The purple soul ring's glow slowly drew in like mercury, finally sinking entirely into Shui Bing'er's brow.
She sat cross-legged in the snow, the layer of frost armor covering her body cracking inch by inch and falling away in glittering fragments.
In its place was a flowing, thin membrane of Soul Power with a pale blue sheen, draped over her like an invisible feathered robe.
Shui Bing'er opened her eyes.
Her eyes now seemed to hold two of the deepest icy springs in the Extreme North—clear and profound, yet containing a heart-stirring power.
She slowly rose to her feet and rolled her wrists. An aura far more powerful and substantial than before spilled from her body, sending the surrounding snow powder spreading outward in a ring.
"Level forty-two..."
She lowered her head to look at her hands, her eyes filled with incredulous delight.
"I broke through to level forty-two! One soul ring took me straight from level forty to level forty-two!"
The increase was simply astonishing.
Ordinary Soul Masters would be fortunate to gain one or two levels after absorbing their fourth soul ring. Yet Shui Bing'er had jumped two levels at once.
The quality of the nine-thousand-year soul ring she had absorbed far surpassed her initial expectations.
Generally speaking, Soul Masters wasted a great deal when absorbing soul rings.
That was why they could often only advance one level after absorbing one.
But Gu Linyuan had utterly crushed the Wolf King's will to resist. Shui Bing'er had absorbed the soul ring with effortless ease, and since the ring had already exceeded its proper age limit, she was able to improve so greatly.
Though it was a nine-thousand-year soul ring, its difficulty of absorption was the same as that of a five- or six-thousand-year soul ring.
"Wow! You improved that