Su Mo and Wang Hui took seats opposite each other at Wang Hui's residence.
"Senior Brother, I haven't manage to thank you for what you did the last time."
Su Mo cupped his fist and bowed at him.
"We're brothers. Don't be courteous."
Wang Hui gave a casual wave. "How are your injuries?"
"They're nearly healed!" Su Mo answered.
"That's good!"
Wang Hui nodded and gave Su Mo a once-over before laughing. "Junior Brother, you really surprised me!"
He grinned and said, "You entered the Peak Lv 2 Spiritual Martial Realm in such a short time and managed to kill Lv 3 and Lv 4 warriors like they're nothing. You're extraordinary indeed!"
Wang Hui had been watching all of Su Mo's battles in the Decisive Struggle Hall and was incredibly impressed by his strength.
But he couldn't help sighing even as he doled out compliments.
If Su Mo's Martial Soul wasn't so poor, his future achievements would definitely be remarkable!
What a shame!
"You're too courteous with your compliments. I was just lucky!"
Su Mo gave a humble smile.
"In battles, a victory is a victory. There's no such thing as luck. You don't have to be humble."
Spending the next few minutes in deep thought, Wang Hui continued, "Master is in seclusion and won't be coming out in a short time, maybe not until we hold the Outer Disciple Competition this year in a few months' time. If you have any question on martial arts, you can come directly to me."
"Sure," Su Mo said, nodding.
"Another thing. Don't tell others you're Master's disciple."
Wang Hui sighed, changing the topic.
"Why?"
Su Mo was curious why he couldn't mention that he was a disciple of Elder Wei.
"Master said you're only his unofficial disciple. He'll only accept you as his pro-disciple if you can rank within the top 10 Outer Gate disciples in three years."
After a moment of silence, he continued, "If you can't make it in three years, he'll strip you off the title of his unofficial disciple."
"This is a crucial test for you. I hope you won't let Master down."
Su Mo was silent. He understood what Wang Hui meant. If he couldn't rank in the top 10 within three years, then that was proof that he was a mere mediocre person.
An influential figure like Elder Wei would definitely not accept a mediocre person as a disciple.
Su Mo nodded, smiled confidently. "Senior Brother, don't worry. I don't need three years. I'll surely rank within top 10 in the Outer Disciple Competition this year."
"Really?"
Wang Hui raised his eyebrow and shook his head. "It's good to have confidence but don't be arrogant!"
He obviously didn't believe Su Mo was capable of doing so.
If Su Mo wanted to do that, he would need at least a Lv 6 cultivation for it to be possible.
At the moment, Su Mo was only at Peak Lv 2 Spiritual Martial Realm and there were only three to four moments left before the competition this year.
Even if he was talented, there was no way he could make the drastic leap to Lv 6 in such a short time.
Su Mo smiled bitterly without replying. Whether or not he could achieve it, he would let the outcome speak for themselves.
He chatted with Wang Hui for a while longer, asking for his advice on cultivation, before excusing himself.
After leaving Wang Hui's residence, he walked toward the Contribution Palace of the Sect.
There were still plenty of money and objects on him that he hadn't exchanged for contribution points.
At the contribution palace, he converted all his scrolls, weapons, and spiritual herbs into contribution points.
Scrolls and weapons were useless to him and he didn't need any of the spiritual herbs either.
With enough contribution points, he could exchange for some elixirs. That would be so much better than directly consuming the spiritual herbs.
He only kept 80,000 out of his 780,000 pieces of gold, exchanging the rest for contribution points.
In total, he exchanged for 5,936 contribution points.
Though he had already estimated he would have plenty of contribution points after this large-scale exchange, he was nevertheless shocked.
His spoils this time were mostly of Medium Lv 2. They were better than what he got from the Qingyuan Trial Test, so their value also doubled.
He then went to the pharmacy to buy five bottles of Motivating Energy Elixirs and two bottles of Spirit-Recovering Pills.
The former was to improve his cultivation and the latter to heal and cure injuries. They were both Lv 2 elixirs.
They were typically expensive.
The seven bottles, each containing 15 pills, cost him about 3,200 contribution points.
He then went to exchange 100 Soul Crystals of Class 4 Lv 2 Beast Souls with 2,500 contribution points.
Together, they cost him 5,700 contribution points in total.
Su Mo sighed. Everything was too expensive! No matter how many points he had, it wouldn't be enough for him to use!
It didn't occur to him what he bought far exceeded his martial arts level.
For instance, Medium Lv 2 Elixirs were usually used by Middle-Level martial artists. He was merely at the lower Lv 2 Spiritual Martial Realm.
Of course, he would find the prices highly unaffordable.
When he was done with his exchanges, he saw that he needed nothing else and returned to his residence.
Boom!
Inside his room, Su Mo released his Devouring Martial Spirit and it started devouring the Beast Souls one by one.
Very soon, it devoured all the 100 souls he exchanged for but remained unchanging at the Rank 8 Human Class.
"I need more and more Beast Souls to advance my Martial Soul! I wonder when will I have a Martial Soul of the Rank 9 Human Class!"
Su Mo sighed, fishing out a bottle of Motivating Energy Elixir.
His cultivation had stayed put for over a month, signaling that it was incredibly steady now.
Time to charge for the Lv 3 Spiritual Martial Realm!
The elixir melted the moment it entered his mouth and a huge amount of Spiritual Qi started spinning madly inside his body. His Martial Soul kept taking the Spiritual Qi in. With this combination, his cultivation rapidly advanced.
His cultivation soon reached the critical point of the Peak Lv 2 Spiritual Martial Realm, rushing toward Lv 3.
Su Mo felt as serene as still water. He tried his best to activate his Primordial Genuine Qi, invoking Grand Circulation of genuine Qi again and again.
Simultaneously, he had a Motivating Energy Elixir in his hand so he could consume in time in the case where he lacked genuine Qi.
Time trickled by.
The night was so peaceful. The still water ran deep and the full moon rose high in the sky, its glow pouring on every inch of earth.
Su Mo's backyard was submerged in a pin-drop silence.
A breeze swept the trees, sending them swaying.
In the moment, within a hundred meters radius around Su Mo's room, the Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth became lively.
Overhead, the sky was changing rapidly with wild clouds and gusts. The Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth was like elves of wind, dancing around the room and sinking down, forming the shape of a large funnel.
Whoosh…
The drastic change of Spiritual Qi caused a change in the airflow. The gentle breeze became wild gusts, sweeping off the ground, flying sand and rolling pebbles.
The gusts quieted down and the Spiritual Qi calmed down after some time. Everything went back to normal.
Inside his room, Su Mo opened his eyes.
Lv 3 Spiritual Martial Realm!