"Kill that ferocious beast and make it my Spirit Ring?"
Hearing Shui Wuhen say this, Shui Bing'er's eyes immediately lit up.
That Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion was a 380,000-year ferocious beast. If it could become her Spirit Ring, it would definitely be far superior to an ordinary 100,000-year Spirit Ring.
So Shui Bing'er nodded at once and smiled, "Then thank you, big brother."
Shui Bing'er had not the slightest doubt about Shui Wuhen's claim that he could contend with the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, because her brother had never lied to her since childhood.
Since Shui Wuhen said his strength was no weaker than the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, then his strength absolutely could not be inferior to that beast.
But soon, Shui Bing'er suddenly frowned.
"Bing'er, what's wrong?"
Seeing this, Shui Wuhen immediately asked.
Shui Bing'er gave a bitter smile. "Big brother, you shouldn't have come. In the Slaughter City, you need a hundred consecutive victories to leave. Each battle requires killing nine people, but after my previous fights, the number of fallen ones here has already decreased a lot. And they consume each other too. It'll probably take quite a while to gather enough participants."
"What if I don't leave through the Hell Road after a hundred consecutive victories, but instead break out directly?"
Hearing this, Shui Wuhen slightly curled his lips and replied.
As soon as these words were spoken, Shui Bing'er's expression changed. She hurriedly transmitted her voice to Shui Wuhen, "Big brother, you might not know this, but there's an enforcement squad in Slaughter City. There are many Soul Douluo-level experts in it, and the captain is even a Title Douluo. Moreover, they can all use Spirit Skills.
"And even if you defeat them, there's still the Slaughter King, whose strength is unknown. Since Slaughter City was established, not a single person has ever managed to break out."
The Soul Master cultivation system relies heavily on Spirit Skills. Without Spirit Skills, a Soul Master is like a beast without claws or fangs, able to display at most ten to twenty percent of their strength.
A Title Douluo without Spirit Skills could hardly defeat a Soul Douluo who could use Spirit Skills—perhaps even struggle against a Soul Sage using Martial Soul True Body.
This was under the condition of using soul power. Without soul power enhancement, they would be even weaker.
This situation mainly arose because Soul Masters leaned toward being mages; their physical strength was not particularly strong. Even Title Douluo known for physical prowess only had strength around ten thousand jin, let alone those auxiliary-type Title Douluo with inherently weak physiques.
If not for soul power protection and the relatively good recovery ability of Soul Masters, battles between them would likely result in whoever's defense was broken being instantly killed.
Shui Bing'er continued, "Big brother, I know your strength might already be very great. Under normal circumstances, even the enforcement squad working together might not be able to do anything to you. But Spirit Skills cannot be used in Slaughter City, so it's better not to provoke its rules.
"At worst, we'll just stay longer. As long as we don't provoke Slaughter City, basically no one here can threaten us siblings. If we stay a few more years, we'll eventually achieve a hundred consecutive victories, and then we can enter the Hell Road together."
As she spoke, Shui Bing'er looked at Shui Wuhen, her eyes filled with concern.
She truly feared that Shui Wuhen might challenge the rules of Slaughter City without fully understanding the situation. If it succeeded, that would be fine—but if it failed, both of them might perish here.
Hearing Shui Bing'er's worried reminder, Shui Wuhen smiled and patted her head. "Don't worry. Do I look like someone so reckless? Without absolute confidence, I wouldn't do such a thing."
"Really?"
Shui Bing'er looked up at him with wide eyes.
Shui Wuhen chuckled. "Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you? Besides, the restriction on Spirit Skills doesn't affect me nearly as much as you think."
All of Shui Wuhen's Spirit Skills had corresponding self-created techniques. So even if Spirit Skills were sealed, it didn't affect his ability to use them at all.
Moreover, Shui Wuhen possessed two ferocious beast-level Spirit Bones. And Slaughter City did not restrict the abilities contained within Spirit Bones.
In addition, the most crucial point was that the moves inherited from Articuno were not considered Spirit Ring skills, so they were unaffected.
As everyone knew, a large portion of Shui Wuhen's combat power lay with Articuno. Therefore, Articuno's abilities being unaffected was a major advantage for him.
"What a pity. This Slaughter City seals Spirit Ring skills, even my seventh Spirit Skill—Martial Soul True Body. Otherwise, with my current strength, if I wanted to leave, an enforcement squad with just one Title Douluo couldn't possibly stop me."
Shui Wuhen sighed inwardly. Everything else was manageable, but the sealing of Martial Soul True Body truly suppressed him, lowering his combat ceiling by several tiers.
Without the enhancement of Martial Soul True Body, even with Articuno, he could at most be slightly stronger than a 100,000-year soul beast. Trying to forcefully confront Slaughter City head-on would be too risky.
"Right!"
Suddenly, Shui Wuhen seemed to recall something. With a wave of his hand, a large pile of items instantly appeared on the table before him.
"Big brother, these are…?"
After examining the items, Shui Bing'er picked up a jade bottle and asked curiously.
Shui Wuhen explained, "Bing'er, what you're holding is a pill I refined using a special method. It's extremely beneficial for Soul Master cultivation. There are over a hundred pills here—enough for you to cultivate up to level seventy."
A single Ice Soul Spirit Pill could raise a Soul Ancestor's soul power by one level with some surplus, and its effectiveness did not diminish with higher levels. Even at Shui Bing'er's current Soul Emperor level, over a hundred pills were more than sufficient—enough to push her into Soul Sage and beyond.
Hearing this, Shui Bing'er's eyes lit up. She quickly opened the jade bottle.
In an instant, threads of cold air mixed with a rich medicinal fragrance spread out, filling the entire room.
Breathing in the aroma, Shui Bing'er felt refreshed. Every cell in her body seemed to greedily absorb the energy, almost wishing to swallow the pills along with the bottle.
Suppressing her desire, Shui Bing'er closed the bottle and forced her gaze toward the deep yellow crystals on the table.
Before she could ask, Shui Wuhen explained, "These are all high-quality ten-thousand-year whale glue. I specially hunted dozens of ten-thousand-year whale-type soul beasts at sea to prepare them as a gift for you."
"Whale… whale glue? And ten-thousand-year level at that?"
Hearing this, a blush appeared on Shui Bing'er's face.
She was naturally aware of whale glue, a substance circulated among nobles. It was impossible not to know—her teammates occasionally talked about it.
Seeing her reaction, Shui Wuhen knew she had misunderstood, so he flicked her forehead.
While Shui Bing'er rubbed her forehead, Shui Wuhen calmly said, "Besides its aphrodisiac effects, whale glue can also enhance physical constitution—and the improvement isn't small for you."
Hearing this explanation, Shui Bing'er looked at the whale glue again, covering her mouth in surprise. "It can improve physical constitution? Then why have I never heard of this?"
Through Shui Wuhen's explanation, she already understood that a Soul Master's Spirit Ring absorption limit was closely related to their physical condition. If whale glue could enhance physical constitution, then it meant increasing the limit of Spirit Ring absorption.
"To enhance physical constitution, a large quantity is required. Either no one has discovered it, or someone has but chose to ignore or conceal it," Shui Wuhen replied.
Currently, whale glue was mainly used by nobles for aphrodisiac purposes. Only a fingernail-sized amount was needed each time—no one would consume a whole piece at once.
Moreover, most nobles only used hundred-year or thousand-year whale glue. With such small quantities, the physical improvement would be minimal, so it wasn't surprising no one noticed.
Shui Bing'er pondered for a moment and nodded.
After a while, she looked at the dozens of whale glue pieces of varying sizes and shades and asked, "Big brother, how much can these improve my physical condition?"
She didn't ask why Shui Wuhen didn't use them himself. Since he could produce dozens of ten-thousand-year whale glue pieces, it meant he either had more, had already used them, or they were of limited benefit to him.
Hearing her question, Shui Wuhen stepped forward, picked up the smallest and lightest-colored piece, and said, "Based on my estimates, this piece from a 15,000-year Deep Sea Demonic Whale can increase your Spirit Ring absorption limit by around one to nearly two thousand years."
After putting it down, he picked up the largest, darkest piece.
"And this one, from a seventy-thousand-year whale-type soul beast, is much more effective—likely increasing your limit by nearly five thousand years."
"So much?"
Shui Bing'er covered her mouth in shock.
"Doesn't that mean these whale glue pieces could increase my absorption limit by tens of thousands of years?"
But Shui Wuhen shook his head. "That's impossible. The effect diminishes. Eventually, no matter how much you consume, it won't help."
He had personally tested it. The second use only had a little over half the effect of the first. One could imagine how much weaker subsequent uses would be.
If there were no diminishing returns, then with enough whale glue, wouldn't it be possible to mass-produce Soul Masters with ten-thousand-year first rings—or even hundred-thousand-year first rings?
Clearly, the world wouldn't allow such a heaven-defying phenomenon.
"I see… but that's still very good."
Shui Bing'er nodded thoughtfully.
Even if it couldn't stack infinitely, using it on lower-level Soul Masters would yield remarkable results.
Even ten-thousand-year whale glue could increase the absorption limit by over a thousand years—meaning a Soul Master's first ring could already be thousand-year level.
At early stages, using thousand-year rings against hundred-year rings, or ten-thousand-year rings against thousand-year rings, would give an enormous advantage.
Shui Bing'er even felt fortunate that major powers hadn't discovered this effect. Otherwise, the enemies they would face would be far stronger.
"Alright, focus on cultivating and improving your strength. Compared to whale glue, the pills I gave you are the real treasure. They not only improve physical condition but also enhance spiritual power and soul power.
"Our top priority is to use the pills to reach our current peak. That way, no matter what opponents we face, our chances of victory will increase."
Shui Wuhen ended the discussion and reminded her.
Shui Bing'er nodded. "I understand, big brother."
Indeed, her level was still far behind Shui Wuhen's.
She was only level 64, while judging from his words, her brother might already have reached Soul Douluo.
In Slaughter City, cultivation had no bonus effects. After more than half a year here, Shui Bing'er had only raised her soul power by one level. The remaining three levels came from residual energy of the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow and her fifty-thousand-year sixth ring.
Under normal circumstances, she could never have increased four levels in half a year.
Soon, both Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er sat cross-legged. After consuming a pill, they began cultivating.
One day… two days… three days…
Very quickly, people in Slaughter City noticed that the Blood Queen, who used to participate in the Hell Slaughter Arena almost daily—sometimes even wishing to live there—had not appeared for several consecutive days. This made many people breathe a sigh of relief.
Many also hurried to the Hell Slaughter Arena to engage in killing battles.
After all, living in Slaughter City came at a cost. If one did not participate in a match once a year, they would have to offer blood to survive. In a place where healing Spirit Skills could not be used, bloodletting would undoubtedly weaken them.
And the consequences of weakness in this land of slaughter were self-evident.
Unaware of the outside happenings, Shui Wuhen and Shui Bing'er cultivated rapidly under the effect of the Ice Soul Spirit Pills.
Their improvement was almost like riding a rocket—faster even than when refining the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Marrow. After all, energy refined from the corpse of the Iceworm and condensed into pills was far easier to absorb.
About a week later, after refining nearly five hundred pills, Shui Wuhen finally raised his cultivation to its current limit—
Level 90!