"Sigh…"
Dugu Bo let out a heavy sigh. He didn't know how to console her. After all, the facts were undeniable. Even with his rank as a Titled Douluo, he couldn't stay submerged underwater for an entire month. For such a long period without any sign of movement, it was likely that boy had already become one with the spring water.
"Yan Yan, no matter what, you should leave this place first. Your health is more important. You wouldn't want to ruin your body before that boy reappears, would you?" Dugu Bo helplessly brought up Li Chang'an as an excuse. Considering Dugu Yan's current state, staying here any longer was truly unwise.
However, in response to his advice, Dugu Yan gently shook her head and said, "Grandfather, I'm fine. With this protecting me, I can stay here as long as I want."
As she spoke, Dugu Bo finally noticed the flower in her hands.
It was an ordinary-looking white flower about the size of a palm, resembling a peony. However, it had a few striking red spots on its petals, bright as blood, which gave off a shockingly vivid appearance.
"Lovesick Heartbroken Red?!"
"You actually plucked it?!"
Dugu Bo stared at the flower in his granddaughter's hands in disbelief. He was well aware of this king of immortal herbs. More importantly, he knew that harvesting this herb required one to think of their beloved sincerely, with unwavering devotion, while spitting a mouthful of blood onto its petals. Any hesitation or impurity in thought would result in death, and the flower would remain unpluckable.
Once removed, the flower would never wither as long as it remained near its owner. Moreover, in times of crisis, it would automatically protect its master!
Dugu Bo never would have imagined that his granddaughter's feelings for that boy ran so deep—deep enough to pluck this king of immortal herbs for him.
Faced with this situation, Dugu Bo was at a loss for words.
The only thing he could do now was pray that the boy was truly safe and sound, ready to emerge from the pool at any moment.
Otherwise, with his granddaughter willing to pluck Lovesick Heartbroken Red for him, her feelings were so profound that she would likely spend the rest of her life alone if anything happened to him.
Just as Dugu Bo shook his head and prepared to leave, something caught his attention.
"Hmm?!"
Suddenly, Dugu Bo froze and turned back almost instantly, his gaze fixated on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, which had remained calm for the past month.
In the center of the spring, a small bubble surfaced.
"Pop!"
Then came a second, a third, and soon countless bubbles rising in succession.
Dugu Yan, unable to contain herself, moved closer, her eyes locked on the water's surface. Her heart, once filled with despair, suddenly rekindled with hope.
Finally, under the watchful and longing eyes of the grandfather-granddaughter pair, a shadow rapidly approached the surface of the water.
"Boom!"
The water's surface broke.
Fiery red and icy white spring water splashed high into the air. Some of the droplets nearly landed on Dugu Yan at the lakeside, which would have burned holes into her body. However, a faint red protective barrier enveloped her, shielding her from harm. It was the Lovesick Heartbroken Red emitting a soft glow to protect its master.
But Dugu Yan paid no attention to anything else. Her eyes were fixed on the figure breaking through the water. Tears filled her eyes as they overflowed uncontrollably.
After nearly a month…
The lover she had thought lost forever appeared before her once more.
Dugu Yan's heart surged with indescribable joy.
Li Chang'an, who had just emerged from the water with his upper body exposed, barely had time to catch his breath when he sensed an intense gaze. Instinctively following it, he immediately noticed the tearful girl staring at him.
He was about to greet her with a smile when he suddenly realized something was off—his entire world had changed!
For a moment, the world before him seemed to shift styles.
Countless "threads" appeared.
The entire world seemed to be composed of these interwoven "threads."
Everything, whether living beings or inanimate objects, as long as they existed in this world, was surrounded by these threads to varying extents. The threads influenced and entangled one another, forming the fabric of the world itself!
Li Chang'an was stunned by this unexpected change.
As he shifted his gaze to Dugu Yan, he noticed that she, too, was surrounded by many of these threads. Among them, a particularly prominent red thread extended directly toward him.
This thread, the thickest and most conspicuous among the threads surrounding Dugu Yan, was as thick as a rope. In comparison, an orange thread connecting her to Dugu Bo was only about a tenth of its size. As for the other threads, they were as thin as strands of hair and faintly colored.
"What are these differently colored 'threads'?"
"Why can I suddenly see these things?"
Li Chang'an felt a bit dizzy and overwhelmed by the sight of these vibrant threads filling the world.
"It feels like all beings are puppets controlled by these threads… It's terrifying!"
"What on earth is this?"
Confused and dazed, Li Chang'an stood frozen.
Meanwhile, Dugu Yan and Dugu Bo noticed the change in his eyes.
"Chang'an, are your eyes… okay?" Dugu Yan asked worriedly, fearing that his month-long immersion had caused some harm to his body.
"My eyes?"
Li Chang'an instinctively touched his eyelids, wondering if he had inadvertently revealed some serpentine traits, such as scales forming at the corners of his eyes.
"Your eyes have changed color," Dugu Bo pointed out.
"Changed color?"
Li Chang'an seemed to realize something. With a wave of his hand, he summoned the moisture in the air, forming a water mirror in front of him.
After awakening the Nine Infants bloodline, controlling water and fire had become as natural as breathing to him.
Dugu Bo, seeing him manipulate water so effortlessly, was taken aback. He clearly remembered that before consuming the immortal herbs, the boy lacked such abilities. Could the two herbs have granted him this power? Or had his martial soul undergone a mutation due to the month-long immersion?
In the water mirror, Li Chang'an silently observed his own eyes.
His left eye glowed a joyous fiery red, while his right eye emitted a somber water-blue hue, exuding an ominous aura.
His eyes had transformed into heterochromatic ones: red on the left and blue on the right.
"Could this strange vision of the world be due to these eyes? Is there some hidden ability in the Nine Infants bloodline that I wasn't aware of?" Li Chang'an speculated.
"Also, these heterochromatic eyes are striking but too noticeable. I wonder if I can revert them to their original state?"
As the thought crossed his mind, the fiery red and watery blue colors in his eyes faded. In the water mirror, his eyes returned to their deep black hue.
"Still, black hair goes best with black eyes," he thought, finding the dark color most pleasing to the eye.
(End of Chapter)