This Chapter Contains My Personally Favored Views on the "Eight Extraordinary Skills"; Just Treat Them as This Book's Setting

You don't have to agree or disagree.

Hu Liena felt that Mo Lin was pretending to be clueless:

"Stop pretending. These words should have been Master's explanation to the Elders' Hall, but now you're the one saying them. The Elders' Hall's attention has shifted to you. You need to understand that the Elders' Hall and our Papal Palace aren't on good terms."

Mo Lin stretched lazily, seemingly unconcerned by the warning in Hu Liena's words:

"It has to come from me for this matter to maximize its benefits."

"Maximize its benefits?" Hu Liena could not see what benefit there was in this at all.

"Let me ask you something. Is the relationship between the Papal Palace and the Elders' Hall worse, or is the relationship between the Elders' Hall and the two great empires worse?"

"Obviously the latter is worse," Hu Liena replied.

"Then there you have it. The current leader of the Elders' Hall is Qian Daoliu, the former former Pope. Aside from his family, what he cares about most is naturally Spirit Hall's development. The more righteously indignant my words sound, the more he'll believe that I'm loyal to Spirit Hall. Even if I stand on Master's side, as long as I can contribute to Spirit Hall's development and remain a member of Spirit Hall, why would he deal with me and weaken Spirit Hall's strength? So the two great empires can laugh at us?

"Besides, the elders of the Elders' Hall are all old men. Even the youngest elder is of a far higher generation than Master. How could they possibly bring themselves to deal with a six-year-old junior like me?

"And through this incident, the Elders' Hall will learn that an unbelievably mature child has joined Spirit Hall. With just a little investigation, they'll find out that I'm also a genius with innate full soul power. So long as the external threat posed by the two great empires remains, they'll instead do everything possible to keep a talented youth like me, skilled in both literary and martial pursuits, within Spirit Hall. It would only be natural for them to offer great benefits in hopes that I'll stand with them in the future.

"From now on, when they think of the Papal Palace, the first person they think of won't be Master—it'll be me. Their attitude toward the Papal Palace will change as well."

After Mo Lin finished his long speech, Hu Liena stared at him and said:

"You... are you really six?"

Six months later, at the Papal Palace—

"Master, my soul power has reached level twenty. I'd like to apply to go to the Star Dou Great Forest and hunt a soul beast."

Although he had only gained five levels of soul power, doing so in just half a year was still terrifyingly fast. After all, even Tang San, under Grandmaster's one-on-one guidance, had not risen from level eleven to level twenty in merely a year. A large part of the credit went to the "Qi Body Origin Flow."

Based on some analyses Mo Lin had read in his previous life regarding the Eight Extraordinary Skills from Under One Person, the view he agreed with most was that Daoism also revered the number nine. The relationship between "Qi Body Origin Flow," the other eight extraordinary skills, and "Divine Spirit" was one, seven, and one. Divine Spirit itself was an existence on the same level as the Eight Extraordinary Skills. Therefore, it was not that Wugensheng had failed to comprehend a ninth extraordinary skill; rather, he had already comprehended one. As for the transcendence Zhang Huaiyi spoke of, it most likely referred to the restraining effect "Qi Body Origin Flow" had over "Divine Spirit."

"Qi Body Origin Flow" represented the generation of qi, while "Divine Spirit" represented qi's return. The other seven of the Eight Extraordinary Skills were methods of using qi.

Put simply, "Qi Body Origin Flow" could give someone an additional "soul"—a Nascent Soul—and could activate qi, accelerating its generation and circulation. "Divine Spirit," on the other hand, did the opposite, returning circulating qi to its most primordial state.

Under similar conditions, "Qi Body Origin Flow" could negate the effects of "Divine Spirit." That was why Zhang Huaiyi concluded that "Qi Body Origin Flow" surpassed "Divine Spirit." As for why Zhang Chulan could use Divine Spirit, Mo Lin believed that before Wugensheng died, he returned his own qi to its primordial state and became a Nascent Soul, then gave it to Zhang Huaiyi, who possessed Qi Body Origin Flow. It remained within Zhang Huaiyi's body and was later passed down through his bloodline.

Over these six months, Mo Lin had clearly felt that whether he was cultivating soul power or practicing his techniques, the speed at which his soul power grew and circulated had noticeably increased. Even while sleeping, he could feel his soul power circulating. It was equivalent to cultivating twenty-four hours a day, which was why he had raised his soul power by five levels in half a year.

Bibi Dong nodded:

"Of course. Once your soul power has reached the required level, you should promptly hunt a soul beast and obtain a soul ring. Although soul power can accumulate, it's better to acquire soul skills as soon as possible. Yue Guan, you'll take him there this time."

"Yes, Your Holiness," Yue Guan replied.

For a mere second soul ring, a Title Douluo was accompanying him. Mo Lin could be considered the first person in history to receive such treatment. It showed that Bibi Dong truly regarded Mo Lin as family.

On the way to the Star Dou Great Forest, Yue Guan had been observing Mo Lin. Over the past half year, Mo Lin had never used his first soul skill. When sparring with opponents of the same level, he had not even used his martial soul.

What was even more outrageous was that when Mo Lin was level seventeen, he had fought twenty-sixth-level Yan. Even after Yan used his second soul skill, he could only barely suppress Mo Lin. But once Mo Lin summoned his martial soul, his hair suddenly grew longer and platinum light shone from his body. He directly pinned Yan to the ground and beat him senseless. Afterwards, he had stated that it had not been his first soul skill.

With so many mysteries surrounding him, it was difficult for Yue Guan not to be curious about Mo Lin.

"Elder Ju, may I ask two things of you?" Mo Lin suddenly said.

"What two things?" Yue Guan asked.

Mo Lin said:

"First, once we enter the Star Dou Great Forest, including after we find the soul beast I want, don't make a move unless my life is in danger or I ask you to."

Yue Guan nodded. That was nothing much. Gaining combat experience early was a good thing.

"Second, I hope you can help me find a thousand-year Heavenly Spirit Ape."

"What?! A thousand-year Heavenly Spirit Ape?!"

Yue Guan's shock was not merely because Mo Lin wanted a thousand-year soul beast, but also because of the name Heavenly Spirit Ape.

Heavenly Spirit Apes were a type of social soul beast. In terms of intelligence, they stood at the pinnacle among soul beasts. Even the weakest Heavenly Spirit Apes knew how to use terrain and set traps, while high-level ones could make tools like humans. Their physical abilities were relatively weak compared with other soul beasts of the same level, but according to records, once a Heavenly Spirit Ape became a leader, the more Heavenly Spirit Apes that recognized it as their leader, the stronger its physical abilities would become.

"Kid, do you really want a thousand-year soul beast? You should know that for all these years, the optimal first two soul rings for soul masters have been two hundred-year soul rings." Although Heavenly Spirit Apes were special soul beasts, few people simply chose them. Yue Guan was still more concerned about the age of the soul ring. This was a matter of life and death.

Mo Lin smiled faintly:

"Elder Ju, do you know how old my first soul ring is?"

Yue Guan shook his head. Mo Lin had only revealed that matter to Bibi Dong.

"Six hundred years," Mo Lin said.

Yue Guan's pupils instantly widened. Because of Bibi Dong, he had also read Grandmaster's relevant theories and agreed with the theory that a first soul ring could be no more than four hundred and twenty-three years old.

Mo Lin smiled and said:

"I mentioned it half a year ago. You all need to get~ used~ to it."