Chapter 52: Entering the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well

Zhou Heng and Dugu Bo had just passed through the poisonous miasma when they felt their bodies lighten, shaking off the gloomy aura within the Sunset Forest.

As soon as he stepped into the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Zhou Heng felt a wave of heat wash over him; this heat was not intense, only about fifty degrees or so.

Within this heat lay a fire-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi that exuded a sense of extreme rigidity and extreme yang, though this Heaven and Earth Origin Qi would not harm others.

However, this Heaven and Earth Origin Qi would disrupt the Yin and Yang balance within the human body, causing one's soul power to stagnate and become impossible to circulate.

Even Spirit Masters of the third or fourth rank could not escape this fate.

However, Zhou Heng's primary method was manipulating elements, so he blocked all this fire-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi outside his body, preventing it from causing him any trouble.

Seeing that this heat wave had no effect on Zhou Heng, Dugu Bo set his mind at ease and led Zhou Heng toward the depths.

Zhou Heng had walked no more than ten meters when that fire-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi suddenly began to change.

A wave of water-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, extreme in yin and cold, replaced the fire-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, beginning to fill the surrounding air and blocking those with low strength from advancing further.

This water-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, like the previous fire-attribute one, possessed the power to hinder a Spirit Master from mobilizing their soul power; once unable to mobilize soul power, a Spirit Master here was no different from an ordinary person.

However, this water-attribute Heaven and Earth Origin Qi was likewise of no use against Zhou Heng.

Zhou Huan and Dugu Bo ignored this Heaven and Earth Origin Qi and continued walking forward.

"Eh?" Zhou Heng suddenly stopped and looked down at his feet, where a patch of twisted plants was growing.

Zhou Heng reached out and dug up one of them, seeing that it was a Polygonum Multiflorum, but after examining it carefully, he discovered that this Polygonum Multiflorum was actually over a thousand years old.

Polygonum Multiflorum is not rare, but this thousand-year-old variety already counts as a Precious Herb.

Such Precious Herb-level Polygonum Multiflorum is extremely rare; when using them, one would usually slice off a thin piece, swallow it, and slowly refine it, treating such a Precious Herb as highly precious.

Yet here, they were growing in patches like weeds; if Zhou Heng hadn't noticed them just now, he really would have mistaken them for weeds and stepped right on them.

Dugu Bo watched Zhou Heng quietly from the side, and seeing how Zhou Heng treasured these Polygonum Multiflorum, a smile could not help but appear on his face.

This little fellow has such a thrifty side, too!

"These Precious Herbs are the most common things here; everywhere you look, they grow in patches.

The truly precious things are in the depths of this place, where even rarer herbs grow."

Dugu Bo raised his hand to point out several locations, and Zhou Heng looked in the direction Dugu Bo was pointing.

He saw that in those spots, Ginseng thousands of years old and Ganoderma thousands of years old were growing wantonly, just like weeds.

"The Heaven and Earth Origin Qi in this place is incomparably abundant, and at the same time, the Yin and Yang forces here are balanced and stable, which greatly shortens the growth time of these Precious Herbs.

I fear that the deeper we go, the more Heavenly Treasures there will be, and the older their age will be," Zhou Heng said softly, stating his judgment as he looked at the numerous Precious Herbs here.

Dugu Bo nodded slightly and said, "I think so too; the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi here is abundant and the Yin and Yang forces are balanced, creating a treasure land for the growth of these Heavenly Treasures."

Come to think of it, Dugu Bo was also incredibly miserable; there were all kinds of Heavenly Treasures here, but he dared not use the ones he didn't recognize for fear of something going wrong.

And as for the things he did recognize, although their age was not small, they could not resolve the Jade Phosphorus Snake Poison in his body and were of no effect.

As Dugu Bo spoke, he thought of something and couldn't help but shiver, saying, "In the depths of this place grow numerous Heavenly Treasures, but I don't recognize those Heavenly Treasures and dare not use them.

However, when I first came here, my martial soul gave me guidance toward an herb I didn't recognize.

I gritted my teeth and ate it, but not only did I not gain any benefits, I actually regressed several ranks in soul power, and that feeling of my body being repeatedly torn apart, of dying and coming back to life—I still don't dare to recall it now."

Thinking of the feeling of being tortured to the point of wanting to die after eating that herb back then, Dugu Bo couldn't help but tremble.

Hearing Dugu Bo's words, a flash of confusion crossed Zhou Heng's eyes.

Theoretically, what a martial soul guides its master to must be beneficial to the martial soul or the Spirit Master; such a painful phenomenon should not occur.

Could it be that Dugu Bo's method of using this herb was wrong?

"Take me over to see; it's possible your method of use was incorrect," Zhou Heng said to Dugu Bo.

Dugu Bo thought the same; after all, he hadn't recognized that herb at all back then and had just been bold enough to eat it raw. It was possible that the phenomenon occurred precisely because the method of use was wrong.

Dugu Bo walked in front to lead the way for Zhou Heng.

A few minutes later, the two arrived at the central area of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, and Dugu Bo came to a place where a special kind of plant was growing.

The main body of this plant looked like little snakes, growing in twists and turns; at every twist, there grew a small, vermilion, rounded fruit, and around the fruit were several small buds and leaves, like claws clutching the fruit. Counting carefully, there were nine such fruits in total.

Zhou Heng looked at these plants, recalling the illustrated guide of Heavenly Treasures he had seen in the Offering Hall.

A few minutes later, Zhou Heng thought of the name and function of this plant.

"This is a Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine, a type of special Heavenly Treasure; it does not allow the user to increase soul power or mental power.

This Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine accumulates double the medicinal power for every ten thousand years of accumulation.

Once it grows to ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years, the Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine reaches its limit; if it grows for even one more year, the Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine will wither, and all its medicinal power will turn into nine seeds to grow anew.

The function of this herb is to condense an inner core similar to a Dragon Pill for those Dragon-type Spirit Beasts, constantly purifying the bloodline of those Dragon-type Spirit Beasts to make them become True Dragons.

There is also a story about the Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine: untold tens of thousands of years ago, the world was ruled by the Dragon race.

However, True Dragons were extremely rare between Heaven and Earth, and there were more Sub-dragon Spirit Beasts possessing Dragon bloodlines.

Thus, in order to increase the number of True Dragons, the ancestors of the Sub-dragons researched this Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine to make those Dragon-type Spirit Beasts with impure bloodlines condense a Dragon Pill and purify their bloodlines.

Eventually, they would become true True Dragons.

These are not the most important things; the strongest point of the Nine Origin Dragon Transformation Vine is that it can protect those Spirit Beasts that fail to condense a Dragon Pill from dying.

It greatly reduces the consequences of failure, resulting only in the loss of some soul power, and the worst consequence is not the loss of one's cultivation, but merely having to cultivate again."