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Although Su Wen felt he had a good chance of learning the Spirit Fusion Method ahead of schedule, he was not overly eager.
After all, the foundation of the Spirit Fusion Method was, at its core, mastery over one's own spirit skills.
"My talent only gives me a superior edge in controlling my physical body and makes it easier to perceive my spirit space; it doesn't grant me direct mastery over spirit skills."
At most, Su Wen's talent would merely allow him to grasp his own spirit skills better and more quickly.
"Uncle Zhan, let's begin."
Even if it involved repetitive practice, having someone else's experience to guide the direction of improvement, as well as the application techniques for the skill itself, was always more convenient.
The best way to master a spirit skill is to use it.
And Su Wen, at this very moment, was learning Xiao Zhan's "Fire Demon Combat Method."
"Your physical constitution is even a bit stronger than that of a power-attack Spirit Master of the same rank, which certainly saves a lot of trouble."
After inspecting Su Wen's physical condition, Xiao Zhan felt another wave of shock, but he quickly decided that it seemed to be fine.
He was already growing accustomed to it.
"Since your constitution meets the standard, you can begin to practice the 'Flame Fist.' Once you have grasped how to attach the flames to your fist without harming yourself, you can then move on to compressing the flames. This will create a more explosive flame, increase the damage, and eventually, you can compress the flames to the point that they detonate upon striking the enemy."
Flame Fist was Xiao Zhan's self-created spirit skill.
Although its form of expression was very ordinary, it was, in the end, a self-created skill. Its growth ceiling was extremely high and was not limited by the age of a spirit ring. As the technique was gradually perfected, the power it could unleash would always be able to keep pace with the Spirit Master's cultivation.
Spirit skills from spirit rings, on the other hand, rarely had effects that were unaffected by the Spirit Master's rank. This was especially true for hundred-year spirit skills.
Even if it was a percentage-based boost, the effect would mostly diminish with each major title advancement. A skill that could maintain the same percentage boost as the Spirit Master's rank increased—that was a truly top-tier, percentage-based amplification skill.
Of course, this so-called 'top-tier' quality wasn't just the contribution of the spirit ring or skill; the Spirit Master's own cultivation, mastery, and development were also crucial.
A Spirit Master's cultivation was never just about the simple accumulation of spirit power.
"My spirit skill isn't quite as Uncle Zhan described, converting external heaven-and-earth energy into fire. Rather, it is 'control' over the heaven-and-earth energy itself. I'm just leveraging my spirit's slight affinity for the fire element to develop the ability to transform it into flames."
In other words, Su Wen also had a certain degree of control over the very same heaven-and-earth energy that he was transforming into flames.
In front of Su Wen's chest, a resplendent purple book floated quietly.
A flame ignited from thin air, gradually transferring over to Su Wen's right hand.
"Resist the flame."
At the same time, Su Wen circulated his spirit power, resisting the flame's potential damage to his hand.
Aided by his extraordinary perception, his process of mastering this technique was exceptionally smooth.
And yet, even with this advantage, it still took him a full two hours before he could stabilize the flame, keeping it just outside the surface of his right hand.
"It's all flash and no substance."
It looked as though Su Wen's fist was wrapped in flames, but in truth, the flame was just 'attached' to the fist; it had no practical use.
In fact, the surface of his fist wasn't even in direct contact with the flame.
"To be effective in combat, the Flame Fist must at least be trained to the stage of compressing the flames to create explosive damage."
Su Wen clearly still had a long way to go.
"The flame must fuse into my hand, to the point where it is completely one with my right fist, before it can truly be considered 'attached'."
This step still required further exploration.
Another two hours passed.
By protecting his right hand with spirit power, Su Wen was now able to let his fist make complete contact with the flames.
The entire morning passed.
He did not continue practicing the attachment technique. Instead, at Xiao Zhan's suggestion, Su Wen began to practice the compression of the flames.
His level of control over the flames far exceeded Xiao Zhan's expectations.
"The principle of your spirit skill might be somewhat different from what Old Bai described. To think you have such strong control over the flames."
It was clearly fire transformed from the outside world's energy, yet he could control it with such ease.
"Uncle Zhan, perhaps it's because my spirit skill allows me to fuse my spiritual power into the heaven-and-earth energy," Su Wen offered a plausible excuse.
"That could be it." Xiao Zhan did not probe any further into the principles of Su Wen's fire-control spirit skill.
As long as he could control the flames, it was a good thing.
"There are specific techniques for compressing the flames. At the same time, the intensity of the flames can also be modified using your spirit power."
Under Xiao Zhan's guidance, Su Wen began his training in strengthening and compressing the flames.
Four hours later.
"Alright, let's stop here for today. Tonight, you can go to the academy's library to cultivate. The materials in the Tian Dou Royal Academy library might not compare to the Spirit Holy Temple's, but in terms of breadth and environment, it is superior."
In short, the library here provided a greater cultivation boost to Book Spirit Masters.
"There's that kind of difference?"
Xiao Zhan nodded. "It's only natural. For a Book Spirit, the best mimicry environment for faster cultivation is one that conforms to all of a book's characteristics. The academy library has all sorts of miscellaneous books, as well as some 'useless' materials."
The Spirit Holy Temple can't just place a bunch of leisure and miscellaneous books in its archives, can it? Tian Dou Royal Academy, on the other hand, keeps some of these books for the students' entertainment and leisure.
Su Wen nodded. So that was the reason.
More types of books, and a greater quantity of them, resulted in a better effect.
"Oh, right, Uncle Zhan, I'm supposed to join the academy's battle team, correct? When do I need to report?" Su Wen remembered his 'real business'.
It could be said that Su Wen's most direct objective for joining Tian Dou Royal Academy was still to get close to Dugu Yan, and by extension, establish a connection with Dugu Bo. This was all in order to obtain the immortal herbs within Dugu Bo's Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
"The Royal Team?" Xiao Zhan said. "The team's supervising instructor, Qin Ming, just finished a collective training session. Right now, neither the team members nor Instructor Qin Ming are at the academy. It will be another week before they return. When they do, I will take you to report to Qin Ming."
Speaking of Qin Ming, Xiao Zhan's tone was filled with high regard for him.
"Qin Ming's talent is extraordinary. His spirit is the mutated Raging Fire Wolf. He joined Tian Dou Royal Academy five years ago. At that time, he had already broken through level 50 and obtained his fifth spirit ring on his own, becoming a true Spirit King. It's just a pity that his fifth spirit ring was only nine thousand years old."
At that time, Qin Ming was only twenty-two years old, yet he had already broken through to become a Spirit King. Although he wasn't in the top three in Spirit Hall's records, he was still ranked extremely high.
Even though his fifth spirit ring wasn't ten thousand years, with the academy's full support and cultivation, Qin Ming's cultivation speed actually became faster. Now, five years have passed. With various aids, he has already reached level fifty-nine and could break through to level sixty at any time.
Once he breaks through and absorbs his sixth spirit ring, he will be a Spirit Emperor.
And as long as he can make this breakthrough within the next two years, he will rank among the top three youngest Spirit Emperors in all of Spirit Hall's records!
Meng Shenji himself once said that as soon as Qin Ming breaks through, he will personally take action to hunt a most suitable ten-thousand-year spirit ring for him.
"I will be responsible for guiding your training in fire element control. As for your spirit power cultivation, you should listen to Qin Ming's arrangements."
Su Wen nodded, offering no opinion.
"The level of support the academy is giving you is also quite high. There will be a specialized, nutritious meal for you at dinner."
(End of this chapter)