...At the edge of the Ice and Fire Hot Spring, Tang Xiao stood motionless, his body bare without a single garment. His tall figure exuded an oppressive and imposing aura.
And before him floated two immortal herbs...
One was a white plant topped by a large white flower, octagonal in shape, with a stamen at its center twinkling like ice crystals, emitting no fragrance. It was called the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.
The other was a fiery red herb crowned with a cabbage-shaped flower. Its entire body appeared as though it had been sculpted from red rubies. This was the Infernal Delicate Apricot.
Earlier, after pondering for a while, Tang Xiao decided to follow through with his original plan, which was to refine the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body first before taking other immortal herbs that could potentially aid in evolving his Martial Soul...
Thus, he wasted no time, plucking each of the two herbs along with their roots, leaving nothing behind. Although the extreme cold and searing heat were somewhat troublesome, they were not to the extent that he could not even touch the herbs for a few seconds.
Now, knowing the two immortal herbs had to be consumed together within ten breaths of coming into contact, Tang Xiao directly placed both herbs into his mouth as their opposing attributes canceled each other out.
"Ahh..."
Tang Xiao groaned as the herbs melted in his mouth, the fiery heat and freezing chill raging through his entire body in alternating waves.
Yet, this was far from enough to make Tang Xiao despair.
Tang San, with only a level 30 physique and soul power, had managed to consume these two herbs and successfully refine the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body in the novel...
So why couldn't he, Tang Xiao, refine them with ease given his level 87 physique and soul power?
Although internal organs remain relatively fragile even for high-level Soul Masters, Tang Xiao's organs were still far stronger than Tang San's, who had been only level 30+ at the time.
"Ah... It's time to jump."
Sensing the two immortal herbs had taken effect, Tang Xiao wasted no time and leapt directly into the Ice and Fire Pool.
Submerging himself at the center where the hot spring and cold spring converged, Tang Xiao closed his eyes, carefully sensing the changes within his body.
As his soul power circulated, he could distinctly feel the ice and fire essences of the two herbs fusing with every cell, altering his body at the most fundamental level...
His meridians widened and strengthened as the flow of soul power became faster and more vigorous.
Unlike Tang San, who had immediately lost consciousness upon falling into the pool, Tang Xiao remained fully aware throughout.
Although the pain relentlessly assaulted his body for hours, Tang Xiao clearly observed the transformation from beginning to end... The sensation of his body being tempered, his cells adapting to the extremes of hot and cold... Such a mystical feeling, Tang Xiao experienced it entirely, pain included.
As time passed... Tang Xiao felt the torment gradually subside. His body cells steadily gained immunity to ice and fire, and with that adaptation, the suffering diminished until, at last, it completely vanished...
Yet, while continuously monitoring his internal condition, Tang Xiao sensed traces of the herbs' essence still lingering. Observing that they too were being slowly refined by his body and soul power, though at a slower pace... After calculating the rate, and knowing it would not take long, Tang Xiao resolved to remain in the pool until every trace of the two immortal herbs was fully refined.
Thus... the refinement continued for a full three days...
...
Three days later.
"Splash."
Tang Xiao, who had been cultivating within the Ice and Fire Pool, sprang out and landed imposingly on the ground in an Iron Man–like posture.
Rising, he gave his body a gentle shake, instantly dispelling all droplets of ice and fire from the spring as his bare figure emerged.
After refining the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body, though his outward appearance remained ordinary, unlike his earlier sunburned skin, his current complexion—having expelled all impurities—was now soft and tender like that of a baby.
Not only that, his muscular frame, which had previously resembled a rectangular shape, had transformed into an inverted triangle... With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and muscles free of excess fat whatsoever.
Gazing at these changes, Tang Xiao was unsurprised, as he had already known them.
"I've undergone complete marrow cleansing... All impurities in my body are gone. The hidden injuries accumulated over years of training have also been erased... This feels truly comfortable."
Stretching his body and flexing his muscles, Tang Xiao felt utterly refreshed.
"Now, I should test how much my cultivation aptitude has improved..." With this thought, Tang Xiao hurriedly donned a grey robe to cover his body, then sat cross-legged on the spot.
Entering meditation and circulating his soul power according to the Clear Sky Sect's top-tier method, Tang Xiao carefully gauged his cultivation speed...
"Woah... It's nearly doubled..." Tang Xiao couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment as he distinctly felt his body absorbing the surrounding heaven and earth energy, converting it into soul power at twice the rate as before...
At this pace... With his current level 87 soul power, a breakthrough to level 90, which he had estimated would take five years, would now be shortened by half...
"My current soul power is exactly 87 and a half... Originally, it would have taken a year to reach level 88. But now, I can break through in just half a year..." Tang Xiao beamed with joy.
Calming his mind and closing his eyes, he probed for other possible changes...
"This..."
Consuming the Ice and Fire immortal herbs together would not raise one's soul power level, something Tang Xiao had long understood. Thus, he felt no disappointment upon realizing his soul power remained unchanged.
He knew well that the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body's main benefits were immunity to ice, fire, and a hundred poisons, as well as enhanced physical fitness... But above all, its most crucial effect was improving cultivation aptitude.
The threefold immunity to ice, fire, and poison was of immense value, and Tang Xiao clearly sensed he had acquired them. Though he had yet to test his poison resistance, he was certain of his fire and ice immunity.
Tang Xiao also clearly perceived that his cultivation aptitude had nearly doubled.
Yet what puzzled him was... his physical fitness had not improved noticeably.
"No... It has improved, but only slightly compared to my current strength..." Tang Xiao pondered silently over the reason.
Soon, recalling the canon events, he deduced a possible explanation...
"Tang San, after refining the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body, absorbed a 10,000-year spirit ring as his fourth soul ring... Normally, the limit for the fourth ring is around 5,000 years... By consuming these herbs, his physique improved by an additional 5,000 years' worth... Which matches my current level of improvement..."
"So... it is indeed true that the earlier one consumes immortal herbs, the greater the benefits they bring..."
Although Tang Xiao knows that the novel mentioned this principle, he still thought that by refining the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body, he could also leapfrog and absorb a higher-age soul ring as his ninth soul ring...
Normally, for those who absorbed optimal-age soul rings throughout their lives, the maximum limit of the ninth soul ring would be 100,000 years...
Tang Xiao had initially believed that by refining the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body, he could absorb at least a 200,000-year-old soul ring...
But now it seemed nothing more than wishful thinking...
Although his body had indeed improved, it was only by a small margin... If his normal ninth-ring limit was 100,000 years, then now it had merely increased to around 105,000 years... That was all.
"So the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body's physical enhancement is just like that of Whale Glue... a fixed increment of improvement... The earlier one consumes it, the better, as it grants the chance to absorb even the first soul ring as purple, leapfrogging three rings at the foundational level." Realizing this, Tang Xiao felt disappointed.
If only he had been reborn as a child... In that case, even if he possessed only a single Martial Soul, his soul ring configuration could have been purple, black, black, black, black, red, red, red, red... Although such a scenario existed only in imagination, where he refined the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body at the age of six and gained 5,000 years of physical strength... Which was theoretically impossible, considering the fragility of a child's internal organs... At the very least, if he had been reborn young, with added knowledge of Whale Glue, he could have achieved three red rings and multiple black ones at the least...
"Unfortunately... the body I've acquired is already fixed..." Tang Xiao lamented silently, his earlier joy in improving his talent already faded...
What was the point of improving talent anyway... he thought.
Even if he reached level 99, when confronting others of the same level... he would most likely be beaten back. Leapfrogging ranks and challenging higher-level opponents was simply not possible for him...
Those people like Qian Daoliu, Bo Saixi... with their soul ring configurations of eight black and one red... Man, how was he ever supposed to contend against them?
_______
Note: Don't be confused as to why I mentioned 5000 years and so on in the physical fitness... They are soul ring ages... The better way to correctly state the physical fitness without confusing the readers is to mention the soul ring absorbing limit of that said body.
The body will improve 5000 years in strength means, it can absorb an additional 5000 years longer than what their normal next soul ring limit is. Thank you.