Spirit City, Pope Palace.
In a secret chamber deep within, the light was dim.
Bibi Dong held a stack of papers covered in writing. The contents were precisely the Basic Method of Spirit Telepathy that Cuihua had copied down from memory.
After Golden Crocodile Douluo brought Cuihua back, Bibi Dong did not waste any words. She directly promised her treatment on the level of a Spirit Hall Holy Maiden, along with several threats laced with killing intent.
Cuihua was a smart woman. After struggling through the Swallowed Star world for a year, she had long understood how to stay alive. She immediately handed over the entire method without holding anything back.
"Spiritual Force..."
Bibi Dong murmured as she looked at the incantations on the paper.
She possessed Twin Martial Souls and had long needed to divide her attention to suppress the conflict between the two completely different types of Soul Power within her body.
As for the sheer strength of her mental power, she believed she could rank among the top three in all of Douluo Continent.
Following the method written on the paper, Bibi Dong closed her eyes and began trying to mobilize the invisible mental power in her mind.
It was somewhat awkward at first.
After all, in Douluo Continent's traditional cultivation system, mental power was mostly used to sense the surroundings or resist illusion-type Soul Skills. Few people had ever developed it as a tangible weapon.
After about the time it took for an incense stick to burn, she suddenly felt a warmth between her brows.
The sensation was marvelous, as if countless invisible fingers had appeared in her mind. She tried extending that force forward.
"Rise."
Bibi Dong willed it.
A celadon teacup resting on the wooden table before her actually trembled. Then, it slowly lifted off the tabletop and floated in midair.
Bibi Dong opened her eyes. As she looked at the suspended teacup, an uncontrollable ecstasy flashed through her eyes.
It really worked!
There was no need to release her martial soul, no need to expend even a shred of Soul Power. With this force of will alone, she could control objects from a distance!
She suddenly increased the output of her mental power.
With a whoosh, the celadon teacup became a blur and slammed heavily into a distant stone wall, instantly shattering into powder across the floor.
If that had been a flying dagger forged from refined steel, shooting out without warning on a battlefield, even a Soul Saint-level expert would likely be unable to guard against such a silent assassination!
Yet before the smile at Bibi Dong's lips had fully bloomed, her brows knitted tightly together.
"Hiss..."
A wave of intense pain struck her.
Bibi Dong supported her forehead with one hand. She felt a needle-like stabbing pain deep within her brain, accompanied by an indescribable exhaustion throughout her body.
This exhaustion was not from depleted Soul Power, but pure physical soreness.
"How could this be?"
Bibi Dong walked to a nearby chair and sat down, steadying her breathing.
She recalled what the instructor named Jiang Nian had said to Cuihua on the Sky Screen: "To awaken Spiritual Force, the body must be able to withstand the burden when mental power erupts..."
The people of that other world followed the Martial Path, using physical training as their foundation. They also possessed medicines that strengthened the body.
The strength of their bodies had already reached a terrifying level.
The body was like a container. Only if the container was sturdy enough could it hold immense, violent Spiritual Force.
Meanwhile, the bodies of Soul Masters in Douluo Continent were far inferior to those of people from that other world. Although Soul Masters were somewhat stronger than ordinary people, most of that strength came from Soul Power nourishing their bodies.
If Soul Power was set aside and only their raw physical strength and resilience were considered, the difference was actually enormous.
Forcing oneself to cultivate Spiritual Force was like using a thin glass bottle to hold boiling water. Sooner or later, it would burst.
To verify her guess, Bibi Dong immediately summoned a Soul King.
She handed over the Basic Method and ordered him to attempt cultivation.
The Soul King was initially thrilled. He had seen the cultivation methods of that other world on the Sky Screen, and every one of them was incomparably powerful. Now, Pope Bibi Dong herself had personally given one to him.
Was this not an enormous opportunity?!
But when he finally managed to mobilize a trace of mental power and tried to lift an iron sword beside him, a sudden change occurred.
"Ah!"
The Soul King let out a scream, clutched his head with both hands, and fell to the floor, rolling back and forth.
Bibi Dong watched coldly.
Blood began seeping from the Soul King's eye corners and nostrils. The skin all over his body turned red, and several blood vessels even burst outright, splattering blood across the floor.
Had Bibi Dong not intervened and cut him off, the Soul King would likely have died on the spot from his body collapsing.
"Just as I thought."
Now that she had found the bottleneck, she had to find a way to solve it.
Bibi Dong fell into deep thought.
Douluo Continent did not possess the high-tech Gene Serum of the Swallowed Star world. So how could she rapidly increase physical strength to match such violent mental power?
"Since there is no Gene Serum, I will make it myself."
Douluo Continent had its own specialty—Soul Beasts.
The bodies of high-level Soul Beasts were extremely powerful. With pure physical strength alone, they could slap Soul Masters of the same rank into pulp. Their blood also contained violent energy.
Moreover, every researcher in Spirit City had clearly watched the entire experimental process for creating Gene Serum on the Sky Screen!
It was only a pity that they had failed to seize Dai Mubai, the experimental specimen.
That night, a highest-level papal secret order silently spread out from Spirit City.
The contents of the order were simple: mobilize every idle Soul Douluo and Soul Saint under Spirit Hall, secretly infiltrate Star Dou Great Forest, and forget about obtaining Soul Rings. They only needed to hunt high-level Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old, drain their essence blood dry, and bring it back to Spirit City!
Bibi Dong intended to use the essence blood of these Soul Beasts, combined with the medicinal knowledge accumulated by Spirit Hall over many years, to have Spirit City's researchers follow the procedures used on Dai Mubai on the Sky Screen and forcibly refine an Enhancement Potion capable of replacing Gene Serum.
Once the weakness of physical strength was resolved, Spirit Hall could mass-produce a Spirit Telepath Legion capable of controlling objects from afar.
By then, unifying the continent would be as easy as turning a hand!
As for whether those injected with the serum would end up as miserable as Dai Mubai on the Sky Screen, Bibi Dong did not care in the slightest.
She would never use external substances to enhance her own power.
These Gene Serums were meant for the Spirit Telepath Legion she was about to cultivate!
Over the next half month, Star Dou Great Forest entered the darkest period in its history.
Teams of high-level Soul Masters dressed in black and masked their faces as they swept through the depths of the forest like locusts.
Their roles were clearly divided, and they worked in perfect coordination. Whenever they encountered a Soul Beast over ten thousand years old, they swarmed it, restrained it with all kinds of control-type Soul Skills, then cruelly drained it of blood.
For a time, blood flowed through Star Dou Great Forest like rivers.
Even low-level Soul Beasts on the outskirts could clearly smell the bloodstink saturating the air.
This reckless, frenzied slaughter finally completely enraged the rulers of the forest one day.
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