"Become a god at level one hundred!"
"So this is the secret behind Martial Soul Avatar Armor!"
Meng Zhongqi sighed. Becoming a god at level one hundred was every Soul Master's lifelong dream. For that goal, the Meng Family had shouldered far too much pressure.
"Let's leave these matters aside for now!"
"Old man, how much did you gain this time?"
Nangong Wan hurriedly changed the subject. She feared Meng Zhongqi would let something slip if they continued, so she asked him another question.
"This is a seventy-thousand-year gem-type skull bone!"
"After absorbing this skull bone, not only did I form Martial Soul Avatar Armor, I also gained an utterly heaven-defying Soul Skill!"
"This skull bone comes with the law of time. Its Soul Skill is called Medusa's Gaze, and it can release a petrifying ray."
Having shored up his final weakness, Meng Zhongqi was clearly in an excellent mood. He now had another means of fighting his enemies.
"Old man, to keep a long night from breeding more troubles!"
"Let's hurry up and slaughter this Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor! It'll be just right for completing your ninth Soul Ring!"
Nangong Wan's words positively brimmed with killing intent.
The war between humanity and Soul Beasts could be traced back hundreds of millions of years. Every great beast tide claimed countless human lives.
"All right!"
Meng Zhongqi nodded and looked at the Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor beside him. It was now clinging to its last breath.
"Grandpa, wait!"
"Please give me a moment. I have another important use for this beast!"
To prevent the Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor from accidentally injuring Meng Qianqiu, Meng Zhongqi had ruthlessly severed the great serpent's tendons.
The Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor was now a living lump of mangled flesh. Of its entire body, only its head could still twist slightly.
"What use do you have for it?"
Meng Zhongqi was very curious. This Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor was over ninety thousand years old, powerful enough to rival an ordinary Titled Douluo.
Had it not encountered Meng Zhongqi, this hot-blooded veteran player with cheats, it would probably still be living perfectly well at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well with its wife, children, and the rest of its family.
"Grandpa, you've entered a treasure land without even realizing it!"
"Not far above us is the legendary Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Plenty of spirit medicines grow there, and they'll come in handy."
"Don't you want a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring?"
Meng Qianqiu looked at Meng Zhongqi, unable to resist tempting him with his words.
After all, major powers were already deliberately raising Soul Beasts, and many great clans and families would also establish their own Soul Hunting Forests.
In essence, Soul Hunting Forests were an outward manifestation of the two great empires, sects, and noble families raising low-level Soul Beasts.
"You mean forcibly accelerating this Soul Beast's maturation?"
Meng Zhongqi understood what he meant. Frankly, Soul Beasts were no different from livestock. They could be raised and made to mature faster!
With sufficient spirit medicines, a Soul Beast's age could be forcibly increased. Of course, that also carried tremendous risks.
"Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts can't be artificially mass-produced!"
"That might work for low-level Soul Beasts, but Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts have to undergo heavenly tribulation. The risks are too great."
Meng Zhongqi pointed at the Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor, which lay collapsed in a limp heap. This thing was about to die. Who would dare count on it surviving a tribulation?
If they actually tried it, its death would be guaranteed!
"Grandpa!"
"You might not know this, but as a blessed grotto-heaven, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well can let Soul Beasts temporarily evade their Transformation Heavenly Tribulation!"
"As long as it doesn't flee the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, that Soul Beast will never suffer heavenly tribulation. Besides, it won't live much longer anyway."
Meng Qianqiu pointed at the Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor. All the necessary elements were now in place. All that remained was to see whether this trick actually worked.
"Hey, you really are a genius, brat!"
"As long as it can reach a hundred thousand years, what do I care? All I want is a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring. Whether anything else lives or dies doesn't matter."
After turning it over in his mind, Meng Zhongqi also felt the plan was feasible. There were plenty of other places in this world where one could evade a Transformation Heavenly Tribulation.
For instance, the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Cave in the Far North and the Lake of Life Secret Realm in the Star Dou Great Forest could both shelter one from heavenly tribulation.
After some discussion, the three finally made their decision.
Meng Zhongqi carried the Nine-Section Jade Snake Emperor, while Nangong Wan took Meng Qianqiu along. Together, the three strode into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"Ice and fire born together, taking the form of yin and yang!"
"This really is the legendary Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!"
Before their eyes, in the very center of the volcanic crater, lay a lake roughly a zhang across, radiating the two colors of ice and fire.
Around the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, three medicinal gardens extended from the inside outward, each filled with spirit medicines.
This was a vast, natural medicinal garden!
Large quantities of eighth-grade spirit medicines and ninth-grade medicinal kings grew here. In the innermost area, there were even more than a dozen immortal herbs.
"Grandpa, Grandma!"
"We're rich! This time, we've really struck it rich!"
Meng Qianqiu gazed out over it. The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, this vast medicinal garden nurtured by heaven and earth, had finally fallen into his hands.
"When facing anything important, first calm your heart!"
"Just a few medicinal herbs, and you're already this pleased with yourself!"
Meng Zhongqi was also a master of medicine-making. The sight of this natural medicinal garden moved him considerably, but it did not arouse much interest.
"Grandpa!"
"As a blessed land, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well can accelerate the growth of medicinal herbs. One day of growth here equals a year outside."
"In other words, most of the medicinal herbs growing here are spirit medicines of the eighth grade or above. There are also plenty of great medicinal kings!"
"If these great medicinal kings were brought outside, their value wouldn't be much lower than a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone. These medicinal herbs are worth cities!"
Pointing at the outermost medicinal garden, Meng Qianqiu gave Meng Zhongqi and Nangong Wan a thoroughly earnest lesson.
"What?"
"There's actually a treasure land like this in the world!"
"Hiss, the medicinal herbs here really are frighteningly old!"
"We're rich! This time, we've truly struck it rich!"
Meng Zhongqi approached the edge of the medicinal garden. As a master of medicine-refining, he naturally recognized these herbs, and he promptly lowered his head to examine them.
"Over a hundred eighth-grade snow silkworms and eighth-grade cinnabar lotuses!"
"Ninth-grade jade phosphorus seven-absolute flowers, ninth-grade jade pearl-holding grass, ten-thousand-year purple ginseng, ten-thousand-year jade ginseng, nine-grade dragon ganoderma, nine-grade purple ganoderma!"
"Hiss!"
"There are no fewer than two hundred eighth- and ninth-grade spirit medicines alone! With all the medicinal herbs here added together, this is simply wealth to rival a nation!"
As Meng Zhongqi counted them out, his eyes kept lighting up!
Counting all the scattered plants throughout the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, there were two or three hundred spirit medicines in total, including immortal herbs.
Throughout the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, yin and yang complemented each other, inner and outer.
In this little pool grew octagonal mysterious ice grass and infernal delicate apricot. One was yin and the other yang, each restraining the other.
In the innermost area grew Snow-Color Swan Kiss and aromatic silk beauty. One was lethally poisonous, while the other counteracted a hundred poisons; they complemented each other, inner and outer.
By the same principle, the other immortal herbs were also distributed according to yin and yang.
Singular velvet sky chrysanthemum and narcissus jade muscle bone, aromatic silk beauty and eight-petal immortal orchid, Lovesick Heartbreak Red and Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew-these immortal herbs likewise formed complementary pairs of yin and yang, growing on either side of the little pool.
Besides these, there were earth dragon golden melon, ink jade divine bamboo, Star Luo Spirit Pearl, primordial immortal herb, Holy Soul Grass, and Evergreen Vine of Life. These exceedingly rare immortal herbs echoed one another from afar within the medicinal gardens.
Sixteen immortal herbs were distributed on either side of the medicinal gardens in a formation of yin and yang. Every one was a wonder of heaven and earth, a supreme treasure.
Sadly, ordinary people could not recognize immortal herbs, nor did they know how to harvest and use them, letting this tremendous opportunity slip past for nothing.