Wen Qingxuan's phoenix eyes brimmed with murderous menace. Her delicate hands gripped her golden spear, and beneath her armor, a red dress hugged her increasingly shapely figure. She looked like a sacred, supreme Valkyrie.
Her arrogance looked down upon all things, her bearing promising to suppress everything in her path. An invisible majesty surrounded her, making others feel ashamed of their own inadequacy. They could harbor no irreverent thoughts toward her, nor even meet her eyes.
Several men raised their clubs and tried to surround her, only for her spear to sweep across them. A single strike cracked their wooden clubs and bloodied the webs between their thumbs and forefingers.
The terrifying force whipped up fierce gusts, making their scalps prickle.
"How could the gap be so huge!"
One of them seethed with shock and anger, his eyes filled with disbelief.
They, too, were heaven's favored talents, outstanding students at their former academies. Yet in Wen Qingxuan's hands, they were no different from ordinary people.
Being locked onto by her aura felt like sinking into mud. Their limbs went weak, seemingly weighed down by thousands of pounds. Even if they raised their clubs and advanced again, they would be nothing but mayflies trying to shake a mighty tree, utterly ignorant of their own limitations.
"You damned woman!"
They ground their teeth, the last scraps of pride in their hearts driving them to roar.
Hearing their defiance, Wen Qingxuan's lips curved slightly into a scornful smile. "Heh. Is that all?"
These were the so-called heaven's favored talents of the Spirit Road? After just a few exchanges, they didn't even have the confidence to raise their clubs anymore.
She wasted no more time. Her spear spun, golden spear shadows slicing through the air with piercing whistles as she thrust at them, their faces twisted with terror.
They tried to defend themselves, but her extraordinary strength and skill drove them back. Blood sprayed, and their screams rang out without end.
In the end, she left the ground littered with fallen, howling men amid a rain of peach blossoms. She walked elegantly and confidently out of the battlefield, as though she had never fought at all.
Looking at Wen Qingxuan's unruffled face, Yun Mo licked his lips and wondered, Why would a genius from one of the Great Thousand World's top powers come to this little Spirit Road to train?
"Brother Yun, these are their tokens. We killed the ones who tried to resist." Tan Feng brought a dozen or so tokens over to Yun Mo and Wen Qingxuan.
Yun Mo accepted the tokens, feeling somewhat curious.
The material of these blood-red tokens was unusual. Even with all his strength, he could not crush them in his hand.
"How far can you advance with these tokens?" Wen Qingxuan asked beside him.
"Advance?"
"Hm?" Now it was Wen Qingxuan's turn to be puzzled. The man before her actually looked lost.
"When I came to the Spirit Road, I didn't come through the Five Great Academies' Mirror of Judgment. My academy's teleportation array sent me here. I only learned about these tokens from Tan Feng and the others. Apparently, they're needed for Spirit Road Empowerment."
Wen Qingxuan grew even more confused. "You mean you didn't have a token to begin with? And you still don't have one of your own?"
"Right, but I've taken theirs now. There are just a few things I still don't understand. Tan Feng and the others weren't very clear. Could you explain what the tokens do?" Unbothered, Yun Mo sat beneath a peach tree and began studying them closely.
Wen Qingxuan raised an eyebrow. Had this Yun Mo really come here to train? How did he know nothing at all? She explained slowly, "The tokens can store things. You can also communicate with them through your thoughts to exchange items. That's how I got my spear. Those people probably got their wooden clubs by exchanging the Nine-Leaf Fruit Tree from earlier."
"Huh? You got that spear by exchanging something through a token?" Yun Mo was thoroughly bewildered.
"Yes. There were originally two Nine-Leaf Fruit Trees. I happened to get there first, and I exchanged one of them for this golden spear.
"Wait! If you don't have a token, where did your flexible sword and your two lackeys' weapons come from?" Wen Qingxuan suddenly recalled that Yun Mo had no token. Where had he gotten his flexible sword, then?
"Uh..." Yun Mo showed her the Storage Ring on his finger. "I took them out of here."
"There's no spiritual energy on the Spirit Road, yet you can use a Storage Ring? You were in the Divine Soul Realm before you came in!" Wen Qingxuan's eyes widened slightly. Someone in the Divine Soul Realm came here for the Spirit Road Trial? Was there something wrong with him? No wonder I was at a disadvantage when we fought.
"I'm not in the Divine Soul Realm. My soul only reached Divine Soul Realm strength last night. That's why I can use the Storage Ring." Yun Mo inwardly cursed the old man at his academy. He had told him he didn't want to come to the Spirit Road.
"Then you're at least above the Spirit Wheel Realm. Why come to the Spirit Road instead of cultivating?"
Yun Mo rolled his eyes and grumbled inwardly, You're from one of the Great Thousand World's top powers, but didn't you come to the Spirit Road too?
Shaking his head, Yun Mo handed her a few tokens and asked again, "Then what do these tokens have to do with empowerment?"
Wen Qingxuan took the tokens and demonstrated by merging them. "These tokens have nine grades. Each grade corresponds to a level of spiritual energy empowerment at the Spirit Road End. To improve a token's grade, you need to merge it with other people's tokens. The more tokens you merge, the better its grade becomes. That's one reason the Spirit Road is so brutal.
"As for communicating with your token to exchange weapons or improve your physical strength, you need to acquire Spirit Points. You can get Spirit Points by killing spirit beasts or exchanging natural treasures."
Yun Mo rubbed his nose. Only now did he fully understand. No wonder people called the Spirit Road brutal. So this was what they meant.
To advance, they could only rely on the tokens in other people's hands. But everyone who came here considered themselves heaven's favored talents. How could they possibly give their tokens to someone else?
They called it the Spirit Road, but wasn't it essentially a breeding pit where the Five Great Academies raised venomous creatures to devour one another?
The more he thought about it, the more he cursed Qing Yilun inwardly. The Five Great Academies must have told them all this, yet they hadn't passed any of it on to me!
Seeing Wen Qingxuan hand back the token she had finished merging, Yun Mo said, "You can keep that one. I still have six tokens. What grade can they reach once they're merged?"
"There are nine points of light on it. Three are lit, so naturally it's a third-grade token. If you reach the end with it, you'll receive third-tier spiritual energy empowerment."
"So that's how it works... How about the two of us work together?" Yun Mo suggested after a moment's thought.
Since he had already cooperated with Wen Qingxuan, why not see it through to the end?
Staying with her would keep him safe and give him a fighter free of charge. With their combined strength, even if they couldn't sweep through the entire Spirit Road, they should at least be able to secure ninth-tier empowerment with ease.
"Work together?" Wen Qingxuan's slender brows furrowed slightly.
With her pride, she could simply fight her way to the end. Why would she need a partner? Their brief cooperation earlier had only been to finish off those fools who didn't know their place as quickly as possible.
Given more time, she was fully confident she could defeat them one by one.
"The old man back home told me that the Spirit Road formed from a small piece of the Broken Continent and was later taken over by the Five Great Academies. There are plenty of opportunities and ruins here. Those should be our targets, not the so-called Spirit Road End. Coming just for the empowerment at the end would be far too dull. Judging by your background, I doubt you care much about that sort of empowerment, do you?" Yun Mo coaxed.
"Oh? My background?" A flicker of surprise crossed Wen Qingxuan's eyes. Did this Yun Mo know where I came from?
Feeling a chill rise around her, Yun Mo kept his expression unchanged. "I don't know who's behind you, but your bearing alone tells me you're not from an ordinary family."
"Heh. Let's hear it, then. If your reasoning makes sense, I wouldn't mind working together." Wen Qingxuan gave a faint chuckle.
Yun Mo looked her up and down and smiled. "You're proud. You don't think much of anyone on the Spirit Road. You guarded the Nine-Leaf Fruit Tree earlier just to get people to come and fight you. Even when you mentioned Spirit Road Empowerment just now, there wasn't the slightest interest in your eyes. Someone from a minor family couldn't be that indifferent.
"Besides, even though I'm stronger than you, you've never seemed to give me a proper look. Tsk, what a waste of my handsome face. Don't tell me you like women instead of men?"
"That face of yours is supposed to be handsome?" Wen Qingxuan's eyes flickered at his last remark, and she retorted scornfully, "I suppose you have a point. Coming to the Spirit Road just for that so-called empowerment really would be rather dull. Let's work together."
"Deal!" Yun Mo smiled and held out his hand. "Then let's shake on it. Here's to a happy partnership!"
"Hmph, get lost!" Wen Qingxuan's phoenix eyes narrowed fiercely. She shot Yun Mo a glare, then turned toward the torrent nearby.
Yun Mo rubbed his nose. The younger girls at his own academy were still much cuter, each calling him "senior" in a soft, gentle voice.
"Brother Yun, we want to follow you too," Tan Feng said, ignoring Tan Yin's nudges.
By now, both of them had clearly seen Yun Mo's strength. With such a powerhouse around, Tan Feng would do anything to cling to his coattails!
Seeing through his thoughts, Yun Mo shook his head. "You have to walk your own road for it to mean anything.
"These are your tokens, each formed by merging two. You've already qualified for second-tier empowerment. Whether you go straight to the Spirit Road End is up to you.
"If you follow me, not only will you get no real training, you'll be in greater danger instead. Then coming to the Spirit Road will have lost its meaning."
Tan Yin held back Tan Feng, who still wanted to say something, and smiled at Yun Mo. "All right, Brother Yun. We'll train on our own. See you at the Spirit Road End."
"What are you doing? I still wanted to ask him something."
"Ask, my ass! Didn't you see Brother Yun was getting unhappy? You don't know what's good for you."
"What the hell do you know? I wanted to say we could start an alliance. Then, when Brother Yun needs people, we can send everyone in the alliance to help."
"Tch. I've lived with you for over a decade. Keep making things up. You think I don't know you...?"
Their voices grew fainter and fainter, and the two lackeys disappeared from sight.
Yun Mo shrugged and headed toward Wen Qingxuan. He needed to cling tightly to her coattails himself.
With her beside him, as long as nothing unexpected happened, the dangers of the Spirit Road would diminish considerably. Reaching the end safely and receiving ninth-tier spiritual energy empowerment would be a deal with guaranteed profits and no losses.
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