The academic life began to settle into a routine: morning exercises, classes during the day, and combat practice in the evenings.
The grueling training was effective; due to the small number of participants, he created a unique training plan for each special training member.
After all, different Soul Masters possess different Martial Souls, and improving their effectiveness requires different methods. Unfortunately, Mu Su Academy lacked a Martial Soul Simulation Training Ground.
For Ma Hongjun, he required him to practice spear techniques.
"Our martial spirits actually have many wonderful uses. Many soul masters rely too much on the soul skills provided by their soul rings. In my opinion, soul skills are just techniques; it's only because the power of the soul beast's soul rings amplifies their effects. The true foundation of strength lies in unleashing the power of our martial spirits.
Take your silver spear, for example. It's a very easy martial spirit to cultivate. If you master your spear technique to a high level, its effect is no less than any soul skill. If your spear
technique reaches a certain level, you won't need to focus too much on attack skills when choosing soul rings. Instead, you can choose other things, such as enhancing various physical abilities, adding attributes, and increasing your body's immunity to control effects.
You don't have to just..." Considering the attack boost from a spear, a person's overall strength needs comprehensive development; any weakness that is too great could be fatal. Think about it, a martial soul like Ye Xingchen's is actually quite easy to counter you. If you can maintain and improve your basic attack power, that is, your spear technique, and then choose a spirit ring skill that can remove self-control, wouldn't that overcome one of your weaknesses?
Choosing spirit rings is very important. Each spirit ring can give you another ability. Your spear itself is already very powerful; as long as you master your spear technique, your attack power will increase with your spirit power. This way, you can have other choices for each spirit ring in the future, extending your path...
These
were the devil's careful instructions to Ma Hongjun, and Ma Hongjun understood his meaning: advocating the development of one's own martial soul's power, and then using spirit rings to explore new areas of ability.
The devil's words broadened Ma Hongjun's horizons, and he was no longer completely fixated on developing his attack power.
With the Ma Family Spear Technique, the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear, and the Seven Probing Serpent Coiling Spear, he was fully confident in unleashing the full potential of the Dragon Soul Spear.
Indeed, a certain level of marksmanship can surpass even a soul skill. For example, Ma Hongjun's Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear, executed with the Dragon Soul Spear, was stronger than his father Ma Ming's first soul skill. This was partly due to the Dragon Soul Spear's power, but also inseparable from Ma Hongjun's unique understanding of marksmanship; in his previous life, he had even comprehended the essence of the spear.
Right now, Ma Hongjun needs to organize his tasks.
He'll keep the first soul ring of the Dragon Soul Spear as a yellow ring for now, even if his body can withstand a thousand years of use, he won't upgrade it for the time being.
Because he's too weak now, his body's limits are limited, and any increase in power would only be from a hundred-year soul ring to a thousand-year one, which would have the same result in the hands of a high-level soul master. Moreover, the attention and sensation caused by a purple first soul ring is unimaginable. As for
the second soul ring, Ma Hongjun decides to wait a while before absorbing it, tentatively setting it for within three years.
Firstly, acquiring the second soul ring in a short time would easily attract attention, and he doesn't want to reveal his heaven-defying talent of innate level twenty;
secondly, after the devil's guidance, Ma Hongjun wants to carefully select suitable soul beasts again, no longer focusing solely on attack power, but considering all aspects. He'll use these three years of study to slowly research it.
Furthermore, Ma Hongjun isn't considering adding spirit rings to the Evil Fire Phoenix spirit for now, and he's even more unwilling to reveal it.
This spirit's mutation isn't complete yet; moreover, the advantage of a second spirit lies in its ability to be fully equipped with high-age spirit rings once it's developed. Therefore, he'll at least wait until it can withstand ten-thousand-year spirit rings before considering adding them.
Ma Hongjun's goal is to choose spirit beast spirit rings of at least fifty thousand years for his second spirit.
He imagines that when the dragon spirit in the Dragon Soul Spear can absorb the power of spirit beast spirit rings of the same type to increase the age of the added spirit rings, it can become entirely black or even red. Add to that the Evil Fire Phoenix spirit, and all the spirit rings will be black or higher—that scene…
But that's a long way off. Ma Hongjun already has a solid plan for how to spend these three years.
First, he needs to learn. No matter where you are, understanding a world is essential to integrating into it; the importance of knowledge is self-evident. At
the very least, when entering the Spirit Beast Forest, he needs to be able to recognize what kind of spirit beast it is, and when he sees someone else's spirit, he needs to know what kind of spirit it is, what type it is, and which faction it might belong to, etc. In short, learning is of paramount importance.
Secondly, he needs to follow the special training team to improve his physical strength, increase his combat skills, and learn teamwork. Finally
, there's the devil's theory: developing the potential of his martial soul. What Ma Hongjun needs to do is practice the three major spear techniques.
Each of the three spear techniques has its own differences.
Ma Hongjun is already very familiar with the Ma Family Spear Technique, having practiced it in his previous life. This technique mainly emphasizes skill, lacking accompanying cultivation methods, only some simple internal energy cultivation methods. The devil also passed on to Ma Hongjun a spear technique practiced in this world's military, somewhat similar to the Ma Family Spear Technique, but not as profound.
The Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear Technique is a very systematic spear technique, with cultivation and spear techniques integrated, unlike the scattered Ma Family Spear Technique.
Aside from the cultivation methods, this spear technique has one hundred forms, each of which can be practiced and used independently; or it can be used continuously like Tang San's Chaotic Cloak Fist Technique, with increasing strength and power. The underlying principle is the same: emphasizing coordinated body movement.
However, the Chaotic Cloak only has eighty-one combos, while the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear can achieve one hundred combos. Moreover, the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear is not weak in single attacks, but even stronger in combos, and
of course, it is more difficult to master. Ma Hongjun started practicing in this life, and although he is six years old now, he has only practiced the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear for two years, starting when he was four years old.
In those two years, he only mastered the first two moves, Hundred Birds Leaving the Nest and Hundred Birds Returning. This progress is a bit slow, but it should be noted that Ma Hongjun only started practicing after he was four years old, and his body was still very weak, not yet suitable for practicing spear techniques.
Now that he has obtained his first spirit ring, his physical functions have fully developed, and he has reached the optimal age for cultivation.
With his current spirit power of level 20, Ma Hongjun is capable of mastering the first 20 forms of the
Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear. In addition, the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear also has a set of movement techniques to be practiced together, the Phoenix Playing with a Hundred
Birds Movement Technique, which Ma Hongjun has only just begun to learn, considered a starting point. Therefore, Ma Hongjun's goal for the next three years is to master the first 20 forms of the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear and learn the Phoenix Playing with a Hundred Birds Movement Technique.
As for the Seven Probing Serpent Coil Spear, it is not something he can cultivate at the moment; at most, he can experience and familiarize himself with the moves.
This spear technique is said to have been created by Zhao Yun after he mastered the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear.
This spear technique relies on the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Scripture to activate, but it only has seven forms.
If the Ma Family Spear Technique is the basic skill, and the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear is the complete technique, then the Seven Probing Serpent Coil Spear is the ultimate move, the trump card.
Ma Hongjun has clarified his path, and then went to the largest blacksmith shop in Musu Town to order a new iron spear, requesting that it be made exactly according to the size and shape of his martial soul, the Dragon Soul Spear.
Finally, at a hefty price of ten gold soul coins, the new black Dragon Soul Spear was crafted, entirely made of refined iron and weighing fifty kilograms.
From then on, Ma Hongjun added a new training program to his curriculum at the academy: cultivating the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear technique using the black refined iron spear. (