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"Good talent."
Having watched the battle to its conclusion, Su Wen gave his evaluation.
The boy was very talented in terms of comprehension—or rather, in the application of his martial soul and spirit power.
To put it another way, he had the talent for creating self-created spirit skills.
"It's a pity his Five Elements attributes aren't strong. Otherwise, the elemental power mixed into his spear techniques would be stronger, and he would possess greater might."
Innate rank one spirit power...
As the son of a Spirit King, this martial soul mutation was indeed a negative one.
However, he possessed all five elements, and they seemed to have a sort of mutually generating capability, with the five attributes being relatively balanced.
From another perspective, this was also a type of talent.
"Still not enough!"
Back at the Lin Manor, Lin Dong returned to his own courtyard. Holding his long spear, he continuously thrust at the target in front of him, every strike accurately piercing a vital spot.
The tip of the spear quivered, yet he always managed to strike exactly where he intended at the final moment.
He was venting his dissatisfaction with himself.
"Spirit power is too weak."
He realized this, but with rank one Innate Spirit Power, he was destined not to go far in terms of spirit power. Thus, he could only compensate as much as possible through his spear techniques.
"Dong'er."
A burly middle-aged man arrived behind Lin Dong and called out.
Only then did Lin Dong realize his father had arrived.
"Father." He spoke with a hint of guilt.
Lin Xiao, however, didn't feel that Lin Dong had done anything wrong.
"Dong'er, there's no need to carry such a mental burden." He patted Lin Dong's shoulder.
Lin Dong lowered his head, his eyes still filled with a sense of being unreconciled.
With rank one Innate Spirit Power, the upper limit was generally rank twenty-nine. It was extremely difficult to break through rank thirty; even if one did so by some stroke of luck, they would never reach the level of a Spirit Ancestor.
Let alone a Spirit King or the even higher Spirit Emperor level.
As for becoming a Spirit Grandmaster, one might only hope to toil upward by the time they reached middle age.
To the high-spirited Lin Dong, this was nothing short of torture.
After Lin Xiao departed, Lin Dong stood alone in the courtyard for a long time.
His frustration shifted into calm, and then into absolute determination.
He didn't pick up the long spear from the ground; instead, he circulated his spirit power to manifest his Five Elements Spear.
With a sweep of the spear, carrying a wisp of flame, it struck the training dummy.
"Still too weak!"
Even if it inherently possessed the Five Elements attributes, each attribute was far too faint.
"Compared to Father's Fire-Tipped Spear, my Five Elements Spear's ability to mobilize the fire element is too weak."
Five elements, yet the difficulty of mobilizing them was more than five times higher.
This mutation was a massive loss in terms of cost-effectiveness; it resulted in insufficient martial soul quality and rank one Innate Spirit Power...
However, Lin Dong only frowned for a moment before his expression became resolute once more.
He continuously attempted to brandish the Five Elements Spear, displaying each of the attributes one by one.
Yet, each time, he could only bring forth a tiny sliver of the corresponding elemental energy.
He didn't stop. He continued to repeatedly mobilize the weak elemental forces he could control, adjusting bit by bit, gathering that faint elemental power at the tip of his spear to exert its meager effect.
Su Wen observed this scene from the shadows, quite surprised by the speed of Lin Dong's progress.
"This development speed is almost on par with when I first developed the wind element," Su Wen remarked in wonder.
Of course, the so-called speed was relative.
Given the talent Lin Dong displayed for developing the five elements, if his control over them were equal to Su Wen's initial control over the wind element, his progress wouldn't be inferior to Su Wen's.
As for now, because his inherent control was too low, even if his progress wasn't slow, the resulting power was much smaller...
Lin Dong didn't know how many times he had thrust his spear. Once he had exhausted his spirit power, he simply swung the Five Elements Spear, seeking the sensation of the spear sweeping through the air, feeling the sensation of the flames hidden within the tip.
When he was utterly exhausted, his consciousness began to blur.
He felt a bit dejected.
It's still not working...
Suddenly, his pupils contracted violently. Looking at an object flying toward him from a distance, he was already unable to dodge.
He couldn't even swing the spear in his hand, and his body wouldn't move; he could only watch helplessly as the object crashed into him.
It was a book.
Lin Dong was knocked unconscious.
By the time he woke up again, he discovered an extra book inside his dantian—a book titled the "Book of Myriad Laws."
By consuming spirit power, he could use the "Book of Myriad Laws" to manifest the spirit skills recorded within its pages.
Leaving Qingyang City, Su Wen continued his travels.
A month later, he returned to Heaven Dou City.
"Stone Monster groups?"
Hearing Su Wen's question, Dugu Bo also frowned, just as Ning Fengzhi had when Su Wen first inquired about those three types of spirit beasts.
"You're going to provoke those Stone Monsters?" There was a trace of wariness in Dugu Bo's eyes.
"I can tell you for certain that the oldest Stone Monster in the depths of the Sunset Forest is only sixty thousand years old. However, there are two others at fifty thousand years. These three can perform a fusion technique; even I wouldn't dare provoke their combined strength." Dugu Bo said this having clearly fought them before. He looked at Su Wen: "Do you still want to go after the Stone Monster tribe?"
Su Wen nodded, not backing down.
Humans were humans because they were good at using their brains and tools.
Just as Su Wen at rank twenty could solo a thousand-year Three-Eyed Illusory Fox, while he might not be able to kill those three over-the-limit Stone Monsters now, he still had hope if he only targeted a single Stone Monster of ten or twenty thousand years.
Seeing this, Dugu Bo stopped trying to dissuade him.
"Do you need my help?" Dugu Bo asked.
Su Wen shook his head.
For the time being, he didn't want to reveal the Method of Ring Replacement to the outside world.
As the saying goes, there were things he could disseminate—even for free—but only after he had used these theories to establish his own advantage.
He didn't mind helping others, but his own interests could not be damaged.
Besides, the Method of Ring Replacement wasn't something that could be passed down as easily as Su Wen's other theories and development methods.
First was the perception of the Martial Soul Space, which not everyone could achieve.
Second were the various capabilities; at the very least, one had to follow Su Wen's example and choose a combination-type spirit skill, developing it to a level sufficient to stabilize the foundations of the martial soul and spirit rings.
Furthermore, while it seemed like a simple ring replacement, wasn't it also a series of tests for the spirit master?
Even for Twin Martial Souls, adding spirit rings to both souls carried risks. For a spirit master with a single martial soul to add rings that exceeded their limit, how could there be no risk?
Sunset Forest.
Su Wen arrived at the rocky buffer zone between the depths of the Sunset Forest and the Death Mountains behind it.
The reason it was named the Death Mountains was that those who went too deep into the Sunset Forest and approached this range were never seen again.
Heeding Dugu Bo's warning, Su Wen carefully sensed his surroundings in the rocky area, distinguishing between actual rocks and Stone Monsters.
Shrek Academy.
The original Blue Tyrant Academy had been renamed Shrek Academy. Flender served as the Dean, with Liu Erlong and Zhao Wuji as Vice-Deans, Yu Xiaogang as a specially appointed teacher, and the original Shrek staff as senior teachers.
"Mubai, are you still unable to break through to become a Spirit Ancestor?"
After the sparring session ended, Grandmaster looked at Dai Mubai and asked about his recent cultivation progress.
Dai Mubai gave a bitter smile and shook his head.
The bottleneck of rank forty was too difficult to break through.
Grandmaster's brow furrowed, and he let out a sigh.
"It's fine. You're all still young. If you don't make it this time, there's always the next Continental Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament."
By the next tournament, all the Shrek Seven Devils would surely be Spirit Ancestors, and there might even be hope for a Spirit King to emerge.
Grandmaster understood that he was being too impatient.
However, whenever he thought of the Heaven Dou Imperial Team's lineup and Su Wen's spirit power rank, he felt a surge of anxiety.
"Just how on earth does he cultivate..."
(End of Chapter)