Absorption

But just then, the hundred-thousand-year right leg bone inside Tang Yin lit up.

A gentle blue light spread from his right leg across his body. The Blue Silver Emperor's life energy circulated wildly between cold and heat-not fighting the cold, nor fighting the heat, but finding the gap between them where things "withered and flourished, flourished and withered again."

Wildfires could not burn it away; the spring breeze brought it to life again.

At the critical point, the air around Tang Yin changed.

A ring of emerald light spread silently outward with him at its center-not the prototype in the ancient vine forest that had held for three to five breaths before dissipating, but a complete domain, steadily sustained. Wherever the domain reached, the Immortal Herbs of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well bowed in unison, fresh shoots sprouted from the Yin Yang Tree's remaining roots, and even the spring's Ice and Fire Qi grew docile in the emerald light.

Blue Silver Domain.

Tang Yin opened his eyes.

The world he saw was different. Within the domain, the breathing of every blade of grass and the flow of every trace of vitality became extensions of his body. With a thought, he made every plant in the domain bow toward him at once.

Level thirty.

Soul Elder.

Third Soul Ring: thousand-year Yin Yang Tree.

He slowly stood, feeling the new power within him-his third Soul Skill had awakened along with the domain. Vines stretched outward, half covered in frost, half bearing scorching heat, ice and fire complementing each other, hardness and softness in harmony.

Dugu Bo looked at the child, not yet twelve, standing in the spring beneath the emerald domain, and swallowed.

He had lived for over a hundred years and seen countless geniuses. Yet a kid not even ten had actually awakened a domain in his Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well-

What the fuck kind of monster was this?

Tang Yin withdrew his domain, turned around, and gave Dugu Bo a proper bow. "Many thanks, Senior."

Dugu Bo folded his arms, still reeling from the shock of "a ten-year-old kid awakening a domain."

But Tang Yin did not leave immediately. He lowered his eyes, seeming to hesitate for a moment before speaking. "Senior, there's something I don't know whether I should say."

"Speak."

"The Jade Phosphorous Serpent Poison in Sister Yan's body has been with her since she was little," Tang Yin interrupted him, his tone calm. "The higher her cultivation, the worse the serpent poison's backlash. You use your own poison arts to suppress it for her every year, but that only treats the symptoms. The Earth Dragon Golden Melon is warm in nature; it can nourish her meridians and resolve the serpent poison at its root. Giving it to Sister Yan would be ten times more effective than suppressing it once a year."

Dugu Bo froze on the spot.

He looked at the child before him, not yet ten, for a long time. His granddaughter's serpent poison backlash was the greatest pain in his heart; the Earth Dragon Golden Melon was hidden in his herb garden, yet even he was not entirely sure whether the herb would help Yanyan. But this little kid-on his first visit, he had exposed it the moment he opened his mouth.

"...Who exactly are you?" Dugu Bo's voice had gone hoarse.

"I've merely read a few miscellaneous books." Tang Yin lowered his eyes and gently moved past the subject. "If you trust me, Senior, give it a try."

Dugu Bo stared at him for a long while, then snorted. "...I'll trust you this once." He turned his face away, his voice growing quieter. "If Yanyan gets better-I'll owe you a life."

Tang Yin did not respond to that. He turned and walked to the edge of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, then sat down cross-legged.

"Senior," he said, closing his eyes, "I'd like to stay here by the spring for a few days."

The waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were half ice, half fire.

Tang Yin sat cross-legged on the boundary between the two currents, letting the yin of the cold spring and the yang of the hot spring wash over his body at the same time. It was a process of being torn apart and reshaped again and again-his meridians were stretched open between ice and fire, pressed together, then stretched open again. His muscles and bones gave off faint cracking sounds, while the hundred-thousand-year right leg bone circulated gentle life energy through his body, protecting him from falling apart.

His gaze passed over the Yin Yang Tree's remaining roots and settled on the very center of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Two Immortal Herbs grew there-one was icy blue all over, its leaves looking as though they had been carved from crystal, and the cold around it had frozen a thin layer of ice over even the spring water. The other was crimson throughout, its petals like dancing flames, and could not be approached.

Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass. Infernal Delicate Apricot.

Dugu Bo followed his gaze, his serpent pupils contracting. "Those two are out of the question-

"Senior." Tang Yin interrupted him, his tone calm. "Sister Yan's serpent poison needs the Earth Dragon Golden Melon. My path needs these two."

Dugu Bo opened his mouth. He had meant to say that these two Immortal Herbs were so overbearing that even he did not dare touch them, and that if a ten-year-old kid ate them, his body exploding would be getting off lightly. But he looked into Tang Yin's eyes-there was no greed in them, no panic, only a certainty he could not read, as if it were only natural.

As if those two herbs should have belonged to him in the first place.

"...Have you got a death wish?" Dugu Bo gritted his teeth. "One of those herbs is cold and the other is fire. Once they enter your body, they'll become two completely opposing forces. Even an immortal couldn't withstand them-"

"I can withstand them."

Tang Yin turned and walked toward the spring.

He first picked the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and put it in his mouth. In that instant, an aura of extreme cold exploded from his throat and raced through his meridians, spreading across his entire body. A layer of white frost instantly formed on his skin, and ice crystals hung from his eyebrows. But his Blue Silver Emperor vines lit up inside him at the same time, and gentle life energy caught the extreme cold like a soft cushion, keeping it from tearing him apart.

Immediately afterward, he picked the Infernal Delicate Apricot.

The crimson herb entered his stomach, and a blast of extreme heat collided with the extreme cold from before inside him. Tang Yin let out a muffled grunt, his knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee on the boundary between the spring waters. Ice and Fire Qi rampaged through his meridians like two wild beasts tearing at his body.