Tempering the Tower with Ice Marrow · The Skywater Promise
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Three days after Huo Wu left, Shui Bing'er's letter arrived.
The messenger was a junior student from the Skywater Academy, wearing a light blue academy uniform.
She stood outside the back gate of the academy for almost half an hour before Nan Feng came down from the training ground.
Her fingers were red from the cold, and the hem of her hospital gown was covered in dust from the journey.
She handed him a flat wooden box and then slipped him a roll of paper tied with a plain blue ribbon.
"Senior Sister Shui Bing'er asked me to give it to you personally."
She turned and left after saying that.
Nan Feng opened the wooden box and paper scroll only after returning to the guest room.
The wooden box is made of plain wood, without any paint, and the wood grain feels rough to the touch. Inside the box lies a light blue porcelain bottle, engraved with patterns of Ice Phoenix, and it feels cool to the touch.
The bottle stopper was sealed with beeswax, and a small ice crystal stamp was stamped on the wax surface.
Unfolding the scroll revealed over a dozen pages of handwritten notes. The handwriting was neat and tidy, the ink pale, as if written with ink condensed from ice-attribute Soul Power, and it gleamed with a cold light after drying.
The heading on the first page reads, "A Preliminary Draft of Research on the Synergy between Ice-Attribute Soul Power and Tool Martial Soul. Shui Bing'er."
The Nan Feng turns the pages one by one.
Shui Bing'er wrote in great detail. She broke down the basic characteristics of ice-attribute Spiritual Power into four dimensions: temperature, density, flow rate, and penetrability.
Then, starting from these four dimensions, we will analyze the possible reaction patterns when ice-attribute Spiritual Power comes into contact with Tool Martial Soul.
The third page features a detailed diagram of meridians, indicating the ideal path and angle of entry for ice-attribute Spiritual Power to seep into Tool Martial Soul from the palm.
Page five lists seven different Simulation combinations of ice-attribute Soul Skill and Tool Martial Soul. Each one is marked with the timing of release, Soul Power consumption, and expected effect.
Nan Feng's finger paused for a moment when he turned to page seven.
That page contained only one picture: a simple Nine-Layer Tower surrounded by an icy blue aura of Spiritual Power.
Below the image is a line of small text. "Ice Seal combined with Suppression, a double suppression. The tower's suppressive power presses the target to the ground, while the ice attribute's freezing power locks the target in place."
"The timing of the Ice Seal effect is perfectly synchronized with the release rhythm of the Tower Suppression, doubling the suppression effect."
The Old Huai peeked out from the crack at the base of the pagoda, its cloudy eyes scanning the picture.
"This girl has ideas." His tone lacked its usual languidness. "Ice-attribute Spiritual Power has strong penetrating power; ordinary defensive Soul Skill can't stop it."
"Your Tower Realm is the domain of Tool Martial Soul. The flow of ice-attribute Spiritual Power within the Tower Realm is different from that of ordinary Spiritual Power."
"She's right. The combination of Ice Seal and suppressing creates a double effect. And she's not just talking about combat coordination."
The Nan Feng turned to the last page.
At the end of the notebook, there was a paragraph written in smaller, denser handwriting than on the previous pages, as if it had been carefully considered before being put down.
"Your soul contains both extreme heat and extreme cold. This is what I discovered when I sensed your Soul Power fluctuations using my Ice Phoenix Martial Soul."
"Ordinary Soul Master have only one underlying color in their souls. Your soul's underlying color is chaotic, with extreme heat and extreme cold coexisting in the same Spiritual Power core, mutually restraining and balancing each other. I have never seen this structure in any other Soul Master."
"If you're willing, we can study the nature of this power together. I can help you develop ice-attribute Spiritual Power."
"Using my Ice Phoenix Martial Soul as a medium, I will guide the extreme cold power within your soul and combine it with the suppressive power of the tower."
"But this requires you to come to the Skywater Academy in person. I need to sense your soul fluctuations up close to determine the specific guidance path."
"The Millennium Ice Marrow is contained in the box. Use it to temper the tower's affinity for ice attributes first. Once the tower has adapted to the flow of ice attribute Spiritual Power, then come to Skywater."
Nan Feng closed the notebook and placed it on the table.
The thousand-year-old Ice Marrow in the wooden box sat beside me; the bottle was cool to the touch, and the Ice Marrow inside shimmered with a faint blue light.
He picked up the porcelain bottle, dug his fingernails into the edge of the amber, and lifted it up. The amber shell shattered into three pieces, which fell onto the table.
An extremely cold aura wafted out of the bottle. The temperature in the guest room dropped by half, a layer of white frost condensed on the table, covering the wood grain, and a finger pressed on it left an imprint.
The Old Huai emerged from the crack at the base of the pagoda, its cloudy eyes fixed on the porcelain vase.
"Millennial Ice Marrow. Shui Bing'er retrieved it from the ice cave at the Skywater Academy; it's of very high purity. Stick it to the tower and let the Power of Creation on the third level of the tower refine it."
"The cold attribute of the Ice Marrow resonates with your Power of Creation. After refining it, the tower's affinity with the ice attribute will greatly increase."
"In the future, when encountering ice-attribute Soul Beast or ice-attribute Soul Master, the conversion efficiency in the Tower Realm will be much higher than it is now."
The Nan Feng affixed the porcelain bottle to the tower.
The cold-attribute Spiritual Power of the Ice Marrow seeped from the bottle into the tower, flowing along the crack in the third door at the bottom of the tower into the channel of the Power of Creation.
The dark golden patterns on the tower's surface shone under the touch of cold-attribute Spiritual Power. A very fine icy blue luster appeared between the patterns, like the color of frost flowers condensing on a windowpane in winter illuminated by sunlight.
This process lasted for almost the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. The Spiritual Power of the Ice Marrow was absorbed, transformed, and fused with the tower body.
Under the continuous nurturing of the cold-attribute Spiritual Power, the gap at the third level of the tower's base widened further, and the output of the Power of Creation increased by 10%.
Nan Feng carefully put away the refined porcelain bottle and sat at the table, thinking for a long time.
The notes mention that "extreme heat and extreme cold coexist in the same Spiritual Power core." This is an external manifestation of the chaotic attribute in the Primordial Origin.
The Primordial World Power itself is a unified chaos, with extreme cold and extreme heat being two extremes of the differentiation of chaos.
Shui Bing'er's Ice Phoenix Martial Soul is extremely sensitive to temperature changes.
When she faced him in the exchange match, she noticed this special structure in his soul.
She spent the better part of a month organizing her observations into a complete set of notes.
She also obtained millennia-old Ice Marrow from the ice cave of the Skywater Academy as a medium and proposed a specific cooperation plan.
She is taking this seriously.
Nan Feng took out a blank sheet of paper, picked up a pen, and wrote a reply.
His handwriting wasn't as neat as Shui Bing'er's, but every character was written steadily. He paused at the third line, dipping his brush in ink.
He wrote down his understanding and confirmation of several key points in the notes, and wrote about the tower's reaction after the Ice Marrow was refined.
He also wrote down some of his thoughts on the synergy between ice attributes and the Tower Realm.
At the end of the letter, he wrote, "After my Soul Power reaches level forty, I will come to the Skywater Academy to find you."
He sealed the letter, handed it to the liaison office at the Skywater Academy, and then returned to his guest room to continue his cultivation.
Soul Power Level 35. The gap at the third level of the tower bottom is a bit wider than before, and the output of Power of Creation is 10% stronger.
There are still five levels to climb before reaching level 40; these five levels will take time to grind through.
Shui Bing'er's notes provided him with a new path. The guidance and fusion of ice-attribute Spiritual Power could accelerate the evolution of the tower.
Once his Soul Power reaches level 40, he will go to the Skywater Academy and use the Ice Phoenix Martial Soul as a medium to guide the extreme cold power within his soul.
The door on the third floor at the bottom of the tower may be fully opened ahead of schedule.
The Old Huai peeked out from the crack at the base of the pagoda, its cloudy eyes sweeping over the icy blue sheen of the pagoda's surface.
"That girl is serious. Her notes are more detailed than most Soul Emperor- level mentors."
"She doesn't just want to study combination techniques with you. She's studying your soul."
Nan Feng sank his consciousness into the tower's interior space.
The doors to the first and second floors were fully open, and the gap in the third floor door was slightly wider than before.
An icy blue luster appeared amidst the dark gold patterns on the tower's surface.
Like the dark golden stones at the bottom of a frozen river in winter, their color shining through the ice.
He closed his eyes and circulated the Primordial World Qi Refining Art. The Soul Power in his dantian circulated along his meridians, warm and steady.
The deep black Soul Ring in his palm pulsed against his skin, echoing the blue light emanating from the crack at the bottom of the tower.
Huo Wu challenges him to a full-force battle next time. Shui Bing'er awaits his reply and his trip to Skywater. Liu Erlong's Scarlet Dragon Martial Soul is at a bottleneck, awaiting the Power of Creation. Xiao Wu's Third Soul Ring needs to return to the Star Dou Great Forest to condense.
The moon rose outside the window, casting a small patch of silvery light on the floor of the guest room.
Nan Feng pulled the blanket up to her chin and immersed herself in meditation.