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Xiao Zhan mobilized his spirit power and executed a Flame Fist.
Su Wen didn't see anything particularly special about it.
However, he knew that this was definitely different from the Flame Fists Xiao Zhan had demonstrated in the past.
"My 'Spirit Ring Fusion' method pieces together the numerous spirit rings, merging multiple 'outlets.' The explosive power is in no way weak. At the same time, the most important part is that after the rings are pieced together, the connection between the spirit skills themselves becomes much more appropriate."
Different spirit skills were, in the end, still different skills.
This might be fine for a normal Spirit Master. But for someone like Xiao Zhan or Su Wen—Spirit Masters who used self-created skills and built their combat systems based on their multiple spirit skills—this point was critical.
The feeling of coordinating multiple, separate spirit skills was completely different from unleashing skills that were already "fused" into one.
"According to my initial idea, I wanted to completely fuse all of my spirit skills, even fuse the spirit rings themselves, to form a single, brand-new spirit skill that encompassed all my abilities. Unfortunately, all I've managed to develop so far is 'piecing' the rings together."
His "Spirit Ring Fusion" method had not yet achieved complete fusion.
Still, this was already exceptionally impressive.
Su Wen understood the feeling Xiao Zhan was describing very well.
He felt it most clearly now when he used 'Enhance' on his book pages to strengthen others. Coordinating the abilities of two different spirit skills required him to constantly maintain and adjust.
But if the two spirit rings were "fused," he could probably save a massive amount of mental effort.
"In fact, I feel that even fusing all the rings into one isn't perfect. The 'Spirit Ring Fusion' method, after fusing all the rings, could then be further fused with the spirit, and with oneself, completely."
The spirit is a part of the Spirit Master. After a spirit skill is obtained, it can be unleashed almost like an instinct.
But in the end, one still relies on the spirit ring to be able to cast it.
The spirit ring is an indispensable medium in the process.
This inevitably creates a sense of "lag" or "stiffness."
Low-level Spirit Masters might not feel it clearly, but as one's cultivation rank increases, every advancement actually reduces this lag. While one is fusing the spirit and the Spirit Master, are they not also fusing the spirit ring and the spirit?
It was even rumored that upon reaching a certain height, one no longer needed to release their spirit or even their spirit rings to use their skills.
Listening to Xiao Zhan's grand vision, Su Wen did not interrupt.
All truly profound secret arts are inseparable from an initial, wild fantasy.
Xiao Zhan's ability to achieve what he had today was absolutely not just because he was a Book Spirit Master.
Is a Book Spirit easier to develop?
Then why couldn't other Book Spirit Masters reach Xiao Zhan's level?
"Moreover, after the spirit rings are completely fused and integrated into the spirit..." Su Wen thought of a certain secret art.
Spirit Ring Detonation.
The spirit ring is the bridge for a Spirit Master to use their skills. Normally, if a spirit ring is destroyed, the Spirit Master, even if they don't die, will lose the corresponding skill. They might even suffer a regression in their spirit power.
But "Spirit Ring Detonation" allowed one to detonate their rings while still using their skills. This was enough to prove that at the moment of detonation, the spirit ring was also fusing into the spirit, thus not affecting the skill itself.
"If I get the chance in the future, I must get my hands on the Spirit Ring Detonation art," Su Wen thought to himself.
The "Spirit Ring Fusion" method...
"It doesn't seem... hard."
Following Xiao Zhan's guidance, Su Wen got the hang of it very quickly.
He looked at Xiao Zhan in surprise.
The two stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"This time I really AM learning it on the spot!" Su Wen was completely speechless inwardly.
Xiao Zhan took a deep breath, steadying his mind.
"Very good! Little Wen, your talent is excellent!" After calming himself, he wasn't frustrated at all. Instead, he was extremely excited.
A Book Douluo...
This was the goal so many Book Spirit Masters longed for.
Now, he saw hope in Su Wen. A very, very big hope.
"With your learning ability, you should be able to learn all of my self-created spirit skills. However, you must, in the end, have your own path to explore." Xiao Zhan did not continue to teach Su Wen new techniques.
"I heard from Qin Ming that you've started developing 'combination burst' techniques for your ranged fire element control?"
Su Wen nodded.
This was one of his next development directions.
For his third spirit ring, Su Wen was definitely going to absorb one that exceeded the limit again. For a 5,000-year ring, he planned to obtain a spirit skill that could provide him with a foundation in formation arts.
He had mastered many abilities now, but they were all very... scattered.
Aside from the Fire Demon Style from Xiao Zhan, none of his other abilities had been systematically organized.
Especially his 'Paper Style'—using his book pages as paper to fold into various shapes. It was versatile, but he had never placed his true hopes on it.
Back then, it was just a means to gain power.
"In my past life, the 'Heavenly Book' was the 'Investiture of the Gods,' which enfeoffed the gods. When I first set the 'Heavenly Book' as my goal, I didn't think that far, nor did I have any ambition to enfeoff gods."
If he had the ability, he wouldn't let it go undeveloped, but his true goal wasn't to create some 'Investiture of the Gods'.
"A Heavenly Book. One page, one world. One page, one universe."
This was Su Wen's ultimate pursuit.
One book is an entire world.
One book carries ten thousand civilizations.
One book... is everything!
But the path had to be walked one step at a time, and the transformation had to come slowly.
"One page, one world" was too difficult for the current Su Wen. Or rather, it was too early.
"I'll wait until my fourth spirit ring... at least until I'm absorbing a ten-thousand-year ring, before I try to add the space attribute to my spirit."
Of course, he wouldn't forget the 'recording' ability. Not just 'carrying' capacity, but 'recording' capacity.
"I also need the ability to rapidly acquire spirit skills."
Relying entirely on his own development was too slow.
Su Wen thought of Oscar's Mirror Image Sausage.
"If I remember correctly, he got that from a Mirror Image Beast."
He wanted a lot of abilities, and they were all scattered, just like the loose pages of a book before binding.
Now, these pages needed to be bound together, to become a whole.
In his cognition, formation arts had always been the best way to unify all that one had learned.
Because of this, 'formations' had become an ability Su Wen valued highly.
Seeing Su Wen fall into thought, Xiao Zhan did not disturb him.
He had been the same way in the past, always planning his future path in advance, analyzing how to reach his goals.
"In the eyes of most people on the continent, the comprehensive 'cost-benefit' of a 'combination style' isn't the highest. But for me and Little Wen, it's different."
The Spirit Ring Fusion method was very compatible with this kind of spirit skill.
Although there was some overlap, one was responsible for 'piecing together', and the other was responsible for 'combining' what was pieced together.
"If I had also obtained such a spirit ring back then, perhaps my Spirit Ring Fusion method could have been perfected to the next stage."
Alas, there were no 'if's.
...
Leaving Xiao Zhan, Su Wen returned to his dormitory, still thinking.
"The 'Spirit Ring Fusion' method..."
Today's biggest gain was this very method!
It wasn't its current effect, nor the future heights Xiao Zhan had envisioned for him.
It was that the "Spirit Ring Fusion" method had given Su Wen an inspiration.
It had given him a direction to solve a problem that had plagued him for a very long time...
"Hundred-year, thousand-year spirit rings... they're still a bit lacking..."
(End of this chapter)