After that little interlude, Lin Mo quickly finished his meal and hurried back to the dorm. Huo Yuhao still hadn't returned; he had no idea where Zhou Yi had taken him.
After sitting cross-legged on the bed, he took the bottle of Mind-Concentrating Liquid straight out of his storage ring.
The bottle felt cold in his hand. As soon as he pulled out the stopper, a crisp, cool medicinal fragrance drifted out.
Lin Mo carefully poured out a little Mind-Concentrating Liquid.
The liquid slipped out of the bottle, yet showed no intention of falling. Instead, it hovered above his palm, slowly drawing together and condensing until it formed a globule, as crystal clear as a newly formed dewdrop.
Lin Mo stirred his mind.
The globule rose in response and, with a whoosh, vanished into his forehead.
In an instant, Lin Mo felt as though a freezing rain had drenched his Sea of Spirit, washing away every impurity and leaving it utterly clear.
Every sight and object around him grew increasingly distinct in his perception.
The wind outside the window, his own breathing, even the rise and fall of a few distant insect calls-all stood out in perfect detail.
He had to admit, this Mind-Concentrating Liquid really was good stuff.
Lin Mo slowly withdrew his outwardly extended spiritual power. Without dwelling on it, he gradually closed his eyes, quieted his mind, and began meditating to cultivate.
The Qi of heaven and earth gathered around him once more, only this time it surged far more fiercely, forming a small vortex around his body that even showed faint signs of expanding.
For a time, the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth throughout the entire freshman dormitory building doubled outright.
It was the midday break, and many students in the building were sitting cross-legged in their rooms, meditating to recover. None had expected such an opportunity to fall into their laps.
Feeling the rich spiritual power of heaven and earth around them, they all assumed it was something the academy had arranged.
And so, one after another, they put everything they had into meditating and absorbing it.
At the entrance to the freshman dormitory building, Zhou Yi watched the scene with tightly knitted brows. Yan Shaozhe had specifically spoken to her about the Mystic Bird, but she had never imagined Lin Mo would cause such a commotion.
Meanwhile, inside Dorm 108, Lin Mo had been completely enveloped by the ever-expanding vortex of spiritual Qi.
Lin Mo sat steadily at the center of the vortex as a phantom Mystic Bird slowly materialized behind him. Its wings hung low, golden light flowing along its tail feathers, and its presence was terrifying.
Bang!
Someone shoved the door open.
When Huo Yuhao hurried back and saw the scene inside, he was instantly stunned.
"Holy-shit!!"
A loud, startled shriek exploded from the depths of his Sea of Spirit. A blonde little girl emerged from it and pointed at Lin Mo, her face filled with disbelief.
"A Mystic Bird! It really is a Mystic Bird!!"
"Last time, I thought I'd sensed it wrong, but it actually was real! Hahaha! Little Yuhan, you've really hit the jackpot this time!"
Huo Yuhan had yet to recover from the sight of that towering Mystic Bird phantom when she heard the Skydream Iceworm shout urgently:
"Stop staring! Little Yuhan, hug him!"
"Huh?" Huo Yuhao flushed, looking rather at a loss. "H-how am I supposed to hug him?"
"Are you stupid?!" The Skydream Iceworm raised a hand and smacked his head in exasperation. "Skin against skin! The closer the better! Hug him however you want-just hurry up and press against him!"
At those words, Huo Yuhao's face grew even redder.
Lin Mo had hugged him that morning. It had felt especially comfortable, and he had really liked it, but...
Seeing him remain motionless, the Skydream Iceworm rolled about in midair in a frenzy. "Are you going to hug him or not? Keep dawdling, and this heaven-sent opportunity will be gone!"
Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth and steeled himself.
He slowly climbed onto the bed and reached out with slightly trembling hands, wrapping them very gently around Lin Mo's waist from behind.
The moment his whole body pressed against Lin Mo's back, Huo Yuhao stiffened sharply, then slowly relaxed again. He buried his face deeply, his ears so red they looked ready to smoke.
The Skydream Iceworm, however, cried out in delight:
"Good! Good! Get closer! This is an auspicious Mystic Bird! Even the tiniest speck of his heaven's mandate will feed you for a lifetime!"
Before she had finished speaking, the Mystic Bird phantom suddenly raised its head and let out a faint, almost imperceptible cry.
The next moment, Huo Yuhao felt a current of Qi, warm to the point of scorching yet incomparably clear and cool, surge into his body through the places where they touched and rush straight into his Sea of Spirit.
His meager Soul Power seemed to have been set alight, climbing higher and higher, practically tumbling upward.
Then his Spirit Eyes activated uncontrollably, and a dark azure bird appeared reflected in the depths of his pale golden eyes.
At the same time, the Mystic Bird phantom behind Lin Mo began to change as well.
Countless pale golden threads suddenly wound around the dark azure ring above its head, coiling and weaving strand by strand, as though an invisible hand were leisurely embroidering.
At the center of the ring, a design resembling the Spirit Eyes slowly emerged.
At first, it was so faint it was nearly transparent, but in the blink of an eye it became increasingly clear, opening and closing like an eye slowly awakening.
Then the two began to fuse.
Dark azure and pale gold entwined and permeated one another, each within the other, while the Mystic Bird phantom's eyes grew brighter still. A long, soft cry rippled outward, carrying a trace of spiritual fluctuation within it.
The Skydream Iceworm stared, her little mouth forming an O. Only after a long moment did she suddenly shriek:
"Martial Soul Fusion?!"
"No, no, this is fortune resonating with heaven's mandate!"
She had originally only intended to let Huo Yuhao bask in a little of Lin Mo's auspicious presence. She hadn't expected an additional surprise.
Only after a long while did the Skydream Iceworm recover from her shock and sigh softly:
"You two were destined by heaven to be bound together..."
Unfortunately, Huo Yuhao hadn't heard a single word of what the Skydream Iceworm said afterward. He had already entered a meditative state after hugging Lin Mo and letting their Soul Power mingle.
After an unknown amount of time, Lin Mo slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
The instant his consciousness awakened, Lin Mo felt Soul Power filling his entire body until he was uncomfortably swollen with it. His Sea of Spirit had also expanded, and his perception was far sharper than before.
Was this Mind-Concentrating Liquid really that potent?
If so, why hadn't I broken through to Rank 27 yet?
Full of doubts, Lin Mo was about to open his eyes and check his surroundings, only to unexpectedly meet a pair of blue eyes mere inches away the moment he lifted his eyelids.
Huo Yuhao clearly hadn't expected him to wake so suddenly either. He sprang a large step back, instinctively hid his hands behind him, and darted his gaze everywhere but Lin Mo's face, the tips of his ears red.
"L-Lin Mo... you're awake?"
Watching his strange behavior, Lin Mo's internal alarms instantly blared at full volume.
Was this guy planning to take advantage of his cultivation to...
Launch a sneak attack?!
Lin Mo instantly sprang off the bed. He was just about to put some distance between himself and Huo Yuhao when his expression turned strange.
Something was wrong.
Why did this guy suddenly look so much more pleasing to the eye?
Then, as though he had sensed something else, Lin Mo's eyes widened in disbelief.
What the hell!
This was the person who'd offed him in his previous life. Not hating him was already more than enough, so why was he feeling a sense of... closeness?
"Huo. Yu. Hao."
With a smile that never reached his eyes, Lin Mo advanced step by step.
Already feeling guilty, Huo Yuhao instinctively retreated step by step until his back met the wall.
Lin Mo planted one hand against the wall beside Huo Yuhao's head and grabbed his collar with the other, saying coldly:
"Huo Yuhao, you'd better give me an explanation."
(PS: Little Huo is a girl here. Her original name is Huo Yuhan~)