Origin Bottleneck!

The words were spoken softly, yet with unwavering firmness.

Without waiting for Hu Liena to react, Su Ming withdrew the Pope Token given to him by Bibi Dong from his robes.

He then walked up to the door of a Grade-A Mimicry Training Room.

He slotted the token into the groove on the heavy door.

Click—

Accompanied by the heavy sound of mechanical gears locking into place, the doors slowly slid open to both sides.

Without even looking back, Su Ming pulled out the token and stepped straight inside.

Watching Su Ming's cold, disappearing back, the three of them—Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan—exchanged glances.

Yan was the first to lose his composure.

"Isn't this kid's attitude a bit too arrogant?! He just arrived at Spirit Hall today, his seat isn't even warm yet, and he's already putting on this insufferable display for who to see?"

Xie Yue also frowned slightly.

This newcomer was indeed a bit of a maverick.

However, he didn't care much, instead urging Yan to calm down. "Alright, stop shouting. If he has the strength, there will be plenty of people later on who will make him come to his senses."

Yan looked toward Hu Liena.

Hu Liena's lips curled up. "Geniuses are always like this."

Seeing Hu Liena's attitude, Yan's expression turned even uglier, and his dissatisfaction with Su Ming grew even more intense.

Meanwhile, inside the Mimicry Training Room.

This training room covered over a hundred square meters, with various spirit power ores embedded into the surrounding walls and floor.

With the mimicry environment activated, the energy density in the room was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

A massive amount of fire elements surged through the air, mixed with an extremely cold, evil-attributed energy. The two energies converged, forming a heavy and violent, viscous pressure.

The Mimicry Training Room would automatically create the optimal training environment based on the user's martial soul attributes.

However, Su Ming did not want a dual-attribute environment.

He controlled the shift in the mimicry environment.

The fire attribute vanished, replaced entirely by a purely evil-attributed environment.

The surrounding atmosphere turned sinister, as if it could freeze a person's soul.

Su Ming immediately sat cross-legged and activated his martial soul.

The phantom of the Evil Fire Phoenix appeared behind him.

Su Ming attempted to circulate the Devour of Writing. As he did, he discovered that the evil attribute within his body and the evil attribute of the external environment had achieved a perfect synergy.

With the two energies fused, the devouring of his martial soul's original fire attribute became even more rapid!

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before he completely devoured the source of the fire attribute!

Su Ming was delighted; it was truly worthy of being the most powerful force on the continent.

He really found it hard to imagine how that group at Shrek, who relied on running to train, could be stronger than the Golden Generation?

Was it really not just poorly written?

Time passed quickly.

Soon, three years had gone by.

During these three years, Su Ming was either training or on his way to train.

During the day, he would attend classes at the Spirit Hall Primary Academy, and as soon as school ended, he would immediately dive into the Mimicry Training Room to perform the Devour of Writing.

For three years, he never missed a day.

Finally, on his twelfth birthday, his evil attribute accounted for 99.9% of his martial soul's attributes!

But a problem followed.

As the evil attribute continued to devour, that final 0.1% refused to be consumed no matter what.

It was like a stubborn stain; no matter what methods Su Ming tried to remove it, they were all ineffective.

Su Ming asked his school teachers, and their advice was to ask the Dean.

Su Ming asked the Dean, and the Dean's advice was to ask the elders of the Elder Hall.

Thus, Su Ming went directly to find Bibi Dong.

Pope Palace.

Study.

Bibi Dong was busy handling official business.

A maidservant was attending to her nearby.

At this moment, a maidservant came to report that Su Ming requested an audience.

Upon hearing that Su Ming wished to see her, a flash of surprise crossed her eyes.

She recalled that in these three years, this seemed to be the first time Su Ming had taken the initiative to seek her out.

"Let him in."

"Yes."

Soon, Su Ming entered.

At twelve years old, he had already grown into the image of a dashing young man.

His figure was slender, his facial features were sharp and well-defined, and his clear, dark eyes revealed a composure beyond his years, yet they still contained the sharp edge a youth ought to possess.

"Greetings, Your Holiness the Pope."

"Rise."

Bibi Dong gestured to the chair beside her, signaling for Su Ming to sit, then asked, "I heard you have broken through to level thirty. You have performed well, but you have yet to obtain a spirit ring. What is the reason for this?"

Su Ming explained, "I am currently in the final stage of absorbing my martial soul's attributes. I wish to fully consume the fire attribute before proceeding to attach a spirit ring."

Bibi Dong nodded upon hearing this. "Mm, a pure martial soul attribute can indeed bring about greater spirit ring power. However, you must hurry; you cannot afford to waste too much time."

"Yes," Su Ming nodded.

Only then did Bibi Dong get to the point. "Speak, what is it you need? This is the first time you have sought me out in three years, so you must have encountered a problem you cannot solve on your own. Let me guess... it should be related to the absorption of your martial soul's attributes."

A glint of brilliance appeared in Su Ming's eyes.

As expected of Bibi Dong, she had guessed the origin at a single glance.

He nodded immediately and said, "That is indeed the reason. A few days ago, I discovered that the final trace of the fire attribute could not be absorbed no matter what I tried."

"I have attempted various methods, but none have been effective, so I came specifically to ask: what is the cause, and how should it be resolved?"

Bibi Dong wore an expression of expectation. She stood up and looked out the window. "Su Ming, you still underestimate the structure of a martial soul. What you are encountering now is a dead knot involving the very origin of your martial soul."

"A dead knot?" Su Ming frowned, looking puzzled.

Bibi Dong looked toward the maidservant, who was holding a bowl of sugar water.

She scooped up a spoonful of sugar and placed it into the water in the bowl.

The sugar dissolved in the water, and the sugar water became sweeter.

Bibi Dong looked at Su Ming and explained, "If we compare the fire attribute of your martial soul to this bowl of 'water,' then the evil attribute you have cultivated for these six years is the 'sugar.' You keep scooping sugar into the water, and as it dissolves, it indeed makes the entire bowl of water more sugary."

Having said this, Bibi Dong paused. "But you have forgotten that the sugar has already dissolved into the water. No matter how much ink you pour into it, it only makes the sugar water sweeter; it cannot erase the existence of the water itself."

"Your current state is exactly like this. The Evil Fire Phoenix—the evil and the fire have long since fused together to become the origin of your martial soul. No matter how you try to absorb it yourself, you are only increasing the 'sugar content' of the evil attribute, yet you cannot remove that final 'water content' of the fire attribute."

Su Ming listened to Bibi Dong's explanation, his gaze flickering slightly.

He seemed to understand a little.

The evil fire was one entity from the start; it was because of them that it was called the Evil Fire Phoenix!

Transforming the Evil Fire Phoenix into a Fire Phoenix or an Evil Phoenix would be a qualitative change!

At this moment, Bibi Dong continued, "And if you want to turn this bowl of sugar water into pure, unadulterated white sugar, you must use an external, intense fire to bake away all the water inside!"

"And this process of baking is the solution you seek. You can understand it as an absolute external force—an external force sufficient to completely erase the fire attribute. Do you understand?"