Those 36 flame men were all of the same cultivation as Su Mo at Lv 4 Enlightenment Realm, and flames leapt from their body to the sky, exploding with searing heat.
As Su Mo looked at the 36 flame men, an idea suddenly came to him.
The Sky-burning Fire Skill he had just learnt required large amounts of fire property spiritual Qi, and these fire men were made from pure fire property spiritual Qi. Wasn't this a sign from the heavens?
His lips curled into a smile as he immediately activated his Devouring Martial Soul. A mighty devouring power instantly enveloped those 36 flame men.
Those 36 flame men didn't even have the time to attack before the devouring power engulfed them, and their figures disintegrated at once, turning into crimson air currents that surged into Su Mo's body.
Su Mo had already exerted the Sky-burning Fire Skill and quickly worked on trying to refine the copious amount of fire property spiritual Qi in his body.
Those who were viewing the broadcast outside were totally confused, unable to comprehend what had just happened when they saw Su Mo's 'battle outcome'.
"How….how did those flame men disintegrate on their own?"
"Exactly! That boy didn't even attack!"
"Could there be something wrong with the Path of Fire-refinement?"
The crowd burst into animated chatter as they tried to make sense of what just happened.
The second group of flame men appeared shortly after.
As expected, the second group of flame men were all of Lv 5 Enlightenment Realm.
Once again, Su Mo activated his Devouring Martial Soul, increasing its devouring power by 30%. These flame men formed from fire property spiritual Qi were more affected by devouring power as compared to normal martial artists, and were rendered completely powerless.
In an instant, 36 flame men disintegrated once again, and the sky was filled with crimson spiritual Qi, all surging toward Su Mo.
Su Mo's cultivation surged rapidly, and his Sky-burning Fire Skill reached Lv 2 thanks to these pure fire property spiritual Qi.
The crowd watched the broadcast with their mouths agape and their eyes wide with disbelief.
"What is going on?"
"The problem can't be with the Path of Fire-refinement! There are still others battling within!"
"This person didn't even attack, how could the flame men just disintegrate?"
"There's something odd about this guy. Look, all the fire property spiritual Qi have swarmed toward him."
The crowd burst into an uproar, all riveted by this person's strange and unknown methods.
A martial artist with mighty strength that can be seen would not strike as much fear in people as someone who utilised such incomprehensible methods.
Su Mo continued to undergo the test as the third group of flame men appeared. They were all of Lv 6 Enlightenment Realm.
Su Mo did not attack either when faced with these Lv 6 Enlightenment Realm flame men. Instead, he continued to activate his Devouring Martial Soul, and its devouring power instantly engulfed those 36 flame men.
These 36 flame men did not immediately disintegrate due to their higher cultivation, but instead, they started to tremble violent. Even though they did not disintegrate, they did not have the power to attack either.
As these flame men were formed by spiritual Qi, their resistance against the devouring power was just too weak as compared to a martial artist.
Pop!
Not long later, the flame men started to succumb to the devouring power, with one of the flame men exploding, filling the air with spiritual Qi.
The rest soon followed, exploding one after the other incessantly. In a few moments, all 36 flame men had disintegrated, and the sky was filled with Qi strength that engulfed Su Mo.
"This is awesome!" a smile broke across Su Mo's face.
This round of devouring had not only brought his Sky-burning Fire Skill to Lv 3, his cultivation had also surged to the peak of Lv 4 Enlightenment Realm.
If not for the fact that he had just broken through his cultivation recently, and had not yet fortified his cultivation, he could have gone straight to Lv 5 Enlightment Realm.
"I guess I'll need to search for places rich in the relevant property spiritual Qi whenever I intend to level up my various cultivation skills!" Su Mo thought to himself.
Since the pure fire property spiritual Qi was able to directly increase of the power and level of his fire property cultivation skill, he reckoned it would be the same when it came to other property spiritual Qi.
Moments later, Su Mo's figure disappeared from the path.
The moment he disappeared, the crowd burst into uproar.
"How did he do it? How could he be so powerful?"
"He didn't even need to make a move against those 2 levels above him. This is just too terrifying!'
"He's got to be a terrifying genius!"
The crowd was completely shocked. Even if they cracked their heads together, they were still not able to make any sense of how Su Mo managed to do it.
Su Mo then found himself in a stone chamber.
This stone chamber was pretty big, with a radius of 99 meters. A mill-sized Fire Lotus hovered in the middle of the chamber, beautiful and dazzling.
Other than Hong Qingxuan and Xuan Feng, there were seven others in the stone chamber, including the three Celestialspirit Sect disciples that had passed earlier.
One of the Celestialspirit Sect disciples was sitting cross-legged under the Fire Lotus, with his eyes shut tightly and his brows knitted tightly together.
The others, with the exception of Hong Qingxuan and Xuan Feng, were all sitting in meditation to calm their breath.
"Brother Su Mo, you've arrived!" Hong Qingxuan broke into a joyous smile when she saw Su Mo. She knew the first round would be a piece of cake to him!
"Qingxuan, what is the deal with this Fire Lotus?" Su Mo asked.
"Brother Su Mo, there are instructions inscribed over there!" Hong Qingxuan pointed toward the corner of the stone chamber, where a small stone tablet lay.
However, after remembering that Su Mo could not understand ancient inscriptions, she continued "This round is a test of willpower. This Fire Lotus has a total of 15 petals, and one would need to use willpower to establish a telepathic connection to the Fire Lotus in order to open its petals. Opening 10 petals would be sufficient to pass the test. Each person has three chances!"
"Willpower?" Su Mo's brows rose. A craftsman would indeed need to possess strong willpower, and this test was to assess one's talent of being a craftsman.
He looked toward the Celestialspirit Sect disciple beneath the Fire Lotus and saw that this disciple had already opened seven petals of the Fire Lotus. The other eight petals remained tightly shut.
Beads of sweat had appeared on this disciple's forehead. It was obvious that getting the Fire Lotus to open 10 petals was no easy feat.
He then looked at the rest and it was equally obvious that those in a corner calming their breath had already failed either once or twice and were trying to recover to prep for their next attempt.
Su Mo frowned, for each martial artist's willpower would basically increase along with his cultivation. Since Hong Qingxuan and himself were of the lowest cultivation in this place, they were at a great disadvantage.
Just when Su Mo was about to seek Hong Qingxuan's opinion, Xuan Feng interjected "Junior Sister Hong, who is this?"
He shot Su Mo an icy glance.
Xuan Feng recognised Hong Qingxuan as she was the only pro-disciple of Dark Sky Peak's peak master. They had not interacted much before, and were purely acquaintances.
"Senior Brother Xuan, this is Su Mo. He is also part of Celestialspirit Sect!" Hong QIngxuan introduced the both of them.
She did not mention that he was a disciple of Towering Sky Peak since she knew of the longtime rivalry between Towering Sky Peak and Holy Sky Peak.
"Noted!" Xuan Feng nodded expressionlessly. As he was constantly training outdoors, he had not heard of Su Mo.