An incantation?
He glanced at the incantation in the book, then at the Spiritual Energy circulation route in the description, and tossed the incantation aside.
He didn't need an incantation.
His experience from his previous life told him that incantations helped beginners maintain a stable Spiritual Energy circulation path, but Spiritual Energy circulation did not fundamentally depend on them.
As long as one's Spiritual Power was strong enough to precisely control every thread of Spiritual Energy, one could bypass the incantation and cast the spell directly.
Was his Spiritual Power strong enough?
After his awakening, his Spiritual Power had recovered considerably. Though it was still far below what it had been in his previous life, it was more than enough to control Spiritual Energy and cast Second and Third Tier magic.
Huo Yuhao extended his right hand, palm up.
A thread of ice-blue Spiritual Energy surged from his meridians, gathering, spinning, and compressing in his palm.
A faint sound of ice crystals forming came from the air, and a thumb-sized ball of ice took shape in his palm, its surface smooth as a mirror.
He withdrew his Spiritual Energy, and the ice ball dissolved into a wisp of cold air.
The second spell was the Ice Rain Technique.
It was an area-attack spell that condensed ice-attribute Spiritual Energy into raindrop-shaped ice needles, which fell from the sky. Its core lay in dispersing Spiritual Energy and covering an area.
After reading the description, Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and spread his Spiritual Power outward.
He sensed the moisture in the air of the room, the flow of Spiritual Energy through the stone walls, and the snowflakes drifting down outside the window.
Then he opened his eyes and raised his right hand.
Ice-blue light rose from his palm and burst apart in midair, turning into hundreds of ice needles as fine as hairs, densely suspended above his head.
Each ice needle was only as long as a little finger, but its tip was sharp as a blade and gleamed with a faint, cold light.
He withdrew his Spiritual Power, and the ice needles dissipated.
The third spell, the Ice Needle Technique, was a single-target attack spell. It condensed ice-attribute Spiritual Energy into a single ice needle with tremendous penetrating power.
Huo Yuhao mastered it in less than the time it took an incense stick to burn.
The fourth, the fifth, the sixth.
He cast the Second Tier spells one after another.
He read the descriptions in the booklets only once and gave the demonstration diagrams a single glance before precisely reproducing the effects of the spells.
Not only that, he also drew on his experience from his previous life to expand upon them.
The angle of the Ice Ball Technique's rotation could be adjusted, allowing it to travel in a curve.
The area covered by the Ice Rain Technique could be narrowed to deliver a concentrated strike.
The Ice Needle Technique's penetrating power could be stacked: firing three ice needles in succession at the same spot produced power comparable to a Third Tier spell.
When he reached the Third Tier spells, he slowed down a little.
But it was only his speed that suffered, not the difficulty. After all, he had been practicing for a long time and had consumed a considerable amount of Spiritual Energy.
Third Tier ice magic also required more Spiritual Energy and had more complex circulation paths, but to Huo Yuhao, that complexity meant drawing upon more Spiritual Energy, not that he "couldn't learn it."
He had created quite a few Soul Skills in his previous life, and every one of them was far more complex than these Third Tier spells.
He was like a sword that had been buried for five years, finally pulled from the earth and honed to a sharp edge once more.
With every spell he learned, his control over this body's Spiritual Energy grew a little more precise, and his Sea of Consciousness operated more smoothly.
Before he knew it, the sky outside the window had darkened.
When Huo Yuhao closed the last booklet, his fingers trembled slightly, and a weary stab of pain came from his Sea of Consciousness.
He had finished learning them. Three booklets, seventeen spells-he had mastered them all.
These low-tier spells had posed no difficulty for him whatsoever, and he had managed to cast every one of them instantly.
If his Spiritual Energy had recovered a little faster, he might have made considerably quicker progress in learning magic.
He glanced at the sky outside the window, then at the booklets on the table.
Then exhaustion surged over him like a tide, drowning his consciousness.
He slumped over the table and fell asleep.
In the evening, Yang Haoyu pushed open the door, carrying dinner.
He stood in the doorway, looking at Huo Yuhao asleep over the table, and frowned slightly.
Yang Haoyu set dinner on the table and reached out to pat Huo Yuhao on the shoulder.
"Yuhao, get up and eat."
Huo Yuhao woke at the touch. He raised his head in a daze and rubbed his eyes.
"Grandpa."
"Eat first."
Yang Haoyu pushed the bowl toward him. "We'll talk after you've eaten."
Huo Yuhao nodded, picked up the bowl, and began to eat.
He really was hungry. He had used up too much Spiritual Energy, and his body needed replenishment.
After a bowl of hot soup, he felt much more alert.
Yang Haoyu sat opposite him and waited until he had finished eating before speaking.
"How is your cultivation coming along?"
Huo Yuhao put down his bowl, thought for a moment, and spoke three words.
"Grandpa, I've already learned them all."
Yang Haoyu's hand stopped halfway to his mouth with his tea. He wondered if he had misheard.
"All of them?"
"Mm, all of them."
Yang Haoyu set down his teacup and stared into Huo Yuhao's eyes for a few breaths.
Then he stood, walked to the center of the room, and folded his arms.
"Show me."
Huo Yuhao stood and raised his right hand.
He recited no incantation, formed no hand seals, and made no other preparations.
Ice-blue light flashed in his palm, and an ice ball condensed into shape, hovering above it.
Immediately afterward, he turned his wrist, and the ice ball began spinning at his fingertips. It spun faster and faster until it became a blurred mass of ice-blue light.
Yang Haoyu's pupils contracted slightly. The Ice Ball Technique was already spinning faster than the maximum speed recorded in the booklet.
More importantly, Huo Yuhao had cast the spell instantly, without reciting an incantation!
Huo Yuhao didn't stop.
He raised his left hand, and hundreds of ice needles suddenly condensed above his head, arranged densely in three layers, each pointing in a different direction.
He turned his right hand again. The ice ball dissipated, and an ice needle shot from his fingertip, embedding itself three-tenths of an inch into the stone wall, its tail still trembling slightly.
Then he lowered his hands, and the ice needles and ice ball dissipated.
Silence returned to the room, with only the chill lingering in the air to show what had just happened.
Yang Haoyu stood where he was, motionless.
He had seen many geniuses, including his younger brother Yang Haohan, Long Tianyin, and Long Xingyu.
But he had never seen a child of seven or eight learn all seventeen ice spells in less than a day, without anyone's guidance.
And he could cast the spells without an incantation.
Without an incantation.
What did that mean?
It meant that Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Power was strong enough to take complete control of his Spiritual Energy, and that his understanding of Spiritual Energy had already reached its very essence.
Yang Haoyu had seen such an ability only in a few Ninth Tier mages.
And Huo Yuhao was only seven or eight, on the very first day after awakening his Innate Internal Spiritual Power.
Yang Haoyu was silent for a long time.
Then he walked over to the table, picked up the three booklets, and opened one to a particular page.
That page described a Third Tier ice spell, the Ice Seal Technique.
He glanced at it, then closed the booklet and looked at Huo Yuhao.
"Can you use the Ice Seal Technique?"
"Yes!"
Huo Yuhao nodded and extended his hand, palm down. Ice-blue Spiritual Energy surged out, instantly covering a square foot of ground in front of him.
Within a few breaths, the flagstones were sealed beneath a thick layer of ice, its surface smooth as a mirror, with cold air rising from it.
Yang Haoyu looked at the ice, then glanced at Huo Yuhao.
There was little expression on the boy's face. He simply watched him in silence, as if waiting for his judgment.
Yang Haoyu put the booklet back on the table, turned, and walked toward the door.
When he reached it, he paused.
"Starting tomorrow, I'll teach you a knight's combat techniques." He didn't look back. "There are more books on ice-attribute magic in the Knight Temple's library, but you'll have to find a way to get higher-level magic yourself!"