Flaming Devil Ghost Sage carefully explained to Su Mo the mystical powers of the Heaven Combining Ghost Skill, as well as a few key points to remember while cultivating it.
After several hours of explanation, Su Mo had developed a thorough understanding of the skill.
Even if he had known all of its tactical information, he would have been unable to comprehend the full depth of its power without the Flaming Ghost Sage.
It was because this skill was extremely complicated. Based on his current cultivation level, there was no way Su Mo could have understood it alone.
"The most important thing in honing this skill is to preserve its original intentions, you must have a strong will in order to cultivate it to its highest level" Flaming Ghost Sage reminded him.
"Rest assured, Senior Ghost Safe, I will not disappoint you!" Su Mo pledged.
"Mmhm! As I said, based on your talents, it will not be difficult to train to its first rank within a year!"
Flaming Ghost Sage was confident of Su Mo and continued, "Now, you may cultivate! Feel free to ask if you there is anything you don't understand."
With that, Flaming Devil Ghost Sage fell silent.
Later, Su Mo discarded any mixed feelings he previously held within him. He carefully reviewed the various key points of the Heaven Combining Ghost Skill in preparation to cultivate.
There were seven ranks for this skill. Every increase in rank would increase its power tenfold. This kind of power, Su Mo thought, was almost worthy of being called a violation of nature..
Still, as long as he reached the first rank of this skill, his fighting strength would increase by seven or eight times.
With a thought, the divine elixirs in Su Mo's body shook. Majestic Dark Force rushed out from the divine elixirs and flowed through his acupoints.
He began to properly cultivate to achieve the first rank of the Heaven Combining Ghost Skill.
This was an intense experience, as this skill was completely different from Wu Chen's personal cultivation type. It spread through the twelve regular meridians of his entire body, then through his eight extraordinary meridians.
As the Dark Force circulated through his meridians for an entire day, its original affinity slowly began to change, its colour turning black.
The previously silent Dark Force gradually became deafeningly loud. It was transforming, violently, into the Ghost Force, its power slowly rising within Su Mo's body.
Soon, the Ghost Force stimulated Su Mo's body, causing it to vibrate.
Su Mo maintained his composure, committed to the skill's original intentions, and continued to cultivate without breaking.
He knew that this was simply the skill transforming and that the process could take a long time.
Su Mo waved his hand and about a dozen Lower Spiritual Crystals appeared in his palm. He then pressed the crystals into his own body's arrays.
The skill he was cultivating was originally intended for those of the Upper Imperial Realm, therefore the Dark Force in his Divine Elixirs was far too limited and insufficient. He needed an enormous amount of Spiritual Qi to successfully train it.
Whoosh Whoosh~~
As the Spiritual Crystals entered him, the arrays within the cultivation room, which were linked to the earth's core, suddenly activated.
Boom!
In a flash, boundless Natural Qi rushed up from the earth and mixed with Su Mo's Spiritual Qi It rose and filled the entire cultivation room like a blanket of ash.
Natural Qi is actually not too different from Spiritual Qi, the main distinction being that it comes from the earth and has a deep, thick affinity.
"So powerful!" Su Mo exclaimed, full of astonishment. The thickness of the Spiritual Qi in his cultivation room was more than a hundred times greater than outside of it.
No wonder so many helpless young men came here to cultivate. This was indeed the best place for results.
"Devour!" Su Mo cried without hesitation, released his Devouring Fighting Soul, which began to consume the surrounding Spiritual Qi.
The dense Spiritual Qi was absorbed by the Devouring Fighting Soul and immediately channelled into his body. The entire room of Spiritual Qi was instantly sucked dry.
Yet the array within the cultivation room was still linked to the core of the earth, allowing Spiritual Qi to quickly flow through and refill the space.
Su Mo remained silent and recuperated. As he devoured Spiritual Qi, he cultivated the Heaven Combining Ghost Skill.
Cultivating the skill could not simply be done within a day or two. It required all the Dark Force within his Divine Elixirs to be transformed into Ghost Force.
Whoosh whoosh~~
As time passed, it became clear that the flow of Spiritual Qi into the room could not possibly keep up with the rate at which it was consumed by Su Mo. All that came from the array was immediately imbibed by the Devouring Fighting Soul.
Over time, the dense Spiritual Qi that filled the cultivation room changed into thin, empty air.
Su Mo was so absorbed in cultivating that he did not realize his devouring was affecting those even outside of his room..
Outside.
There were a lot of people waiting outside. As the cultivation room was so small, it was simply impossible for more than one person to use it at a time.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
At that moment, multiple cultivation room doors banged open one after another and Sorcerer Tribe men from within them stormed out.
"What is going on? Why has the Spiritual Qi in the cultivation rooms become so thin?" one bellowed at the growing crowd of disgruntled members.
"I am not sure, either! I was rushing to cultivate and the Spiritual Qi flow suddenly stopped!" another yelled back.
"What the…, what is going on?" a third voice questioned.
"Maybe something went wrong with the pagoda?" offered someone from the crowd.
Their faces full of confusion and annoyance, the group soon engaged in a heated discussion. Some simply shouted in frustration.
Many people were at the brink of breaking through, but the sudden stop of Spiritual Qi completely ruined their progress.
Everyone was gloomy. Those who were waiting outside the cultivation rooms were clueless as to what was happening.
Not long after, all of the cultivation rooms in the first floor of the pagoda had opened. Those who were cultivating inside the rooms came out to join the crowd.
Only two cultivation rooms remained with their doors tightly closed. One was that of Su Mo's, and the other was that of an unknown occupant.
"It can't be that the Spiritual Qi from the core has emptied, right?" someone guessed.
"That isn't possible. The amount of Spiritual Qi in the core is enough to last a few hundred years. It has only been a few dozen years, how could it be empty?" another person immediately dismissed.
"Perhaps there is something wrong with the core, or maybe the pagoda itself!"
No one knew the reason for this calamity and could only guess what happened.
Wu Chang Yuan also wore a gloomy look as he walked out of his cultivation room. He had been cultivating for barely half an hour before something went wrong with the pagoda. He was extremely frustrated.
At that moment, one of the doors of the last two closed rooms slowly opened, and out strode a handsome, young man.
The man was clad in a flattering blue robe and his chin was as sharp as an ax.
This man was Wu Tian Yu.
As he joined the group, his face turned extremely dark. He had isolating himself in cultivation for close to a month in order to reach the Level 3 Martial Emperor Realm.
He was about to succeed, but at the last moment, the flow of Spiritual Qi stopped and all of his efforts were in vain.
Wu Tian Yu possessed a lot of Spiritual Crystals, but he did not have a devouring power. Thus, relying on the Qi within the Spiritual Crystals was an immensely slow process.
"What is going on?" Wu Tian Yu demanded icily, marching out into the rest of the crowd.
"Brother Tian Yu, we have all been affected by the stop in the flow of Spiritual Qi!"
"Yes! Maybe something happened with the core or the pagoda itself?"
"Perhaps the flow will start again!"
Suddenly everyone was discussing the issue more courteously.
Wu Tian Yu was famous among the Sorcerer Tribe, meaning most people were familiar with him and held him in high regard.
Furthermore, he had received important rewards from a few Grand Priests in recognition of his defeat of Su Mo in the Firmament World training, which ultimately prevented a massacre of the Sorcerer Tribe.
Due to his valiant contributions, Wu Tian Yu was able to enter the ancestor's cultivating room and cultivate for months at a time. This allowed his cultivation to advance quickly and his strength to increase exponentially, thus making him a high-level genius of the Sorcerer Tribe.
The ancestor's territory is a sacred area of the Sorcerer Tribe. Few are allowed to enter it, namely the Tribe leader, the four priests, the chosen young priest, and the core elders.
Originally, Wu Tian Yu's talents qualified him to be a genius, but not on extraordinary one.
Now, after cultivating in the ancestor's room for a month, his talents and strength were comparable to the top geniuses in his tribe.