Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:
patreon.com/ZeroMoney
I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated.
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
******
Salas currently felt a sense of superiority, like he was the only sober one among a crowd of drunks.
Not many people knew Qian Renxue's true identity—only the various Consecrated Elders in the Elder Hall, many Titled Douluo level elders in Spirit Hall, and the numerous Spirit Masters responsible for carrying out this plan.
And he, Salas, was one link in this chain. As the Hall Master of the Tian Dou City Spirit Holy Temple, the deployment of many Spirit Masters here required his cooperation, so he knew about the plan.
"Lord Hall Master, are you asking me to pretend to defect to the Crown Prince?"
With the Crown Prince's status, he could indeed fend off many prying eyes. Moreover, if they hit it off, it was possible the Crown Prince might arrange a few Spirit Emperor level guards for him.
After all, Su Wen's range of activity was generally limited to Tian Dou Royal Academy and the Great Spirit Arena.
He was practically right under the Crown Prince's nose, making arrangements very easy.
"Mm. You also need to demonstrate sufficient value," Salas said, pretending to ponder for a moment before speaking.
Just the thousand-year second ring, plus his current suitability for Xiao Zhan's development model—these two points alone weren't enough to make the Crown Prince of a nation arrange guards specifically for him.
"Lord Hall Master, are you referring to my status as a scholar?"
"Correct." Salas nodded, saying meaningfully, "Su Wen, you must understand, although Spirit Hall is powerful now, in terms of history, the two great Empires are the most ancient. The information they possess might even surpass that of Spirit Hall."
Spirit Hall had many powerful experts, but its development time was short. While the existence and basic information of many special Spirit Masters throughout history could be known through historical research, the specific details about them were not so easily collected.
After leaving Spirit Hall, Su Wen returned directly to Tian Dou Royal Academy.
"Little Wen, after today, many factions might approach you. Don't worry about the pressure from them," Xiao Zhan said, clapping Su Wen on the shoulder upon seeing him.
"Uncle Zhan... no offense, but aren't you only a Spirit Saint?"
"Only?" Xiao Zhan's eyes widened as he stared at Su Wen, looking astonished.
"You don't possibly think a Spirit Saint's status isn't high, do you?"
A Spirit Saint could already be a high-ranking official governing a territory, alright?
Furthermore, was he, Xiao Zhan, an ordinary Spirit Saint?
"No, I don't mean that," Su Wen denied.
A Spirit Saint's status was indeed quite high; he wasn't looking down on it. But the major powers that might come knocking could very well have Spirit Saints, or even higher-level experts, backing them. That was why Su Wen had subconsciously questioned it.
"Hmph, kid. Do you know your Uncle Zhan's spirit power level?"
"How high?" Su Wen asked curiously.
"Level seventy-nine!"
Although he had been stuck at this rank for nearly ten years, such a high spirit power level was still at the peak among Spirit Saints.
Moreover, he, Xiao Zhan, was famous for his self-created spirit skills. He fought freely and unrestrainedly. His 'Fire Demon Style' encompassed offense, defense, close combat, ranged combat, and various other aspects. His combat power was simply unrivaled among those of the same rank!
In fact, with the combination of his numerous self-created skills, he had a good chance of fighting evenly with a Spirit Douluo.
"Level seventy-nine!" Su Wen's eyes widened. "Doesn't that mean Uncle Zhan could become a Spirit Douluo at any time?"
Xiao Zhan, who had just been looking proud, instantly froze.
"Ahem, breaking through to level eighty might be difficult."
"What's wrong?" Su Wen was curious.
Xiao Zhan put on a bleak expression. "When I cultivated, I pursued the quantity and quality of spirit power too excessively. As a result, the progress and accumulation of my spirit power liquefaction far exceed that of Spirit Masters of the same rank."
Su Wen's eyes widened.
I think I just heard something that surpasses the current version of the Douluo Continent!
Uncle Zhan!
What did you say?
Say it again!
"Sigh. Since you asked, kid, I might as well give you a warning," Xiao Zhan said. "Our Book Spirit isn't suited for combat, so we must find ways to increase our combat power. Among those, the quality and quantity of spirit power are the most obvious paths.
You can use spirit rings to increase your total spirit power, or increase your recovery speed, or enhance the quality of your spirit power. But absolutely do not use cultivation techniques to compress your spirit power during the cultivation process!"
Xiao Zhan's tone was severe.
But the more he spoke, the stranger Su Wen's expression became.
"So... Uncle Zhan, that's how you cultivated?"
My goodness. No wonder he dared claim to be invincible among Spirit Saints. It wasn't just because of his Fire Demon Style skills, but also the quality and quantity of his spirit power.
"Mm." Xiao Zhan nodded. "A Spirit Master's cultivation... before Spirit King, spirit power exists in a gaseous state within the body. Breaking through to Spirit King requires condensing it, giving birth to liquid spirit power. This continues until level eighty-nine, at which point the meridians within the body will be completely filled with liquid spirit power."
"At that time, breaking through the bottleneck means reaching level ninety, and the liquid spirit power will also transform into a solid state."
"I am already completely filled with liquid spirit power. This means that for me to break through to level eighty, I need to solidify my spirit power. That is the bottleneck for breaking through to Titled Douluo, yet my other conditions are far inferior to those Spirit Masters at the peak of the Spirit Douluo rank."
Others could get stuck at level eighty-nine and potentially die there, let alone him, a Spirit Saint whose other conditions were much worse.
"But, Uncle Zhan, isn't there a technique to solidify spirit power?"
"The technique is the very goal of solidifying spirit power," Xiao Zhan said, shaking his head.
To break through, he could only rely on opportunity, on luck.
Su Wen let out a breath of relief, thinking inwardly, Now that sounds normal.
The Spirit Master cultivation on the Douluo Continent was still at a primitive level; they didn't have the techniques for condensing a Spirit Core.
Breaking through to level ninety was probably just a matter of luck.
The Poison Douluo's "poison pellet" was likely the key to his breakthrough. Other Titled Douluo probably had similar "cores" unique to themselves.
Thinking of this, Su Wen suddenly had an idea.
"The Titled Douluo on the current Douluo Continent aren't condensing Spirit Cores... but their potential doesn't seem to be lacking either?"
In this era of the Douluo Continent, there were quite a few Limit Douluo.
However, there were still differences. For example, the number of Titled Douluo was very scarce, whereas in the later era, there were many more.
"Perhaps the vortex form of the Spirit Core makes condensation easier, thus making breakthroughs easier. But after level ninety-nine, one needs to condense a second Spirit Core."
And even later, breaking through to the god level might require condensing a third.
But there was no such concept on the current Douluo Continent.
"Perhaps... the Titled Douluo breaking through in this era, although they aren't condensing Spirit Cores, are condensing a 'natal form' that is more intrinsically suited to their own spirit."
Seeing Su Wen fall into deep thought, Xiao Zhan nodded with satisfaction.
Looks like he took it to heart.
In reality, he had no idea that Su Wen was already pondering: If cultivation followed the current Douluo Continent's methods, and one condensed solid spirit power at level seventy... what would the conditions for breaking through to Titled Douluo become...?
This might touch upon the conditions for breaking through to Limit Douluo in the current era. And to know the answer to that question, one would have to ask a Limit Douluo...
"Do I even have a chance to meet a Limit Douluo?"
Whether the current era's methods were better or the later era's Spirit Core method was better, Su Wen didn't know yet.
But he knew one thing: the later era's Spirit Core method was clearer, the breakthrough method was more standardized, and it was easier to break through.
Therefore, he proposed this concept, informing Xiao Zhan.
Xiao Zhan was only briefly surprised, but he didn't react as if it were some heaven-shattering revelation. He shook his head and said, "It's not that simple."
(End of this chapter)