After devouring all the souls on the mountain range, Su Mo's Martial Soul was elevated to Rank 9 Heaven Class. He immediately departed from the mountain range.
Instead of continuing to devour more souls on the way, he flew straight to Tushan Town.
He intended to return to the Firmament Palace to have a look. First, he wanted to send Feng Shaoyu, Jun Wuxi and the others to the Firmament Palace. Second, he wished to concentrate the power of the suzerain from the Firmament Palace so that he could speed up the process of hunting and killing demonic beasts and getting hold of their Beast Souls.
Moreover, it would not take too much time for him to return to the Firmament Palace. While he traveled, he could actually use his time to explore and study the Ultimacy.
Su Mo had headed in the direction of Tushan Town when he departed from Shenwu Academy. By now, he was only two days' journey away from Tushan Town.
Su Mo sat cross-legged on a Natal Spiritual Sword as he continued his journey and studied the Ultimacy simultaneously.
He did not dare delay for even a minute. He was set on breaking through to the Martial Emperor Realm before his battle with Leng Jiang.
Two days passed quickly and Su Mo arrived at Tushan Town by noontime.
While Su Mo hovered over the mansions of the Firmament Palace, he looked down and a smile appeared on his face.
Within two months, the mansions of the Firmament Palace had expanded to more than two times its size when he left. It had become a small city by this time.
Moreover, the mansions were pretty shabby when he left—almost like slums.
By now, the White Jade path, the waterside pavilion, and the grand hall had all been completed.
"Not bad!" Su Mo was rather satisfied with what he saw. He landed directly on the square in the mansions.
"The Palace Master has returned!"
"The Palace Master has returned!"
"Greetings to the Palace Master!"
Immediately, the entire Firmament Palace came alive. Some Firmament Palace disciples sang out their greetings when they saw Su Mo.
In an instant, hundreds of Firmament Palace disciples and elders flew toward him and took turns paying respect.
"Pass down my command to gather everyone whose cultivation has reached the Martial King Realm and beyond." Su Mo issued a command with a clear voice as he stood in the square.
Martial artists who had yet to attain the Martial King Realm were only capable of killing low-level savage beasts and were therefore of not much use. He intended to send out only those martial artists who had reached the Martial King Realm or higher.
"Yes, Master!" As they received the command, the various experts of the Firmament Palace began to step forward quickly. They did not need to wait for the command to travel from person to person.
Zhan Luan, Xi'er, the various experts of the nine palaces, Di Shi, Hai Mingjiang and other elderly martial artists went forward.
In the blink of an eye, the entire square was crowded with people, making movement difficult.
Left with no alternative, Su Mo gave an order for all martial artists whose cultivation level was lower than the Martial King Realm to leave and continue cultivating at home.
Nobody dared to defy Su Mo's order, and they left the square one by one.
"Palace Master!"
"Palace Master!"
All the masters of the Firmament Palace took turns to pay homage to Su Mo.
Su Mo lifted his head slightly, glanced over the crowd of people, and nodded gently.
There were about twenty thousand people in the square at the moment. In other words, there were about twenty thousand martial artists whose cultivation level had reached the Martial King Realm or higher.
Moreover, the cultivation level of many of the martial artists was now higher than when they were in the Firmament World.
Take for example Yin Tianchou, who was at Lv 6 Martial King Realm when Su Mo left the Firmament World, had now reached Lv 7 Martial King Realm.
Another example was Luo Qianfan, who was at Half Step to Martial King when Su Mo left, had now reached the first level.
The heaven and earth spiritual Qi in the outer realm was ten times more concentrated than within the Firmament World. The environment for cultivation, as well as the number of resources, etcetera, far exceeded that within the Firmament World.
It was logical for the martial artists' strengths and capabilities to improve by leaps and bounds.
"Everyone, I am entrusting a mission to you today!" Su Mo addressed the crowd with a clear, loud voice.
"Do not hesitate, Palace Master, we are awaiting your orders!"
"That's right! Please give us your instructions!"
"Awaiting your command, Palace Master!"
One by one, the voices rang out from the crowd, filling the entire place with noise.
Since the Palace Master needed help, everyone wanted to be part of it.
Su Mo nodded his head and then lifted his hand to silence the crowd. When the noise died down, he said with a clear voice, "Everyone is to depart from Tushan Town to kill savage beasts and extract their Beast Souls."
"Extract the Beast Souls?" Everyone was stunned upon hearing the instruction. However, many of them were aware that Su Mo could devour Beast Souls.
"Suck up the Beast Souls of beasts with at least the sixth level cultivation. Come back within ten days to hand me their souls!" Su Mo said, loud and clear.
There was still half a month to go. Whether his Martial Soul could reach Rank 9 Heaven Class would depend on these martial artists.
He would certainly not stay idle during this period. He could, after all, devour the souls at a much faster rate than the rest of the martial artists.
"Yes, Master!" The crowd replied.
Xi'er, who was in the crowd, suddenly had an idea. She said, "Elder brother Su Mo, the Firmament Palace has taken control of the entire Tushan Town now. The last leading family, the Tu family, as well as other smaller families have submitted to us. We can also make them work for us."
Xi'er understood that Su Mo had returned intending to have everyone gather Beast Souls for him because he was in a rush to bring his Martial Soul to the next level. That was why she came up with the idea to mobilize more human resources.
"It that so? That's great!" Su Mo was elated to hear that. Naturally, he would be able to gain more Beast Souls with more people helping.
"Xi'er, I will put you in charge of this matter!" Su Mo said to Xi'er.
"Elder brother Su Mo, rest assured I will carry it out!" Xi'er replied coyly.
Thereafter, all the experts of the Firmament Palace departed one by one to go hunt savage beasts.
To ensure that the Sect was not left unguarded, Su Mo allowed Cai Yun and Qing Ya to remain behind.
Both of them were at the peak of the Martial Royal Realm, so their strengths and capabilities were close to that of Martial Emperor Realm experts. They were definitely capable of guarding the Firmament Palace.
Su Mo then released Feng Shaoyu and Jun Wuxi from the jade bracelet and instructed Cai Yun and Qing Ya to allocate tasks to them. Then he also departed from the Firmament Palace.
After Su Mo left the Firmament Palace, he flew continuously for over ten hours and billions of miles from Tushan Town until he finally found a massive mountain range.
Since the mountain ranges nearer Tushan Town would be covered by martial artists from the Firmament Palace, it made sense for him to go farther away.
When he entered the mountain range, Su Mo did not begin devouring demon beasts right away. Instead, he landed on a smaller peak, sat cross-legged on it and closed his eyes.
This was because he was about to reach the first level in the Ultimacy of his Devouring Power.
He silently sat cross-legged on the ground, gently mobilizing his Devouring Martial Soul and sensing the truth about devouring.
As he gradually gained understanding, Su Mo was able to grasp the truth about devouring more profoundly.
Half a day went by and Su Mo suddenly opened his eyes as a force of Devouring Ultimacy exuded from his body and spread out over an area of ten square miles.
"Reached the first level!" A smile appeared on Su Mo's face as his Devouring Ultimacy progressed to a whole new realm and his power increased exponentially.
He did not need the Flaming Devil Ghost Sage to remind him, he knew his Devouring Ultimacy had reached the next level.
There was a great chance that he could break through to the Martial Emperor Realm in a month's time.
If he broke through to the Martial Emperor Realm, there would be no need for him to fear Leng Jiang.
Perhaps he should display his outstanding talent in a high profile manner just as Flaming Devil Ghost Sage had suggested so that the various martial academies would esteem him and try to cozy up to him.
Perhaps this way, no one would dare make trouble for him.
After defeating Leng Jiang, it would mark the beginning of his rapid ascent in Shenwu Academy!
Without further delay, Su Mo began devouring souls in the mountain range.