Blue Silver Sword Rain

Over the next half day, Mo Bai and Teacher Ma wandered through the Sword Bamboo Forest.

They encountered Sword Bamboo Spirit Beasts that were ten years old, twenty years old, a hundred years old, three hundred years old, and even a thousand years old.

They also came across other Spirit Beasts along the way, but chose to avoid them all.

It was only after they had nearly searched the entire Sword Bamboo Forest that they found a four-hundred-year-old Sword Bamboo Spirit Beast.

Dealing with Sword Bamboo Spirit Beasts was actually quite simple.

Based on the Sword Bamboo Spirit Beast's characteristics, Mo Bai and Teacher Ma took turns stepping forward to invade its territory before immediately retreating.

They used this method to exhaust the Sword Bamboo Spirit Beast's Soul Power!

Until the Sword Bamboo Spirit Beast could no longer use its spirit skills to attack.

Sword Bamboo Spirit Beasts could be considered among the easiest Spirit Beasts to hunt.

However, Sword Bamboo Spirit Beasts that were over ten thousand years old would not be so foolish!

It was just that this Spirit Beast Forest had no Spirit Beasts of such high age. Only Sword Bamboo Spirit Beasts had produced one with a thousand years of cultivation. There were no animal-type Spirit Beasts over a thousand years old in this forest at all.

This was a Spirit Beast Forest meant for low-level Spirit Masters to hunt in!

Pfft~

After exhausting the four-hundred-year-old Sword Bamboo Spirit Beast's Soul Power, Mo Bai delivered the final blow, cutting it in two.

Buzz~

Then, a yellow ring of light floated out from the fallen Sword Bamboo corpse.

Already knowing how to absorb it, Mo Bai did not need Teacher Ma's instructions. He sat cross-legged before the Sword Bamboo corpse and used his thoughts to draw in the Spirit Ring.

The moment the Spirit Ring entered his body, Mo Bai felt as though a balloon had been stuffed inside him before exploding. His entire body seemed to swell up, making him extremely uncomfortable.

"Stay conscious. Endure it!"

Seeing this, Teacher Ma reminded Mo Bai from the side.

Even without the reminder, Mo Bai knew what to do. He kept his mind clear and calm, silently sensing the changes brought about by the Spirit Ring entering his body.

Bang~

First, the bottleneck that had long held back the first layer of Mo Bai's Startling Feather Art broke through smoothly.

Mo Bai also discovered that his internal energy was transforming into another kind of energy. This must have been Soul Power!

After the Startling Feather Art broke through the first layer, Mo Bai circulated the second layer of the Startling Feather Art and quickly absorbed all the energy brought by the Spirit Ring.

During this process, Mo Bai also noticed that an extra Spirit Ring had appeared on his Martial Soul, and his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul had changed as well.

The Blue Silver Grass, which had originally possessed only two leaves, had grown into a stalk just under half a meter tall. Its leaves no longer looked the same as before, instead shifting toward the shape of Sword Bamboo leaves.

Yet they did not completely resemble Sword Bamboo leaves either. They were a fusion of Blue Silver Grass and Sword Bamboo, like small, plump swords.

After completing the absorption, Mo Bai summoned his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and tried plucking off a leaf. He weighed it in his hand and found it acceptable—it could absolutely be used as a concealed weapon.

"How was it? Did you succeed?"

"What is your spirit skill?"

Seeing that Mo Bai had succeeded, Teacher Ma was delighted. Then, with some anticipation, he asked Mo Bai.

The spirit skills obtained from hunting Spirit Rings were not fixed. Depending on each person's Martial Soul, the spirit skill gained could vary.

Teacher Ma was hoping that Mo Bai's first-ring skill had changed in a favorable direction.

"Yes, I succeeded!"

"My First Spirit Skill is this!"

"First Spirit Skill: Blue Silver Sword Rain!"

Mo Bai smiled and nodded, then directly unleashed his First Spirit Skill toward an open patch of ground in the distance.

Whoosh~

The Blue Silver Grass in Mo Bai's hand grew with the wind, instantly doubling in size. Then the main body of the Blue Silver Grass gave a slight shake, and dozens of leaves shot out from it, scattering toward the ground before Mo Bai.

This method of attack was exactly the same as the attack unleashed by the Sword Bamboo's guardian territory earlier.

Mo Bai carefully sensed the Soul Power expenditure within his body and found that it had consumed one-fifth of his Soul Power in a single use.

Moreover, its destructive power was truly lacking. The dozens of sword leaves it fired quickly dissipated on the ground and could not maintain their form for long.

However, Mo Bai was not disappointed. He had expected the spirit skill to be weak. Besides, the weakness of the fired sword leaves did not mean that the leaves plucked from the main body of the Blue Silver Grass were equally weak. Mo Bai discovered that the sword leaves fired by the skill were far weaker than those plucked directly from the Blue Silver Grass itself.

And what Mo Bai had valued from the start were the leaves plucked from the main body of the Blue Silver Grass.

Sigh... so it really is like this!

Seeing this, Teacher Ma immediately sighed inwardly.

Dozens of attacks looked dazzling, but their power was far too weak.

Against the damage caused by Mo Bai's First Spirit Skill, a Spirit Master of the same level as Mo Bai could easily withstand it as long as they used Soul Power to protect their body.

And its shortcomings were not limited to its weak killing power—the Soul Power consumption was high as well.

This was also why Sword Bamboo was so easy to hunt—basically no Spirit Masters ever chose to hunt it.

"Not bad. Your martial spirit is Blue Silver Grass, and the fact that you were able to become a Spirit Master already makes you quite remarkable!"

However, after thinking it over, Teacher Ma could not bear to discourage Mo Bai. Instead, he praised him.

Even without being told, Teacher Ma believed that Mo Bai would come to understand the shortcomings of his First Spirit Skill himself after some time.

The little fellow had only just become a Spirit Master. It was better to let him be happy for now!

"Oh, right. When you get back, go to the Spirit Hall branch in Nuoding City to have your Spirit Master rank certified. Once you become a registered Spirit Master, you can receive one Gold Soul Coin in subsidies every month. That way, you can quit the job the school arranged for you!"

"And remember, those subsidies are issued by the Empire. Spirit Hall merely distributes them on its behalf!"

At the same time, Teacher Ma did not forget to remind Mo Bai to visit the Spirit Hall branch and have his Spirit Master rank assessed.

"Yes, I understand! Thank you, Teacher Ma!"

Mo Bai nodded.

At the same time, he found it somewhat strange. The subsidies for Spirit Masters were clearly paid by the Empire, so why let Spirit Hall distribute them?

Wasn't that stupid?

How could something meant to win people over be entrusted to another faction for distribution?

Still, Mo Bai only grumbled about it inwardly. It had nothing to do with him anyway.

Judging from the way Teacher Ma had deliberately emphasized it, he clearly had no favorable impression of Spirit Hall, the largest sect in this world!

"Mm, then let's go. Time to head back!"

Teacher Ma replied.

Since they had already achieved their goal of absorbing the First Spirit Ring, it was naturally best to leave quickly. Although this captive Spirit Beast Forest did not contain many dangerous spirit beasts, there was still some risk of encountering one.

After returning to Nuoding City, Teacher Ma went back to the school first. There was no longer any danger in the city, and Mo Bai did not need anyone to accompany him to Spirit Hall for certification.

Mo Bai headed alone toward the Spirit Hall branch.

Mo Bai was rather curious to see whether Spirit Hall would explain that the subsidy money came from the Empire when he collected it later.

Thanks to Mu Yuanyuan for becoming an Alliance Leader, and thanks to [160618235029349] for the tip!