"Boy, do you mean that?!"
Dugu Bo abruptly stepped forward, his entire body like a bow drawn taut, his gaze fixed fiercely on the white-haired youth before him.
To him, those words were the last straw a drowning man could grasp, an irresistible temptation.
"I, An Jing, have always disdained lies and deceit." An Jing stood with his hands behind his back, composed, and nodded slightly.
With that confirmation, the green light in Dugu Bo's eyes surged wildly. His chest heaved as he immediately declared in a deep voice:
"If you can truly rid Yanyan of this scourge, and cure the lingering affliction of this old man with one foot in the grave...
"From this day onward, I, Dugu Bo, will owe you my life!
"Through mountains of blades and seas of fire, you need only say the word, and I will not hesitate. Tell me to go east, and I will never take so much as half a step west!"
A life-bound oath from a level ninety-one Titled Douluo carried the weight of a thousand tons.
An Jing merely laughed heartily at those words and waved a hand.
"You give me too much credit, senior.
"We walk the great path alone, but mutual benefit is the only lasting strategy.
"As they say, another friend means another road to take. This is merely a small effort on my part."
Standing nearby, Zhu Zhuqing's eyes flickered. Her coldly beautiful face was filled with astonishment and shock she could not conceal.
A moment ago, this had been a hellish battlefield steeped in murderous intent, with life and death hanging by a thread. In the blink of an eye, the atmosphere had become as convivial as friends exchanging drinks.
With just a few piercing words that laid everything bare, he had not only dissolved a Titled Douluo's towering murderous intent without suffering a scratch, but had also won the man over completely amid laughter and conversation.
His command of the human heart, his audacity and skill in conjuring clouds with one turn of his hand and rain with another, stirred unprecedented waves in Zhu Zhuqing's long-frozen heart. An Jing's mystery and strength seemed more unfathomable than ever.
"Hahahaha! Another friend means another road, indeed! Boy, that breadth of mind and spirit of yours really is something!"
Dugu Bo threw back his head and laughed. It was as though a rift had finally opened in the gloom that had weighed on his heart for years.
Now that their enmity had dissolved, he swept his gaze over the clusters of rare treasures breathing radiant light around them, then offered a kindly warning with a serious expression:
"Boy, since we've come this far, take whichever spiritual herbs in this garden catch your eye.
"But I must warn you beforehand: though these plants are rare treasures of heaven and earth, many possess exceedingly fierce and domineering medicinal properties.
"If you swallow them recklessly without understanding their effects, at best your meridians will rupture and your foundation will be destroyed. At worst, you'll turn into bloody pus and die on the spot!"
At this well-intentioned warning, An Jing raised an eyebrow, a trace of nonchalance passing across his face.
"Rest assured, senior.
"I once had a close friend whose knowledge of the world's exotic flowers and rare herbs was profound. He personally wrote a Detailed Record of Plants and Trees and gave it to me to read.
"I already know every species in this treasured place by heart-their characteristics, their ages, and the methods of processing and refining them."
His words were half true and half false, but they were not inventions pulled from thin air.
Twenty thousand years into the Douluo Continent's future, the Tang Sect had long since claimed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and compiled an extremely detailed Immortal Herb Compendium.
Though An Jing remained independent of the great leading sects, his deft social skills had brought him into contact with many factions. He had read the entire collection of ancient texts on immortal herbs, so he knew the medicinal properties of these spiritual treasures as intimately as treasures in his own home.
Seeing his calm confidence, Dugu Bo's worries immediately dissipated, and he nodded solemnly.
"In that case, I won't say any more. Decide for yourself."
An Jing said no more. He walked through the billowing haze of medicinal fragrance, his gaze burning bright as he carefully examined this miraculous ground beneath his feet.
As far as the eye could see, eight-pointed leaves drooped with radiance and delicate fragrances drifted through the air. Countless supreme medicinal treasures, any one of which could make Titled Douluos fight until their heads split and blood flowed in the outside world,
were now spread casually before him like cabbages. Even with An Jing's temperament, a spark of burning wonder rose in his eyes.
But biting off more than one could chew was unwise. Wonderful as spiritual herbs were, mixing them indiscriminately would only cause their medicinal powers to clash.
Only by choosing a combination perfectly suited to his martial soul and physique could he bring these gifts of heaven and earth to their fullest potential.
After surveying the area, An Jing first fixed his gaze beside the two spring sources of extreme yin and extreme yang.
One plant was lustrous white all over, with eight points, emanating the bone-piercing chill of ten-thousand-year frost. It was the "octagonal mysterious ice grass." The other was crimson throughout, like fiery coral carved from jade, with rolling heat waves distorting the space around it. It was unmistakably the "infernal delicate apricot."
These two plants had formed from the yin and yang sources of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. They had to be consumed together to harmonize yin and yang, not only forging a supreme golden body impervious to water, fire, and all poisons,
but also raising his body's resistance to pressure by several orders of magnitude, laying the firmest possible foundation for bearing higher-grade Battle Armor later on.
But tempering his body alone was not enough.
His martial soul was "Sky," which governed weather, gravity, and higher-dimensional atmospheric pressure. To bring the perception and control of his Sky Domain down to the level of microscopic particles,
he needed a supreme spiritual treasure capable of vastly expanding his Sea of Consciousness to serve as its central support.
An Jing turned, his gaze passing over several flowers before finally settling on an unusual sight beside a crack in the mountain rock.
A strange spiritual plant had taken root in dark-brown, scorched stone. Deep midnight blue throughout, it faintly emitted a dim stellar glow. This was the exceedingly rare "Star Luo Spirit Pearl."
It was said that this plant could emerge only where a meteorite bearing immense stellar power had fallen, after absorbing the essence of heaven and earth for hundreds or thousands of years.
The fruit at its tip resembled a condensed stellar core. Once refined,
it could not only form the embryonic shape of a "soul core" within a Soul Master's Sea of Consciousness, but also increase a soul's affinity for, and ability to analyze, the stars of the heavens and the vast currents of air between heaven and earth a hundredfold.
"These three, then."
An Jing focused his gaze and flicked his fingertips. The surrounding air instantly compressed into several luminous vacuum blades as thin as cicada wings.
His wrist danced, and the invisible air blades swept past. With an almost otherworldly effortlessness, he neatly severed the Star Luo Spirit Pearl at its roots and drew it through the air into his palm.
Then his figure flashed. The air blades tore through the air like thunderbolts, and before the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot could release their violent cold and heat, he severed them both with an air-pressure barrier that completely isolated them, then swept them back!
The Star Luo Spirit Pearl was gathered up along with them.
The entire harvest flowed like drifting clouds and running water, so swift that even Dugu Bo had not fully seen how he had done it.
"Senior, sorry for the trouble, but please guard me for a moment."
Holding the three immortal herbs, each radiating terrifying fluctuations, An Jing turned toward Dugu Bo.
Dugu Bo thumped his chest with a thunderous sound, his green hair flying, his expression utterly solemn.
"Boy, cultivate without worry! I guarantee it with my life. As long as I still draw breath, not even a mosquito or fly will cross this forbidden boundary!"
"Good."
Before the word had faded, An Jing drove his toes against the rock wall. His figure swept away like a startled swan, robes snapping in the wind, as he flew without the slightest hesitation toward the very center of the inverted-cone basin!
Splash!
Water sprayed in all directions!
Under the abruptly contracting pupils of Dugu Bo, his granddaughter, and Zhu Zhuqing, An Jing plunged straight into the swirling boundary between the sharply divided crimson and icy-white spring waters!
Bone-piercing cold and flesh-searing flames tore madly at his protective soul power. His expression stern, An Jing pressed two fingers together and first swallowed the Star Luo Spirit Pearl, with its faint glimmer of starlight, in a single gulp.
Then, at the critical instant before the spring waters could assimilate his flesh, he brought his hands together, forcibly pressed the octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot into one mass, and thrust them into his mouth without holding anything back!
Boom-!!
The three immortal herbs entered his body, and their medicinal power abruptly detonated deep within his meridians and Sea of Consciousness!
Two savage medicinal forces, one of extreme cold and the other of extreme heat, rampaged through his meridians like two mighty dragons, tearing them apart before rebuilding them amid surging vitality.
At the same time, the Star Luo Spirit Pearl's vast stellar power erupted from the crown of his head, becoming a brilliant, boundless nebula that slammed violently into An Jing's Sea of Consciousness!
Scorching crimson radiance, freezing frost, and profound starlight shot skyward from An Jing's body, tearing the skies above the entire Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well into a dazzling spectacle. A towering storm of energy instantly erupted throughout the valley!
(Two more chapters at midnight tonight.)
Before you continue