Sunset Forest

The year Tang Yin turned ten, his Soul Power reached level 30.

It was the second autumn after he joined the Imperial Fighting Team. One day after training, he used Life Returning to Origin to deal with the remnants of Dugu Yan's serpent poison in passing. When she returned, she mentioned it to her grandfather. Three days later, a green-haired old man barged straight into the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's training ground, grabbed Tang Yin by the back of his collar, and stuffed him into a carriage.

"Little boy." The old man's voice was hoarse, and his serpentine eyes were icy cold. "I hear you can suppress the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison?"

Though the old man was holding him up by his collar, Tang Yin remained calm. "Senior Dugu Bo?"

Poison Douluo raised an eyebrow. The little boy hadn't burst into tears at the sight of him, and he even knew his name. Interesting.

The carriage traveled deep into Sunset Forest and stopped at a valley shrouded in poisonous mist. Dugu Bo kicked open a stone door and carried Tang Yin inside. Strange flowers and exotic plants covered the mountainside, some red to the point of purple, others green to the point of black. A sweet, fishy scent hung in the air.

"Sit." Dugu Bo sat down in a stone chair and pulled open his collar, exposing his chest.

Emerald serpent markings covered it, as though countless little snakes were writhing beneath his skin.

Dugu Bo motioned for Tang Yin to begin.

Blue Silver vines gently settled over Dugu Bo's chest, and emerald life energy slowly seeped into him.

Half an incense stick later, Dugu Bo's eyes flew open. The mass of serpent poison that had run rampant through his body for decades, which even he couldn't suppress, really had been forced out inch by inch by that warm, gentle life energy. It seeped through his skin with his sweat and dispersed in wisps of green smoke.

"...Good lad." Dugu Bo looked down at his smooth, unblemished chest, then at Tang Yin. His gaze changed completely. "That Martial Soul of yours is no simple thing."

"You flatter me, Senior."

"Speak." Dugu Bo leaned back in his chair and waved a hand with haughty pride. "I don't owe favors. What do you want? A Soul Ring, a spiritual treasure, or a spiritual herb from my medicinal garden-take your pick."

Tang Yin lowered his eyes. "I've reached level 30. I need to hunt for my third Soul Ring."

Dugu Bo stared at him for a long while, then suddenly grinned, revealing a mouthful of ghastly green teeth. "I hear you can absorb Soul Rings beyond your level. Come with me."

In the deepest part of the medicinal garden lay a spring.

Half its water was icy blue, radiating a bone-chilling cold; the other half was scarlet, with waves of heat surging from it. The two utterly different forces met in the spring, yet neither swallowed the other, forming a strange balance. Immortal Herbs grew everywhere around it, and spiritual Qi was as thick as mist.

The moment Tang Yin stepped inside, the Blue Silver Emperor vines all over his body shuddered.

The life force here was so dense that he could hardly stay on his feet.

"The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well." Dugu Bo stood by the spring with his arms folded. "The heart of my medicinal garden. A place others couldn't enter even if they begged. If you want to hunt for a Soul Ring, do it here."

Tang Yin followed his gaze.

Beside the spring grew a strange tree twice the height of a person. Half its trunk was icy blue, the other half scarlet; half its leaves were coated in frost, while the other half burned with a faint glow. It wasn't an inanimate thing. Tang Yin could sense a life force struggling in agony within the tree, being torn between the forces of ice and fire, already on the verge of collapse.

"A Yin Yang Tree," Dugu Bo said. "It grew here, absorbing ice and fire Qi for a thousand years. It was going to take human form, but the yin and yang Qi have been fighting inside it for thousands of years. They've nearly torn it apart." He glanced at Tang Yin. "A Plant-type Soul Beast. Your Martial Soul counters it."

Tang Yin stepped forward.

The Yin Yang Tree sensed his presence. The scarlet half of its trunk suddenly lashed out with a fiery vine, accompanied by a wave of scorching heat; at the same time, the icy-blue half sent an icicle hurtling down, radiating bitter cold.

Tang Yin didn't dodge.

He stood where he was as Blue Silver vines slowly unfurled from his palm. He wasn't attacking, but releasing the Blue Silver Emperor's life-force pressure, which spread like a tide. In the face of that kingly presence, the fiery vine and the icicle actually stopped in midair.

The Yin Yang Tree began to tremble.

Tang Yin walked up to it and pressed his palm against the trunk, half ice-blue and half scarlet. Emerald life energy slowly poured into it, not to kill it, but to bring it into harmony.

He felt it. The forces of ice and fire inside the Yin Yang Tree were like two people fighting, crashing into each other for a thousand years and leaving it covered in wounds. Tang Yin's life energy was like a gentle hand, nudging the two forces toward the middle-not destroying either side, but helping them find their footing again at the point of balance where life renewed itself without end.

The Yin Yang Tree shuddered violently.

For the first time, the scarlet half and the icy-blue half stopped tearing at each other. Guided by Tang Yin's life energy, they slowly merged, forming a soft purple pattern down the middle of the trunk.

The Yin Yang Tree grew still.

With its last sliver of consciousness, it gently nuzzled Tang Yin's palm, like an old beast whose illness had finally been cured. Then its trunk slowly fell, and a purple-black Thousand-Year Soul Ring drifted down from its crown, landing at Tang Yin's feet.

Seven thousand nine hundred years.

Tang Yin sat down cross-legged and absorbed the Soul Ring.

Ice and fire Qi poured into his meridians through the Soul Ring.

It felt as though he were being torn apart. Half his body froze over, while the other half burned with heat. His Blue Silver Emperor struggled to hold on between the two forces, like a little boat tossed about in a storm.

Dugu Bo stood by the spring, watching with his arms folded. For the first time, a grave expression appeared on his face.

If the little boy couldn't withstand it, the Soul Ring would burst his body apart at best; at worst, all his meridians would be severed.