Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well
Half a month later, Jun Yan finally arrived at Sunset Forest from Spirit City, but he was in no hurry to enter.
After waiting no longer than the time it took an incense stick to burn, he heard a tiger's roar coming from the forest.
The roar shook the surrounding miles. Birds and beasts fled in a flurry, throwing everything into chaos.
Amid a rustling of branches, a gigantic, jet-black tiger with wings on its back flew into the air above Jun Yan.
Thud! The giant tiger folded its wings and landed before Jun Yan, kicking up dust all around.
Roar! (You're finally here!)
Jun Yan tapped his toes lightly against the ground, leaped into the air, and landed on the tiger's back.
"Take me to see the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well!" Jun Yan said.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger turned its body and ran in the direction it had come from. After a few steps, it flapped its wings, and its massive body immediately rose into the air.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger flew swiftly. It did not rely solely on its wings to fly, but rather on its use of the wind element.
Nothing foolish enough to block their path appeared along the way. After sensing the tiger's might, the Soul Beasts kept their distance.
"I told you to look for suitable Soul Beasts. Did you find any?" Jun Yan asked.
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger rolled its eyes. "Roar." (Why do you make me do everything?)
Jun Yan paid no attention to its resentment and asked directly, "Did you find any?"
"Roar!" (I did. Do you want me to take you there now?)
Jun Yan shook his head. "No need. Let's go to the Yin Yang Well first!"
"Roar." (All right.)
The Dark Demon Evil God Tiger flapped its wings a few times and arrived at a hill about five hundred meters high. It carried Jun Yan over the summit, then descended rapidly from above, only to stop suddenly just before reaching the ground.
Jun Yan leaped from the tiger's back and landed in the valley.
It was an inverted cone-shaped valley, considerably warmer inside than the world outside. Thick heat filled the valley, humid and carrying a hint of sulfur's distinctive smell.
At the center of the valley was a hot spring. It was not large, but it was divided in two. In the oval pool, the spring water was milky white on one side and vermilion on the other.
More strangely still, though the waters shared the same pool, they remained distinctly separated. Neither encroached on the other, each staying on its own side.
Where the two springs met, a column of steam rose into the air, slowly dispersing only when it reached the mouth of the valley.
"So this is the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It's truly a work of gods and ghosts!"
All manner of plants grew around the two springs. None were ordinary; every one of them was a rare treasure, able to grow only in a blessed land like the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Jun Yan did not recognize many of them, however. Those he knew were "ordinary" medicinal herbs such as cordyceps, ginseng, and lingzhi, along with the immortal-grade herbs described in the original work.
Jun Yan thought, When I have time, I'll have to ask Yueguan about immortal-grade medicinal herbs and give him the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum as thanks. With that exchange, we'll grow closer.
He looked toward the middle of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, where there were two particularly special immortal-grade medicinal herbs: the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and the Infernal Delicate Apricot. The two were actually poisonous herbs, carrying poisons of extreme cold and extreme heat respectively. But precisely because one belonged to water and the other to fire, taking them together would allow their poisons to cancel each other out, turning them into two highly nourishing medicines.
Admittedly, neither of them ranked among the best medicinal herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, but because they complemented each other, their combined effect surpassed that of the other herbs by a considerable margin.
Before coming to Sunset Forest, Jun Yan had already made his plans.
So he first took a dagger from his Soul Tool, tied it to a vine, and went to the Yin Spring.
A white medicinal herb grew in the Yin Spring. Its top looked like a large white flower with eight points, and the stamens at its center glimmered like ice crystals. Hence its name, Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.
Jun Yan flicked his right hand, whipping the vine out like a lash. The dagger tied to its tip flashed with cold light, and the large, eight-pointed white flower fell to the ground.
The vine's tip and the dagger tied to it had only touched the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, yet they froze into a solid block of ice. Jun Yan jolted them with Soul Power, shattering them outright.
Next, Jun Yan repeated the process, using a jade knife to cut down the Infernal Delicate Apricot in the Yang Spring.
Jun Yan walked to the place where the two springs met and flung out a vine from each hand like streaming ribbons, sending them toward the immortal herbs on either side. The instant the tips of the vines wrapped around the two herbs, he pulled with both hands and lifted them at the same time.
The two immortal herbs landed on the ground before Jun Yan at the exact same moment. Though they had been extremely cold and extremely hot before, the two sensations vanished simultaneously once the herbs met.
A faint red light enveloped the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, while a faint white vapor shrouded the Infernal Delicate Apricot.
Jun Yan knew that once the two immortal herbs came together, their properties would suppress each other's, but after ten breaths, their effects would also vanish completely. Those ten breaths were the best time to consume them.
The moment the sensations of cold and heat disappeared, Jun Yan picked both immortal herbs up from the ground and stuffed them into his mouth in great mouthfuls.
Though the two immortal-grade herbs were poisonous, their natural nemeses had suppressed them, leaving them none of their former ferocity. They melted as soon as they entered his mouth, turning into liquid that flowed down his throat. Jun Yan felt his mouth water, and a delicate fragrance filled it.
Jun Yan summoned his First Martial Soul and activated his sixth Soul Skill, then plunged headfirst into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before him.
The meeting of the Extreme Cold Silver Spring and the scorching Yang Spring had created the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, a treasure land rarely seen in the world. But both springs were extremely poisonous. If an ordinary person came into contact with their waters, even if they survived, they would be tormented by the two extraordinary poisons of cold and heat.
But because Jun Yan had consumed the immortal herbs born from the properties of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well's two extreme springs, not only would the spring water leave him unharmed, but his Martial Soul would also be immune to water and fire in the future.
Although the two forces of ice and fire had already partially neutralized each other, they began to churn wildly after entering Jun Yan's body. The medicinal power contained in the immortal-grade herbs was terrifying. Ice and fire clashed, and under the impact of the power released in an instant, Jun Yan lost consciousness almost without resisting.
The waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well churned as Jun Yan plunged in, but they soon grew calm again, the milky white and scarlet remaining as distinctly separated as ever.
Steam still filled the air, and everything returned to silence.
As Jun Yan's puppet, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger naturally knew his plans. Seeing this, it bent its forelegs and obediently lay down beside the springs, quietly watching their waters.
What even the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger could not detect was that the medicinal herbs beside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were withering at an extremely slow rate. Only the noble immortal-grade herbs could resist this change.