Shui Family's Titled Douluo

Shui Qingrou waved her hand with a helpless laugh. "All right, all right. As long as no one's hurt, it's fine. If the training ground collapsed, then it collapsed. One has already gone down anyway, so what's one more? Auntie will find someone to repair them."

She walked to the edge of the crater and crouched down to examine the mirror-smooth ice. Reaching out, she tapped it lightly and felt the lingering ice-element energy, pure to the extreme. She could not help but sigh.

"But seriously, you two little monsters, what kind of sins did you commit to be blessed with talent like this?"

Bing Yekong and Shui Bing'er exchanged a glance. Neither answered; they merely smiled in tacit understanding.

Shui Qingrou rose to her feet and dusted off her hands, though there was no dust on them. Seeing how perfectly in sync the two young people were, the little bit of heartache she had felt over the training ground had long since vanished. Compared to a training ground, a future son-in-law capable of developing two Martial Soul Fusion Skills was clearly far more worth celebrating.

"All right, don't just stand around. Go to the front hall for breakfast. Auntie had someone cook you some porridge."

Bing Yekong acknowledged her and followed after Shui Qingrou. After taking a few steps, he looked back at the ruins, then at Shui Bing'er beside him.

Sensing his gaze, Shui Bing'er turned her head and met his eyes.

Morning sunlight poured through the shattered dome, coating the tips of her hair in a faint golden sheen. She had not tied her hair into a ponytail today. Her long hair fell softly over her shoulders, gently stirred by the morning breeze like an ink-wash painting that had yet to dry.

"We have two Martial Soul Fusion Skills now."

Bing Yekong said it out of nowhere.

Shui Bing'er froze for a moment, then smiled, her smile soft and light. "Mm. Two now."

Bing Yekong withdrew his gaze and strode forward. Shui Bing'er walked beside him, and before they knew it, their steps had fallen into the same rhythm. The distance between their shoulders was neither too close nor too far, just enough for them to walk side by side.

The morning sunlight was pleasantly warm, spilling across the ground.

Yang Wudi's booming voice rang out from afar. "Who the hell collapsed the training ground again?! Even my medicine furnace got shaken crooked!"

Dugu Bo lazily added, "Who else could it be? Those two youngsters."

"Them again?!" Yang Wudi's voice rose sharply. "Are those two planning to tear down the Shui Family and rebuild it from scratch?"

The voices drifted farther and farther away until they could no longer be heard.

The ruins of the two training grounds still lay where they had fallen, and Shui Qingrou had already arranged for craftsmen to repair them. But over the next few days, the Shui Family's servants walked with utmost care, afraid that making too much noise would collapse something else.

Bing Yekong did not pay much attention to that. Over the past few days, he had been considering something else.

Shui Qingrou had been stuck at rank eighty-seven for years. The threshold between Soul Douluo and Titled Douluo was one that some people could never cross even after exhausting their entire lives, while others needed only a final stroke of fortune.

Shui Qingrou's talent was not exceptional, but neither was it poor. One reason she had been unable to break through for so long was that she had devoted too much of her energy over the years to her family and the Shui Bing'er sisters. Another was that she had never encountered an opportunity truly suited to her.

But Bing Yekong knew full well that Shui Qingrou was the true pillar of the Shui Family.

As long as she remained, the Shui Family could keep its footing in Element City. If she could break through to Titled Douluo, the Shui Family would finally have the confidence to truly establish itself on Douluo Continent.

Early that morning, Bing Yekong tucked a Creation Mystic Soul Pill and a small jade vial into his clothes, then knocked on Shui Qingrou's door.

"Yekong?" Shui Qingrou was reviewing academy files at her desk. She looked surprised to see him enter. "What brings you to Auntie's room so early?"

Bing Yekong placed the jade vial and pill on the desk. Under Shui Qingrou's puzzled gaze, he said, "Auntie Shui, I want to help you break through to Titled Douluo."

Shui Qingrou's hand paused. She raised her head to look at him, her expression complicated. After a moment of silence, she sighed softly. "Yekong, Auntie knows you mean well. But Titled Douluo isn't so easy to reach. Auntie has been stuck at this level for nearly ten years. That hurdle at rank eighty-nine..."

"You're currently rank eighty-seven." Bing Yekong cut her off. "What if I told you I could help you reach the rank ninety bottleneck?"

Shui Qingrou was stunned.

Bing Yekong did not keep her in suspense. He directly opened the jade vial. A wisp of ice-cold energy, pure to the extreme, escaped from within. Though it lasted only an instant, the temperature of the entire room dropped by several degrees.

That aura was completely different from ordinary ice-element soul power. It carried a purity that seemed to originate from the very source of heaven and earth, as though it had condensed the essence of all the ice and snow in the Far North.

"This is..."

"Cold Spring Water from the Icefire Yin-Yang Well." Bing Yekong gently set the jade vial on the desk. "The Icefire Yin-Yang Well is a blessed land created by nature. Its cold spring contains an extraordinarily pure source of ice-element power. It might be too violent for ordinary people, but you are an ice-element Soul Master yourself. If you absorb it together with this Creation Mystic Soul Pill, the two powers will complement each other. Your chance of breaking through the bottleneck will be at least eighty percent."

He paused, then added, "I've already used this pill on Sister Bing'er, Sister Yue'er, Feng Xiaotian, and the Fire Clan siblings. You've seen the results yourself. There's no need to worry about safety."

Shui Qingrou stared at the bottle of cold spring water and the Creation Mystic Soul Pill on the desk, speechless for a long while.

She had spent her entire life as a family head and had seen no shortage of treasures, but this was the first time she had encountered something like this placed before her. She knew Bing Yekong was not making empty boasts. She had long known that Shui Bing'er had evolved Ultimate Ice, and she had also heard news from Huo Wu's side.

All of it had been brought about by the boy standing before her.

"Yekong..." Shui Qingrou's voice was slightly hoarse. "You've helped Auntie so much that Auntie doesn't even know how to thank you."

Bing Yekong smiled. "Auntie Shui, you picked me up from outside back then and raised me from nothing. You let me live in the best courtyard and gave me the best cultivation resources. Not even the Shui Family's direct descendants received treatment this good. What does this little bit count for?"

Shui Qingrou looked at him, her eyes reddening slightly. She raised a hand and rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced back the tears before nodding solemnly. "All right. Auntie will listen to you."

She picked up a Creation Mystic Soul Pill and swallowed it.

The instant the pill entered her throat, its gentle yet vast medicinal power spread through her body. Shui Qingrou let out a muffled groan, closed her eyes, and began circulating her soul power to guide the medicine through her meridians.

After all, she was a veteran Soul Douluo who had cultivated for decades. Her foundation was far beyond that of juniors like Shui Bing'er and Huo Wu. She encountered almost no obstacles in absorbing the pill. Its medicinal power seeped through and fused with her body swiftly, like a boat sailing with the current.

Bing Yekong stood guard beside her and observed her condition. Only when the medicinal power within her began to stabilize did he pick up the bottle of cold spring water and pull out its stopper.