! Shui Xinhan continued, "From the moment I returned to Skywater Academy more than twenty years ago, I've been working toward this day."
"Skywater Academy is now at the height of its power, but this is far from our true peak. After me came Bing'er, and now we have you!"
"Yuntao, do you want to know why Bing'er is so gifted and hardworking, yet her Soul Power is only in the twenties?"
Su Yuntao nodded. He had indeed been puzzled, but now he had a vague idea of the answer.
"It's because Bing'er was born into poverty and had a very frail body. She received some treatment after coming to Skywater Academy, but when her Martial Soul Awakening began, she said it was extremely painful."
Shui Xinhan's face brimmed with pride. "I thought then that Bing'er was a gift from heaven to Skywater Academy. Her Martial Soul had to be incredibly powerful! Her talent had to be monstrous! Even with her poor physical condition at the time, she could perfectly awaken my Ice Dragon Martial Soul during the test!"
"There could only be one reason she felt pain: her Martial Soul was even stronger than the Ice Dragon! Its attribute boost exceeded what her body could withstand at the time, and that was why she felt such pain!"
"So I stopped her from continuing the awakening. Even if she succeeded at six years old, it would have damaged her meridians. From then on, I tried to awaken her Martial Soul once a month. It wasn't until she was seven and a half that she finally awakened it without feeling any pain."
Shui Xinhan grew more and more excited as she spoke. "And the result! She awakened an unprecedented Ice Phoenix Martial Soul! Her Innate Soul Power was so powerful that it left the crystal ball covered in cracks!"
"Bing'er is a once-in-several-centuries genius, a peerless talent rarely seen on the Douluo Continent! Her talent surpasses even Innate Full Soul Power! She is the Tang Chen of Skywater Academy! Given time, she'll surely ascend to the peak of the Soul Master world—Level 99 Limit Douluo! Under her leadership, Skywater Academy will reach a height never before seen!"
A storm raged in Su Yuntao's heart. Though he knew he had plenty of trump cards, Shui Bing'er's talent still made his scalp tingle.
In theory, it was impossible for a Soul Master to reach Level 99. That was a widely accepted belief in the Douluo Soul Master world. Even Golden Crocodile Douluo, a peerless powerhouse with astonishing talent, had cultivated painstakingly for nearly a hundred and fifty years, only to be stopped at the threshold of Level 99.
Once Soul Masters rose above the Soul Douluo level, their cultivation became a Path to Heaven. And what was the Path to Heaven? Titled Douluos were the heavens! Level 99 Limit Douluos stood beyond the heavens!
No matter how heaven-reaching one's talent, perseverance, or resources might be, in the end, one would still stop short of the world beyond the heavens.
Golden Crocodile Douluo had been a peerless genius of his generation. His talent, resources, and perseverance had all stood at the pinnacle of the continent. Yet even old Golden Crocodile, a generation senior to Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu, had ultimately stopped at the peak of Level 98!
To reach Level 99, one had to be like Tang Chen, with talent that pierced through the heavens—or possess an extraordinary stroke of fortune, such as the divine trials Bo Saixi and Qian Daoliu underwent, Mu En's Dragon Core, Xuan Zi's Heaven and Earth Creation Pill, or the pile of Immortal Herbs in Su Yuntao's hands.
Tang Chen, Long Xiaoyao, and Mu En could reach Level 99 through their own cultivation! Their talent, like Shui Bing'er's, surpassed Innate Full Soul Power. If Innate Full Soul Power was S, then they were S+, while Qian Renxue was SS!
Su Yuntao took a deep breath and calmed himself. "Dean, Bing'er's Ultimate Ice is innate, right?"
The ultimate realm had different levels of power. The Heavenly Snow Woman clan, for instance, had innate Ultimate Ice, while the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion clan had given up its poison attribute, allowing its ice attribute to reach the ultimate realm after birth.
Shui Xinhan nodded. "That's right. Her Ice Phoenix Martial Soul has completely surpassed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Even the flawless Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul possessed by a peak Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power in the history of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan couldn't compare to Bing'er's Ice Phoenix."
"Bing'er's Ice Phoenix Martial Soul has transcended the ranks of top-tier Martial Souls and entered the ranks of Super Martial Souls. Unless it's a being on the level of the Golden Sacred Dragon, nothing can stand against the Ice Phoenix!"
"Phoenixes and dragons are naturally equal in quality. The purest dragon-type Martial Soul stands on equal footing with the purest phoenix-type Martial Soul. Bing'er carries the bloodline of the Water-Condensing Flying Luan. With her terrifying talent, water condenses into ice, and the flying luan transforms into a phoenix. Her Ice Phoenix Martial Soul is the purest of all phoenix-type Martial Souls!"
Su Yuntao nodded. Mu En's Radiant Sacred Dragon, Long Xiaoyao's Dark Sacred Dragon, and Tang Chen's Emperor Heaven Hammer had all entered the ranks of Super Martial Souls with the help of their Soul Masters' innate talent. Tang Hao's Innate Full Soul Power had only allowed the Clear Sky Hammer to reach its most flawless state; it hadn't been enough to evolve it into the legendary Super Martial Soul, the Emperor Heaven Hammer!
As for Qian Renxue, with Innate Level 20 Soul Power, her Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul was surely in its most flawless state! It was far stronger than the Six-Winged Angel Martial Souls of Qian Xunji and even Qian Daoliu.
"Yuntao, though you've had great fortuitous encounters and an extraordinary temperament, your Gale Two-Headed Wolf Martial Soul will be suppressed by Bing'er's Ice Phoenix."
"Your Gale Two-Headed Wolf Martial Soul is actually of excellent quality, but it has three attributes at once: gale, flame, and Thunderbolt. If your attributes are stronger than your opponent's, those three attributes can suppress them. But if the two Martial Souls are equal in quality, a Martial Soul with just one attribute can instead suppress your Gale Two-Headed Wolf."
Su Yuntao gave a bitter laugh. It was good enough that his Lone Wolf (bachelor) Martial Soul had any attributes at all. A few years ago, it had been a blank slate!
Shui Xinhan sighed. "You and Bing'er are both peerless geniuses, but time waits for no one. You must grow stronger as soon as possible, because Spirit Hall also has a genius like you two!"
"Oh?" Su Yuntao asked gravely. "Do you mean Pope Bibi Dong?"
Shui Xinhan nodded. "That's right. Pope Bibi Dong's talent is on the same level as yours. Her Death Spider Emperor Martial Soul has Ultimate Poison, and she also has a Second Martial Soul!"
Su Yuntao's expression turned strange. In the original story, Master had claimed Bibi Dong was scheming and had hidden her Second Martial Soul from him. But judging by the current situation, it seemed that Master Yu Xiaogang had once again—yet again—led Bibi Dong astray.
Bibi Dong had deliberately kept her strength hidden. Even when she needed to add Soul Rings to her Second Martial Soul, the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, she would only take a few elders to hunt Soul Beasts. Apart from Master, Su Yuntao couldn't think of what else could have gone wrong.
Master had turned top-secret Spirit Hall intelligence, such as the Angel God Set, into common knowledge. If Su Yuntao had been Qian Xunji, he'd have put Master through the Ten Great Tortures of Douluo, then ground his bones to dust after he died and made him into a public toilet seat, free for anyone to use in a roadside public restroom.
Shui Xinhan let out a quiet sigh. "Bibi Dong is a pitiful person, too. The first half of her life wasn't like mine, but the second half was wounded by the world just the same."
"If she were still the Bibi Dong I knew, I'd even be willing to bring Skywater Academy into Spirit Hall. Unfortunately, she's changed. I don't know what happened to her. I only know that she's become extremely mad."
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