Chapter 34

"The energy of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well originally came from what dispersed from our bodies after we died. Our Ice-Fire Origin can form a miniature Yin Yang Eyes inside you, one yin and one yang, cycling eternally, endlessly renewing themselves. It will be enough to make you stronger than ever after your resurrection," the Ice Dragon King continued.

Ah Yin fell silent for a while. "...Are you proposing a trade?"

"Not a trade. A collaboration," the Ice Dragon King calmly clarified.

Ah Yin's leaves slowly unfurled a little. She weighed it for a long time before asking the most crucial question. "What if I refuse?"

A narrow fissure suddenly opened in the Fire Dragon King's consciousness, like a smile. "Then keep sleeping. We'll go back to lying around waiting to die. We've spent hundreds of millions of years that way. We were waiting to die anyway. It's no big deal."

Ah Yin said nothing. The surface of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well rippled gently in the night breeze, starlight shattering in the water into flecks of silver.

Throughout this time, she had been communicating with Lan Changsheng through the Oath of Protection. Sensing that she had weakened again, Lan Changsheng had contacted her immediately.

This was the first time Lan Changsheng had asserted his authority as her older brother and sternly scolded her. That was also why Ah Yin had remained silent for so long: she had been soothing her brother.

Lan Changsheng was also very surprised by the two Dragon Kings' revival.

He told Ah Yin, "Have them wait until I return. We can decide after I've spoken to them. Also, you mustn't take matters into your own hands like this again. Tell Brother Dugu to take you away if anything goes wrong. As long as the green hills remain, there will be firewood to burn. With the Oath of Protection in place, your memories will be safe."

After soothing Lan Changsheng, Ah Yin told the two of them, "I can't agree on his behalf. Once my brother returns, you can speak to him directly. But until he gets back, you must stop absorbing and plundering the remaining Life Divine Power. I need to defend this valley now, and I badly need that divine power."

The Fire Dragon King snorted. "A Soul Beast no bigger than a child, yet you speak so tough."

"You're the ones asking me for a favor," Ah Yin said.

The Fire Dragon King fell silent for a moment. An extremely low, deep vibration came from his consciousness, as though he were laughing.

"So that man is your brother. No wonder you're so protective of him." The Ice Dragon King's consciousness sank down, then surfaced again a moment later. "Fine. We agree. We'll wait until your brother arrives."

"All right, we'll head back for now. If you need our help, you can call us. Though only our consciousnesses remain, the pressure of Dragon Kings can crush every Soul Beast!" The Fire Dragon King's voice brimmed with pride.

"Of course, our intervention comes at a price. We require an equivalent amount of Life Divine Power," the Ice Dragon King added.

Ah Yin's leaves trembled lightly, but she did not reply. She merely felt that there were now many more things in this valley that she could not see clearly.

The two Dragon Kings did not pursue the topic. The Ice Dragon King's consciousness slowly sank, and the Fire Dragon King's consciousness withdrew right behind him. The two consciousnesses submerged deep underground once more, leaving only two extremely faint but stable markers within Ah Yin's perception, like two distant lighthouses, no longer speaking, yet no longer silent either.

Ah Yin guided her roots farther down, gently leaving an exceedingly fine rootlet between the two retreating consciousnesses. It made no contact, merely sensing them, in case of an unexpected need.

"Should I tell Brother Dugu about this? I should, but I'm so sleepy. I'll wait until I wake up."

Ah Yin folded her leaves again and curled back into a sleeping posture.

Meanwhile, in the sky over a wilderness a thousand miles away, Lan Changsheng abruptly stopped in his tracks. A system notification sounded in his mind.

[Detected: progress on the Second Trial of the Divine Trial, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well ecological transformation program, continues to decline. Current progress: 82%...78%...71%...65%. Cause detected: to prevent invading outside Soul Masters, Dugu Bo and Ah Yin have altered the local environment, slowing the ecosystem's development.]

Lan Changsheng had known this would happen, so the falling progress did not surprise him. The system's alerts had begun sounding the moment Dugu Bo started releasing his poisonous barrier. With over sixty percent still remaining, he already considered it pretty good. It was just that...

"Ah Yin, you're being reckless again!" He immediately contacted Ah Yin through the Oath of Protection and learned that she was secretly consuming Life Divine Power and her own origin behind Lan Changsheng's back to strengthen the guardian plants.

He was just about to turn back when a patch of Blue Silver Grass suddenly poked out of the soil in the wilderness beneath his feet, its leaves curling to ask Lan Changsheng to touch it.

Lan Changsheng crouched and pressed his palm against a blade of grass. A blurry image came through it: Spirit City, and the figure of a noble lady leaving Spirit City and moving swiftly in a certain direction.

"Bibi Dong? She's left the city?"

The blade bobbed up and down as though nodding. Then it shifted again, pointing toward Tang San. Lan Changsheng clenched his fists. He looked toward the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, then toward Tang San, the two directions overlapping in his mind.

"Brother." Sensing that Lan Changsheng's scolding had paused, Ah Yin keenly sensed that something must have happened. "What's wrong? Are you in danger?"

"Not me. It's Xiao San. Bibi Dong has left Spirit City, and she's heading straight toward where Xiao San is now. Tang Hao alone won't be able to stop her." Lan Changsheng felt there was no need to hide it.

"Then hurry over, Brother! I'm fine," came Ah Yin's anxious voice.

Lan Changsheng was silent for a while. In truth, he cared more about Ah Yin. Perhaps aware of his thoughts, the system popped up again.

[Host, if anything happens to Tang San and Tang Hao, Ah Yin will be very sad too. The enemies Ah Yin and Tang San are about to face are on completely different levels. The system thinks saving Tang San should take priority.]

"All right, I'll go to Xiao San. Ah Yin, do as I say. Gather the raw extracts of these Immortal Herbs and mix..." Lan Changsheng gave Ah Yin the formula for Cold Ember Severed Thoughts, hoping only to bolster the strength on her side a little.

But what Lan Changsheng did not know was that Ah Yin did not use whole Immortal Herbs for the mixture, taking only a single drop of raw extract from each instead...

Once he had finished all this, Lan Changsheng changed direction, flashing repeatedly toward Tang San's location.

In another direction, a purplish-red figure streaked forward at tremendous speed. It was Bibi Dong, who had broken away from the main group. She became a streak of light, and the closer she drew to that place, the stronger the feeling in her heart became: her judgment was right! This made her increasingly excited.

"Has this day come again? One hundred-thousand-year one, one million-year one. This time, I won't miss out again!"

Both were rushing in the same direction. Who would arrive first...