The abnormal movement within his body naturally caught Shui Wuhen's attention, but at this moment he was fully focused on refining the spirit ring of the Ice Silkworm (Tianmeng Ice Silkworm), leaving him with no energy to deal with anything else.
He could only choose to trust that Articuno would be able to restrain that ice-blue little sphere and prevent it from causing any negative effects.
The ice-blue sphere was like a black hole, frantically devouring the energy within Shui Wuhen's body like a whale swallowing the sea, growing stronger itself in the process.
This indeed reduced the amount of energy Shui Wuhen could refine, but it also objectively eased his burden, making the process of refining the Ice Silkworm spirit ring much smoother.
At the same time, Shui Wuhen discovered that after the amount of energy surging through his meridians decreased, the energy from these ferocious beast spirit rings seemed to have become somewhat different.
Just like how raging floods can destroy riverbanks and cause disasters, while gentle water can nourish all living things, the energy within Shui Wuhen's body had now completely changed its nature. It began to repair his injuries and nourish and strengthen his body.
Not long after, Shui Wuhen's body, which had previously been battered by that vast energy, was restored to its original state. Moreover, after breaking through and rebuilding itself, it had become even stronger and more resilient.
Naturally, Shui Wuhen was happy to see this. His body was already extremely powerful before, and after this transformation, it was likely to surpass most Titled Douluo.
Boom——
As a surge of energy fluctuations erupted from Shui Wuhen's body, he completed the refinement of the Ice Silkworm spirit ring. Seven spirit rings—purple, purple, black, black, black, black, and gold-red—uncontrollably appeared around him.
At this moment, Shui Wuhen finally opened his eyes. Feeling the immense energy within his body, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward slightly.
"Level 76… this time I actually broke through six levels at once, reaching the peak of mid Soul Saint."
In the past, the highest level increase he had ever achieved from absorbing a spirit ring was only three levels, which had already satisfied him greatly. But this time, he had directly jumped six levels—far surpassing any previous spirit ring absorption.
Shui Wuhen then sighed softly. "What a pity. If not for that mysterious little sphere absorbing so much energy, I should have been able to reach even higher with my accumulation."
Although he had only just reached Level 70 not long ago, Shui Wuhen's accumulation was actually terrifying. There was still a significant amount of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow energy remaining, and both the spirit ring and spirit bone of the Ice Silkworm, a 990,000-year spirit beast, had been absorbed by him.
If all of that energy had fully erupted, let alone jumping from Level 70 to Level 80—even directly reaching peak Soul Douluo level would not have been impossible.
"But… what exactly is this thing?"
Shui Wuhen used his spiritual perception to look inside his body, focusing on that ice-blue sphere that had now shrunk to the size of a soybean, feeling puzzled.
Since arriving in this world, he had frequently visited libraries to understand its knowledge, and had even purchased many ancient books and spirit master records. It was no exaggeration to say he was quite knowledgeable.
However, there was no record of this ice-blue sphere in his mind at all, which made Shui Wuhen feel unusually ignorant.
At that moment, Articuno swallowed the ice-blue sphere into its body and flew out from within Shui Wuhen.
Seeing this, Shui Wuhen was immediately overjoyed. "Articuno, you're alright?"
"Woo~~"
Articuno rubbed against Shui Wuhen's body and nodded.
The backlash from forcibly executing Absolute Zero before had indeed been huge, but most of the cost had been borne by the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow. Meanwhile, the Ice Silkworm spirit bone, spirit ring, and that vast life energy had replenished her vitality.
"Right!"
Suddenly, Shui Wuhen patted Articuno's head and asked curiously, "Articuno, do you know what that ice-blue sphere is?"
"That is an energy crystal!"
Suddenly, Articuno opened her mouth, and a clear, beautiful female voice came out.
This sudden voice made Shui Wuhen freeze in place. Articuno could speak?
Seeing his confusion, Articuno immediately explained, "After you broke through to Soul Saint, my restrictions have been greatly weakened. I can now speak directly."
"Oh, then Articuno, what is this energy crystal you mentioned?"
Shui Wuhen quickly accepted it. From the moment he awakened Articuno as his spirit, he already knew she possessed self-awareness. So this was simply her being able to speak—it wasn't too surprising.
In fact, he even felt a bit excited. From Articuno's situation, could it be that the long-awaited "cheat system" or "grandpa in a ring" was finally about to appear?
Sensing his thoughts, Articuno rolled her eyes and said, "Don't even think about it. Aside from some inherited memory of techniques, I don't know much more than you do."
"As for the energy crystal, in terms you can understand, it can probably be called an inner core."
"Inner core?"
Shui Wuhen stroked his chin. Even inner cores exist now? Could it be that his current cultivation level corresponds to the Golden Core stage in cultivation novels?
"Yes."
Articuno nodded and continued, "After forming an inner core, your soul power recovery speed will greatly increase. Moreover, this inner core itself is a condensed form of highly refined energy. In critical moments, it can also be summoned and used.
In other words, your total soul power right now has likely already surpassed what you call a Titled Douluo."
As she spoke, vast amounts of ice attribute energy gathered toward Articuno, then through the connection between her and Shui Wuhen, it entered his body.
Feeling the soul power transmitted from Articuno, Shui Wuhen's eyes lit up. "Such a fast recovery speed."
Compared to before, his soul power recovery had increased by more than tenfold—and this was without even entering a meditation state.
If he entered meditation, he could probably fully restore his soul power in just a few minutes.
With this recovery speed, combined with his already enormous soul power reserves and the energy of the inner core itself, he would no longer need to worry about running out of soul power in the future.
But soon, Shui Wuhen thought of a question—was this inner core unique to him, or did others also possess it?
If only he had it, then it would be a huge advantage. But if others also had it, then it would simply be a standard feature, nothing special.
That would mean either he was ignorant of common knowledge, or this information had been deliberately concealed.
So Shui Wuhen immediately asked Articuno.
Articuno thought for a moment before replying, "I have not sensed anything similar in other spirit masters. However, from that Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion that previously chased us, I vaguely sensed something similar inside her body, though its form was somewhat different from ours."