...
The next morning.
As dawn broke, Xuan Hao greeted the ghost in the shadows, telling him that he had some personal business to attend to in the next few days and that he didn't need to follow him or worry.
He could either wait at the hotel or go back to the Martial Soul Temple for tea.
Although Ghost was a little uneasy, he let the little ancestor have his way, considering his many cunning ideas and his ability to even fool a titled Douluo.
Xuan Hao cherishes his life and would never joke about it.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have fled from Wuhun City for fear of being torn to pieces by Bibi Dong.
After settling the "bodyguards" in, Xuan Hao took Na'er straight to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Dugu Yan had been waiting at the school gate for a long time.
When she saw the two of them arrive, she didn't waste any words and led them through the back mountain path of the academy to meet Dugu Bo, who was already waiting there.
Let's go.
Dugu Bo glanced at Xuan Hao, then with a wave of his sleeve, he gathered a surge of soul power and quickly disappeared into the morning mist with the others.
...
Sunset Forest.
Although this place cannot compare to the vastness of the Starry Sky Forest, it is densely vegetated and teeming with poisonous insects and ferocious beasts.
After trekking for most of the day, the group finally arrived at the heart of the forest.
Ahead, a strange, emerald-green poisonous miasma formed a natural barrier, enveloping the entire mountain.
The surrounding area was barren, littered with countless white bones.
"Stop."
Dugu Bo raised his hand to signal everyone to stop, then took out two pills from his pocket and handed them to Xuan Hao and Na'er:
"Keep it in your mouth, don't swallow it.
The poisonous miasma here was laid by me.
Even a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast that enters will instantly turn into pus.
Even a Soul Saint-level expert will have to leave his life here without my antidote."
Xuanhao took the pills, put one into Na'er's mouth, and took one himself.
Then he held Na'er's little hand tightly.
"Stay close and don't wander off."
After passing through the suffocating miasma, the view suddenly opened up before us.
It was an exquisite treehouse built halfway up the mountain.
Although simple, it was quiet and secluded.
"arrive."
Dugu Bo stopped in his tracks.
"This is where I usually rest and cultivate."
He pointed to the treehouse, "Yanyan, you and this little girl wait here."
"The environment over there is extremely special, a world of both ice and fire.
Without sufficient soul power to protect the body, or a special physique, ordinary people simply cannot stay there for long."
"Yan Yan only has a soul power of level 20 or so, she can't withstand the extreme aura there.
Not to mention that little girl."
Xuan Hao nodded; he had expected this.
"Na'er, you and Senior Yan Yan wait here."
Xuanhao squatted down and rubbed Na'er's head.
"Brother has some things to take care of.
I'll come back to pick you up in a couple of days."
"Okay, brother, be careful." Na'er nodded obediently.
Although she was a little reluctant, she knew that going down might be a burden.
"Senior, could you please look after her for me?"
After giving instructions to Dugu Yan, Xuan Hao stood up and looked at Dugu Bo:
"Let's go, old poisoner, lead the way."
Without wasting words, Dugu Bo grabbed Xuan Hao's shoulder and leaped into the air.
The whistling wind echoed in their ears as the two flew towards the mountaintop like large birds.
Before long, the two were standing on the top of the inverted cone-shaped mountain.
Looking down from here, one can see clouds and mist churning in the valley, but these clouds and mist are not white; instead, they display a strange combination of red and blue, clearly distinct yet intertwined.
Even at the mountaintop, you can feel the intense heat and chill that hit you.
"It's right down there."
Dugu Bo, carrying Xuan Hao, jumped directly into the red and blue clouds.
As the altitude decreases, the surrounding temperature begins to change drastically.
One moment it's so hot it feels like being in a furnace, the next it's so cold it feels like falling into an ice cave.
Finally, my feet touched the ground.
Xuan Hao opened his eyes.
Even though he was mentally prepared, his pupils still contracted slightly when he saw the scene before him.
In the center of the valley, a huge oval-shaped pool of water was emitting a misty glow.
The pool was divided into two halves: one half was a milky white, cold spring, radiating a bone-chilling cold; the other half was a vermilion hot spring, bubbling with scalding hot bubbles.
The red and white spring waters meet in the middle, yet they do not interfere with each other, maintaining a delicate balance.
Around the pool, all sorts of strange plants grow, each one emitting a rich, precious light and medicinal fragrance.
The Yin-Yang Eye of Ice and Fire!
"This is my herb garden."
Dugu Bo pointed to the exotic flowers and herbs covering the ground, his tone tinged with arrogance, "Every single herb growing here is a rare treasure, hard to find anywhere else.
Take a look and see for yourself what kind of medicine you're looking for. But let me be clear, there are some things I don't recognize.
If you accidentally eat the wrong one and get poisoned, don't blame me for not warning you."
"Understood." Xuan Hao replied casually, his two crimson-gold vertical pupils quickly scanning the surrounding plants, his mind rapidly comparing them with the records in Yue Guan's "Illustrated Compendium of Herbs".
Soon, his gaze settled on two plants at either end of the pool.
In the center of one side of the cold spring, there grows a white herb with a large octagonal flower at the top, emitting a chilling aura.
Eight-cornered Ice Grass!
In the center of one side of the hot spring, there grows a red plant that looks like a cabbage, its whole body fiery red, as if it were carved from red jade.
The apricot blossoms are in full bloom!
"Found it."
Xuan Hao wasted no time and took out the tools he had prepared in advance from his Qiankun Ring.
A gold and iron dagger, and a top-quality jade knife.
"Kid, what are you doing?"
Seeing Xuan Hao walk straight towards the two poisonous herbs that exuded a terrifying aura, Dugu Bo couldn't help but warn him, "Those two herbs are extremely domineering; even I dare not touch them lightly..."
"Just you wait and see."
Without turning his head, Xuan Hao flashed forward and rushed to the Eight-Cornered Mystic Ice Grass.
With a swipe of his golden iron dagger, the poisonous grass, as hard as iron, was instantly cut off.
Without pausing, just as the chill was about to penetrate his body, he activated teleportation and appeared directly in front of Liehuo Xingjiaoshu.
The jade knife fell, and a flash of red light appeared.
Two peerless immortal herbs, which were also peerless poisonous herbs, lay quietly in his hand.
One cold, one hot—two completely opposite extreme energies collided wildly in his hands.
"Kid! Are you crazy?!"
Dugu Bo stared wide-eyed at Xuan Hao's hands, which were already blue from the cold and red from the heat, and roared, "Throw them away!
That's deadly poison!
People will die!!"
"Don't be nervous, it's okay."
Xuan Hao did not throw away the two poisonous herbs.
Instead, he put the two highly poisonous herbs with completely opposite properties into his mouth at the same time!
The herbal ingredients blend together and melt in your mouth.
Immediately afterwards, Xuan Hao stripped off his clothes at an extremely fast speed and threw them, along with his Qiankun Ring and all other soul tools, onto the rocks on the shore.
At this moment, his skin had turned into a strange red and blue color, and his whole body was trembling violently, as if he would explode at any moment.
"Old poisoner..."
Xuan Hao turned his head and waved to Dugu Bo, who was already dumbfounded.
"Please keep an eye on my clothes."
"In a couple of days!"
After saying that, Xuan Hao did not hesitate at all and leaped into the air!
"Thump!"
The small figure jumped directly into the very center of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, into the spring where extreme cold and extreme heat meet!
It sank instantly and disappeared without a trace.
"..."
Dugu Bo stood on the shore, looking at the churning spring water, completely petrified.
They've gone mad...
This kid is absolutely insane!!
That's extremely poisonous!
That's an extreme environment that even he wouldn't dare touch!
He just ate it like that?
And then he jumped in?
Is this someone who doesn't want to die fast enough and is in a hurry to be reincarnated?!
...
Deep within the eye of the duality of ice and fire.
Xuanhao's consciousness floated in the chaos.
The moment those two supremely powerful herbs entered his stomach, a terrifying force, seemingly capable of tearing him apart, erupted within him.
On one side was the raging fire that burned everything, and on the other side was the ice that froze the soul.
The two forces fought fiercely on his body as the battlefield.
"hold head high--!!"
In the critical moment, the Golden Dragon Martial Soul automatically protected his body.
Brilliant golden light gushed out from every pore of his body.
The incomparably powerful blood energy of the Golden Dragon transformed into a solid dam, firmly protecting his meridians and internal organs.
Immediately afterwards, the Silver Dragon Martial Soul also began to operate under its instinctive drive.
It draws the vast and pure ice and fire elements from the Yin-Yang Well into Xuan Hao's body, where they neutralize and blend with the medicinal power of the two immortal herbs.
"Boom—!!"
The entire Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, no, the entire valley, suddenly began to tremble violently!
The spring water boiled violently, the earth began to tremble, and even the surrounding mountain walls were shedding rocks.
An ancient, desolate, and infinitely majestic aura surged forth from the bottomless spring like a volcanic eruption!
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