Another month passed.
During this month, the people from Shrek Academy were much more well-behaved.
Peach Garden Academy returned to its usual harmony.
Wang Sheng woke up early and went to bed early every day, practicing Tiger Form Fist by the school gate of Peach Blossom Spring Academy.
Zhu Zhuqing diligently cultivated the Ten Yama Halls container according to Su Ran's guidance.
Ning Rongrong solidified the second stage of the Golden Bell Cover, her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda became even sturdier, and her Wing Chun became increasingly proficient.
However, her thirst for knowledge grew ever stronger.
Every day it was either: "Ah, Teacher, I can't lift my leg high enough for this Yongchun move, Teacher, quickly help me lift my thigh~"
Or: "Wuwuwu, Teacher, this Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield training is really too hard, isn't there a quick method, like dual cultivation or something~ I want to directly share Teacher's achievements."
She wasn't trying to inherit Su Ran's unique skills; she clearly wanted to accommodate Teacher Su Ran's countless descendants within herself.
Zhu Zhuqing remained silent, focusing solely on diligent practice.
She wondered just how handsome Teacher was for Senior Sister Rongrong to resort to such extreme measures.
The two unique skills Zhu Zhuqing learned were both extremely powerful and highly compatible with her Spirit.
As for the Yellow Springs Evasion movement technique, under Su Ran's guidance, in just half a month, she grasped a hint of its essence, achieving the level of silent movement and swiftness without disturbing the wind.
However, cultivating the Ten Yama Halls was much more difficult for her; after half a month, she still hadn't grasped the key to condensing the Ten Yama Halls and was utterly confused.
This Ten Yama Halls was even more difficult to cultivate than Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield.
The Seven Treasure Golden Bell Shield was cultivated with the aid of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, borrowing power from each other to generate powerful defense.
However, the Ten Yama Halls was almost equivalent to cultivating a second Spirit, except this second Spirit still relied on and served the first Spirit, so its difficulty was imaginable.
Similarly, this was also the terrifying aspect of the Ten Yama Halls.
To help Zhu Zhuqing condense the Ten Yama Halls container earlier, Su Ran even directly used a Hell Art, bringing Zhu Zhuqing into his Ten Yama Halls for hellish meditation.
In addition, Zhu Zhuqing received the same treatment as Ning Rongrong, receiving the beast blood for body tempering and medicinal baths for nourishment.
However, this also made Teacher Su Ran feel even more pressured.
Indeed, taking on disciples shouldn't be done casually; with each disciple taken, the responsibility on one's shoulders grows heavier, it's too expensive to raise them!
...
Finally, after a month, Zhu Zhuqing awoke from endless darkness and despair, flames and the netherworld.
Her Hell Civet Spirit appeared behind her like a hellish shadow, and an unlit gray Ten Yama Halls emerged behind her.
The Hell Civet Spirit could actually hide within it, constantly moving through the gray hall, as if it had gained sentience.
"I did it, I did it!"
"Teacher, I've cultivated the Ten Yama Halls container!"
Zhu Zhuqing's usually cold face was uncharacteristically overjoyed, and her figure was incredibly nimble. Instead of walking along the path, she stepped on the lotus leaves and koi fish in the pond, running to the pavilion where Su Ran was resting, happily sharing the news with him.
Su Ran smiled slightly, already seeing that the Ten Yama Halls Zhu Zhuqing had refined was very small, not very powerful, and even its form was unstable, but she had indeed refined a prototype, which was already quite remarkable.
With similar aptitude, Ning Rongrong condensed the second stage of the Golden Bell Cover in a month, but Zhu Zhuqing took a month just to barely condense the prototype of the Ten Yama Halls, showing how difficult its cultivation was.
At the same time:
[Disciple Zhu Zhuqing condenses the prototype of the Ten Yama Halls. Reward: All spirit ring years +200 years. Reward: Hell Hidden Weapons — Ghost Shuttle (with refining and usage methods).]
[First Spirit Ability: Folding Branch Like a Dream — Illusion skill, 935 years → 1135 years.]
[Second Spirit Ability: A Dream Peach Sword Order — A peach branch sword flying out as if from a dreamland Peach Blossom Spring, capable of piercing souls and killing people, 1650 years → 1850 years.]
[Third Spirit Ability: Chaotic Red Flying Snow — Peach branches form chaotic flying swords, wantonly swirling, 4620 years → 4820 years.]
[Fourth Spirit Ability: Scarlet Moon Peach Bloom — A peach immortal dances under a peach moon, a crimson peach moon descends, bursting forth with a hum, causing a violent explosion, 12210 years → 12410 years.]
[Fifth Spirit Ability: Burning Flower Thousand Peach Slash — Instantly unleashes a hundred peach slashes, with astonishing power, 24530 years → 24730 years.]
[Sixth Spirit Ability: Nine Luminaries Peach Blossom Sword — Combines the power of the Nine Luminaries: Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Gold, Earth, Rahu, and Ketu, giving birth to nine peach blossom swords, each with different power and effects, 48730 years → 48930 years.]
[Seventh Spirit Ability: Red Dust True Body, 85030 years → 85230 years.]
Every improvement made by his disciples allowed Su Ran to receive feedback.
This was much easier than exhausting himself with strenuous cultivation to become stronger, and it could also increase the spirit ring years.
Now, Su Ran's spirit ring configuration had been optimized to start at a thousand years, completely getting rid of the [Yellow Novice Spirit Rings].
From one yellow, two purple, and four black, it became three purple and four black.
He also obtained a hellish Hidden Weapons, a Ghost Shuttle? Aren't Hidden Weapons exclusive to Tang San? Interesting.
"Excellent, keep up the good work. The condensation of these Ten Yama Halls has elevated your netherworld attribute somewhat. If you can awaken the Ten Yama Halls, transforming the netherworld into hell and the human realm into purgatory, you might become the Lord of Hell."
Su Ran said, a hint of admiration for Zhu Zhuqing in his eyes.
She was actually a very good girl—if she didn't act foolishly.
"Your spirit power seems to have reached level twenty-nine, right? You shouldn't be far from level thirty."
Su Ran then added this sentence.
Zhu Zhuqing then sensed her spirit power, and to her surprise, she found that as her cultivation of the Ten Yama Halls progressed, her spirit power also increased a little.
Coupled with the medicinal baths and special training prepared by Teacher Su Ran over the past month, she had actually gained two levels of spirit power, from level twenty-seven to level twenty-nine, and was about to break through to level thirty.
This speed was simply divine!
"Rongrong should also break through to level thirty in the next couple of days."
Su Ran took a breath and said lightly:
"These next two days, you should stabilize the prototype of the Ten Yama Halls and also prepare, we will be making a trip to the Star Dou Great Forest."
Hearing Su Ran say this, Zhu Zhuqing immediately understood that Teacher was going to take them to hunt for their third spirit ring and help them break through to become Spirit Elder powerhouses!
"Okay!"
...
That night.
Su Ran strolled to the academy gate. Under the peach tree, it was still that tall, honest young man, practicing Tiger Form Fist day after day, year after year.
Wang Sheng's aptitude was very poor; perhaps comparable to ordinary people, but compared to Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong, it could almost be called trash.
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong's aptitude was S, while Wang Sheng's aptitude was merely D, and even D-.
He was able to defeat Dai Mubai entirely because he trusted Su Ran and, with perseverance, pushed one thing to the extreme, practicing Tiger Form Fist to a masterful level.
But even so, it couldn't hide his dull aptitude.
At twelve years old, he hadn't even reached level ten.
After six years of desperate practice and learning body tempering with Su Ran, he finally achieved a small comeback, increasing his spirit power by nineteen levels.
During this time, two girls came to the academy. They were both very diligent, and Wang Sheng saw this, not daring to slack off. In two months, he finally broke through from level twenty-eight to level twenty-nine.
But to break through to level thirty, it would probably still take some time.
"Wang Sheng, these next few days I will be taking Rongrong and Zhuqing to hunt for their third spirit ring. You stay and guard the academy. We should only be gone for a few days."
Su Ran instructed Wang Sheng.