"Does this divine artifact have any effects?"
Seeing this, Articuno asked curiously.
Although Articuno felt it wasn't strictly necessary, it would still be best if Shui Wuhen could obtain it. After all, it was a divine artifact, no matter what.
Shui Wuhen processed the information transmitted from it and then said to Articuno, "The Ice God's Heart has quite a few functions, but for now, the main two I can use are tempering soul power and tempering spiritual power."
"Tempering soul power and spiritual power?"
Hearing this, Articuno blinked. "So that means your soul power quality and spiritual power will become stronger in the future."
"That's right!" Shui Wuhen nodded. "And this effect will be useful until I become a god."
Although Shui Wuhen's current soul power quality already far exceeded that of ordinary soul masters of the same level, better quality was always better. It meant that with the same soul skill, its power would be greater.
The same went for spiritual power. If Shui Wuhen hadn't chosen to absorb the Ten Thousand Year Ice Silkworm soul bone first, then even with Articuno's help, he might not have been able to withstand the spiritual shock when absorbing the soul ring earlier.
"Crack~"
At that moment, the ice beneath Shui Wuhen's feet suddenly cracked, and a terrifying suction force came from below, pulling him downward.
"Careful!"
Seeing this, Articuno immediately extended its claws to grab Shui Wuhen, flapping its wings furiously in an attempt to pull him back up.
Shui Wuhen reacted quickly as well, immediately activating Ice Wings to resist the terrifying suction coming from below.
At the same time, everything around them began to collapse as they fell downward.
Faced with this situation, Shui Wuhen and Articuno quickly steadied themselves while dodging and using various ultimate techniques for defense.
Spinning Ice Rain, Ice Slash, High-Speed Movement…
Windstorm Snow, Light Wall, Triple Strike…
One soul skill after another was unleashed by Shui Wuhen and Articuno, shattering the collapsing boulders and ice.
After some time, that terrifying suction finally disappeared completely. Shui Wuhen scanned the surroundings and frowned slightly.
Wait… which direction did they come from earlier?
...
"I finally made it out!"
After an unknown amount of time, Shui Wuhen and Articuno burst out of a cave and sighed in relief.
But the scenery before them made Shui Wuhen freeze.
As far as the eye could see was endless green-blue seawater, stretching infinitely into the distance.
Shui Wuhen stood there in a daze for a long moment before snapping back to reality. "This… is the sea? How did I end up here? This deviation is way too extreme."
Not long ago, he was still in the Extreme North Forbidden Land. No matter how he thought about it, he never expected to end up at the edge of the sea.
"Well, whatever," Shui Wuhen sighed helplessly. As long as they were no longer in the Extreme North Forbidden Land, everything was manageable. Could this place possibly be more dangerous than there?
Besides, he wasn't an ordinary soul master who couldn't fly. As long as he wasn't too far off course—or ended up in another world or something—he could always find his way back. It would just take time.
Then Shui Wuhen said to Articuno beside him, "Let's go. Articuno, let's find out if there are people nearby."
If they wanted to return to the main continent, the most urgent task was to determine their current location. Otherwise, they would only drift further away from their destination.
Articuno nodded, then carried Shui Wuhen as it turned into a streak of ice-blue light, disappearing into the horizon.
"Screech!!!"
Above the sea, a Gale White Eagle about seven to eight meters long soared through the sky, its eyes scanning below as it searched for prey for the day.
Suddenly, its gaze sharpened instantly, because it spotted an ice-blue giant bird it had never seen before. On the back of that bird was a human sitting cross-legged.
In the next moment, the Gale White Eagle's instincts were triggered, and it dove straight toward the ice-blue bird.
It intended to seize this human—such prey was rare.
Just as its claws were about to grab Shui Wuhen, he opened his eyes.
Without even turning his head, he casually unleashed an Ice Slash: Nine Consecutive Slashes.
Nine dazzling blades of light traced elegant arcs through the air, piercing through the massive body of the Gale White Eagle.
Then Shui Wuhen sheathed his blade and shook his head helplessly. "Another one seeking death."
The next moment, the Gale White Eagle's enormous body split into countless fragments and slowly fell toward the sea below.
No blood was spilled, because under Shui Wuhen's extreme cold soul power, the wounds had already frozen over.
Splash—
When the corpse fell into the sea, the previously calm surface instantly erupted with countless sea soul beasts, devouring it like a swarm of beasts. In just moments, not even bones were left.
Shui Wuhen felt nothing. He had seen scenes like this far too many times in recent days.
He discovered that the sea was far from as peaceful as he had imagined. The deep sea, in particular, was in some ways even more dangerous than the Extreme North Forbidden Land.
There were simply too many soul beasts in the ocean. On land, one would need to enter large soul beast forests—and even then go deep inside—to encounter ten-thousand-year soul beasts. But in the sea, they were everywhere.
Even hundred-thousand-year soul beasts, which were extremely rare and counted on one hand on the mainland, had already been seen several times during these days.
This completely overturned Shui Wuhen's understanding. So there were actually this many hundred-thousand-year soul beasts? It seemed his plan to gather a full set of hundred-thousand-year soul bones wouldn't be too difficult after all.
At the same time, this discovery made him more cautious.
Since hundred-thousand-year soul beasts were not rare in the ocean, then wouldn't soul masters who lived in the sea be far stronger overall than those on land?
Perhaps the hundred-thousand-year soul rings so highly regarded on the mainland were just standard equipment for Titled Douluo living in the ocean.
"Wuhen, a ship!"
At that moment, Articuno suddenly spoke, its tone carrying a hint of excitement.
"A ship?"
Hearing this, Shui Wuhen immediately looked ahead and saw a huge ironclad vessel sailing across the sea horizon.
This discovery made Shui Wuhen's heart lift with joy. Since there was a ship, there were people. And with people, he could ask for their location.
But soon, Shui Wuhen calmed down again. Anyone capable of sailing in such waters was unlikely to be ordinary. Without knowing the situation, caution was necessary.
Then Shui Wuhen said to Articuno, "Articuno, I'll go take a look first. You stay back and provide support for me."