"Hoo~"
Accompanied by a burst of energy fluctuations, Shui Wuhen opened his eyes and let out a long breath of turbid air. "Finally, level ninety."
Level ninety was the highest realm currently attainable. To go further, he would need to absorb a Spirit Ring.
"Just…"
Suddenly, Shui Wuhen changed tone, glancing at the now-empty jade bottle and thinking to himself, "There aren't many Ice Spirit Pills left either."
Back when the body of the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was refined, more than a thousand Ice Spirit Pills had been produced. During this period, in order to rapidly increase his cultivation, he had already used more than half. Adding the hundred he gave to Shui Bing'er, he now had only around two hundred left.
Then, Shui Wuhen looked around the room. Articuno was guarding at the side, while Shui Bing'er was still immersed in cultivation.
At this moment, strands of cold air radiated from Shui Bing'er's body, and her entire figure faintly emitted a jade-like luster. This was precisely the effect of the Ice Spirit Pills tempering her body.
Due to her lower level, Shui Bing'er's absorption speed was far inferior to Shui Wuhen's. Even so, after a week of cultivation, her Spirit Power had still broken through to level sixty-six.
At most, within a month, she would reach level seventy, the current limit.
Shui Wuhen waved his hand, storing the scattered jade bottles on the ground into his storage soul tool, then stood up and patted Articuno's head.
Seeing that Shui Wuhen had awakened, Articuno immediately shrank in size and flew onto his shoulder.
Since Shui Wuhen had finished cultivating, she naturally no longer needed to remain so tense while guarding the two of them.
Sitting down on the sofa, a thought suddenly flashed through Shui Wuhen's mind. He tilted his head and asked Articuno beside him, "Articuno, with our current Spirit Power levels, we should be able to use Sheer Cold now, right?"
Hearing this, Articuno was slightly stunned. After thinking for a moment, she nodded. "With the energy from the inner core, it should barely be enough. But I can't guarantee it will succeed."
"Is it a proficiency issue?" Shui Wuhen asked.
Articuno shook her head. "Not just proficiency. Sheer Cold is the strongest killing move of our race. Its accuracy has always been unreliable. That's why I insisted you find a locking-type soul skill before."
"Since locking-type skills are so important, doesn't your inherited memory include something like that?" Shui Wuhen asked curiously.
Logically speaking, if it was a necessary skill and Articuno knew about it, why wasn't it passed down through the race's inherited memory? That way, future Articuno wouldn't have to solve this problem themselves.
Articuno replied, "Originally, it seems our inherited memory did include a locking skill called Mind's Eye. Every Articuno could comprehend it without learning. But later, for some unknown reason, Mind's Eye suddenly disappeared. So the later generations had to rely on their own opportunities to learn such skills."
"Something like that happened?" Shui Wuhen frowned slightly. It seemed this involved some hidden secrets of the Articuno race.
Articuno shook her head. "Forget it. In any case, you've already obtained a locking-type skill. Although it's a bit different from the Mind's Eye in my memory, at least we don't need to worry about accuracy anymore."
Indeed, among the two soul skills contained in the Spirit Ring from the two-hundred-thousand-year Ice Dragon Shui Wuhen killed, one was a locking-type skill. This was also why his Spiritual Guard had seemed ineffective back then.
Too lazy to name it, Shui Wuhen simply called it Mind's Eye, since the effects were similar.
This Mind's Eye could condense a purple eye on his forehead, then fire an extremely fast purple beam. This beam was a spiritual-type soul skill that could not be intercepted. Once it hit, all subsequent attacks from Shui Wuhen and Articuno would lock onto the target. As long as the target remained within a certain range, the attacks would definitely hit.
As for that range, it depended on the extent of Shui Wuhen's spiritual power coverage.
During the battle, it was precisely with this move that the Ice Dragon managed to barely contend with Shui Wuhen.
Otherwise, an ice-attribute soul beast had almost no ability to resist Shui Wuhen, who had refined part of the Law fragments. A single Frozen Domain could directly nullify the Ice Dragon's ice-based attacks.
"Even so, Articuno, you should still improve your proficiency with Sheer Cold as much as possible."
Although their current energy was barely enough to use Sheer Cold, once used, it would completely drain their Spirit Power, leaving them in an extremely dangerous situation. Unless absolutely necessary, Shui Wuhen would never use it.
Since his level could no longer increase, Shui Wuhen turned his attention to self-created soul skills.
His level and strength had improved too quickly, and the self-created soul skills he had made earlier now seemed somewhat crude to him. Recently, as his strength increased, he had gained many new insights. This was a perfect opportunity to refine them and create some new ones.
Thus, inside the small house, Shui Wuhen researched self-created soul skills while Shui Bing'er cultivated with the help of Ice Spirit Pills. Time passed day by day.
Meanwhile, while Shui Wuhen was trapped in the Slaughter City, deep within Hurricane Canyon, a disheveled figure walked out.
This person wore tattered clothes, with messy cyan hair and a body so thin it seemed the wind could blow him away.
Yet when the violent winds within Hurricane Canyon passed by him, they seemed to suddenly freeze, not stirring even the slightest ripple.
If one looked closely, they would be shocked to discover that this ragged figure was Feng Xiaotian, who had once shone brilliantly in the Elite Tournament before vanishing like a shooting star.
Ignoring the gazes of the students in Hurricane Canyon, Feng Xiaotian went straight to the cafeteria of the Godwind Academy and began devouring food.
"Finally… finally eating normal food again."
As he ate, tears welled up in Feng Xiaotian's heart.
After the Elite Tournament ended, Feng Xiaotian had immediately returned to Godwind Academy and entered Hurricane Canyon to continue exploring the mysterious secret realm he had previously discovered.
However, what he hadn't expected was that after breaking through the outer trials with his own strength, the so-called secret realm he discovered turned out to be the legendary inheritance ground of the Wind God!
At first, Feng Xiaotian was overjoyed. After all, this was the inheritance of a god.
But his excitement didn't last long, because he quickly realized something was wrong.
The Wind God's trials were increasingly insane, as if they had no intention of passing down the divine position at all. They were simply not something a human could pass.
"Close call… good thing I'm a genius and made it through."
Recalling the previous trials, Feng Xiaotian felt lingering fear.
The third trial of the Wind God was called Wind Energy Body Tempering. As the name suggested, it involved storms filled with dense wind-attribute energy constantly battering Feng Xiaotian's body.
These winds were terrifying, like countless blades slicing his body, almost subjecting him to death by a thousand cuts.
If not for his decent comprehension, allowing him to create a self-developed soul skill during the process to offset most of the storm's power, he might have already died inside.
"I wonder how Brother Wuhen is doing. With his talent, he's probably improved by at least four levels by now?"
Suddenly, Feng Xiaotian thought of Shui Wuhen and shook his head with a smile. "I'm kind of winning unfairly. No matter how talented Brother Wuhen is, he can't possibly improve faster than me, a Wind God inheritor."
The Wind God's inheritance trials didn't take long, but the cost was high—it was easy to die. Feng Xiaotian was not the first person in Douluo Continent to attempt the Wind God's trials, but everyone before him had perished.
However, great risks often came with great rewards. In a year and a half, Feng Xiaotian had already passed four trials, and his level had risen from sixty-four to eighty-two.
Eighteen levels in a year and a half—Feng Xiaotian believed that no one on Douluo Continent could match his speed of improvement.
That was why he felt it was somewhat unfair. Under normal cultivation, it would have taken nearly ten years to reach this level.
Using a level achieved after ten years to face Shui Wuhen, who was probably only around level sixty-seven or sixty-eight, was a complete mismatch—there was no comparison at all.
"Sigh… being invincible is lonely."
Thinking this, Feng Xiaotian couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Among his peers, he had already gone too far ahead—so far that even a peerless genius like Shui Wuhen had been left behind. And due to the Wind God's trials, the gap would only continue to widen.
At this rate, who in this world could still be his opponent?
At that moment, Feng Qingcang, having heard the news, rushed to the cafeteria. Seeing Feng Xiaotian, he patted his shoulder and scolded with a smile, "You brat, finally out of seclusion? Judging by your state, your strength must have improved quite a bit, huh?"
Seeing Feng Qingcang arrive, a green light flashed in Feng Xiaotian's eyes. He smiled and teased, "Dean, you're not bad yourself. You should have successfully broken through to Spirit Douluo, right?"
"How did you know?"
Hearing this, Feng Qingcang raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Although the deans of the Four Element Academies were all level seventy-nine, he had been stuck at that level the longest.
After failing to break through for a long time, he had shifted his focus to teaching, thinking he might never advance in this lifetime.
But unexpectedly, Shui Yue'er—the youngest among them—had successfully broken through to Spirit Douluo not long ago.
This deeply stimulated Feng Qingcang. He immediately entered the core area of Hurricane Canyon for seclusion. With sheer determination, he actually succeeded in breaking through after two months.
However, Feng Qingcang had not made this public, so the teachers and students of Godwind Academy still didn't know.
Facing Feng Qingcang's question, Feng Xiaotian simply smiled and pointed to his eyes. "Of course, I saw it with these eyes."
He wasn't lying. Although the Wind God's trials were dangerous, each success brought rewards. The reward for passing the second trial was the Wind God's Eye.
The Wind God's Eye could not only see through an opponent's true strength but also discern weaknesses in their soul skills during battle—a highly useful auxiliary ability.
"You brat."
Feng Qingcang rolled his eyes, not believing him at all.
Without using Spirit Power, even a Title Douluo would have difficulty discerning the level of a Soul King, let alone someone like Feng Xiaotian whose level was still lower than his.
Feng Qingcang simply assumed Feng Xiaotian had guessed, since he had been stuck at the peak of Spirit Saint for so long.
Afterward, the two chatted for a while, during which Feng Xiaotian learned about recent events on the continent.
Suddenly, Feng Xiaotian asked, "Any news about Shui Wuhen?"
"No. After the Elite Tournament, he practically disappeared. The only news I heard was that he appeared in Dragon City," Feng Qingcang shook his head.
Speaking of Shui Wuhen, Feng Qingcang felt somewhat frustrated. After all, someone capable of defeating the Spirit Hall's Saintess across such a level gap shouldn't have vanished so quietly—it simply didn't make sense.
Could it be that Shui Wuhen, like Xiaotian, had also entered some secret realm to cultivate?
"No news… that does fit his style."
Hearing this, Feng Xiaotian's eyes flickered. Back then, he had been completely crushed by Shui Wuhen—a nameless opponent—until his Dao heart nearly shattered.
Of course, that was in the past. Now, Feng Xiaotian was actually grateful to Shui Wuhen. If not for him, he might have wasted much more time. If not for Shui Wuhen's self-created soul skills guiding him, his strength would have been greatly diminished.
In that case, even if he had entered Hurricane Canyon and found the Wind God's inheritance, he would likely have ended up like those predecessors—reduced to weathered bones, unable to achieve anything.
This was also why he had been willing to give that ten-thousand-year ice-attribute Spirit Bone to Shui Wuhen—not just to avoid being left too far behind, but also out of gratitude.
However, what he didn't expect was that Shui Wuhen was so principled, returning two Spirit Bones to him in exchange.
"Right! Spirit Bones."
Thinking of this, Feng Xiaotian immediately said to Feng Qingcang, "Dean, come with me for a moment."
Although confused, seeing Feng Xiaotian's serious expression, Feng Qingcang nodded and followed him to a secluded location.
After arriving, Feng Xiaotian glanced around to make sure no one was present. Then, with a wave of his hand, two Spirit Bones emitting different lights appeared between them.
"This… this is… Spirit Bones?"
Feng Qingcang's eyes widened in shock.
Of course he recognized Spirit Bones. Judging from the aura and light of these two, they were clearly both ten-thousand-year Spirit Bones.
"Wait, this one isn't…"
Soon, Feng Qingcang noticed that one of them looked familiar.
"Isn't this the Speed Left Leg Bone of Chasing Wind that was among the three Spirit Bones rewarded by Spirit Hall?"