Chapter 178: Third Stage, Myriad Changes and the End of the Exchange
On the other side, the Blood Soul Grotto had almost become Lin Mo's exclusive training ground. Apart from him, practically no one else came here.
For ordinary Spirit Masters, the environment inside the grotto could be considered extremely harsh.
But for Lin Mo, it was an excellent place to cultivate his Body Martial Soul.
Charizard's next task was to take advantage of the opportunity to spar with the students of the Four Element Academies and attempt to comprehend more self-created Spirit Skills.
Lin Mo also had his own task.
He wanted to achieve an initial mastery of the third stage of Blood Burst, the self-created Spirit Skill derived from his Body Martial Soul.
This would be the focus of his cultivation for the coming period.
Lin Mo had already given the third stage of Blood Burst a name.
Myriad Changes.
To Lin Mo, Myriad Changes was a technique perfectly suited to his Body Martial Soul. It allowed any part of his body to instantly transform into unexpected weapons.
He had already mastered the first two stages of Blood Burst, Boiling Blood and Heart Burning, to perfection.
The first stage, Boiling Blood, temporarily strengthened his bodily functions.
The second stage, Heart Burning, allowed him to release his qi and blood power externally and condense it into a tangible form.
The third stage, Myriad Changes, pushed his control over his qi and blood power and physical body to an entirely new level.
It was no longer limited to strengthening the body or releasing power externally.
Instead, it allowed him to alter the structure of his body at will and transform parts of it into weapons.
Time passed day by day.
Lin Mo became completely immersed in cultivating Myriad Changes, almost forgetting everything happening in the outside world.
The Blood Soul Grotto became his own private world.
Aside from the necessary time spent eating and resting, nearly all of his time was devoted to cultivation.
Meanwhile, in the outside world, the exchange between the Four Element Academies and Heaven Dou Royal Academy proceeded in an orderly manner.
Charizard took Lin Mo's place and joined the Imperial Fighting Team in sparring against the other academies.
However, Charizard did not display overwhelming strength.
After all, one of the purposes of this exchange was to use the students from the other academies to hone the Imperial Fighting Team.
Within the team, Charizard simply played the role of an ordinary Spirit Ancestor specializing in long-range attacks with the fire and wind attributes.
Its fighting style was very simple.
Either it breathed fire or unleashed wind blades.
The power of its flames and wind blades was carefully controlled at the Spirit Ancestor level, with just enough force to pressure its opponents without causing excessive injuries.
Even so, Charizard's presence still placed enormous pressure on the students from the Four Element Academies.
Feng Xiaotian was the person who sparred with Charizard most frequently.
Almost every day, he would take the initiative to challenge Charizard.
During these battles, he could clearly feel that his proficiency with the Storm Devil Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes was rapidly increasing.
After one month, the transitions between each strike of his self-created Spirit Skill had become much smoother.
Now, interrupting the rhythm of his technique during battle would be far more difficult than before.
Feng Xiaotian could even feel that he had begun touching the threshold of advancing the technique further.
If he continued practicing for a while longer, he felt that he might be able to unleash even more consecutive slashes, pushing the power of his self-created Spirit Skill to another level.
However, in Lin Mo's view, Feng Xiaotian had focused his cultivation in the wrong direction from the very beginning.
What Feng Xiaotian needed most right now was not to further refine his self-created Spirit Skill.
Instead, his highest priority should be raising his own cultivation as quickly as possible.
Even if Feng Xiaotian managed to increase the power of his Storm Devil Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes until it was comparable to an ordinary Spirit Master's fourth Spirit Ability, doing so at his current stage was largely unnecessary.
With Feng Xiaotian's Innate Full Spirit Power talent, if he had invested all the effort he spent researching self-created Spirit Skills into his own cultivation, reaching the Spirit King level at his current age would not have been difficult.
The power of a ten thousand year Spirit Ability would undoubtedly surpass the Storm Devil Wolf Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes that Feng Xiaotian had painstakingly researched for so long.
However, everyone had their own path.
All Lin Mo could do was offer a gentle reminder.
How Feng Xiaotian chose to proceed was ultimately his own business.
On the other hand, Huo Wu had become rather depressed.
She had originally made plans that even if she could not recruit Lin Mo to Chihuo Academy, she would at least take advantage of this month to get closer to him.
To put it plainly, she wanted to pursue Lin Mo.
It was not an impulsive idea.
Furthermore, Lin Mo was not bad-looking.
He had delicate features, an upright posture, and talent and strength far beyond what someone his age should possess.
It was difficult not to be moved by such a young man.
Moreover, an age difference of several years was never much of an issue for Spirit Masters.
Huo Wu had always possessed a straightforward personality.
Since she had already developed such thoughts, she had no intention of hiding them.
She had originally planned to create more opportunities during this month to interact with Lin Mo.
Even simply talking or cultivating together would have been enough.
But there was one major problem.
Throughout the entire following month, Lin Mo never appeared in the outside world again.
Huo Wu took the initiative to visit the fire attribute mimicry cultivation environment several times.
Every time she went, she could see Charizard lying there cultivating.
But Lin Mo himself never appeared.
She also tried asking Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling about Lin Mo's whereabouts.
However, both girls were obviously wary of her and simply indicated that they had no idea where Lin Mo was.
This left Huo Wu with a deep sense of powerlessness, like throwing a punch into cotton.
If she could not even see Lin Mo, how was she supposed to get closer to him?
Shui Bing'er from Tianshui Academy felt a similar sense of regret.
Although she had continued sparring with Charizard during this period, she had not seen Lin Mo again either.
However, Shui Bing'er's feelings toward Lin Mo were not as complicated as Huo Wu's.
She was simply curious.
She wanted to know how Lin Mo had managed to cultivate his spirit power to such a high rank at his age.
Unfortunately, she never received the opportunity to ask him.
In the blink of an eye, one month passed smoothly.
The exchange between the academies was coming to an end.
The students of the Four Element Academies were preparing to leave Heaven Dou Royal Academy and return to their respective academies.
On the day before the exchange officially ended, Lin Mo finally emerged from the Blood Soul Grotto.
He pushed open the stone door.
The dazzling sunlight outside caused him to instinctively narrow his eyes.
After spending an entire month without seeing the sun, his skin appeared somewhat pale.
However, his gaze was sharper than ever.
Lin Mo was quite excited.
Myriad Changes had finally entered the introductory stage.
Although there was still a long road ahead before he could fully master it, he could now initially apply Myriad Changes in actual combat.
This month of closed-door cultivation had been worthwhile.
Lin Mo did not return to his dormitory.
Instead, he walked directly toward the Education Committee.
Today was the day the Four Element Academies were leaving.
As Heaven Dou Royal Academy's student representative and the captain of the Heaven Dou Imperial Fighting Team, it was only appropriate for him to go and see them off.