Five days later.
Salas, who was cultivating inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, slowly emerged from the pool.
His body now looked even more youthful and full of strength… At least now he looked like someone in their mid-thirties.
That's right—his physique had improved another level, now comparable to a level 96 Title Douluo.
Suddenly, eight spider-like legs sprang from his back like man-killing thorns, each lance stabilizing in a different direction and moving according to Salas's will.
The color of the external spirit bone had also changed—red and white lights now danced beautifully along the purple legs, giving them a unique beauty.
"I've completely digested the two herbs. My external bone, which completed its first evolution days ago, has now evolved its poison to an entirely new level… Now, with the addition of extreme fire poison and extreme cold poison, if someone gets stabbed by me, they'll be seriously unlucky…"
"Next, my soul power has broken through to level 84…" Salas calmly summarized his improvements, all the while taking a white robe from his storage ring.
With the complete digestion of two immortal herbs of ice and fire over the past few days, his initially incomplete Ice and Fire Alchemy Body had fully formed today.
Now, with the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body constitution, his body and soul power had become completely immune not only to ice and fire, but also to poison.
It could be said that in this world, if there were any Title Douluos Salas no longer feared, they would be poison-type ones like Dugu Bo and the Porcupinefish Douluo.
Even if he didn't have many soul skills right now, just the might of his martial soul, his level 84 soul power, combined with his Super Douluo-level physique, were enough to fight them equally.
Only if Dugu Bo used his time-freezing skill or petrifying gaze would it become a bit troublesome. But with his first life-saving soul skill, escaping wouldn't be a problem.
Moreover, what's even better is that—with the Ice and Fire Alchemy Body constitution—Salas's cultivation talent had improved tremendously, now incomparable to his previous pace.
It must be known: whether the Ice and Fire Immortal Grasses or the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew Immortal Grass, neither were specialized in improving soul power. The Ice and Fire Grasses offered only minor boosts to soul power, and the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew offered virtually none.
Although Salas's breakthrough to level 84 was mostly thanks to the energy from the Ice and Fire Immortal Grasses, his cultivation speed still contributed a small part. At least, his cultivation over the last five days was equal to about one month of his regular training.
"The speed has improved nearly six times… Hmm, that's not the correct way to calculate. This Ice and Fire Pool itself boosts my cultivation speed by at least two times. So, my actual improvement is only about three times…"
"No… that's not entirely right either. That threefold increase is partly due to my body regaining its vitality… If I were still the old man with low vitality, my speed wouldn't have been this high. So, in truth, it's probably only about twice as fast as before…"
"Anyway, the true benefit of the Alchemy Body isn't just speed… It raises my potential. Now, even if I were to cultivate slowly on my own, I could reach level 95 at the very least. Unlike before, where the Soul Douluo stage was my limit."
Salas understood everything clearly—his current changes, the original Salas's abilities, and the exact differences between them, all analyzed through his high spiritual power.
"Now that I've completely digested the three immortal herbs, I need to think about which one to consume next…" Salas soon stumbled upon another dilemma.
With his nature, if possible, Salas wanted to consume all the herbs here for himself.
From his action of not even leaving the seeds when collecting the four immortal grasses, one could clearly see his nature...
"I'm a person with strong possessiveness over my things… That's right, possessiveness is the reason. What other reason could there be? Hmph, even on Earth, people misunderstood me. They thought I was greedy and selfish. How could they possibly understand my innocent heart?" Salas muttered with dissatisfaction.
"But it seems… I'll have to share some of these immortal herbs with Tang San and his friends. At the very least, I'll need to give one to Tang San if I want to get my hands on the Asura Sword…" Salas muttered softly, a heartbroken look in his eyes.
"Anyway… In the future, I'll make them repay this favor by being my dogs."
"That will bring peace to my heart… After all, I'm not going to chain them down without giving them anything, right? Yup, that's right, I'm just asking them to return the favor I gave them. I'll always be a good person in their hearts…" Salas seamlessly justified his thoughts to himself.
There's a saying: never let others know you're evil. Let them believe you're good—for in their trust lies the easiest path to everything you seek.
And what's the easiest way to gain trust? Of course, it's to make them feel grateful to you first.
And even if one day they by chance rebel, the image he'd crafted will make them underestimate him… and that's when he win.
"Hmm… I'll only consume one or two more immortal grasses. I'll let Tang San choose from the rest. With his knowledge, even though I've already taken the best ones, he'll still be able to find suitable herbs for himself and his friends…"
"Of course… I'll only give them one immortal grass each. And I'll keep the seeds to regrow them." Salas muttered to himself, his eyes gleaming with a newfound light of… compassion?
It's wrong to destroy something as good as immortal grasses… Right?
Yes, it's wrong. So Salas would make Tang San plant those seeds in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well before taking anything with him.
Putting that thought aside, Salas returned to his original dilemma—deciding which immortal grass to take next.
"I want the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum the most… It has the ability to open up the eight extraordinary meridians and help one cultivate the Vajra Strength Body…"
"Oh, and it also seems to have an effect for treating amnesia and restoring memory…"
"The second effect is useless to me… But opening the eight meridians and strengthening my body is important…" Salas mused.
His current Ice and Fire Alchemy Body didn't help him open his meridians—its effects lay elsewhere.
"Of the remaining three herbs I've identified, I only know how to use the Yearning Heartbroken Red. But what use is that knowledge? Looks like I'll have to bring Tang San here…" Salas concluded.
As for Yang Wudi and Yue Guan… they were definitely not as knowledgeable as Tang San. Maybe they recognized a few of the immortal grasses, but whether they knew how to consume them properly was doubtful.
"Still, I should ask Yang Wudi. It'd be foolish not to confirm things… Oh, and here comes the poisonous snake…"
Musing over his plans, Salas noticed someone stepping into the range of the spiritual domain he had spread out earlier.