Time flew by, and nearly two months passed in the blink of an eye.
Frozen Forest, core region.
After a fierce battle, Shui Qinghan and Shui Qingrou joined forces to kill a sixty-nine-thousand-year-old Cold Pool Tide Crab, one that was nearly seventy thousand years old.
A crab two meters tall and five meters long, covered entirely in azure-blue armor, lay by the shore. Its hard shell had been smashed to pieces, and in some places, white, tender crab meat was exposed.
A pitch-black Soul Ring floated quietly above the Cold Pool Tide Crab's corpse.
Shui Qingrou sat cross-legged and used her Soul Power to guide the nearly seventy-thousand-year-old Cold Pool Tide Crab's Soul Ring down over her body.
As Shui Qingrou began absorbing the Soul Ring, Shui Qinghan guarded her while dismantling the Cold Pool Tide Crab.
Unfortunately, this nearly seventy-thousand-year-old Cold Pool Tide Crab had not produced a Soul Bone.
However, they had not come away empty-handed.
The Cold Pool Tide Crab's meat and roe were both delicacies. Eating them could strengthen the bones, improve the resilience of one's meridians, and bolster the body.
Hunting this Cold Pool Tide Crab had not taken much time. Most of their time had been wasted searching for a suitable Soul Beast.
Whether in area, number of Soul Beasts, or overall strength, Frozen Forest was far inferior to the Great Star Dou Forest. Finding a Soul Beast of the right age was truly not easy.
Even so, Frozen Forest's core region was extremely dangerous. There were no shortage of powerful Soul Beasts, so they could only explore cautiously.
Although Frozen Forest's core region had no Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, there were quite a few Soul Beasts between fifty thousand and eighty thousand years old.
With Shui Qinghan's current strength, she could only barely handle one or two eighty-thousand-year Soul Beasts.
If there were too many of them, she would not be a match for them either and could only flee with Shui Qingrou.
Therefore, whenever night fell, they would retreat to the mixed region to rest.
Only the next morning would they continue deeper into the core region in search of Soul Beasts of suitable age.
Moreover, Frozen Forest was close to the Far North, where the nights were far longer than the days.
Going back and forth like this wasted a great deal of time.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the lead-gray sky gradually darkened.
Fortunately, the Soul Ring absorption was already nearing its end.
The pitch-black Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring merged into Shui Qingrou's body, and intense Soul Power fluctuations instantly erupted from her.
Level eighty-one, level eighty-two, level eighty-three...
The powerful Soul Power fluctuations continued rising until they reached the peak of level eighty-three, where they finally slowed to a stop.
"Peak level eighty-three, and her Soul Power is extremely condensed, without the slightest trace of instability." Shui Qingrou slowly opened her eyes, surprise filling them.
"Not bad. Once we return to the academy, if you focus on cultivating for a while, your cultivation may break through again." Shui Qinghan smiled lightly.
A breakthrough in a minor realm did not involve a bottleneck like a major realm did.
Shui Qingrou was now at the peak of level eighty-three, only one step away from level eighty-four.
As long as Shui Qingrou cultivated diligently for a few months, she would steadily break through to level eighty-four.
At that time, the remaining four portions of Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, combined with the Soul Core secret method Lan'er had taught them, would be enough to let Shui Qingrou break through to the Title Rank. It might even allow her to advance one or two steps within the Titled Douluo realm, so she would not end up as the weakest Title Rank.
Furthermore, Shui Qinghan was now familiar with the process of compressing Soul Power into a solid state. Within three months, she would be able to condense an ice-attribute Soul Core and become a level ninety Quasi-Titled Douluo.
When the time came, she could also pass on her experience in condensing a Soul Core to Shui Qingrou, increasing Shui Qingrou's chances of successfully condensing one.
"I understand." Shui Qingrou nodded, her face filled with emotion.
"I never thought that one day, I too would step into the Title Rank."
"It seems we owe Lan'er more and more." Shui Qinghan was equally emotional.
First there had been Whale Rubber, then Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow, and now the Soul Core secret method.
These three great opportunities had directly and steadily sent the two sisters into the Title Rank.
Such kindness was simply too great.
Calling it the grace of being given a new life would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.
After all, without the opportunities Jiang Lan had given them, let alone breaking through to the Title Rank, they probably would not even have touched its threshold.
"Big Sister, didn't we have Bing'er and Yue'er offer themselves to him?" Shui Qingrou joked.
"Hmph. If giving away one's daughters could lead to a Title Rank breakthrough, the Soul Master clans and sects across the continent would probably be eager to stuff every eligible woman in their families and sects into Lan'er's arms." Shui Qinghan rolled her eyes at her younger sister and replied irritably.
"Isn't that a bit exaggerated?" Shui Qingrou said awkwardly.
Wasn't Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Marrow an ice-attribute heavenly treasure?
Could it be effective for Soul Masters of other attributes as well?
"You'll understand once you reach level eighty-nine." Shui Qinghan replied calmly.
This secret method for condensing a Soul Core greatly reduced the difficulty of a Soul Douluo breaking through to the Title Rank.
That meant that as long as a junior in a family possessed innate Soul Power at level eight, they would have a tremendous chance of breaking through to the Title Rank.
What kind of concept was it for someone with innate level-eight Soul Power to reach the Title Rank?
For certain powerful Martial Souls, it meant that Title Rank experts could appear generation after generation, perhaps even with multiple Title Rank experts in a single family.
That was truly absurd.
To give a simple example, if Ning Fengzhi learned of this secret method, he would probably not hesitate to marry off his daughter, including his most beloved Ning Rongrong, to Jiang Lan in exchange for it.
With the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's wealth combined with this secret method for condensing Soul Cores, they might truly be able to produce several Titled Douluo to protect the sect.
"So mysterious." Shui Qingrou muttered.
"It's getting late. We should head back as well," Shui Qinghan said indifferently.
She planned to return to Skywater Academy, bring Xue Wu along, and then head for the Far North.
Xue Wu and Shui Bing'er possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. Though they were not blood sisters, their relationship was closer than that of actual sisters.
In Douluo's history, there had been cases of sisters with Martial Soul Fusion Skills marrying the same man.
Besides, in the eyes of the people of Douluo Continent, it was perfectly normal for nobles and the strong to have several wives and concubines.
If one did not marry wives and take concubines to spread one's branches, how could one's Martial Soul be passed down?
In any case, no matter how many wives and concubines Jiang Lan took in the future, it would be enough as long as Shui Bing'er was his principal wife.
The two immediately set out from Frozen Forest and hurried back to Skywater Academy without stopping.
After returning to Skywater Academy, Shui Qinghan found the teacher in charge of the advanced class and had her notify Xue Wu to come over.
Before long, Xue Wu arrived at Shui Qinghan's office and asked,
"Dean, what did you need me for?"
"I do have something I'd like to discuss with you." Shui Qinghan looked Xue Wu up and down before speaking.
Although Xue Wu was only twelve years old, nourished by Soul Power, she had curves where she should and a slender waist where she should. She was exceptionally tall, with delicate features that carried a hint of heroic spirit. Paired with her short gray-blue hair, she looked especially dashing and possessed a distinctive charm.
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