Two Surprises

Inside Spirit Hall, Bibidong had originally thought that Xiao Chen being able to summon both martial souls simultaneously in battle and perform a martial soul fusion technique alone was already heaven-defying enough, but she never expected that Xiao Chen could also execute spirit skill fusion.

What surprised her even more was that Xiao Chen, with the strength of a Level 23 Great Spirit Master, could actually injure a three-thousand-six-hundred-year Soul Beast and ultimately escape smoothly.

Even more absurdly, Chrysanthemum Douluo stated outright that the speed Xiao Chen burst out with during his final escape was faster than that of a Level 40 Agility-type Spirit Ancestor.

As a Titled Douluo, Chrysanthemum Douluo couldn't even figure out what method Xiao Chen had used in the end.

She stared at the intelligence in her hand, the initial shock slowly fading, replaced by a joy that grew increasingly intense.

However, just as she was at her most excited, she suddenly spotted a sentence—Xiao Chen was good in every aspect, but his only flaw was that the first two spirit rings of his two martial souls were both ten-year!

Bibidong froze on the spot when she saw this sentence; she simply couldn't believe her eyes.

She flipped the secret report over and over, checking it several times before she was sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

At this moment, her expression was no different from when Chrysanthemum Douluo had first seen Xiao Chen release his spirit rings.

She grumbled inwardly, wondering which misguided bastard had taught Xiao Chen to absorb Ten-Year Spirit Rings.

As angry as Bibidong was, she quickly came to her senses—four Ten-Year Spirit Rings had already given Xiao Chen such heaven-defying combat power. If he were equipped with limit spirit rings matching his own level and age, she dared not imagine how strong Xiao Chen would become.

"Good, at least Xiao Chen is only Level 20 now. Those four White Spirit Rings are holding him back, but there's still room to salvage!" Bibidong muttered to herself, feeling very fortunate that Xiao Chen's Spirit Power level was only Level 20.

Bibidong had already decided privately that every time Xiao Chen added a spirit ring in the future, it would have to be personally reviewed and approved by her.

On the other side, the Canghui Academy group had yet to return to the small town, and Xiao Chen took advantage of this free time to stabilize the breakthrough he had just made and consolidate his cultivation.

Adding three spirit rings in succession had steadily pushed Xiao Chen's Spirit Power up to Level 23.

The Shadow Step Dash he had used earlier to shake off the Thunder Pattern Leopard via Spirit Skill Sharing had sent him into a coma, but it also made him more proficient in the application of Spirit Skill Sharing.

Still, Spirit Skill Sharing consumed too much Spirit Power. Adding an extra spirit ring out of thin air was inherently a heaven-defying act, and without raising his Spirit Power level further, it was ultimately difficult to fully master the ability.

Compared to Spirit Skill Sharing, Spirit Skill Fusion was clearly more suited to his current realm.

Over the next three days, Hu Liena and Xie Yue no longer sought Xiao Chen's advice on Spirit Skill Fusion.

The three of them either meditated and cultivated in their rooms or chatted and drank casually in the hotel lobby. During this time, the system gave Xiao Chen two more surprises.

The system stated outright that Xiao Chen had already mastered the spirit skills granted by his current spirit rings, so he could now proceed to the next stage of development for those skills.

Once development was successful, the spirit ring's age and color would remain unchanged, but the attributes of the skills attached to the spirit rings would be greatly enhanced.

Xiao Chen gave it a try based on the system's prompts and found that the difficulty of Spirit Skill Development was even greater than that of Spirit Skill Sharing.

Following the system's instructions, Xiao Chen sat cross-legged in meditation, sinking his mind completely into his martial souls. His Spirit Power slowly circulated, wrapping around his limbs and bones.

He cast aside all external distractions, no longer confined to the fixed framework of his existing spirit skills. Using the origin of his twin martial souls as a foundation, he guided the Spirit Power within him to flow slowly.

The first step in developing a spirit skill was to dismantle the technical framework of the original skill, strip away the rigid operational patterns, and follow the law-like patterns deep within the spirit ring's imprint, gradually guiding and reshaping the flow of Spirit Power.

Once he entered this state, Xiao Chen could feel the essence of his Spirit Power slowly intertwining within his meridians, seeping into the spirit skill itself along the newly refined Spirit Power pathways.

He used his mental strength to repeatedly deduce the skill's power nodes and rhythm, compressing unnecessary Spirit Power consumption, amplifying the inherent attributes of his Spirit Power, and integrating the new Spirit Power pathways back into the core of the spirit ring.

This process repeated itself, constantly evolving.

Each cycle of circulation tempered the foundation of the spirit skill; every mental imprint reinforced the newly born characteristics of the skill.

The originally rigid outline of the skill trembled and transformed continuously, the quality of the skill becoming more condensed and pure.

The entire process consumed little Spirit Power, but the mental drain was enormous.

At his peak, Xiao Chen could only complete three cycles before his mental strength was completely exhausted.

And this was just for developing one spirit skill; three cycles, the system stated, didn't even reach one percent development progress.

Moreover, the entire process could not be interrupted. Once interrupted, the next time he would have to start all over again.

Clearly, Spirit Skill Development was an extremely long and grueling process, consuming far more mental effort than Spirit Skill Sharing.

However, as grueling as this process was, it had one benefit—it helped Xiao Chen temper his mental strength.

The stronger his mental strength, the faster the cycles would run, making this a method for training mental power as well.

Xiao Chen only tried it once and didn't continue developing further. There was no rush for this; once he returned to Spirit Hall, there would be plenty of time.

Spirit Skill Development was one surprise, and the other was something that could only be realized once Xiao Chen's Spirit Power reached Level 50.

The system told Xiao Chen that when his Spirit Power level reached Level 50, the system would gain a new function. At that point, Xiao Chen could help others attach White Spirit Rings.

As long as someone had a lower Spirit Power level than Xiao Chen, he could help them attach one.

However, the initial development of the White Spirit Ring effect obtained by others would at most reach fifty percent of Xiao Chen's.

But anyone who obtained a White Spirit Ring through Xiao Chen would possess the potential to break the rules of this world.

Just like the Soul Bone Ma Yan had received earlier as a system reward.

Of course, the better the reward obtained, the greater the potential to break the rules of this world.

Furthermore, those who obtained White Spirit Rings would also have the ability to develop spirit skills.

Naturally, this required Xiao Chen to teach them the method of Spirit Skill Development, and the difficulty they would face in developing skills would be far greater than Xiao Chen's.

"It looks like I'll really have to trick Hu Liena and Xie Yue into attaching White Spirit Rings later," Xiao Chen thought to himself.

He could already picture the scene: the elders of Spirit Hall, furious to the point of blowing their beards and glaring, sternly rebuking him for his outrageous behavior.

"Xiao Chen, ignoring our advice and stubbornly adding a White Spirit Ring is one thing, but now you've led all the new generation of Spirit Hall astray as well—are you trying to ruin Spirit Hall, you brat?"

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen wanted to laugh. Those old monsters of Spirit Hall were truly blessed to have run into him.

At noon on the fourth day, the group from Canghui Academy finally returned to the small town.

Before Xiao Chen went to meet up with Fabia Academy, Chrysanthemum Douluo specifically sought him out and solemnly instructed him that in the upcoming match, he was not to use his twin spirits, nor was he to employ the Spirit Skill Fusion technique.

Xiao Chen nodded in agreement. Against a few Soul Masters around level twenty, even using normal spirit skills would be more than enough to crush them.