dugu Bo abruptly came to his senses. He stiffly turned his head, fixing his gaze on Qian Daoliu, his eyes filled with horror and disbelief.
He finally understood that what he had just witnessed was far more than a mere pill. If this thing spread beyond here, the balance of power across the entire continent would be overturned!
Qian Daoliu met his gaze with a faint smile, as though he had anticipated his reaction all along.
Sunlight filtered through the vapor onto his golden hair, shrouding him in a halo that seemed both sacred and dangerous.
Yue Guan put away the Purple-Gold Cauldron, walked over to Golden Crocodile, and chuckled softly.
"It seems the old poison master finally understands our sincerity."
Golden Crocodile rubbed his chin, a flicker of approval crossing his eyes.
"Putting Yue Guan in charge was the right decision."
Holding Xiao Wu in her arms, Xiao Wu's Mother gazed at the purple Soul Ring and said softly:
"This pill really is miraculous."
Xiao Wu blinked her ruby-like eyes and asked curiously:
"Mom, why did that old grandpa's ring change color?"
Only Dugu Bo remained rooted to the spot, his entire body trembling slightly.
"You... you..."
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