In the days that followed, Luo Mo went to find Tang San while Tang Chen continued studying the Mysterious Heaven Skill, then handed over the Mysterious Heaven Skill he had learned to Heaven Dou City's research institute.
The institute was also looking forward to it.
After nearly a month of work, combining the Mysterious Heaven Skill and the ideas behind it with Luo Mo's understanding of the laws of life and control over the first Soul Skill's wood element, Tang Chen had finally put together a method that combined Soul Power, spiritual power, and physical strength.
Unfortunately, the new method was still far from complete.
It was only half as effective as the previous version.
Luo Mo simply named the method Three-Point Mortal Yuan 1.0.
Then he spent every spare moment conducting further research at Heaven Dou's institute. These days, he was working overtime so often that he could barely manage ten hours of sleep.
Tang Chen was doing the same.
During that month, the three major rules Luo Mo had set for the martial soul world had spread through Heaven Dou City like a raging fire spreading across a plain.
The people of Heaven Dou City were becoming more and more enthusiastic about them.
The prices of spirit bones had also soared. They kept climbing higher and higher, rising several times over in just a few days. Even at those prices, there was still more demand than supply.
Some people had even planned to organize expeditions to the sea to hunt spirit beasts for spirit bones.
In that period, plenty of people came to visit Tang Chen, hoping he would approve of their ideas. To keep their influence from falling, they tried to get Luo Mo to turn them away, and nearly all of them were sent to the Heaven Dou City Spirit Master Academy for a lecture.
To avoid running into Bibi Dong, he hadn't gone to the academy himself.
After all, Tang Chen was there. If he saw Bibi Dong getting close to Luo Mo, who knew what sort of trouble he might cause?
Besides, if Bibi Dong went to the academy, how could she possibly get Tang San?
Luo Mo had already learned his lesson once from Tang San. He'd sent quite a few Spirit Yuan Pills and a generous dowry to the woman in Spirit City.
Luo Mo thought it over and decided not to interfere.
He then mentioned that he had been born in Holy Soul Village. Tang Chen agreed without hesitation and asked the city lord to arrange for Holy Soul Village to be constructed in the suburbs.
Old Jack nearly fainted from excitement.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaogang was staying at the academy, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tang San. Tang San didn't need to go to the academy to get instruction from the old axe, but Yu Xiaogang was still hoping to meet him.
Tang San had no idea that the old man back home was behind it.
So whenever Yu Xiaogang came to visit, he pretended to be sick and said he had to go home to see his father. His acting was so convincing that tears filled Yu Xiaogang's eyes.
The old man really had a heart of stone.
If Tang Chen found out, he'd probably come after him again.
That boy had forgotten about it too.
"Ah—!"
That day, Luo Mo was working away when he suddenly felt a familiar energy surging into his body, as if it were about to fuse with him.
"Damn it! Again? Tang San, do you really want to kill your father?"
Luo Mo felt pain all over his body.
It was even worse than last time, and the pain lasted longer.
The energy in the spirit ring he had absorbed from the ten-thousand-year spirit beast was far beyond what his body could withstand. The spirit beast had been over three thousand years old.
"Heaven Dou, help me suppress it..."
Luo Mo felt like he was about to explode and immediately called out to Heaven Dou for help.
Heaven Dou, who was busy working overtime on research, heard Luo Mo asking him to take on another task and felt like crying. He hadn't noticed Luo Mo's abnormal condition at first, and couldn't help complaining.
"How did it end up like this?"
Before Luo Mo could answer, Heaven Dou sealed off the area and began to resolve the energy wreaking havoc in his body.
Very quickly, the energy calmed down, and the pain in Luo Mo's body turned into a warm current, flowing through every part of him.
"I feel much better..."
Luo Mo let out a comfortable groan, wiped himself with a handkerchief, put on his clothes, and summoned his second spirit ring.
Whoosh!
A deep purple spirit ring rose from beneath his feet.
"Four thousand years? Heavens, that's outrageous!" Heaven Dou cried out in surprise.
"Damn, this spirit beast really was incredible!"
Luo Mo couldn't help cursing. "Last time, it was four hundred years. How did it end up at four thousand this time? Next time, won't it be forty thousand?"
His heart was full of unease.
He wondered if Tang San was trying to trap him.
He'd have to give Tang San a serious lesson. He couldn't let him absorb spirit rings carelessly anymore.
"Quick, check the Soul Skill!"
Heaven Dou was curious.
Luo Mo reached out and sensed the second Soul Skill's effect.
A moment later, he said, "The Soul Skill is Three-Leaf Grass. Attached to a spirit ring, it can absorb the ring's age. For every year it absorbs, it can create one Three-Leaf Grass. The Three-Leaf Grass can transfer the spirit ring of a plant spirit beast or the spirit ring of a person, then convert it into spirit ring age."
"Hey, what's the point of that? Your peach wood sword can do it too."
Heaven Dou sounded a little disappointed.
Even so, Luo Mo didn't disagree. "True. Though using the peach wood sword consumes spiritual power, the Three-Leaf Grass doesn't."
"What? Wait! No, hold on!"
Luo Mo suddenly realized he had missed something. "A Three-Leaf Grass is a Soul Skill, but it can also be called a kind of resource."
"Resource?" Heaven Dou was confused.
A resource was something that belonged in another field of study. It touched on the limits of his knowledge.
Luo Mo thought for a moment, then spoke excitedly. "That's right! Three-Leaf Grass is a resource. Used properly, it can extract things of extraordinary value—even the financial resources of the entire continent."
"Really? How could it be that powerful?"
Heaven Dou was skeptical. Even the sealed Evil Spirit Masters didn't dare make such claims. How could some unknown resource manage it?
Luo Mo didn't need Heaven Dou to understand. He knew how to explain.
He said directly, "Heaven Dou, I'm going to gradually remove the seal from the first spirit ring on my body."
"You're crazy!"
Heaven Dou exclaimed, "If I remove the seal directly, your body won't be able to take it—wait, don't tell me you want to turn it into Three-Leaf Grass?"
"Exactly!"
Seeing how confident Luo Mo was, Heaven Dou stopped hesitating. He gradually removed the seal on the spirit ring, while Luo Mo continually turned the extra spirit ring age from the first ring into Three-Leaf Grass.
One stalk, two, three...
Ten stalks, twenty, thirty...
Ninety-nine stalks...
Luo Mo evenly distributed all the extra spirit ring age he had saved up into his four spirit rings, bringing each one to the four-thousand-year limit.
The remaining Three-Leaf Grass had reached ninety-nine stalks.
"Tsk, I'm just a little bit short of a hundred."
Luo Mo sighed and stored the Three-Leaf Grass in the empty space of the Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse.
The Three-Leaf Grass had piled up, but his knowledge was still too limited to make much use of it in the short term.
"Hm?"
Just as Luo Mo was thinking about leaving ninety-nine stalks of Three-Leaf Grass stored in the Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse, the Hundred Treasure Purse suddenly emitted a strange reaction.
A new effect had appeared: plant cultivation.
Each year, it could cultivate one hundred stalks of plants.
In other words, if Luo Mo planted one hundred stalks of Three-Leaf Grass this year, he would harvest one hundred stalks the following year.
"Ha! That's interesting! Why bother hunting spirit beasts for their rings?"
Luo Mo was stunned.
The more he thought about how to use the Three-Leaf Grass, the more ideas he had.
He also thought of something else.
If Tang San absorbed a spirit ring that exceeded his own limit again, he could turn it directly into Three-Leaf Grass.
"Wait. If that works, we can just directly absorb those hundred-thousand-year or even ten-thousand-year spirit rings."
Luo Mo's eyes lit up.
Unfortunately, his next thought dampened his excitement.
He didn't have the ability to hunt spirit beasts over ten thousand years old right now.
"Luo Mo! Luo Mo! You've got it now! Tang San is giving you a huge gift. You should be thinking about his journey!"
Heaven Dou's tiny Q Version eyes sparkled.
It was obvious he was looking forward to Tang San's arrival.
"Sure. Then let's see what happens." Luo Mo was curious too.
Before you continue