"Whew..."
Dugu Bo took a deep breath, a smile uglier than a grimace appearing on his face. "Since Young Master Yuan needs to take things from here, Yanyan and I won't disturb you."
With that, Dugu Bo prepared to leave with Dugu Yan.
As the two passed Beiming Yuan, Dugu Yan gave him a resentful look, a surge of annoyance rising in her.
"Wait."
Beiming Yuan suddenly spoke.
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan felt a wave of cold engulf their bodies, leaving them unable to move.
"Young Master Yuan, is there something else...?" Dugu Bo's expression darkened, but he still had to suppress the anger in his heart.
Beiming Yuan paid no attention to Dugu Bo's expression and instead turned his gaze to Dugu Yan.
He... he couldn't be angry, could he? Dugu Yan shuddered, her expression panicked as regret welled up in her heart.
Was Beiming Yuan really that petty?
He was stealing their herb garden, and he wouldn't even let her give him a resentful look?
"If you're not satisfied, then cultivate hard. If your strength surpasses mine someday, you can bully me in return," Beiming Yuan said calmly.
Dugu Yan lowered her head and said nothing.
"Young Master Yuan, Yanyan meant no offense. Please don't..." Dugu Bo was startled, thinking that Dugu Yan had failed to control her emotions and offended Beiming Yuan.
"I wouldn't go so far as to get angry with a little girl."
Beiming Yuan waved a hand.
The corner of Dugu Yan's mouth twitched, and she couldn't help grumbling inwardly, He's obviously younger than me, yet he calls me a little girl...
"Thank you, Young Master Yuan, thank you, Young Master Yuan..." Dugu Bo thanked him repeatedly, his tense expression relaxing considerably at once.
"I asked you to wait because I don't intend to take your herb garden for nothing. I'll give you a little extra 'compensation,'" Beiming Yuan said.
"Compensation?"
Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan froze, their expressions growing even stranger.
Beiming Yuan letting them live was already the best compensation they could hope for. They didn't dare ask for anything else.
"Dugu Bo, find a Soul Bone each for yourself and your granddaughter. From now on, place the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison in the Soul Bones as you cultivate. Only then can you preserve your lives in the future."
Beiming Yuan glanced at Dugu Bo, a meaningful smile appearing on his lips.
"What? You..." Dugu Bo's pupils contracted as he stared at Beiming Yuan in disbelief. He desperately wanted to ask, How did you know?
"That's all I have to say. Whether you believe it is up to you."
Beiming Yuan raised a hand to cut Dugu Bo off, then continued, "All right, you may leave now. I have some matters to attend to."
"..." Dugu Bo gave Beiming Yuan a long look. Finally, he cupped his hands and said respectfully, "Thank you, Young Master Yuan!"
He didn't know whether what Beiming Yuan had said was true or false. All he knew was that he had to show the proper attitude.
Besides, he could try the method Beiming Yuan had suggested. It wouldn't do him any harm, so failure wouldn't matter, and success would definitely be a good thing.
Beiming Yuan nodded slightly without saying anything. Instead, he turned around and surveyed the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well ahead, a flash of heat passing through his eyes.
"Yanyan, let's go."
"Oh..."
Dugu Yan answered, unable to resist looking back at Beiming Yuan's retreating figure.
For some reason, after seeing the change in her grandfather's attitude just now, her resentment toward Beiming Yuan had faded.
Hmph, I'm still not satisfied. Once I'm stronger than you, I'll definitely bully you mercilessly. Dugu Yan had committed Beiming Yuan to memory.
She would cultivate hard with Beiming Yuan as her goal, striving to surpass him one day and repay today's "humiliation."
Beiming Yuan had no idea what Dugu Yan was thinking.
Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn't have reacted. At most, he would have smiled.
Only after Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan's presences had vanished completely did the Snow Empress and Ice Empress appear and come to Beiming Yuan's side.
"Xiao Yuan, this is the Ice Something Two Eyes?" The Ice Empress surveyed the entire valley with a curious expression.
"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
Beiming Yuan smiled.
"The cold in the blue part of that pool is extremely low. It's definitely at the level of Ultimate Ice." The Snow Empress had taken a liking to the distant "hot spring" at first sight.
"This place is even more special than I told you before. We can't go deep into it for now, so let's plunder the Immortal Herbs first."
Beiming Yuan took out the ancient book on Immortal Herbs that Qian Renxue had given him and picked the Immortal Herbs around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well according to the methods described in it.
The Snow Empress and Ice Empress didn't know much about it, so they watched from the side.
Before long, Beiming Yuan had plundered nearly every Immortal Herb in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, not even sparing some poisons and medicinal herbs.
He took every mature heavenly treasure.
As for the remaining seeds and seedlings, he would let them continue growing.
"Now that I've picked the Immortal Herbs, it's time for a dip in the hot spring."
Beiming Yuan looked toward the distant blue-and-red hot spring and walked over, taking out the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass along the way.
The presences of the two Immortal Herbs met and repelled each other.
After ten breaths, their effects would vanish, and those ten breaths were the best time to consume them both.
"Xue'er, Bing'er, sorry for the trouble." Beiming Yuan smiled at the two women, then decisively consumed both Immortal Herbs.
Within a few breaths, Beiming Yuan's body alternated between ice blue and fiery red as the power of ice and fire rampaged through him.
"This is pretty uncomfortable."
Beiming Yuan muttered, came to the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and jumped in.
With a splash, Beiming Yuan entered the water and slowly sank. The cold and scorching heat of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well immediately engulfed him.
The Ice and Fire Golden Body had begun!
Time trickled by, and before long, more than half a day had passed. Beiming Yuan still hadn't surfaced, continuing to temper his body within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
By now, his robes had been burned away, leaving him stark naked, with a faint, lustrous sheen appearing on his skin.
The medicinal power of the two great Immortal Herbs resisted the twin extremes of ice and fire in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, while Beiming Yuan's physical strength rapidly improved.
"Xue'er, will Xiao Yuan be all right?" The Ice Empress couldn't help growing worried.
"Don't worry. When has Xiao Yuan ever done something he wasn't sure of?" The Snow Empress smiled faintly, though a trace of worry flashed in her eyes as well.
Although both she and the Ice Empress could sense that Beiming Yuan's vitality was exceptionally vigorous right now, his continued lack of response was somewhat worrying.
"Something he wasn't sure of?"
The Ice Empress murmured. As if recalling something, her face reddened, and she said in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, "The Ten Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue last time seemed to be..."
"And you have the nerve to bring that up?" The Snow Empress glanced at the Ice Empress, speechless. "I asked you to look after Xiao Yuan, not look after him like that."
"Xue'er, that was an accident..." The Ice Empress was both ashamed and embarrassed.
"That time was an accident. What about afterward?" The mere mention of it left the Snow Empress inexplicably irritable.
"Xue'er, don't be jealous." The Ice Empress took the Snow Empress's hand and shook it for a while, then said seriously, "I'll let Xiao Yuan sleep with you too."
"I'm not jealous."
"Then... Xiao Yuan doesn't need to sleep with you?"
"...Hmph!" The Snow Empress snorted and said nothing, but a blush spread across her cheeks, and she felt inexplicably shy.
The Ice Empress saw the Snow Empress like this and smiled inwardly.
She didn't expose her, instead continuing to watch the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well with her, keeping an eye on Beiming Yuan's condition and standing guard for him.