Thank you to our new Patrons: Nanu, Volrith, Damokles72, Ryan, James31292, Jay Quan, Hunter Hartjen, Little Demon, Ted R, Divinenature, crimson reaper and Dragonwolf! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to Chapter 280: Undisputed – Part 1 on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsequently, Ye Wen had Ah Yin ask the medicinal herbs if anyone had come here in the past thousand years. These herbs were innocent and pure, like blank sheets of paper, and easily divulged their information—a result of their lack of worldly experience.
The collective response from the herbs was: no one had come.
Upon reflection, it made sense. High-level plant-type soul masters were already rare on the continent, and those who needed plant-type soul rings were even fewer. The ordinary high-level spirit beasts outside weren't appealing to these advanced plant-type soul masters, so they wouldn't have ventured here. Moreover, the exterior of the Ice and Fire Dual Eye resembled a volcano, giving no indication of being a place where plant-type spirit beasts would exist. Naturally, no one would bother exploring it.
So how did Dugu Bo end up in this godforsaken place?
Could it be that he came here to study sulfur for detoxification purposes and accidentally stumbled upon it?
Never mind—it wasn't important. Ye Wen dismissed the thought. If Dugu Bo could do as he pleased here, there was no reason Ye Wen couldn't do the same.
Ye Wen had read part of the God Realm Side Story. Perhaps the Ice and Fire Dual Eye was set up as bait to lure the Silver Dragon King. But knowing what the Dragon God was truly like, Ye Wen sneered at the idea. Only the Silver Dragon King would still fear what the gods of the God Realm might do to her.
The uninformed Silver Dragon King probably still believed that spirit beasts couldn't ascend to godhood because of the God Realm. But the real reason was that the Dragon God—a manipulative entity—feared that future Beast Gods might be bullied by gods or humans. Thus, she decreed that spirit beasts in Douluo couldn't ascend to godhood. This epic-scale pitfall was created by the Dragon God herself, yet the Silver Dragon King, as half of her essence, remained oblivious to it. It was laughably absurd.
With fiery eyes, Ye Wen gazed at the group of medicinal herbs, scaring them into immobility. They could only cry out in Ah Yin's spiritual channel.
"There's bad silver!"
"Help! I just broke through ten thousand years—I don't want to die!"
"Waaah—"
"I'm not ripe yet! Don't eat me!"
Ah Yin, ever kind-hearted, pinched Ye Wen's waist in disapproval. "Stop scaring them. I know you don't like harming intelligent beings."
Over time, Ah Yin had come to understand Ye Wen's worldview—he didn't consume intelligent beings because doing so felt akin to eating his own kind, a form of spiritual fastidiousness.
"I know, I know. But who can resist the allure of these little guys' effects?
Let's tidy up this Ice and Fire Dual Eye first. Whoever planted these herbs must've been illiterate, throwing them around carelessly.
Aside from the Fiery Apricot Delicate Vegetable and the Eight-Trigram Mystic Ice Grass, everything else seems randomly tossed here."
As someone knowledgeable in medicine, Ye Wen naturally cherished medicinal herbs. How could he bear to waste these spirit-beast-grade herbs by consuming them recklessly? Seeing them scattered haphazardly, one here and one there, even Ye Wen felt a pang of regret. So, together with Ah Yin, he began planning.
First, they cleared an open space beside the Ice and Fire Dual Eye and released the ancient Blue Silver King, who had been sleeping in Ye Wen's Spirit Space for over half a month.
"Hmm?!" The ancient Blue Silver King's body trembled slightly.
It seemed to feel something extraordinary. Condensing a human face, it looked at Ah Yin and Ye Wen beside it and said:
"What a wondrous sensation. My cultivation, which has been growing so slowly, suddenly feels like it's increased tenfold. May I ask, what is this place, Your Majesty?"
"Ah Lan, this is the Ice and Fire Dual Eye," Ah Yin replied.
(A/N: There are now four Blue Silver Kings. To distinguish the ancient one, it will henceforth be called A Lan.)
Ah Lan was stunned. He never imagined that such a legendary place truly existed. Even with his vast 85,000 years of experience, he was momentarily overwhelmed.
Feeling the benefits of the Ice and Fire Dual Eye, A Lan's attitude toward Ye Wen shifted. No longer seeing him merely as the Emperor Consort of the Blue Silver Grass race, he regarded him as his benefactor and expressed his gratitude:
"Thank you for your help, Emperor. With this sacred land, I should be able to attempt a breakthrough within a thousand years."
"You'd better work hard, Ah Lan. I'm looking forward to seeing a second Blue Silver Emperor among the Blue Silver Grass race," Ye Wen said cheerfully.
After all, Ah Lan was essentially part of Ah Yin's family. Helping him advance further was something Ye Wen was more than willing to do.
Thus, at the core of the Ice and Fire Dual Eye, two great immortal herbs and the ancient Blue Silver King, Ah Lan, formed a tripartite balance.
Ye Wen also planted the various precious herbs he had collected along the way here.
Though high-year medicinal herbs and ordinary ones shared similar nutritional value, their potency differed vastly.
How could artificially cultivated ginseng priced at ten yuan per jin compare to thousand-year-old ginseng?
Next, Ye Wen conducted an inventory of the immortal herbs within the Ice and Fire Dual Eye:
- Fiery Apricot Delicate Vegetable
- Eight-Trigram Mystic Ice Grass
- Love-Breaking Red
- Strange Velvet Sky-Piercing Chrysanthemum
- Narcissus Jade Muscle Bone
- Eight-Petal Fairy Orchid
- Crested Phoenix Sunflower
- Autumn-Water Piercing Dew
- Elegant Fragrance Fairy Lily
- Royal Tulip
- Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma (A/N: In the original setting, it's not classified as an immortal herb, but its effects are nearly identical to the Crested Phoenix Sunflower. Both can completely transform a soul master's body. However, the Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma is more versatile and can enable Yu Xiaogang, who is around 50 years old and past his prime cultivation period, to reach Soul Ancestor level within five to six years. Therefore, it's reclassified as an immortal herb here.)
- Ink Jade Divine Bamboo (A/N: In Douluo 1, aside from the Seven Monsters, only Yu Xiaogang consumed a Nine-Rank Purple Ganoderma. Whether other divine-grade herbs exist is unknown, but since Tang San is pure and virtuous, this one is added here.) - Earth Dragon Golden Gourd
In total, there were thirteen divine-grade herbs. Among them, the Love-Breaking Red was of unparalleled quality, almost reaching the level of a divine artifact. Combined with its legendary enhancements, it might very well be a product of divine power.
Ah Yin, curious about the Love-Breaking Red, whose artistic style differed from all the other herbs and emitted no spiritual fluctuations, asked Ye Wen:
"Brother, what kind of divine herb is this?"
Ye Wen had already explained the concept of divine herbs to Ah Yin. In the hierarchy of plant-type spirit beasts, divine herbs were equivalent to super spirit beasts among animal-type spirit beasts. However, since they lacked combat abilities before reaching ten thousand years of cultivation, they remained unknown to outsiders.
Ah Yin herself could be considered a kind of divine herb. Her powerful vitality, when applied to healing injuries, was comparable to the Nine-Star Begonia's ability to revive the dead and regenerate flesh.
Ye Wen then recounted the original description of the Love-Breaking Red to Ah Yin. After hearing it, Ah Yin scoffed:
"This man is truly pathetic. What could have possibly attracted that fairy?
If there's a difference between immortals and mortals, why not strive to cultivate and become an immortal? Then they could live together happily.
Instead, he wallows in self-pity, hiding in his house staring at a flower, wasting his energy, and eventually dying suddenly. What's the difference between him and a useless person?"
At first glance, the story seemed tragic and beautiful, but it reflected the protagonist's incompetence. In reality, how could a fairy be attracted to such a man? If simply liking flowers could attract a fairy, the world would be full of lovesick fools.
However, Ye Wen had no intention of giving the Love-Breaking Red to Ah Yin to test her so-called sincerity.
------------------------------------------------------
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow