The next day, in the wild mountain woodland behind the library.
After a night of nurturing and communication, Fang Qianyuan was more familiar with the Gale Berserker Wolf's power than he had been yesterday.
He rose early to continue practicing with his new primary spirit creature.
Following his usual training routine, Fang Qianyuan first channeled power into his limbs in turn, testing their strength, speed, and attacking power. To his satisfaction, he found that the same Claw Strike technique could now easily shatter even hard mountain rocks.
His speed and agility had also improved greatly. Every step felt as though a fierce wind were pushing him along, making his movements wonderfully smooth.
More importantly...
After stretching his muscles and joints, Fang Qianyuan sank his qi into his dantian. He slowly felt a stream of spirit essence rise from within, travel upward through numerous meridians and acupoints, then surge into the five fingers of his hand before abruptly shooting out.
He swept his palm with tremendous speed. A blue-green Gang Edge burst free of his body, taking the form of several blades of qi flying side by side as they slashed forward.
"Raging Wind Slash!"
Thud!
With a dull sound, a mound five or six zhang away was savagely torn open by invisible force, leaving five gouges of varying depths, all as sharp as cuts made by swords.
"The power really is impressive!"
A satisfied look appeared on Fang Qianyuan's face.
"An ordinary person caught off guard would be injured. A mortal who hasn't advanced would have their belly sliced open outright!"
"And that's after it traveled several zhang and the spirit essence began dispersing. Right when it leaves my hand, its power should be another level higher."
Fang Qianyuan recalled the scene in the Demon Cave that day, when the Training Institute's Institute Master had used the Borrowing Art to conjure a Fireball and bombard the Kunlin Insect King. He could not help growing thoughtful.
Raging Wind Slash and Fireball both fell within the category of Five Elements Spells. Though their power differed, they were already fundamentally the same kind of thing.
Once his cultivation and strength improved, he too would be able to use such spells to easily rip through the Kunlin Insect King's carapace.
And with the wolf spirit's swift, darting footwork, together with the martial combat art Shadow Step, he would be able to move like the wind and toy with his opponents in the palm of his hand!
This was the power spells brought. With martial arts alone, one would have to reach at least the pinnacle of the Human Realm and become capable of projecting internal qi to achieve such an effect-and even then, the expenditure would be greater and the restrictions more numerous.
"Once I master this spell, my strength will undergo a complete transformation. Next, I need to gradually familiarize myself with its properties and master it thoroughly."
Just then, Fang Qianyuan also discovered that the considerable amount of spirit essence he had just expended was rapidly recovering.
The physical advantage granted by the Treasure Pill was perfectly suited to such a powerful spirit creature with tremendous explosive strength. It proved that his earlier choice had been flawless!
"Most Spirit Tamers who obtain a spirit creature like this use it for assassination, seeking a kill in one strike. But I'm different. I can build a set of combat arts and fighting methods specifically suited to my own strengths!"
With that idea in mind, Fang Qianyuan devoted the following days to gaining further mastery of the Gale Berserker Wolf and deliberately honing its related combat arts and spells.
His powerful physique proved enormously useful. Ordinary people would exhaust their spirit essence and stamina after firing a few Raging Wind Slashes in succession, but Fang Qianyuan merely felt somewhat tired. After a brief rest, he recovered enough to continue.
He was not slow-witted to begin with; in fact, his comprehension could be considered quite good. With plenty of practice, he soon became proficient.
Proficiency in using the abilities of various spirit creatures was a fundamental skill for Spirit Tamers. Only something thoroughly mastered could be fully brought to bear in combat without throwing one's own formation into disarray.
With Gong Yuan's appreciation and support, Fang Qianyuan's duties at the library were light: he merely organized books and managed loans and returns, leaving plenty of time for his own cultivation. Meanwhile, after the disaster and the deaths and injuries among its disciples, the Demon Suppression Cavern had been ordered by the sect's Headquarters to undergo rectification. It remained closed throughout this period, and only guardian disciples could descend to inspect it. Thus, he decided to first establish a solid foundation before considering anything else.
Another day, in the courtyard behind the library.
Fang Qianyuan sat cross-legged on the ground with his arms bare, while Wei Wen, Wei Wu, Ding Long, and the others stood nearby watching.
Gong Yuan stood before him with a Wolf-Hair Brush in hand. He dipped it several times into a dish of dark red spirit ink and said, "I'm going to begin."
Fang Qianyuan nodded. "All right."
As he spoke, he focused his intent and circulated his cultivation technique. Blue-green spirit runes appeared on the surface of his skin like tattoos.
What Fang Qianyuan was circulating was the Raging Wind Slash spell, but he kept it condensed without releasing it, maintaining it throughout.
Wei Wen and the others watched in admiration. "He really is a genius. He's reached this level so quickly."
Gong Yuan was also deeply impressed, but he said nothing more and began tracing the spirit runes on Fang Qianyuan's body.
What Gong Yuan was drawing was a Dao Talisman Empowerment Method of extremely ancient origin, supposedly borrowed from other Dao Paths by the forefather of spirit taming.
Because it produced effects similar to armor and equipment, it was called an Inscribed Talisman.
In practical terms, it was a tattoo pattern attached to the surface of a Spirit Tamer's body, providing support such as guiding spirit essence and sensing heaven and earth. In essence, it was like drawing a black dot on white paper.
If a sheet of white paper were placed before someone and they were told to stare at it, their gaze would inevitably wander, drifting without a fixed point of focus.
But if a black dot were drawn on it, their gaze could settle on that dot, concentrating both their vision and attention.
Inscribed Talismans developed on this principle helped Spirit Tamers correct and stabilize the routes along which they circulated their power, making it easier to form spell seals and control spells. They could even provide certain direct offensive and defensive effects.
The spirit runes that appeared when Spirit Tamers circulated their power were actually similar things. But one worked from the inside out, manifesting spontaneously in the form of spirit essence, while the other worked from the outside in, reinforced and stabilized through a Talisman Dao Secret Art.
The two complemented each other within the same system.
At this moment, Gong Yuan was tracing spirit runes according to the route along which Fang Qianyuan circulated his power, allowing that power to be stabilized and empowered.
What he dipped his brush into was not ordinary tattoo pigment, but spirit ink.
It had been refined using the wolf king heartblood obtained in the Demon Suppression Cavern last time as its primary material. Apart from that main ingredient, the various supplementary materials had cost dozens of pieces of low-grade spirit jade. Adding the expense of having Gong Yuan call in favors to find someone to refine it, the total came to nearly a hundred pieces of low-grade spirit jade!
That was comparable to the value of a mid-grade spirit creature. Almost all the prize money Fang Qianyuan had previously received from the Training Institute had gone into this.
But as Gong Yuan gradually completed the Inscribed Talisman, Fang Qianyuan began to feel his spirit essence circulating slowly of its own accord under its guidance. Like river water given a fixed channel, it surged merrily and steadily along.
Fang Qianyuan stood and fired a Raging Wind Slash into the sky above. The solid Gang Edge shot out with a piercing whistle.
He could clearly feel that casting this spell had become smoother and more effortless.
It seemed that he only needed to pour spirit essence into the starting point at his shoulder, and the rest would be guided to completion on its own, greatly increasing his casting speed.