Guided by spirit power, the spirit ring of the Mystic Iron Vine gradually shrunk and settled onto the Blue Silver Grass.
A surge of spirit power flowed from the spirit ring through the Martial Soul into Li Minghong's body.
Initially, it was gentle, but as time passed, the spirit power became increasingly turbulent.
"Ugh!"
Li Minghong began to feel a swelling sensation in his body; the spirit power seemed about to burst out!
More and more cold sweat beaded on his forehead, dripping down his cheeks onto the ground.
The veins on Li Minghong's forehead bulged as he gritted his teeth, enduring the surging spirit power.
His meridians seemed to swell by another circle after being filled with spirit power, and the muscle fibers in his body were torn apart and reassembled, torn apart and reassembled, by the spirit power.
Finally, after enduring a painful half-hour, the spirit power gradually weakened, followed by a cool sensation that nourished his entire body.
All his injuries and pain seemed to be smoothed away by this sensation.
"Hoo—"
Li Minghong let out a long breath, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Damn, that was really tough."
After the bitterness came sweetness. Li Minghong felt the condition of his body and couldn't help but grin.
"Haha, my physical fitness has increased by about 50%, and my spirit power has directly reached Level 13!"
After checking the improvements in his body, Li Minghong began to examine the main event of the day: his Spirit Skill.
"The Spirit Skill brought by the Mystic Iron Vine is called Savage Strangulation. It increases the hardness and flexibility of the Blue Silver Grass itself, while also accelerating its growth rate. It can quickly entangle enemies for crushing. At its current strength, it can probably crush a Level 22 or 23 Spirit Master?"
Upon seeing the Spirit Skill, Li Minghong was quite satisfied. Its offensive power was good, and as a control-type Spirit Skill, it was also excellent.
He walked to the cave entrance and summoned his Martial Soul.
"First Spirit Skill! Savage Strangulation!"
Li Minghong, feeling quite joyful, let out a loud shout. The Blue Silver Grass glowed with a metallic luster, then instantly grew over ten meters long, easily piercing into the rock wall.
As the Blue Silver Grass shortened, Li Minghong also ascended, finally reaching the ground.
"Not bad, not bad. This trip was quite fruitful."
He took another look at the rift valley, then left contentedly.
Just as Li Minghong was walking out of the forest, a huge roar suddenly came from behind him.
Roar!
Li Minghong hastily summoned his Martial Soul, wrapped it around a tree branch, and swung into the air.
As he swung forward in the air, Li Minghong looked back. A two-thousand-year-old red-haired ape had the several-decades-old red-haired ape, whose brother Li Minghong had shot through, riding on its head.
The smaller red-haired ape was pointing at Li Minghong with its finger, chattering something to the large red-haired ape.
Although he couldn't understand it, Li Minghong could tell from its shrill, ear-splitting voice that it was accusing Li Minghong of his crimes.
"Damn it, I hit the young one, and now the old one's here! You red-haired apes have no Martial Morality!"
Li Minghong couldn't possibly defeat a two-thousand-year Soul Beast, so he could only flee in a hurry.
Fortunately, after obtaining the Mystic Iron Vine, Li Minghong could move like Spider-Man, swinging through the trees. For a while, the large red-haired ape couldn't catch up.
"Gah gah gah!"
The large red-haired ape was furious. It wanted to avenge its child!
"Damn it! Stop yelling! It's horrible!"
Li Minghong roared.
Li Minghong didn't want to bother with such a Soul Beast that lacked Martial Morality!
Suddenly, a spirit power fluctuation emerged from the large red-haired ape, and its speed sharply increased.
Seeing this, Li Minghong cried out in dismay.
'If this continues, I'll definitely be caught. I can only change direction!'
But when Li Minghong swung left and right, he found that the large red-haired ape's body could still quickly and agilely approach him.
Seeing this situation, Li Minghong's expression turned grim.
'I've never used it, but this is the only way.'
He directly switched his Martial Soul to its materialized form, issued a command to change direction in his mind, while he himself faced the large red-haired ape, launching attacks to obstruct it.
Upon receiving the command, the Blue Silver Grass wrapped around Li Minghong's waist, continuously lengthening and wrapping around tree branches to change direction.
Meanwhile, Li Minghong used his sleeve arrows during his high-speed movement, attempting to slow down the large red-haired ape.
He activated his Purple Demon Eyes, and everything around him seemed to slow down.
His dynamic vision sharply increased!
Whoosh!
He pulled the mechanism, and a sleeve arrow shot out rapidly, piercing into the large red-haired ape's fur, causing it to howl in pain.
"Your son provoked me first! You unreasonable monkey!"
Li Minghong also felt a bit stifled and angry in his heart.
The sleeve arrows in his pouch were continuously depleted, and the wounds on the large red-haired ape's body increased, causing its speed to slow down.
Finally, Li Minghong saw the outer fence of the Hunting Soul Forest. Hope was in sight!
He pulled out the last sleeve arrow from his pouch, aiming for the right moment.
Whoosh!
It directly shot into the second brother's eye, causing a huge critical hit!
"Gah!"
The large red-haired ape let out a painful wail, its legs giving way. The inertia from its high-speed movement caused it to crash to the ground, sliding dozens of meters, while the small red-haired ape was directly thrown to the ground, its new injuries combined with old ones causing it to die on the spot.
Just as Li Minghong thought he was about to escape, an exceptionally powerful Spirit Master suddenly appeared beside him.
"Who are you! Do you have a Spirit Hall token!"
The newcomer was a Spirit Ancestor from Spirit Hall. He happened to be in this area and rushed over after hearing the commotion, discovering that a mere Level 13 child had actually severely injured a two-thousand-year Soul Beast!
Although he used that unknown weapon, it was enough to prove his excellence. This person developed a fondness for talent and wanted to recommend this child to join Spirit Hall.
'Damn it! Did I not check the almanac when I left today? Why does one problem follow another? What should I do!'
'If I say no, they will definitely investigate me and discover that my innate spirit power was only Level 1, but now I have such strength. Someone will definitely become greedy and want to uncover my secrets!'
The Spirit Ancestor frowned, sensing something amiss as the nervous child in front of him remained silent for a long time.
Just as he was about to ask again, a deep voice came from behind him.
"He is my child. I brought him out for training."
Following the voice, the newcomer was cloaked in a black robe, his face hidden beneath the hood, making his true appearance impossible to discern.
The newcomer handed over a Spirit Hall token, which was a third-class token.
'This person's aura is unfathomable. I can't even perceive his spirit power level!'
The Spirit Ancestor thought this to himself, hastily adopting a respectful posture.
"Your Excellency, it was I who was presumptuous."
He bowed deeply and turned to leave.
Li Minghong stared blankly at the person in front of him, his eyes somewhat dazed.
'When did I... get another father?'
He stood alone, disheveled in the wind.
"Who are you?" Li Minghong asked first.
The newcomer stepped forward and patted Li Minghong's head.
"Child, forgive me for not being able to tell you my current identity. In the future, I will definitely compensate you well. Forgive me for being an incompetent father."
After speaking, he took out a ring from behind him and handed it over.
"This is a spatial storage spirit tool. Consider it our first meeting gift."
He patted Li Minghong's head again, sighed softly, and then turned and flew away.
Although Li Minghong couldn't see the person's face, he could hear endless tenderness in his tone.
Li Minghong was utterly bewildered, muttering to himself.
'Who the hell are you?'