Chapter 67: Preemptive Setup

Zhou Yi was quite familiar with the Sunset Forest; his meeting with Qian Renxue had taken place here, so it could be said to be full of memories.

When he and Jin Ling arrived above the Sunset Forest, they even saw their former sparring partners. Seeing them, Zhou Yi shook his head and chuckled, recalling the scenes of those Soul Beasts craving his Spiritual Power.

After a brief moment of reflection, he put those thoughts aside and followed the guidance of the Dragon Pearl toward the direction of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

Finally, they arrived at a five-hundred-meter-high hillside with a cone-shaped mountain hollow in the middle; if nothing went wrong, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was down below.

As for the green Jade Phosphorus Snake poisonous mist surrounding the area, Zhou Yi and Jin Ling were not even the slightest bit afraid, descending directly from the mountaintop.

Entering the bottom of the hollow, Zhou Yi and the others indeed saw the legendary Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

The hot spring was not large, but it was divided into two parts. In the oval-shaped pool, the colors of the spring water were surprisingly milky white and vermilion. Even more strangely, although they were within the same pool, they were clearly demarcated, neither encroaching upon the other, always remaining on their own side.

The billowing steam rising up was generated precisely from the position between the two springs, continuously ascending until it slowly dissipated at the mountain pass.

In fact, ever since arriving here, the Dragon bloodline and martial soul within Zhou Yi had been constantly emitting waves of longing, and even the Dragon Pearl revealed an extremely excited intent.

It made sense, as this was, after all, the place where the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings had fallen, and the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings were two of the nine sons of the Dragon God of this world, possessing a small portion of the Dragon God's creation fortune.

Absorbing the energy here would not only allow the Dragon Pearl to evolve into the prototype of a spiritual treasure but also further stimulate his own Dragon bloodline; however, he could not be impatient for now, as the time was not yet right.

Strangely, after arriving here, he had seen neither Tang San nor Dugu Bo; he had originally thought he might run into acquaintances.

Looking at it this way, Tang San should not have encountered Dugu Bo, which was likely the so-called butterfly effect. After all, compared to the original timeline, Shrek lacked Zhu Zhuqing, so it was not strange that a certain link had gone wrong.

Moreover, in the original work, Tang San being captured by Dugu Bo was an extremely coincidental event; that Dugu Yan would appear when Shrek was confronting Dugu Bo, Prince Xue Xing, and the others could only be said to be the author forcibly arranging a cheat for Tang San.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi became curious about the current situation of Shrek. One had to know that they only had six people now; it was uncertain if they had even fought Yu Tianheng and Dugu Yan. Perhaps it was because they had never met that Dugu Yan did not recognize Tang San, leading to the current situation.

However, the Grandmaster should not give up on participating in the Spirit Master Tournament; this was, after all, his obsession. Even if he had to stuff the entire Shrek into another advanced academy, he would participate. Thinking this way, perhaps he might encounter them when he returned to Tiandou City.

But he would know about these things later. He began to take out a Scroll and draw the surrounding immortal Grass and spiritual plants, then had Jin Ling keep watch on the outside world.

In less than two hours, Zhou Yi had finished depicting the appearance of all the surrounding medicinal herbs.

Next, he and Jin Ling flew outside and began to set up an Array around the entire mountain.

This setup took two months.

During this period, Zhou Yi even figured out the frequency of Dugu Bo's visits here; he did not come very often, basically only once or twice a month.

Of course, Dugu Bo had absolutely no awareness of Zhou Yi, who was hiding in the dark nearby using a Mirage. Seeing his careless manner, Zhou Yi could be considered to have confirmed the true value of Dugu Bo as the weakest Title Douluo.

Seeing that he could not detect him at all, Zhou Yi simply never showed himself. When he came, he would practice elsewhere, and when he left, he would come to the area around the hill to set up the Array. Now, he had finally finished it completely; once the Array was activated, this Dugu Bo would likely never be able to find this place again.

It must be said that this Array was not simple; it belonged to a layer-upon-layer design. The outermost perimeter was set with a concealment array to lower one's presence; further in was an Illusion Array that changed the surrounding terrain and disrupted one's sense of spatial direction; inside that was a Maze Array where the space was constantly changing, similar to the Moon God Labyrinth; and at the very center was a Defensive Array capable of counterattacking.

In order to not be disturbed when absorbing his fifth or sixth Soul Ring in the future, Zhou Yi could be said to have exhausted his efforts. Not only had he consumed a significant amount of the treasures and materials he had accumulated, but he had also placed the Taiyin True Water he had gathered over two months into the innermost defensive array.

Speaking of which, during these two months, besides setting up the Array, he had been studying his Taiyin Pupil. According to what the Moon God had said, his Taiyin Pupil had evolved to the final stage, so it must have gained other functions.

After much tinkering, he finally understood the new function of his left eye: condensing Taiyin True Water. After all, he had seen the appearance of this water when the Angel God and the Moon God were fighting, and now that he condensed it, he knew it was the Taiyin True Water of the past. It was just that his strength might not be enough now; he exhausted his Spiritual Power after condensing only a drop or two.

Zhou Yi had experienced the effect of this Taiyin True Water firsthand two months ago; it was an object of extreme yin and extreme cold, capable of even freezing space, and was extremely overbearing.

Thinking of this, he touched his right eye and recalled the Sun True Fire of the Angel God, which was equally overbearing and terrifying. He had a premonition that before long, the mysteries of his right eye would also be revealed, and perhaps by then, he would be able to master the Sun True Fire.

However, he always felt that there was some other mystery to this left eye, but he could not bring it out, as if it were missing a key. And Zhou Yi believed that the Taiyin True Water was merely an effect brought about by the third stage of the Taiyin Pupil; evolving to the final form must have added something else, but he was clearly unable to master it yet.

……

The next day, Zhou Yi activated all the arrays. Seeing the terrain in front of him, which was completely different from before, Zhou Yi was very satisfied and left.

The next time Dugu Bo came, he would not be able to find this place. This entire landscape was equivalent to having the portion of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well removed, but to the naked eye, the entire space still appeared connected. The hill where the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was located seemed like a folded space; no matter how Dugu Bo searched, he would subconsciously ignore that place.

Everything set up, Zhou Yi took Jin Ling and headed toward Tiandou City.

Looking at the message on the Long-Distance Sound Transmission Talisman, he found it quite interesting.

In fact, Zhuqing had returned to the residence they originally lived in as early as last month, but she had not been lonely this past month, as she had run into the Shrek group.

They had indeed been provoked and driven out by Prince Xue Xing just like in the original work, and then they had come to Lanba Academy.

For this past month, Zhu Zhuqing had been staying with Rongrong, Xiao Wu, and the others.

It is worth mentioning that Zhuqing seemed to have given the Shrek group a beating, watching the Grandmaster's eyes almost pop out, while Flender, Zhao Wuji, and Liu Erlong were also dumbfounded.

Thinking of that scene, Zhou Yi found it amusing. He also wanted to see the Grandmaster's zombie face break its composure; it must have been very comical.