The turbulent currents of energy settled, and the streams of light dancing across the sky faded away.
But the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had been reduced to a wreck. Its once vibrant, lush profusion was gone, replaced everywhere by signs of withering and death.
All that remained where the six Hundred Thousand Year Immortal Herbs had stood were their dried-out limbs and the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones floating above them.
The places where countless thousand-year spiritual herbs and ten-thousand-year treasured herbs had grown had also withered in vast patches. The herbs' medicinal properties and energy had been sucked dry by an unknown force.
Only a few herbs had escaped the calamity and remained intact.
At the heart of the storm, the twin springs of ice and fire had also returned to calm, no longer violent and volatile.
Looking down into the depths of the springs, one could just make out a figure rising and sinking. Beside him, two small vortices, one black and one white, were gradually spinning into shape.
It was Ming Zhao.
He had not died. What he had done before was not suicide; it was merely a means of achieving his goal of digging inward for power.
Skin Marries Bone.
The ultimate heretical ritual of self-sacrifice and self-fusion.
Performing the Skin Marries Bone ritual at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well offered the highest chance of success and the greatest rewards afterward. To carry it out successfully, Ming Zhao had suppressed his desire to condense a Soul Core and waited for the perfect moment.
Now was that moment.
In the outside world, the Skin Marries Bone ritual would cause too great a disturbance. That bunch of godlike figures from Shrek hounded him every day like dogskin plasters stuck fast, and a disturbance like that would never escape their notice.
The outside world had no environment as uniquely blessed as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and the Skin Marries Bone ritual carried a risk of failure. Separating his flesh from his bones and forcing his soul out of his body could truly kill him if he made a single mistake: either his life force would be extinguished or his soul would scatter.
Only in a place like the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where yin and yang were balanced and energy was plentiful, could the risk of dying during the ritual be reduced to a minimum.
Nor would Shrek discover him because of the disturbance and send a pack of dogskin plasters to interrupt his ritual, causing him to die when he otherwise would have survived.
Ming Zhao had also chosen to perform the Skin Marries Bone ritual here to condense Soul Cores.
And to condense Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores in a single attempt.
He was born bearing both yin and yang, so whichever Soul Core he condensed first would upset their balance within him.
He had three options: either forgo condensing a Soul Core, condense a single Yin-Yang Soul Core, or go straight to the finish in one step and condense Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores.
Forgoing a Soul Core was out of the question. In an age when every Titled Douluo condensed a Soul Core, Ming Zhao would naturally be a head below everyone else without one, and he of all people needed Soul Power to keep his hundred ghosts moving.
Condensing a Yin-Yang Soul Core was feasible, but Ming Zhao had no intention of doing it. Having a single Soul Core carry both yin and yang powers at once was tantamount to willingly settling for mediocrity. Yin and yang might offset each other's shortcomings, but his individual yin and yang attributes would both grow weaker.
That mediocrity could not be remedied by condensing a second Yin-Yang Soul Core later.
Two Soul Cores, one yin and one yang, were the right answer.
So Ming Zhao could only choose the third option.
Having chosen it, he faced many difficulties.
First, his body was not strong enough to withstand the pressure of condensing Yin-Yang Complementary Soul Cores.
Second, the quality of his Soul Power fell short of the standard needed to condense a second Soul Core.
Third, he could not provide the vast amount of origin power and energy needed for the Soul Cores to take shape.
Fourth, his spiritual power was insufficient to control the Soul Cores and keep them stable before they took shape.
When Huo Yuhao condensed his Yin-Yang Complementary Second Soul Core, he had the Ice Empress's origin power, the Snow Empress's origin power, the energy of Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow, the Dragon Core and personal assistance Mu En had given him, the nourishment of Gold of Life, powerful spiritual power at the Tangible and Substantial level, and the support of a full complement of top-grade Soul Bones.
Ming Zhao had none of those.
He had not even managed to fuse the one piece of Gold of Life he had obtained into his body.
Condensing Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores was far more difficult for him than it had been for Huo Yuhao.
But Ming Zhao had advantages of his own. He was an Evil Soul Master, an out-and-out evil ghost. He could use his powers without restraint and perform bloody rituals without scruple.
The Skin Marries Bone ritual, combined with the perfect environment the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well naturally provided, gave Ming Zhao the confidence to condense Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores in a single attempt.
Skin Marries Bone allowed him to draw vast amounts of energy from heaven, earth, and herbs during the ritual, using it as the basic material for condensing Soul Cores.
It also let him dismantle his body and use the energy of ice, fire, and Immortal Herbs to strengthen it during the Soul Cores' formation. As long as his body had not completely reformed, it could grow stronger as the Soul Cores fused and their demands on his physique increased.
However strong a physique was needed to withstand the Soul Cores, Ming Zhao's body could rise to meet it.
In perfect synchronization.
Thus, the first three problems were solved.
The naturally balanced powers of ice and fire at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well would also suppress the Yin-Yang Soul Cores taking shape inside him, forcibly keeping them in balance so they would not run out of control and explode if Ming Zhao could not control them himself.
The fourth problem was solved as well.
It was to carry out his plan that Ming Zhao had acted with such utter madness before.
He was ruthless toward others, but even more ruthless toward himself.
Being an Evil Soul Master was merely his means; all the killing and evil he committed were for strength and amusement.
Now, the Skin Marries Bone ritual had ended, and Ming Zhao had survived. He had also sacrificed the power of vast quantities of Immortal Herbs and other herbs, combining it with the power of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to begin condensing his Soul Cores.
He had not died during the earlier process, so there was no longer any possibility of failure afterward.
Once his plan was complete, he would be reborn, shedding his old body and bones, and descend upon the Douluo Continent once more in the formidable state of one who possessed Yin-Yang Complementary Dual Soul Cores.
When he said the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was where he would ascend, he truly had not exaggerated.
No other treasured ground could suit Ming Zhao as well as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Time flew.
In this valley cut off from the world, time had lost its meaning.
The withered herbs Ming Zhao had drained dry were already covered by fresh young shoots, and life had returned to the vast yellowed patches around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The six Soul Bones from the Immortal Herbs had also fallen to the ground, where new herbs concealed them. Only a faint, hazy glow shone between the leaves.
Beneath the springs.
The body that had once been a mangled mess of flesh and blood, almost unrecognizable as human, had once again regained Ming Zhao's appearance.
His body was flawless, his skin like jade. His feminine, bewitching features had gained a measure of serenity and balance. No longer did he look as vicious and fearsome as before; instead, he gave off the approachable air of one who had returned to simplicity.
At his chest and lower abdomen, two vortices, one white and one black, glimmered through his skin. Behind him, the phantoms of a white sun and a black moon flickered in and out of sight.
After an unknown amount of time, Ming Zhao's tightly closed eyes snapped open. His gray-white right eye and pitch-black left eye were like two bottomless vortices, captivating the soul.
He had slumbered for a long time...
Now he awoke!