Three months later.
Lin Mo and the village chief had boarded a horse-drawn cart bound for Nuoding City. The cart had originally been used to help the village transport grain and vegetables to be sold in Nuoding City.
However, because the village chief was personally taking Lin Mo to Nuoding Academy to attend school today, the cart had been temporarily commandeered.
Judging by its design, the cart looked more like the donkey carts Lin Mo had seen in his previous life. The ride was rather bumpy and hardly comfortable, but it was already the best means of transport in the village.
The village chief drove the cart from the front, while Lin Mo sat in the rear bed. The bed held vegetables and grain that were also being taken to Nuoding City to be sold.
Besides those, it also held daily necessities for life at the academy, which the other villagers had prepared for Lin Mo of their own accord before his departure.
At that moment, Lin Mo and the village chief chatted on and off as they rode.
"Xiao Mo, I heard earlier that when you awakened your Martial Soul, Master Su Yuntao was very pleased with the talent you showed.
"He even invited you to join Spirit Hall on its behalf. Why did you turn him down?"
A trace of confusion showed in the village chief's aged eyes, which had grown somewhat cloudy with the years, as he looked at Lin Mo in puzzlement.
Hearing the village chief's words, Lin Mo fell silent for a moment. Only after a long while did he slowly offer his explanation:
"I still want to learn more about Spirit Hall before deciding whether to join. After all, I don't know much about it right now, and I'm not sure whether the environment there would suit me."
"When it comes to joining a faction, I think it's better to be more cautious. Besides, it won't be too late to make my choice after my Soul Power cultivation breaks through level ten and I obtain my first Soul Ring..."
Whether it was the reason he had given Su Yuntao for refusing earlier or the explanation he now gave the village chief, they were merely excuses.
From beginning to end, he had never considered joining Spirit Hall.
The tragic experiences of his previous life left Lin Mo with no choice but to approach things cautiously. That was also why he had refused to join Spirit Hall.
It was true that, if he joined Spirit Hall, once Charmander hatched or Lin Mo revealed his talent for twin Martial Souls, he would inevitably receive its fullest support and cultivation resources.
But that also involved another matter: he would inevitably become connected to Spirit Hall's upper ranks.
And the person currently in charge of Spirit Hall was none other than that clearly deranged madwoman-Bibi Dong.
With someone like that, it was best to keep a respectful distance until he had enough strength to protect himself.
A wise man did not stand beneath a crumbling wall.
Hearing Lin Mo's words, the village chief likewise remained silent for a long time. After letting out a long sigh, he reached out with his large, withered hand and stroked Lin Mo's head, sighing softly:
"You've been different from the other children ever since you were little. You've always had a mind of your own and your own ideas, and you work hard enough, too.
"Since you've already made your decision, Grandpa trusts your judgment, and I sincerely hope you can become a powerful Soul Master in the future!"
"Mm."
Hearing the village chief's words, Lin Mo instinctively tightened his hold on the Pokémon Egg in his arms and nodded firmly.
In the three months and more since his Martial Soul Awakening, Lin Mo had brought out Charmander's Pokémon Egg whenever he had time.
Because he and Charmander shared their Soul Power, their combined cultivation speed was clearly much faster than his speed when cultivating alone.
However, since Lin Mo had yet to obtain a suitable meditation method, he could only cultivate by following the crude Soul Power circulation route he had worked out himself.
On top of that, Charmander was still in its Pokémon Egg and had yet to hatch, so its efficiency was not particularly good either.
Even with the two of them working together, three months of cultivation had only pushed his Soul Power Level to the peak of level six.
This made Lin Mo all the more eager to enroll successfully. Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy was currently his only way to obtain a meditation method.
Even if the meditation method taught by the academy was relatively low-grade, it would certainly be better than the crude Soul Power circulation route he had devised with his incomplete understanding of the meridians.
Over these three months, aside from cultivating with Charmander's egg in his arms, Lin Mo had spent the rest of his time studying his second Martial Soul.
Because of the tragic experiences of his first life, he had done considerable research into the heart and meridians, enough that he could just barely be called proficient.
Thus, after three months of effort, he had come to understand and master the preliminary applications of his Body Martial Soul-a heart Martial Soul that included all the blood in his body.
At that thought, Lin Mo instinctively looked down at his small, tender hand. As he deliberately directed it, a barely perceptible layer of red seemed to emerge beneath his skin.
Lin Mo could clearly sense that the strength of his right arm had increased considerably.
This was one of the results of his recent research. Its specific effects were a short-term boost to his physical attributes and the strengthening of individual body parts.
For example, applying it to his legs could increase his movement speed and the attacking power of both legs; applying it to his arms could increase their strength.
The principle was simple as well. Through his Body Martial Soul's precise control over his heart and blood, he consumed Bloodline Power to carry out the corresponding enhancement.
Lin Mo called this technique Blood Burst, but it did not come without a price. After the brief burst, he would enter a weakened state for a certain period.
The duration and location of that weakness depended on the duration and location of the burst.
The boosts to physical attributes that different Martial Souls could grant a Soul Master varied greatly depending on the Martial Soul.
Generally, Martial Souls that could possess the body were called Beast Martial Souls, while those that manifested outside the body were called Tool Martial Souls.
This was also why Beast Martial Soul possessors had better physical attributes than Tool Martial Soul possessors at the same cultivation level.
However, both of Lin Mo's Martial Souls were exceptions that fell outside the norm.
Charmander, which was still in its Pokémon Egg, was clearly a Beast Martial Soul, yet it manifested outside his body in the same way as a Tool Martial Soul.
His Body Martial Soul was an even more unusual existence, falling between Tool Martial Souls and Beast Martial Souls. The boost to physical attributes it could grant a Soul Master surpassed that of most Beast Martial Souls.
As a result, even though Lin Mo had yet to obtain his first Soul Ring, his physical attributes had already reached the same level as those of a One-Ring Soul Master.
With his own physical attributes and the Blood Burst technique he had worked out earlier.
Even though Charmander had yet to hatch and he had yet to obtain his first Soul Ring, he already had some ability to protect himself.
Of course, under the vast majority of ordinary circumstances, Lin Mo still chose to conceal his extraordinary physical attributes and Blood Burst.
After all, if he truly encountered a life-or-death moment later on, one more hidden trump card unknown to others meant one more chance of surviving.
Soon, the village chief drove the cart into Nuoding City with Lin Mo, arriving at a stall where their village often sold vegetables and grain.
After explaining the purpose of their visit to the stall owner, the village chief left the cart there for the time being.
Then, with the stall owner's blessings, the two asked for directions as they walked. After searching for quite some time, they finally found the exact location of Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy.