Completing the Puzzle?

One morning.

Jiang Zhen sat on the lush green grass in the small courtyard, his calm gaze resting on the clear spring pool before him.

The water's surface was still, reflecting the azure sky and drifting clouds, as well as his slightly furrowed brow.

The air was filled with moisture and the fresh scent of grass and trees, yet this tranquility could not suppress the turmoil in his Inner heart.

His Soul Power cultivation had already reached Level Thirty-Nine, only one step away from Level Forty.

For an ordinary Spirit Master, this would have been rapid progress worth celebrating, but Jiang Zhen's thoughts had already turned to the Level Forty threshold and the crucial fourth Spirit Ring.

He could sense that his next Spirit Ring would determine the breadth and depth of his future path.

His control over the Water Element had reached an unimaginable realm with the deepening of the Profound Water Clear Mind Art and the awakening of Deep Sea's Eye.

Even without summoning his Martial Soul or using any Spirit Skills, with a thought, the moisture in the air around him could dance to his will, and the water in the pool could move as easily as his own arm.

Such control should have brought him absolute confidence, yet at this moment, it instead left him with a strange sense of having reached a bottleneck.

He slowly extended a finger and lightly pointed at the pool from afar.

In an instant, ripples spread across the center of the pool, and a stream of clear spring water rose slowly from below as though guided by an invisible, skillful hand.

It wound and flowed through the air, each bit of force and shape exquisitely controlled, before finally gathering and blooming... into a lifelike, crystal-clear Water Lotus.

Its petals overlapped in layers, thin as cicada wings, their patterns clearly visible. Under the afternoon sunlight, they even refracted dreamlike, dazzling colors.

It swayed gently with the barely perceptible currents of air, breathtakingly beautiful, almost like a work of art.

Such precise control over the Water Element far surpassed an ordinary Spirit Master's control over Soul Power. If outsiders saw it, they would surely be astonished.

Yet as Jiang Zhen stared at the flawless Water Lotus he had created with his own Hands, there was no joy in his Deep eyes. Instead, a trace of indescribable confusion and emptiness passed through them.

"Perfect... yet somehow hollow?"

He murmured softly, his voice so quiet that the wind nearly carried it away.

This Water Lotus possessed water's utmost gentleness, fluidity, and mutability. It could be called the ultimate expression of liquid water.

But he always felt that this was not all water could be. After reaching its current level, his Ultimate Water Martial Soul seemed to convey a faint "longing"—a pursuit of a more settled, more essential power with a more decisive strength.

Water seemed as though it should not possess only one form. It ought to have more facets, deeper layers.

With another thought, he tried to imbue the Water Lotus with greater "meaning."

He made its petals more translucent, almost insubstantial. He made its form more complex, containing formations. He made it spin faster, cutting through the air.

With his powerful Spiritual Power and control, he accomplished each of these one by one, and the Water Lotus became increasingly magnificent and extraordinary.

Yet that inexplicable emptiness still lingered in his heart, impossible to dispel.

The Water Lotus was beautiful, undoubtedly so, yet it seemed to lack a "soul." It lacked a "core" that could make his Martial Soul tremble completely and undergo a perfect sublimation. It was still "water," not the "Dao."

Just as his mind became fully immersed in this profound yet somewhat anxious realization, the faint vertical mark between his brows, originating from his third Spirit Skill, suddenly began to warm slightly on its own!

It was not a stabbing pain, but a gentle sensation, as though some unseen existence had lightly touched and awakened it, carrying an indescribable chill.

Almost at the same moment, within the bottomless sea of Soul Power Inside the Body, a wisp of energy that had lain dormant for a long time quietly awakened—weak, yet of an extremely high essence, cold and pure.

This wisp of energy was precisely the trace of energy that the sphere of light had unconsciously injected into him when he absorbed the Thousand Illusions Demonic Octopus Spirit Ring in the deep sea.

At this moment, this long-dormant energy seemed to have been drawn by the Ultimate Water lotus seeking transformation.

It also seemed to be responding to the deepest longing within the Martial Soul's origin, beginning to flow of its own accord.

Following mysterious Meridians, it silently merged into the Soul Power he was using to maintain the Water Lotus.

Sss—

A nearly imperceptible sound rang out, like ice crystals forming.

The outermost, thinnest petal of the perfect Water Lotus floating in the air and slowly rotating suddenly froze at its tip!

It was not a collapse caused by insufficient Soul Power, but a completely different and heart-pounding transformation of form—solidification!

A dazzling ice-blue hue, as though it had gathered all the cold and silence in the world, suddenly emerged from the tip of that petal and spread downward with unwavering speed!

Wherever it passed, the flowing liquid instantly lost its vitality and became motionless solid matter!

In the blink of an eye, that entire delicate petal transformed from lively water into a hard, translucent ice-crystal petal that emitted wisps of eternal chill!

Ice crystals and flowing water—two entirely different forms—now coexisted perfectly upon a single lotus in a breathtaking fashion!

The flowing portion remained lively and graceful, brimming with vitality, while that ice-crystal petal froze the most beautiful moment of its bloom, radiating an ultimate meaning of eternity, silence, and indestructibility.

The two formed an incomparably stark contrast, yet were strangely harmonious and unified!

"This is... ice?! Ultimate Ice?!"

Jiang Zhen's pupils suddenly contracted, and his mind shook violently!

He abruptly rose to his feet, staring fixedly at the strange lotus that was half water and half ice, defying all reason. It felt as though countless ice crystals had exploded in his mind, only for a bolt of lightning to instantly tear through all the mist!

The three states of water! Liquid, solid, gas! How could Ultimate Water be limited to the realm of "liquid"?

This sudden phenomenon of freezing that had emerged from Inside the Body, this inexplicable ultimate chill that fit him so perfectly.

Along with the cheers and ultimate longing from deep within his Martial Soul that nearly burst from his body... all the clues collided at this moment, linking together into an incomparably clear path of light!

The Extreme North Land!

That bitterly cold land covered in ice and snow for tens of thousands of years, rarely visited by people!

What it possessed was precisely the manifestation of water's other ultimate form—Ultimate Ice!

It was the laws of "solidification," "eternity," "absolute low temperature," and "silence" themselves!

All confusion instantly vanished, and the road ahead became clear! His goal had never been so clear and resolute—the Extreme North Land!

Hm!?

Something was wrong! Why did he immediately want to go to the Extreme North Land?

It seemed as though some force was guiding him, leading him to make a trip to the Far North?

To absorb an ice-attributed Spirit Ring and use it to complete the final piece of his Ultimate Water puzzle?

There should be ice-attributed ones in the sea too, right?

He forcefully suppressed the excitement and surging emotions in his Inner heart, dispersing the lotus in the air that had brought him enlightenment.

That ice-crystal petal fell into the pool with a crisp "ding." It did not melt for a long time, instead sinking to the bottom like a genuine sapphire, glimmering faintly.

"Brother A Zhen!"

Ah Yin immediately ran over, a few beads of sweat on her little face, though it shone with excitement.

She carefully held a warm, gentle green sphere of light in both Hands, filled with vigorous Life Aura. The sphere rotated steadily.

"Look, I kept it going for so long this time. It didn't disperse!"

This was the basic Soul Power application training Jiang Zhen had been guiding her through—highly condensing her life-attributed Soul Power into form and attempting to release it away from her body.

Though it was not as powerful as a Spirit Skill, if mastered proficiently, it could serve as a flexible support method and further train precise control over Soul Power.

"Ah Yin." He suppressed his turbulent emotions, his voice returning to its usual steadiness as he turned to the Girl training diligently nearby.

"Mm, the energy is very condensed, and the Life Aura is also extremely pure and stable."

Jiang Zhen carefully sensed it, then nodded approvingly, a trace of satisfaction appearing in his eyes.

"Remember this feeling. The key is controlling the stability and continuity of your Soul Power output."

"Imagine it as a seed of life. When it gently falls upon a companion, it can take root and sprout, bringing healing and recovery."

(Thank you to Ilai Mikhail for the monthly ticket!)

(Thank you to the reader for the recommendation ticket!)

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