Su Mo burrowed through the cave and reached the inner part of Blood Spirit Mountain. The space inside the mountain was very broad and there were many different paths extending out in all directions.
The thick Blood Spirit aura in the air blanketed the entire place as though there was a blood haze and reduced visibility to a mere five feet.
After walking for a while, Su Mo stopped at a corner and sat down cross-legged. Looking at the Bloody Sun Flower Seed within his hands, a smile tugged at Su Mo's lips. It might not be possible for Su Mo to achieve anything but first place in this round, even if he tried!
Following which, Su Mo tried to inhale a breath of Blood Spirit into his body and channel it towards the Bloody Sun Flower Seed in his palm. Slowly, the Bloody Sun Flower Seed in his hand started to change. From the size of a green bean, it swelled as big as a soybean and its colour turned a more bloody red.
This Evil Blood Qi did not even require any cultivation. Once it had been absorbed, it would directly cause the Bloody Sun Flower to enlarge.
"As I have expected!" Su Mo lightly nodded his head and, without hesitation, immediately activated his Devouring Fighting Soul to devour the Blood Spirit aura.
The dense Blood Spirit aura rolled and morphed into a blood-red long dragon that rushed madly into Su Mo. Once it entered him, it headed directly through his forearm towards the Bloody Sun Flower seed in his hand. Immediately, the Bloody Sun Flower grew rapidly into the size of a bowl. Then, the seed broke open and a stalk of blood red seedling emerged from within.
The Bloody Sun Flower had grown!
Su Mo did not stop and with the devouring power of the Devouring Fighting Soul increased every minute, and the rate at which the Blood Spirit aura was devoured also increased. With the continuous flow of Blood Spirit aura, the Bloody Sun Flower seedling grew bigger and bigger. Within moments, it reached the height of a person and had the thickness of a forearm. It had become a small blood-red coloured tree.
Then, at the top of the small tree appeared a single flower bud. Growing bigger and bigger until it was the size of a fist, it blossomed into a blood red coloured flower. The flower was round, as though it was a blood-red sun, and radiated blood-red rays.
This was the Bloody Sun Flower!
Su Mo did not stop absorbing the Blood Spirit aura, which caused the Bloody Sun Flower to grow even bigger. Within a few moments, it had grown to the length of a foot. A foot long; this was the requirement to pass the second round. He had already reached the passing requirements. Presently, he had only used around thirty minutes of the given hour. Su Mo's face turned serious and he considered how big he should allow his Bloody Sun Flower to grow.
All this time, he had only slightly activated his Devouring Fighting Soul and had not used it to a large extent. This was the reason why he had taken longer than necessary. With the current rate that he was absorbing the Blood Spirit aura, and from examining the speed which the Bloody Sun Flower grew, Su Mo could wonder. It would already be pretty good if more than half of the one hundred and eighty candidates were to pass the second round.
After silently contemplating, Su Mo decided that he had to ensure that his Bloody Sun Flower would be above ten feet long in order to guarantee his first place position. Wu Ren Wang, Wu Ma, and Wu You Lan were all great talents. He could imagine that their Bloody Sun Flowers would also be big.
Especially Wu Ren Wang, with his two Fighting Souls. Although Su Mo was not aware of how strong his competitor's Fighting Souls were, he knew that they were definitely not weak.
If his Bloody Sun Flower is not big enough, he might be beaten by others.
With this thought, Su Mo immediately raised the devouring power of the Devouring Fighting Soul and began to absorb all the Blood Spirit aura within his area. With all the Blood Spirit aura rushing towards him, he was instantly surrounded by the blood spirit, like a cocoon.
The Bloody Sun Flower began to rapidly grow in size, to the extent that its growth could be seen by the naked eye.
Time passed slowly and fifteen minutes later, Su Mo's Bloody Sun Flower was around ten feet long.
"Not enough, bigger!" Su Mo continued to fiercely absorb the Blood Spirit aura. Another fifteen minutes later, the Bloody Sun Flower was around twenty feet long and it looked like an enormous blood-red coloured sun. It was mesmerizing.
At that moment, Su Mo slowed down the speed at which he absorbed the Blood Spirit aura. The Bloody Sun Flower was sufficiently big, but in order to ensure first place, he did not stop absorbing.
In a neighbouring cave.
Wu Tian Yuan's Fighting Soul had been released, a massively large Hurricane Fighting Soul violently rotated and absorbed the surrounding Blood Spirit aura. The Bloody Sun Flower in his hands was already seven inches long and wasn't far from the requirement of a foot. Wu Tian Yuan was slightly anxious, he did not know that the Bloody Sun Flower would grow so slowly. Even with his rate of absorbing the Blood Spirit aura, it was still quite small after such a long time. His Fighting Soul was not weak, in fact it was a high ranked one. Also, he had an advantage with his Hurricane Fighting Soul, as the speed with which it absorbed Blood Spirit aura was much higher than what other types of Fighting Souls could achieve. Yet, even with this advantage, his Bloody Sun Flower was still only seven inches long!
"Why has the Blood Spirit aura suddenly become so weak?" wondered Wu Tian Yuan and frowned.
He could sense that the Blood Spirit aura in his area had suddenly become very thin. Yet he didn't have time to ponder it further. Letting out a heavy sigh, he stood up, left his area with his Blood Sun Flower in hand, and headed deeper into the Blood Spirit Mountain. The time allotment for the second round was almost up, hence he had to step up his absorption. Otherwise, it would be difficult for his Bloody Sun Flower to reach a length of one foot.
In the entire Blood Spirit Mountain, the one hundred and eighty Sorcerer Tribe geniuses were all fiercely absorbing Blood Spirit aura to grow their Bloody Sun Flowers.
No one left the grounds and everyone waited for the second round to end. Everyone was trying to guess which candidate would be the most outstanding genius and obtain the first place. Without a doubt, ninety percent of them thought that Wu Ren Wang would claim first place. With his special physical constitution and his two Fighting Souls, he was definitely at the top in his game.
Granted, his special physical constitution did not have any relation to Blood Spirit aura, but it would be of benefit someway or another!
"Wu Chen will probably be eliminated this round!" among the crowd, Elder Wu Yuan mumbled to himself. He was not surprised that Wu Chen passed the first round. However, the way the Grand Priest had explained the rules of the second round had made it seem simple, but it was actually very difficult. To be able to grow the Bloody Sun Flower into a length of a foot within one hour would not be an easy task for a typical genius.
Time passed slowly and many people guessed that the hour was nearly up.
"All candidates, leave Blood Spirit Mountain!" the Grand Priest spoke indifferently. Yet his voice boomed through the ears of the geniuses within the Blood Spirit Mountain.
Inside the cave, Su Mo immediately stopped absorbing the Blood Spirit aura upon hearing the Grand Priest's voice. At that moment, the Bloody Sun Flower had grown to an extraordinary length of thirty feet.
"First place will be mine!" Su Mo wore a smile on his face. He did not know how long the other candidates' flowers would be and hence did not stop absorbing the Blood Spirit aura. However, he had already controlled the speed at which he absorbed the aura. If he had used his Devouring Fighting Soul at its full strength, he definitely would have been able to grow the Bloody Sun Flower to over a hundred feet long within the hour.
With this thought, Su Mo waved his hands and retrieved his Bloody Sun Flower before rushing out of the cave.