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When Ye Yingying woke up the next day, her husband had already become close friends with Ye Wen, addressing each other as brothers.
Over the course of the night, they had exchanged knowledge on a wide range of topics—from geography to spirit beasts, and even advanced to discussions on martial soul cultivation. They talked about everything under the sun.
As for Chen Lie? That little weakling had collapsed from exhaustion and fallen asleep in the middle of the night.
Though many keyboard warriors from Ye Wen's past life criticized the Douluo cultivation system, the abilities gained in the later stages were still quite formidable.
The most frustrated person was Ye Xixi. The previous evening, she had harbored some small romantic feelings for Ye Wen—after all, a handsome older brother like him was rare. But now that her father had become so close with him, she suddenly felt like she had dropped a generation, leaving her deeply disheartened.
After enjoying a pleasant breakfast and exchanging contact information and tokens, the two groups parted ways. After all, their goals were unrelated.
Ye Xixi's family had originally come to hunt for soul rings for her while also enjoying a bit of tourism. Who would have thought they'd encounter that cursed gorilla, completely derailing their plans.
However, meeting Ye Wen turned out to be a valuable connection in the world of soul masters.
After seeing off the large family, Ye Wen rubbed his face wearily. To be honest, he didn't enjoy such socializing either, but since the other party was a Soul Douluo, even someone as impatient as Ye Wen couldn't just challenge them to a fight.
Moreover, truth be told, Ye Wen was somewhat envious of the Nine-Heart Begonia martial soul.
It possessed top-tier healing abilities capable of reviving the dead and regenerating flesh. Before cultivating his second martial soul, this kind of power was very appealing to Ye Wen.
Life was unpredictable—one never knew when someone close might suffer a severe injury. In society, having more connections meant more chances at survival.
Work still needed to be done. After tidying up, Ye Wen and Ah Yin resumed their search for the Ice and Fire Dual Eye.
Although the Sunset Forest was inferior to the Star Dou Great Forest in both size and variety of spirit beasts, it remained one of the few large gathering places for spirit beasts on the continent.
Due to its unique geographical environment, the forest harbored more poisonous spirit beasts than the Star Dou Great Forest, making it a place where ordinary soul masters dared not venture to hunt for soul rings.
Finally, perseverance paid off.
After three days, Ye Wen finally found the mountain peak where the Ice and Fire Dual Eye was located.
It truly lived up to its reputation as a paradise for plant-type spirit beasts. Even on the outskirts of this mountain, there were numerous thousand-year-old plant-type spirit beasts.
The reason they had found it so quickly was because of the vast number of thousand-year-old Blue Silver Trees at the base of the mountain. This location was deep within the heart of the Sunset Forest.
In the original story, it was mentioned that ordinary plants couldn't survive within the influence range of the Ice and Fire Dual Eye. Under such stringent conditions, even the lowest-level plants around the Ice and Fire Dual Eye were at least spirit beasts.
Plant-type spirit beasts were perhaps the unluckiest type of spirit beast. Before reaching ten thousand years of cultivation, most plant-type spirit beasts lacked mobility.
Otherwise, given this treasure trove for plant-type spirit beasts, these creatures would have crawled here on their own, no matter how slow they were.
"Brother, is this the Ice and Fire Dual Eye you spoke of?
Even while still in the air, my martial soul is already trembling with excitement. As you said, this truly is a paradise for plant-type spirit beasts," Ah Yin exclaimed excitedly.
While controlling the descent of the Void Platform, Ye Wen remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings for potential dangers. He replied:
"Naturally. It's a pity you've already transformed into a human. Otherwise, with such an ideal environment, you could have continued cultivating further."
When the two stepped onto the Ice and Fire Dual Eye, the surrounding heavenly treasures shuddered as if gripped by panic. They seemed to want to flee but were unable to, left at the mercy of others.
Ah Yin, sensitive to spiritual fluctuations, noticed something and slapped Ye Wen's shoulder indignantly.
"You scared them, Brother!"
"What?"
Ye Wen was baffled. Though his spiritual cultivation wasn't weak, he couldn't sense the spiritual vibrations of these medicinal herbs.
His realm simply wasn't high enough, whereas Ah Yin was naturally gifted.
"These little ones are afraid of you. They think we'll harm them."
Seeing Ah Yin point to the medicinal herbs around the Ice and Fire Dual Eye, Ye Wen realized what she meant.
Come to think of it, these herbs would eventually evolve into ten-thousand-year spirit beasts or even ferocious beasts.
Though the first book of Douluo didn't specify their exact ages, herbs capable of evolving martial souls and purifying the body should be at least a thousand years old. On the Douluo Continent, a thousand years was too low for such treasures. Only herbs that reached ten thousand years or more could develop their own consciousness.
After all, one of the effects of the Ice and Fire Dual Eye was to increase the cultivation speed of plant-type spirit beasts tenfold.
Given that the two great empires of the Douluo Continent were founded only 2,600 years ago, it made sense for these herbs to have reached ten thousand years of cultivation.
At this thought, Ye Wen recalled a suspicion he had about the Ice and Fire Dual Eye.
He turned to Ah Yin and said:
"A Yin, ask them if they were transplanted here a thousand years ago."
Though the Ice and Fire Dual Eye was described as a naturally formed treasure in the original story, the fact that both the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King perished here was already suspicious.
On top of that, there were over ten types of medicinal herbs here. These herbs wouldn't have grown legs and walked here on their own. The only explanation was that someone had deliberately transplanted them here. But what was their purpose? After all, this place was later occupied by Dugu Bo.
A Yin also sensed something amiss. She questioned the group of herbs and then solemnly reported:
"They say that a thousand years ago, someone transplanted them here while they were still in an unconscious state. After that, they felt their cultivation speed increase significantly."
"Indeed." Ye Wen nodded gravely.
"The traces of artificial intervention among these herbs in the Ice and Fire Dual Eye are too obvious. Clearly, an unknown powerful individual set this up a thousand years ago and then abandoned it for some unknown reason.
But with so many treasures here that even Title Douluos would covet, yet no one has claimed them, there are only three possible explanations for why that strong individual did this:
First, they may have intended to pass on this treasure to future generations, but their descendants were unworthy and lost this sacred site.
Second, the Ice and Fire Dual Eye might be bait meant to lure out some kind of existence.
Third, that powerful individual no longer cared about these things."
Ah Yin nodded in agreement. As a plant-type spirit beast, she had the most authority to speak on this matter. Even these herbs, before gaining the ability to transform, could only stay rooted in place, relying on luck to grow.
This unnatural clustering was clearly abnormal.
As for the idea that Dugu Bo had transplanted them here—don't joke. These herbs had such distinct presences that there must have been guardian spirit beasts nearby. Even Dugu Bo, as powerful as he was, couldn't possibly have gathered so many from across the entire continent.
Moreover, risking his life to fight high-level spirit beasts just for some unfamiliar medicinal herbs? Dugu Bo wasn't that foolish.
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