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Home to many great spirit masters and even more professional ones who found achievement in more civilized acts like cooking or arraying instead of hunting, finding a nice establishment to meet Yu Xiaogang at wasn't a task even worthy of being an F-rank quest. Although the Winged Diners had the highest customer turnover, it lacked privacy and customer service, leading Ja Sun to choose the Spotless Inn as the location of the meeting.
Since he is the one to initiate the meeting, Ja Sun had to take up the cost of paying for the room and setting it up appropriately for the meeting. Entering the room, Ja Sun, Liu Erlong, and Tang Yuehua saw how neatly it was set up. It was a space divided into two rooms and a connected bathroom. Yu Xiaogang was found peacefully sitting on one of the single-seater couches in the living room. On the other side sat the only Spirit Sage of his team.
But Ja Sun's focus was set on Yu Xiaogang. Last he met the man was inside the throne hall of the Supreme Pontiff where he introduced himself as a rank 47 Spirit Ancestor yet at this moment, in a little over 4 weeks, Yu Xiaogang's cultivation was firmly settled at the level of spirit king. More precisely— Rank 53.
This was a speed now even unknown to Ja Sun. After all, when he was at the edge of becoming rank 58, Ja Sun broke through by absorbing a spirit bone, the excess spirit energy in return pushed his cultivation to the peak of rank 58, and only after two weeks did he cross that hurdle, entering rank 59. He actually had the right to reach rank 60 before the competition started since he still had another spirit bone remaining. Nonetheless, Xiaogang's speed had startled him.
"Ah, it is a pleasure to finally meet the Grand Priest's personal disciple."
Kun Chen, the Rank 71 30-year-old Spirit Sage had his eyes roaming Liu Erlong and Tang Yuehua as he spoke while remaining seated comfortably.
"Are you really?" Ja Sun smiled, "Because I can see that you are a man with a refined taste that views breasts more important and I don't happen to have such a set of pleasing assets."
His words instantly made the surroundings turn tense while Kun Chen looked at him. This was the only individual Ja Sun hadn't cornered to find out Yu Xiaogang's whereabouts since his actions will be then deemed unnecessarily high-profile.
"Now you have the pleasure of meeting me," Ja Sun extended his hand. Being 30 this month, Kun Chen looked older than anyone in this room. Long dark hair tied into a straight tail and well-defined features with tanned skin. His hands looked quite roughed up, too, as he slowly raised his right hand to shake Ja Sun's extended hand. He had the 'innovative' idea of intimidating the man with a strange set of gold-green eyes and a green dot on his darker skin. Clearly enjoying the idea of finally bullying the last member, Ja Sun had his hands wrapped in the Vajra Gauntlets. Usually wearing full-sleeved shirts or robes, his left arm formed of yin-yang, and war god's quality remained hidden.
The instant the man gripped the gauntlet-covered palm, quite confident in his own strength, he squeezed the palm tightly. Anyway, Kun Chen felt that he wouldn't end up hurting the opponent, who insulted him, by a large margin.
'I just said that I will be pleasant in this meeting... so no bone fractures,' Ja Sun sighed internally and squeezed Kun Chen's hand. With his level of physique and the unreasonably tough nature of the Vajra Gauntlets that Ja Sun had nurtured personally, Kun Chen sucked in a breath of cold air that made Yu Xiaogang's eyes twitch while Liu Erlong and Tang Yuehua smile. They have had their fair share of encountering terrible people... of which Ja Sun takes the prize but one thing Ja Sun did was remain true to his heart.
Firstly, he knew better than to leer at Hu Lana or Jun'er. In fact, Ja Sun's friendship with Hu Lana and Jun'er bordered the territory of siblings. Secondly, if he did look at the remaining girls weirdly, he also didn't deny it, and when truly in serious matters, he would even rebuke others should they let themselves get distracted by his words. The last part is especially true when Yuehua would lose her cool at times while sparring with Ja Sun.
"Kun Chen, right? Apologies if I don't use the honorifics. I hardly know you. Would you like me to stop before breaking your hand?" Ja Sun inquired. There is nothing more embarrassing than a hidden competition being exposed when you're losing and Kun Chen's cheeks were turning red with exertion.
"I-" he gasped, "Don't understand what you might be talking about!"
"Fair enough," Ja Sun smiled and let go of Kun Chen. Being part of the Spirit Hall, his information was already by Bibi Dong's desk by the end of the day he was introduced. Gesturing for Yuehua and Liu Erlong to sit, Ja Sun made sure that it was Liu Erlong who sat closer to Yu Xiaogang. He didn't want to be in the way when Liu Erlong did lose her fuse. Meanwhile, next to her sat Yuehua and with a smile, Ja Sun sat closer to Kun Chen.
"This is the first time we are holding a conversation, right?" Yu Xiaogang inquired.
"A peaceful one, yes," Ja Sun smiled.
"And what do you want to speak of?" Yu Xiaogang inquired as his gaze settled on Yuehua. Both knew of each other. Mutated martial souls in the form of beasts with a range of intelligence to them.
"Just a simple discussion to understand our differences, and the mutual benefit that would emerge by learning these distinctions," Yuehua replied calmly.
"Then others won't be required," Yu Xiaogang nodded.
"You asked to meet me, Liu Erlong, right? Speak, I'm busy." Said the woman who was lazing behind her desk with her legs stretched out until a few minutes ago.
Yu Xiaogang looked at the woman.
"You're Second Uncle's daughter, are you not? That makes us cousins, Yu Erlong."
"Liu Erlong," she corrected with a cold tone and her posture grew threatening by the second. If Yu Xiaogang meant well, he wouldn't keep making the same mistake and thus her hands itched to attack.
"Why would you give up on the clan name?" Yu Xiaogang, too, frowned. Yuehua and Ja Sun glanced at each other while Liu Erlong chuckled in anger, "Is that what this is about? I wasted my time coming here."
She stood up when a strange form of suppression hit her, stifling her movements.
"I've come to realize that my martial soul has a suppressive effect on others with draconic lineage. With your weaker mutation, you must be feeling it, too, right?" Yu Xiaogang narrowed his eyes. Ja Sun and Yuehua looked at Liu Erlong's whose expression turned cold and surprising Yu Xiaogang, she caught his collar roughly and pulled him up, "And that sissy wave of energy is supposed to intimidate me?" She growled and her expression took a terrifying turn. Her intent exploded out as Kun Chen's expression changed.
'She's going to kill him!' Kun Chen had raised his cultivation through many battles. He instantly readied himself when his body trembled.
"Let the two of them enjoy, come on," Ja Sun smiled and had Kun Chen rooted with just his gaze. The Spirit Sage's body was frozen for he had never been locked on by such a disgusting intent that made his soul almost crawl out of his body.
On the other hand, Yu Xiaogang frowned and spoke coldly, "You think escaping the clan is simple, Yu Erlong? In the competition between us from the Spirit City, my Master has called the Clan Leader to witness my progress. My father, I mean, and yours, too, will be here and I will not have our Clan's name muddied just because of your arrogance."
"He will be here?" Liu Erlong suddenly stopped and let go of Yu Xiaogang, "Well what a nice surprise."
She turned around and left but Ja Sun could feel the lava inside of Liu Erlong ready to erupt. It was preparing to emerge with the greatest force she would have even revealed.
"I only wanted to tell Yu Erlong that being the Clan's younger generation, she will have to face her truths someday. I have nothing to discuss about my martial soul with you."
Yu Xiaogang looked at Tang Yuehua and left with a flustered Kun Chen.
In just a few seconds, Yuehua and Ja Sun were left alone as he slumped back.
"Brother Ka-ul, why didn't you help calm Sister Erlong?" Yuehua inquired. She couldn't completely understand killing intent aside from the physical manifestation of it through the domains possessed by Bibi Dong and Tang Hao. But she did feel quite a bit of it from Liu Erlong while Ja Sun simply kept Kun Chen in check.
"Yu Xiaogang is a Spirit King, so is Liu Erlong. Why should I step in? Granted that Yu Xiaogang's sudden increase in spirit ranks is thought-provoking... anyway, the goals I had in mind might not be accomplished." Ja Sun sighed.
Yuehua smiled rarely after being sister-zoned by her Elder Brother. She was slowly beginning to recover, too, and having friends around, especially people as boisterous as Hu Lana and Jun'er helped a lot. This time, too, she smiled and revealed a slightly proud expression, "I may not be so certain about that, Brother Ka-ul. I think I've managed to understand a few things."
"Oh?" Ja Sun straightened himself.
"But in this scenario, I'm assuming that all the Enlightened Martial Souls have the same requirement: A greater mental fortitude, please keep that in mind."
"You mean to say that in your case, your mental aptitude was high enough to resist another force's consciousness growing and it instead formed a symbiotic relationship with yours meanwhile, in Yu Xiaogang's case, the sudden unshackling of the Martial Soul while his mental energy is still not enough affected his behavior... did I get it right?" Ja Sun inquired, leaving Tang Yuehua stunned.
"H-how did you know?" Yuehua inquired as Ja Sun shrugged.
"Of course I researched Yu Xiaogang. He wants to vie for the Supreme Pontiff's seat against Bibi Dong so she has quite a large scroll on the man. Previously, in his clan, Yu Xiaogang compensated for his lack of spiritual talent by learning new things. He was on the way to becoming a great tactician. But why would he suddenly change after his martial soul awakened? There was no benefit in stop delving into various formations and tactics but he still did and Bibi Dong's current information on Yu Xiaogang suggests that he has become quite a bit brutal as opposed to his previous personality."
Ja Sun explained everything, "The only thing that started this change was none other than the awakening of his martial soul. I realized while helping you that strangely, mental fortitude is one of the greatest requirements. You're only a Spirit Grandmaster but you needed mental energy equivalent to a Spirit Ancestor before awakening Clear Phoenix... that was one of the greater clues."
Rolling her eyes at Ja Sun, Yuehua couldn't help but retort, "Then why did you want to set this meeting up?"
"Because I want to know more," Ja Sun spoke, "Is there a chance at awakening again? Could these martial souls evolve? If they do, what impact would it have on the spirit master? After all, Yu Xiaogang's reports state that he has different spirit skills so the chance of his martial soul evolving is greater than yours."
Yuehua sighed and then pursed her lips.
"What is it?" Ja Sun inquired.
"Is... evolution really what truly matters in the end? If I cannot evolve my martial soul then..."
"I hope that it is your recent rejection that's making you think like that," Ja Sun cut her off as she looked up at him.
"Because your spirit skills are enviable. And it is a dreadful thought what they may become if you possibly enhance your martial soul... but evolution is not restricted to the martial soul itself."
With his Vajra Gauntlets still wrapped over his hands, Ja Sun poked Yuehua's forehead. He continued to prod twice or thrice until it began to ache and that's when Ja Sun continued, "Evolving your thoughts is of an equal importance, too. Just because someone doesn't like you doesn't make you entirely useless."
His words stunned Yuehua for many reasons. Gratification bubbled inside of her as she matched Ja Sun's eyes with her own blue orbs and continued to inquire, "Brother Ka-ul... what do you mean by not entirely useless.?"
"You still lack in hand-to-hand combat. After all, you personally cannot use your spirit skills so you need to practice more," Ja Sun shrugged and Yuehua smiled.
"I will."
"What about the Clear Phoenix? Are you ready to try and absorb a purple spirit ring?"
"I'm making progress. It won't be long and as you use the Mental Acupuncture Technique on me, it allows me to have an even better understanding of the connection between me and Clear Phoenix," Yuehua nodded.
"No worries, we still have two weeks until the beginning of the competition and I can sense another breakthrough for myself so there is one vacation trip remaining." Ja Sun snickered.
"Let's go then," Yuehua smiled and stood up but Ja Sun remained seated.
"Brother Ka-ul?"
"I paid for 3 hours... I'm going to stay," Ja Sun smiled. He would be sitting somewhere else, too, so might as well have his money's worth here.
"Then I will meditate with you here," Yuehua smiled and sat on another couch before closing her eyes.
Ja Sun silently looked at her and sighed internally, 'I was going to try and absorb the other 63000-year-old Nightmare's Fantasy Skull Bone...'
---
By the end of the week, Ja Sun realized that it will take Tang Yuehua a little longer to achieve her objective and so he finally absorbed the remaining Spirit Bone he had in mind while utilizing Ah Yin's domain to mask his energy.
[Objective: Absorb the 63000-year-old Nightmare's Fantasy Skull Bone and find an enclosed space privately to pump your fist.
Mission Rank: B
Mission Rewards: Natural Arrays and Their Wonders.
Time Limit: 1 day]
With a newer set of knowledge in the arrays since the Fantasy and Nightmare beasts themselves were born of such a phenomenon, Ja Sun pondered on his new changes.
Right now, he had absorbed three spirit bones. Two of them were inside his arms that gave him a combined skill with versatile use and a Skull Bone.
In reality, Ja Sun had two sets of identical spirit bones. He absorbed the Skull Bone and it required great control and endurance to pain but otherwise, this absorption of identical spirit bone furthered the quality of the two combined. In his head, now, there was one 99999-year-old Nightmare's Fantasy Skull Bone. A simple addition would reveal that the combined cultivation should be equivalent to 126000 years but cultivation is hardly additive. It's a geometric rise in spirit energy.
Once his Skull Bone reached this level, the remaining energy couldn't upgrade the quality of his Skull Bone to the fabled 100000-year level and was thus absorbed by Ja Sun. Even if he had reached the bottleneck, the energy would stay reserved and erupt at once the moment he materializes his sixth spirit ring.
Ordinarily, a 10000-year-old Spirit Soul could provide four spirit abilities. Nightmare's Fantasy only provided three. And now, even his Bright Goddess Butterfly had reached this rank and had another spirit skill capable of converting into a spirit ring but Ja Sun didn't think of that.
After his sixth spirit ring, he aspired to get a Spirit Soul even greater so that his martial soul can take another step forward. To him, gaining three spirit skills from his spirit souls each was already enough.
His breakthrough was indeed a quick one and the group factored a Spirit Bone with a moment's thought, something Ja Sun did not deny. They were yet unaware of his left-arm spirit bone so he simply revealed that this spot was now filled, too.
However, with no one else ready to breakthrough their bottlenecks, Ja Sun was almost made to go out alone. Of course, he wanted Ah Yin to follow in the guise that he would need her ability to keep himself safe... from his own actions and only after constant promises that he won't waste his time with any more parties, Ja Sun was allowed to leave with Ah Yin.
Of course, he had his toes crossed under his boots.
Why wouldn't he want to have fun alongside Ah Yin? And it was about time that he revealed one of his greater secrets about the Spirit Souls to Ah Yin and later even assist her in getting one for herself. After all, she would only need one spirit soul and she would be set for life... quite literally. And Ja Sun happened to know a plant easily persuaded.
Shout-out to James25 ma, DENSYS BRATINI, Jazzonicasian17
Read 60 advance chapters and support the novel @
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(Link also in the synopsis.)
***
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"Ordinarily, I would be afraid to if led anywhere else from the intended destination when considering the man I've been following. But color me curious instead," Ah Yin smiled as she looked around at the familiar spot now completely unrecognizable if not for the fact she remembered the way around here.
Ja Sun, too, looked around. They were inside the sunset forest instead of the Star Dou Great Forest. The location where they used to camp was now completely demolished. Ja Sun had a few reasons to choose this location instead of the Great Forest divided by the borders of the two empires.
First, he was now cautious of the Spirit City more and wanted to change the pattern of their travels and choose different routes and destinations. Second, he simply wanted to check on the Blessed Land. Third, he wanted to have enough peace and because the outer rings of the Great Forest would often be visited by ambitious rogue spirit masters, this was easier to achieve in Sunset Forest instead.
He didn't care too much about the group of almost 4 100000-year-old beasts. They served no immediate purpose and Ja Sun's strength wasn't enough to directly rob them of their treasures. Even if he did create a mission, by itself, there was no urgent objective to achieve. If there is no motive in itself, Ja Sun simply couldn't create a mission out of it because his trait depended on his initiative.
"We're here to relax. I wanted to confess something else but it is better to show you instead of speaking," Ja Sun smiled, "Just be sure to keep your domain activated at all times and mask our presence."
"And what about your spirit ring? You do have quite the demands, right? Are you planning to try and absorb a 70000-year-old spirit beast?" Ah Yin humored.
"An 84000-year-old spirit ring," Ja Sun smiled and replied.
"What?" Ah Yin frowned. This was already the level of spirit ring that a Titled Douluo would opt for.
"Just... watch," Ja Sun sat down cross-legged in the middle of the thicket while Ah Yin expanded her domain. She has seen Ja Sun once materialize his spirit ring, the fifth one to be specific. But she, just like Qian Daoliu, misunderstood the situation as Ja Sun absorbing two beasts instead of one.
Ja Sun felt his spirit energy bubbling against a very familiar blockade. The Nightmare's Fantasy inside of Ja Sun alongside the Bright Goddess Butterfly were moving within his world of consciousness in excitement. Bright Goddess Butterfly's intelligence grew with rising cultivation and she now understood how quick her growth has been compared to her life with a physical body so as long as Ja Sun advances, there was no doubt that Bright Goddess would advance, too.
But Ja Sun, at the moment, had other considerations. It has been proven through facts that absorbing treasures for growth is done best during a breakthrough itself. At that moment, the energy within a Spirit Master is volatile and difficult to control but that wasn't a problem for Ja Sun. He was simply comparing the advantages with the demerits of absorbing the Beautiful Silk Tulip. The obvious advantage was the high probability of finally changing the accumulated, quantitative advantages to his martial soul into a qualitative one. There would also be an obvious benefit to his spirit cultivation due to high compatibility and the resonance achieved during the breakthrough.
The disadvantages were fairly obvious, too. Questions will be raised. He had revealed the Bloody Swan Kiss to Bibi Dong and later Xie Xan got Yearning Heartbroken Red's approval. This would be the third Immortal Herb he reveals. Again, it was the annoyance brought by these questions that made Ja Sun consider his choice. Aside from this, he could incite Qian Daoliu's doubt but until now Ja Sun had come to appreciate the man who only acted like a sugar-master to give freebies at most times and left his disciples to their own devices.
Although Ja Sun expected the same thing to happen this time, too, he had to consider the possibility that Qian Daoliu might inquire real questions. The use of all herbs was still not known the almost 90% of the spirit masters even now. This was due to the lack of professions that push Spirit Masters creatively. Uses of a few herbs such as Black Jade Bamboo and other non-immortal herbs were known to be ground into a paste and relatively toughen up the body. But again, not many took this path.
For Spirit Masters, the life of cultivation is usually straightforward. Breakthrough and Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. Their actions, thus, revolve around these motives.
Making up his mind since the answer was quite obvious, Ja Sun took out the Beautiful Silk Tulip. The Immortal variation of this herb couldn't be reused. Surprising Ah Yin, Ja Sun took a deep whiff of the herb while blanketing it within his spirit energy. The suppressed spirit energy within Ja Sun shot through the blockade in an instant.
Many changes began to take place within Ja Sun's body that he consciously took note of.
First and foremost, black specks of light began emerging from his body as they brought a breath of spirit beast from their existence, deeply shaking Ah Yin due to the strange phenomenon Ja Sun was achieving once again that should be exclusive to Spirit Beasts only.
Second, the Yin-Yang War Physique core set within his heart began to grow active. It would passively absorb natural energy around Ja Sun to slowly but gradually refine his physique, but now, it actively absorbed the energy in the surroundings. It wasn't spirit energy that this core absorbed. Ah Yin was hard-pressed for Ja Sun's core began to actively absorb the life energy on which her domain thrived and began making its own. Siphoning off nature itself.
But Ja Sun's body had gone through much. Its strength, too, had reached the point where he could contend with strength specialized spirit masters. The advancement brought from the Yin-Yang War Physique was relatively minor at the moment due to the surprising turn of events that made his physique reach the level of Titled Douluo before his other aspects when his mental energy was the most promising one.
And it remained a promising one.
If the effect of the formation of the sixth spirit ring and absorption of Beautiful Silk Tulip was low on the Yin-Yang War Physique, then it was much better on the Life-Death Spirit Cauldron within his world of consciousness. The quantity of his mental energy far surpassed a Spirit Douluo already. After all, when Ja Sun refined the Life Gold, it had created another sea of consciousness within Ja Sun. The two separate seas of consciousness ended up being merged. One affected by the life attribute of Life Gold and Ja Sun's primary one affected by rot/death attribute. It was the merge of the two that doubled Ja Sun's quantity of Mental Energy when compared to his peers in this department and now it was pushed.
The Death and Life Astral Combatant that had become a part of his mental core began letting out a virtuous light. The current breakthrough affecting and pushing their growth as the cloudy mental energy began to condense and get refined. A strange world soon formed within Ja Sun.
The Cauldron became the core and it held the Life Gold. The Life Astral Combatant continued to remain connected with the cauldron, constantly refining the death energy into life. In return, Life Gold constantly let out drops of death attribute that flew up. This formed a purple pillar from the mouth of the green cauldron as it reached the liquid sphere covering the immortal lands. Within the liquified representation of mental energy was the Death Astral Combatant fully submerged.
The entirety of Ja Sun's world of consciousness had a golden barrier around every aspect of it including the two spirit souls. This was the effect of Fiery Golden Pupils' third ability— Countering the mental attacks.
Ja Sun felt it silently. His mental energy had now reached the level of a Titled Douluo finally and he could only imagine the devastating strike it could achieve in tandem to Fiery Golden Pupils' three-fold enhancement.
What's higher than a Titled Douluo, Ja Sun did not know. And he very much wanted to be pushed into the corner to find it out.
While the two aspects of his growth had reached the level Ja Sun had not expected to reach so quickly— mental and physical, the remaining aspect of his cultivation now took a firm step forward.
Ja Sun's spirit energy began to climb. His spirit rings began appearing around him like regal halos. Ah Yin felt a little numb when she saw six black spirit rings revolving around Ja Sun and she realized something. Maybe she should have kept a few secrets to match up with Ja Sun's situation. But then again, Ah Yin simply did not understand the concept of a human achieving the same thing as her while suddenly revealing that the purple spirit rings can be upgraded even more.
'An ability of his Evil Title or Three-eyed Silver Lion?' Ah Yin wondered silently.
Rank 61.
Breaking through this rank was easy. With all the advancement and the residue energy left by absorbing the second skull bone ensured that the boost in cultivation after the breakthrough would be a promising one.
Rank 62.
It began to slow down but it was a relatively slow decline in pace.
The effects of the Beautiful Silk Tulip finally reached the spot it was always intended to affect the most. Not Ja Sun's spirit, mental, or physical energies. No—
The phantom of his martial soul appeared behind him again. The Three-Eyed Silver Lion had long opened its third eye after absorbing the life gold but there was no apparent difference.
The 'Lion' still looked like a glorified wolf. Its image had always been contradictory in Ja Sun's mind but that didn't stop him to try and reach greater heights with it. After all, it's just the appearance held little to no significant value to him regarding this. It roared silently and Ah Yin felt suppressed. Her martial soul had evolved. It may have reached the peak of what a plant-type martial soul can achieve in this world and yet, like a ruler of the forest, the silent roars boomed in every living beings' mind within the forest.
The vertical third eye on the lion's forehead gleamed and Ja Sun's body began to transform. His body bulked up. His forearms and calves extended into tough greying talons and a coat of luxurious silver fur covered and outlined Ja Sun's body as he only grew further, tearing through the confines of his clothes. The fur extended from its pits to the sides of his chest and abdomen, leaving the center alone. His legs, too, grew furry and so did his back. Pitch-black hair now grew wavy silver and hid the furry ears Ja Sun didn't like showing too much.
{A/N: Visualize the ssj5 transformation without the tail.}
But Ja Sun's forehead ached. He felt it and yet his expression remained calm. The emerald vertical eye tattoo on Ja Sun's forehead suddenly began to tear with only a thin line of blood escaping from the tear as it materialized into an actual third eye.
The striking eye gazed at Ah Yin. Out of Ja Sun's three eyes now, two remained closed and the third one looked around. Similar to Ja Sun's eye structure, this one, too, came out affected by the Fiery Golden Pupils. However, this time, emerald irises surrounded a vertical golden pupil that belonged to the cat family. And Ja Sun's third pupil looked resplendent when compared to his primary pair of eyes.
Rank 63.
It began to stop. The effect of the herb was miraculous and even more so for Ja Sun who had boosted the effects by using it during a major breakthrough.
Opening his eyes, Ja Sun retrieved his six spirit rings. He was now aware of his changes and the effect of his sixth spirit ring. Again, his new ability was somewhat technical but he was grateful for it nonetheless.
The greatest change, however, was...
'The individual enhancement of cultivation in this form has doubled. From 5 to 10%... but everything else is the same...'
The structure of his martial soul had not changed. It did evolve, Ja Sun was sure of it but as this transformation took place, Ja Sun realized something.
His martial soul was incomplete. Every martial soul, weak or strong, has a chance of awakening but he felt it deeply this time. There was potential in his Evil Title. And it was too much. What Ja Sun felt from Evil Title was vastly different from the sheer emptiness behind Silver Lion and this made Ja Sun curious. The requirements of awakening are often cryptic but evolving is far simpler. Ja Sun, too, opted for the more simplistic path, and only following this did he now realize that no matter what he does, there was simply 'no' potential 'behind' this martial soul.
This wasn't something Ja Sun could solve in a matter of minutes and even without Evil Title's devilish potential, the Silver Lion's spirit skills are superior to what his peers can only hope to achieve.
Observing his body, Ja Sun realized that he would need to wear the outfits that accommodate the bulking of his body from now on, too.
'Or I could make one... I have the best material already prepared...' Ja Sun recalled Ground Devil's corpse inside of his storage ring and the two Spirit Bones he got from the Beasttaken.
Adapting himself to control his third eye, Ja Sun soon closed it and sighed in relief, "I'll need some time to practice while using three eyes instead of one," he mumbled as his body reverted to his more humane form. The third on Ja Sun's eyes closed up but instead of reverting into an emerald dot, it remained in a glamorous green totem in the middle of his forehead with intricate patterns around the vertical eyelids.
As he looked at Ah Yin, Ja Sun cracked a grin, "You said that getting the sixth ring would allow you to share some secrets, it's my turn now."
---
*Woooo*
*Woooo*
*Woooo*
In the heart of Star Dou Great Forest still unmapped by any organization and only known to the select few who have reached the pinnacle of this realm was a large gold-furred wolf with a... mane. Instead of paws is sported sharp dragon claws and complimenting its golden fur was a pair of brilliant red eyes... and a third one in the middle of its forehead.
It looked in the northern direction and constantly yowled. There was excitement in its tone. With each call, the surroundings around the beast would glimmer in gold and the nearby spirit beasts who got marked by such a light would fly off or run away in excitement while feeling their own pace of growth rising at a breakneck pace.
---
"It's... amazing," Ah Yin smiled gently while looking at the foggy Nightmare's Fantasy and the beautiful Bright Goddess Butterfly flying around happily while letting out an ethereal and captivating glow.
"So you can constantly increase their cultivation," Ah Yin understood for the most part once Ja Sun explained the rules of the Spirit Souls and their benefits.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Ah Yin inquired.
"Well, there is one more thing," Ja Sun admitted, "But I don't want to tell that to anyone really. It's not even some great secret but that's the only thing I came with in this world and would like to keep it that way."
Ah Yin stared at Ja Sun for a few seconds before nodding.
"So? All I need is greater mental energy and the rest is taken care of by the spirit soul itself, right?" Ah Yin changed the subject and Ja Sun lied down with a comforted grunt escaping his lips, "Nngh, yeah, pretty much."
"It could change the way of spirit masters completely," Ah Yin lied beside Ja Sun and smiled.
"No, it won't. When they have spirit souls, they will try to kill even more spirit beasts to enhance the cultivation of their own spirit souls, and given that only 1% of the cultivation is siphoned, the massacre will be greater," Ja Sun explained the most reasonable course of action the humanity will take because he did the same in the Disorienting Ghost Canyon.
Ah Yin clicked her tongue, realizing that she had been a little too optimistic for a moment.
"But still I'd want a Spirit Soul for my remaining three rings. I haven't killed a spirit beast for its spirit ring yet so why start now, too," Ah Yin smiled.
"You will need great mental energy," Ja Sun replied, "Why don't you join Yuehua when I use the Mental Acupuncture Technique?"
"That brutal method? No, of course, no. The remainder of Blue Silver Emperor's Core constantly increases my mental energy. At rank 70, when I do form my own core, I think my mental energy will improve substantially. Anyway..." Ah Yin pondered, "What should we do now?"
Ja Sun, according to others, was supposed to 'look' for a spirit beast. Instead, they got free right after the first few hours of travel.
"Why not take this chance? We've got a week, right? Let's see if we can stay within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Your cultivation will grow quickly in that spot and I will keep my spirit transformation activated... and my skull bone's ability, too. That's a substantial boost to anyone in cultivation."
Ja Sun smiled. The Three-Eyed Silver Lion severely lacks in the 'self' enhancement. Even after absorbing the Beautiful Silk Tulip, only his individual pace of cultivation increased from 5 to 10% in the state of spirit transformation and even then it lacked when compared to the overall 15% provided to others. Now understanding the lack of potential within the Martial Soul itself, probably because this beast itself being the mutation of a Spirit Beast widely renowned as the Auspicious Emperor, Ja Sun reasoned that only by actively vying for more opportunities to evolve he may have a chance to cover this up.
Even if this lack of potential was not a weakness now, who can be sure that it may not become in the future?
When the couple returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Ah Yin was absolutely furious to find all the Blue Silver Variants she had planted rooted and destroyed. A new wave of herbs was growing but in sparse locations and once again, Ja Sun observed the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass growing on the two sides of the lake.
But this place was truly abandoned, Ja Sun and Ah Yin surveyed. The caves were now destroyed so that no other evidence could be found of this location. Not being an actual plant anymore, Ah Yin's growth in this location wasn't a gobsmacking 1000 times as it was other plants. After discussing, Ah Yin concluded that with Ja Sun's enhancements, her cultivation speed reached upto 580%!
This was a cheat that Ah Yin wanted to make use of completely. So, Ja Sun constantly used True Fantasy, a skill of his skull bone, that enhances the original 15% by an addition of 30% and remained in his transformed state. With his perfect control, Ja Sun only expended his spirit energy to keep the True Fantasy activated. This skill simply was a domain in all but name. However, its use lied in large-scale battles that need strict coordination, for instance, the battle against the horde of Beasttakens.
Ja Sun would have to stop using the skill every three hours but Ah Yin soon expanded her own domain and would pump him up with spirit energy, truly working Ja Sun up as he, too, delved deeper into the art of developing spirit essence tools. He now had two projects in mind that would utilize his talents in the art of turning rare minerals into the fabric and his past knowledge of weapons.
It was time to bring the guns in a sword fight.
Meanwhile, seeing this location completely emptied, Ah Yin, too, had proclaimed this area to be the location of the Blue Silver Palace.
"Only if we find ourselves being chased by the Spirit Hall," Ah Yin chuckled, feeling giddy at the quick pace of her own breakthrough.