The Concept of a Soul Core

Boom!

The Ice Seal's control lasted only an instant before the tall, thin man burst straight through the ice, shattered fragments spraying in every direction.

Although Shui Bing'er's Ice Seal Soul Skill had the advantages of instant casting and guaranteed hits, its weaknesses were equally obvious.

As long as one's Soul Power Level exceeded Shui Bing'er's, or one was a strength-type Beast Martial Soul Master, one could quickly break free from the Ice Seal's control.

Moreover, the duration of the Ice Seal Soul Skill's control depended entirely on the strength of the Martial Soul.

If Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul had been an Ice Phoenix of Ultimate Ice, then her Ice Seal Soul Skill would not have been broken so easily.

After the tall, thin man broke free of the Ice Seal, the leopard woman soon followed suit.

However, her face had turned slightly blue, and her teeth chattered nonstop. Clearly, the cold contained within Shui Bing'er's Soul Skill had frozen her badly.

After being enhanced by her Second Soul Skill, Shui Bing'er's ice attribute could already create temperatures as low as minus one hundred degrees Celsius.

Such extreme cold was not far from Ultimate Ice. (Note 1)

"Hurry and circulate your Soul Power to dispel the cold inside your body, then use Soul Power to isolate the cold," the tall, thin man hurriedly reminded her.

"But if I do that, my Soul Power will be depleted very quickly," the leopard woman said hesitantly.

"Then end this quickly!"

With that, the tall, thin man swung his arm wide. His towering body suddenly arched backward like a fully drawn bow as he hurled the massive bone axe in his hand at Jiang Lan and Shui Bing'er.

The enormous bone axe spun through the air toward Jiang Lan and Shui Bing'er, carrying a shrieking whistle as it tore through the air.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan immediately stepped forward. His Second Soul Ring flashed as he raised a hand and grabbed the incoming bone axe, forcibly stopping it in midair. The force carried by the axe was completely converted into Soul Power, flowing through his meridians.

The next instant, the converted Soul Power erupted from Jiang Lan's palm, shattering the bone axe in his hand into powder.

At that moment, the tall, thin man and the leopard woman took advantage of Jiang Lan and Shui Bing'er's attention being drawn to the thrown bone axe and swiftly closed in on them.

"First Soul Skill, Ice Seal!"

Shui Bing'er raised her Ice Phoenix Staff again and lightly swept it forward, instantly casting her First Soul Skill twice more.

The advancing pair immediately halted and were once again frozen within solid ice.

Bang!

The Ice Seal shattered again, but the tall, thin man did not pause in the slightest. He charged straight at the two of them.

"Senior Sister, leave this big guy to me. Just focus on controlling that Agility Attack Soul Master," Jiang Lan said hurriedly.

"Alright!" Shui Bing'er nodded. She ignored the tall, thin man charging directly toward them and instead focused on the leopard woman.

The instant the leopard woman broke free from the Ice Seal, Shui Bing'er's First Soul Ring flashed again. Her control connected seamlessly, freezing the leopard woman once more.

"Damn it!" The leopard woman was extremely agitated.

Whether resisting the cold or breaking through the Ice Seal required consuming a great deal of Soul Power.

If this continued, her Soul Power would soon be exhausted, leaving her at the mercy of others.

At that moment, the tall, thin man had already rushed before them. He swung his remaining massive bone axe and viciously chopped down at Shui Bing'er.

Jiang Lan stepped forward, dark blue dragon claws extending from beneath his black robe. He raised a hand and caught the bone axe the tall, thin man had swung down.

Puff!

The axe blade landed on Jiang Lan's palm with a soft puff.

"What?!" The tall, thin man's expression changed. He felt as though his axe had struck some hard metal. No matter how much force he used, he could not budge his opponent in the slightest.

The power carried by the bone axe was completely absorbed by an invisible shield and converted into a large amount of Soul Power that flowed through Jiang Lan's meridians.

Jiang Lan could neither absorb this converted Soul Power nor use it for cultivation.

If he did not release it, the converted Soul Power would eventually disperse on its own.

"Not bad strength. But it's time to end this."

As Jiang Lan spoke, he slowly raised his free hand, then struck out with his palm.

All the converted Soul Power poured forth at once. The bone armor on the tall, thin man's chest instantly exploded, bone fragments scattering everywhere. His towering body was sent flying backward, crashing toward the frozen leopard woman.

Crack!

The leopard woman broke out of the ice, but before she could react, the tall, thin man's flying body slammed into her. He knocked her away with him, and the two fell beneath the Soul Battle Platform.

"The Bone Shatter Team has left the arena. The winners of this soul battle are the Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix Team!" the middle-aged host immediately announced.

After winning the two-on-two soul battle, Jiang Lan and Shui Bing'er left the division arena together, returned backstage to register their points, and collected their prize money.

After the two left the two-on-two soul battle area, Shui Qinghan approached them head-on, her lower face veiled by a thin water-blue gauze. She praised them, "You performed very well. Among Second-Ring Great Soul Masters, no one should be your match."

"Come on. We'll continue cultivating Soul Power there tonight."

With that, Shui Qinghan grabbed one of them in each hand and led them out of the Great Soul Arena. They quietly headed to the Cold Spring in the Far North Mountains. Protected by Jiang Lan's Innate Domain, the three once again dived into the spring's source and entered the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow Cave.

A night passed in the blink of an eye.

Jiang Lan and Shui Bing'er both gained greatly. A single night of cultivation matched the results of several ordinary days.

Crack!

Shui Qinghan sat cross-legged before a pristine white ice pillar. As the final drop of liquid within the pillar was absorbed by her, the white ice pillar crumbled into powder with a boom, scattering across the ground.

"Peak Rank Eighty-Nine!" Shui Qinghan slowly opened her eyes. Her soft red lips parted as she gently exhaled a breath of cold air, and a trace of joy flashed through her eyes.

She was only one step away from breaking through to Rank Ninety and becoming a Quasi-Titled Douluo.

In less than half a month, she had risen all the way from Rank Eighty-Five to Rank Eighty-Nine.

Not only was her Soul Power completely stable, but even the origin of her Martial Soul had grown much stronger.

If she broke through to become a Titled Douluo, the temperature of her Soul Power would become even lower, perhaps even reaching the level of the Ice Extreme Divine Crystal Mine.

Just as Shui Qinghan intended to press on and use the effects of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow to break through the Rank Ninety bottleneck, Jiang Lan suddenly stopped her. "Teacher, please wait."

"Lan'er, what is it?" Shui Qinghan turned back to look at Jiang Lan and asked.

"Teacher, do you know about dragon pills?" Jiang Lan asked abruptly.

"Dragon pills?"

"Yes. My bloodline memories tell me that condensing a dragon pill is an extremely important step for true dragons. Every true dragon condenses a dragon pill within its body when it is about to cross the threshold of one hundred thousand years, using it to break through that limit. I was thinking, if humans could condense a similar pill bead, might it help you break through to Title Rank?" Jiang Lan explained the concept of a Soul Core to Shui Qinghan by replacing it with the idea of a dragon pill.

"Pill bead?" Upon hearing this, Shui Qinghan immediately thought of the famous Poison Douluo.

It was said that the Poison Douluo possessed an emerald-green pill bead and could use it to unleash deadly poison.

Could it be that the reason the Poison Douluo had broken through to Title Rank was related to that pill bead?

That was right. The Jade Phosphorous Serpent was also a type of dragon. It seemed perfectly normal for the Poison Douluo to condense a pill bead similar to a dragon pill.

But her Martial Soul was the Water-Congealing Flying Luan, one of the phoenix lineage, not a dragon species.

Could those who were not of the dragon lineage also condense a pill bead similar to a dragon pill?