Another month passed.
During this month, the people at Shrek Academy had been much quieter. Taoyuan Academy returned to its usual harmony.
Wang Sheng continued to wake up early and go to bed early, practicing his Tiger Form Fist while guarding the academy gate.
Zhu Zhuqing, following Su Ran's instructions, diligently cultivated the vessel for the Ten Halls of Yama.
Ning Rongrong solidified her second layer of the Golden Bell, making her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda even more robust, and her Wing Chun became increasingly proficient.
It was just that her thirst for knowledge was growing more and more insatiable.
Every day, it was either: "Ah, Teacher, I can't lift my leg this high for this Wing Chun kick. Teacher, quickly, come help support my thigh~"
Or: "Boohoo, Teacher, this Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield training is just too hard. Isn't there a shortcut, like dual cultivation or something~ I want to directly share in Teacher's results."
She didn't want to inherit Su Ran's ultimate techniques so much as she wanted to inherit Teacher Su Ran's countless future generations into her own body.
Zhu Zhuqing remained silent, focused solely on her arduous training. She had no idea just how handsome her teacher was to make Senior Sister Rongrong resort to such shameless tactics.
The two ultimate techniques Zhu Zhuqing was learning were both incredibly powerful and highly compatible with her Martial Soul. With Su Ran's guidance, she had grasped the basics of the movement technique, Crossing the Yellow Springs, in just half a month, achieving a state where she could move without a sound and run without stirring the wind.
However, cultivating the Ten Halls of Yama proved to be much more difficult for her. After half a month, she still hadn't found the key to condensing the Ten Halls of Yama, leaving her completely lost.
This technique was even more difficult to cultivate than Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield. The Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield was cultivated with the help of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda itself, a symbiotic process that generated immense defensive power. The Ten Halls of Yama, on the other hand, was almost equivalent to cultivating a second Martial Soul, one that was dependent on the first and served to enhance it. One could only imagine the difficulty.
At the same time, this was also what made the Ten Halls of Yama so terrifying.
To help Zhu Zhuqing condense the vessel for the Ten Halls of Yama sooner, Su Ran directly used a netherworld technique, bringing her into his own Ten Halls of Yama to undergo hellish meditation.
In addition, Zhu Zhuqing received the same body-tempering beast blood and nourishing medicinal baths that were prepared for Ning Rongrong. However, this also added a bit more pressure on Teacher Su Ran. Accepting disciples really isn't something to be done lightly. With each new disciple, the responsibility on my shoulders grows heavier. I can't afford to raise them!
Finally, after another month, Zhu Zhuqing awoke from the endless darkness and depravity, the blazing flames and netherworld.
Her Hell Civet Martial Soul appeared behind her like a hellish phantom. A gray, unlit, ten-halled Yama palace materialized behind her. The Hell Civet Martial Soul could even hide within it, darting through the gray halls as if it had gained its own spirit.
"I did it! I did it!"
"Teacher, I've formed the vessel for the Ten Halls of Yama!"
In a rare departure from her usual cold demeanor, Zhu Zhuqing's face was ecstatic. Her figure was incredibly nimble; instead of taking the courtyard path, she ran across the lotus leaves and koi in the pond to the pavilion where Su Ran was resting, eagerly sharing her news.
Su Ran smiled faintly. He could already see the ten-halled Yama palace she had refined. It was very small, not very powerful, and its form was not even stable, but she had indeed refined a prototype, which was no small feat.
With similar aptitudes, Ning Rongrong had taken a month to condense her second layer of the Golden Bell, but Zhu Zhuqing had taken a full month just to barely form a prototype of the ten-halled Yama palace. This showed just how difficult the technique was to cultivate.
Simultaneously:
[Disciple Zhu Zhuqing has condensed the prototype of the Ten Halls of Yama. Reward: All Spirit Ring Years +200 years. Reward: Hell's Hidden Weapon - Ghost Shuttle (Refining and usage methods included).]
[First Spirit Ability: Illusory Branch — An illusion skill, 935 years → 1135 years.]
[Second Spirit Ability: Dream Peach Sword — ...1650 years → 1850 years.]
[Third Spirit Ability: Crimson Snowstorm — ...4620 years → 4820 years.]
[Fourth Spirit Ability: Crimson Moon's Splendor — ...12,210 years → 12,410 years.]
[Fifth Spirit Ability: Thousand Blazing Peach Slashes — ...24,530 years → 24,730 years.]
[Sixth Spirit Ability: Nine Luminaries Peach Blossom Sword — ...48,730 years → 48,930 years.]
[Seventh Spirit Ability: Mortal Dust True Body, 85,030 years → 85,230 years.]
Every bit of progress his disciples made gave Su Ran feedback. This was much easier than exhausting himself through painstaking cultivation, and it could even increase the age of his spirit rings.
Now, Su Ran's Spirit Ring configuration had been optimized to start at the thousand-year level, completely shedding the [Yellow Newbie Spirit Ring]. From one yellow, two purple, and four black, it had now become three purple and four black.
He had also obtained a hidden weapon from hell, the Ghost Shuttle? Aren't hidden weapons Tang San's specialty? Interesting.
"Excellent. Keep up the good work. Condensing the ten-halled Yama palace has elevated your netherworld attribute to a certain extent. If you can awaken all ten halls, transform the netherworld into hell, and turn the mortal world into purgatory, you may one day become the Lord of Hell," Su Ran said, his eyes filled with appreciation for Zhu Zhuqing.
She was actually a very good girl—as long as she wasn't being foolish.
"Your spirit power seems to have reached rank twenty-nine, hasn't it? You shouldn't be far from rank thirty," Su Ran added.
Only then did Zhu Zhuqing sense her own spirit power. She was surprised to find that with her progress in cultivating the Ten Halls of Yama, her spirit power had also increased. Combined with the medicinal baths and special training her teacher had prepared over the past month, she had actually advanced two ranks, from twenty-seven to twenty-nine, and was on the verge of breaking through to rank thirty.
This speed was simply divine!
"Rongrong should also be breaking through to rank thirty in the next couple of days," Su Ran said with a light breath.
"For the next two days, you should stabilize the prototype of your Ten Halls of Yama. And prepare yourself. We will be making a trip to the Star Dou Great Forest."
Hearing this, Zhu Zhuqing understood immediately. Her teacher was going to take them to hunt for their third spirit rings and help them break through to become Spirit Elders!
"Okay!"
That night.
Su Ran took a stroll to the academy gate. Under the peach tree, the same tall, simple-minded youth was practicing his Tiger Form Fist, as he had done day after day for years.
Wang Sheng's aptitude was very poor. Compared to ordinary people, it was passable, but compared to Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong, it could almost be called trash. Their aptitude was S-rank, while his was a mere D, and a D- at that.
The only reason he could defeat Dai Mubai was his complete trust in Su Ran and his perseverance, taking one thing to the extreme and mastering the Tiger Form Fist to a transcendent level. But even so, it couldn't hide the fact that his aptitude was poor.
At twelve years old, he hadn't even reached rank ten. After six years of desperately learning and training his body under Su Ran, he had only managed a small comeback, raising his spirit power by nineteen ranks.
During this recent period, with two hardworking girls joining the academy, Wang Sheng saw their efforts and didn't dare to slack off. In two months, he had finally broken through from rank twenty-eight to twenty-nine. But breaking through to rank thirty would likely still take some time.
"Wang Sheng, in a few days, I will be taking Rongrong and Zhuqing to hunt for their third spirit rings. You will stay here and guard the academy. We should only be gone for a few days," Su Ran instructed.
(End of Chapter)