The moment the glow of the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu lit up, the temperature in the valley's air immediately rose.
"Next, you must also pass my test before you can take away any of the other seven immortal herbs."
Another female voice rang out, much clearer than the Fragrant Silk Beauty's. Lacking her soft gentleness, it carried instead a heroic vigor.
"Zihuang, she doesn't come with good intentions," the Skydream Iceworm reminded him in the spiritual sea.
Xu Zihuang frowned slightly and nodded.
After refining the Autumn Dew Tear and experiencing a qualitative leap in his spiritual power, his perception was far keener than before. He too sensed something was wrong and turned his gaze toward the Fragrant Silk Beauty.
"You didn't mention before that I had to pass another test."
"Uh… well…" The Fragrant Silk Beauty hesitated, then said weakly to the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu:
"Ajiao, he's not here for that book. And he already passed my test just now. This isn't really fair."
But how much sincerity lay in those words, only she herself knew.
"If he isn't here for that book, then he must have nothing to do with that man. Your test only proved he has tenacious willpower, not that his character is any good. What if he's an utterly selfish person? If he learns of this place, how could he possibly keep it secret? And besides, his martial soul carries the attribute of Destruction. When he reaches the level of Title Douluo, even if all of us joined forces, we might not be able to stop him. At that time, won't everything be as he says?"
The Flame Apricot Jiao Shu snorted coldly.
"Youyou, you still underestimate human greed. No matter what you say, today I will keep him here."
The Flame Apricot Jiao Shu, hot-tempered and straightforward, no longer bothered to hide her intent.
A red light shot skyward from the center of her body. Her massive form suddenly arched backward as a strange fiery-red vortex appeared before her, like a whale spouting water. From the blazing hot spring she drew out a torrent of crimson liquid and sprayed it high into the sky.
The scarlet column of water held firm, the air around it twisting violently wherever it passed. The valley's temperature soared once again.
The Skydream Iceworm hurriedly prepared to take Xu Zihuang away at any moment, but Xu Zihuang told it to wait, his eyes coldly fixed on the Fragrant Silk Beauty.
"Is this your idea too?"
He did not believe the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu's awakening had nothing to do with her. Coincidences did not come so conveniently.
"Sorry, I can't speak for everyone's will," the Fragrant Silk Beauty said, shaking her large pink blossom and feigning innocence.
"You just risked your own life for these heavenly treasures. Someone like you is far too terrifying. If enough profit were at stake, who knows what you might do?"
Just as Xu Zihuang said, while he was refining the Autumn Dew Tear, she had secretly tried to awaken the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu.
With her extreme fire attribute, the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu ranked among the top two in combat power of all the hundred-thousand-year herbs in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
The reason the Fragrant Silk Beauty awoke her secretly was simple: she didn't want Xu Zihuang to notice. She herself wasn't skilled in combat, and she feared the Destruction attribute greatly. If it came to fighting, better to let others handle it.
She would never risk herself.
She had hesitated before—otherwise, she wouldn't have offered him the Autumn Dew Tear. But when Xu Zihuang answered her question so decisively, panic struck her, and she resolved herself. Someone who could disregard his own life for heavenly treasures would grow into a grave threat to them.
Xu Zihuang smiled coldly.
"If you meant to scheme against me, why bother pretending to be innocent and caring before? Did you really think you had me in your grasp?"
"That's too cruel! I truly wanted to be friends with you earlier!" the Fragrant Silk Beauty said pitifully. She was about to go on when the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu, brimming with heat, cut her off.
"Youyou, stop wasting words on this human. Bring him over to me so I don't harm the others by mistake."
Xu Zihuang stood near the Fragrant Silk Beauty, whose nature was neutral. The nearby plant soul beasts and herbs were similar to her in nature. Unlike her, they lacked hundred-thousand-year cultivation, and thus could never endure the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu's extreme fire.
In the spiritual sea, the Skydream Iceworm cursed.
"So this is their true nature! Nearly fooled even me. No wonder they could create that vile Jade Phosphor Poison Array."
"Zihuang, should I take you away now? Later, when you're stronger, you must teach them a lesson!" the Skydream Iceworm said viciously.
"No need yet. Since they don't want to harm the other herbs, this is easier to handle."
Their exchange in the spiritual sea took but a moment. Before the Fragrant Silk Beauty could act, Xu Zihuang had already moved.
His deep violet eyes shifted into commanding vertical pupils. A dark purple flame appeared on his left fingertips, and black-violet lightning danced on his right.
The oppressive aura made the Fragrant Silk Beauty falter half a beat just as she was about to push him away.
That instant of distraction was enough. The flame and lightning spread across Xu Zihuang's hands, converging at his palms.
At the moment of contact, they fused perfectly, forming a tiny black dot the size of a soybean—mysterious, as if piercing the void itself.
As flame and thunder continued merging, the black dot slowly expanded.
The Fragrant Silk Beauty's reaction was even greater than when she first felt his aura of Destruction. She trembled uncontrollably.
"Ajiao, save me! I'm scared!"
The mortal threat was undeniable.
The Flame Apricot Jiao Shu fared no better. If she had a human face, it would have been filled with terror.
Was this truly power a human soul master—or even a soul beast—could wield?
Though Xu Zihuang's cultivation was far beneath hers, the level of that black dot's attribute surpassed even her extreme fire.
Only the Skydream Iceworm understood this energy. This was the same power Xu Zihuang had once used to shatter the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's domain—
Annihilation.
The force that dissolved all things, transcending every attribute.
Xu Zihuang couldn't fully control it at his level, nor could it give him strength enough to defeat hundred-thousand-year soul beasts outright.
But to destroy a portion of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well? That he could do.
And that was his only purpose—to make the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu and the Fragrant Silk Beauty hesitate.
At that moment, a fluctuation in the corner of his spiritual sea drew his attention.
Understanding, he dissolved the flame and lightning in his hands.
His violet eyes turned to brilliant gold as three purple soul rings rose at his feet.
From his brow shone dazzling silver light, forming a hexagonal silver scale that glittered magnificently.
His long-unused first soul ring flared brilliantly.
A resonant whale song rang out. A spectral white whale swam joyfully around him, a silver hexagonal scale gleaming on its forehead as well.
At the same time, the twin-colored waters of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well surged skyward, twining like two dragons. Within the waters, two vast forms emerged.
Suspended above the Well were two colossal dragons formed of lakewater—one ice-blue, the other crimson-red. Both radiated blinding brilliance, their might sweeping out in waves.
The Flame Apricot Jiao Shu, who had seemed so powerful, now trembled under their pressure, her glow dimming to near nothing.
The Fragrant Silk Beauty too was utterly cowed, her voice shaking in terror:
"D-Dragon Lords!"
"Tianmeng, let's use this chance to leave," Xu Zihuang said. Whether because of the silver-scaled white whale or the hexagonal silver scale at his brow, he himself felt no oppression from the twin dragons' aura.
"This overwhelming might… could it be the Dragon Souls of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King?"
Though stunned, the Skydream Iceworm quickly acted at his reminder.
With light steps on the condensed crimson mirrors beneath his feet, Xu Zihuang rose hundreds of meters into the air.
Crushed beneath the dragons' pressure, the Flame Apricot Jiao Shu and the Fragrant Silk Beauty had no time to stop him.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Zihuang, wrapped in protective soul power, plunged into the poisonous clouds above the valley.
As he departed, the spectral silver-scaled white whale circling him suddenly opened its mouth, inhaling vast amounts of heaven and earth energy from the Well.
Their gazes met—its black eyes full of life.
Though only an illusion, before fading it spat a pure white pearl into Xu Zihuang's palm, packed with heaven and earth energy.
He sealed it in a jade bottle and stored it in his soul tool. Without time to ponder, aided by the Skydream Iceworm, he swiftly left the valley.
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