Su Mo finally entered the Lv 3 Spiritual Martial Realm after cultivating for a few hours and consuming three Motivating Energy Elixirs.
Huff!
A smile appeared on Su Mo's face. Considering how fast he was progressing, it wouldn't be a problem for him to advance to the Lv 5 or even Lv 6 within six months.
After taking a rest, he drew out another Motivating Energy Elixir and swallowed it. He then summoned his Martial Soul to absorb the Spiritual Qi.
The elixir was a Medium Lv 2 Elixir. It was an incredibly potent pill. He didn't dare to consume too many at once and only swallowed them one by one.
The effects of the elixir merged with the Spiritual Qi absorbed by his Martial Soul, forming an imaginary shadow of a baby elephant and gradually strengthened his physical body.
In the following month, he didn't accept any missions and chose to stay on the island to stabilize his cultivation.
Over the span of the month, he cultivated his Elephant's Strength Skill to strengthen his physical body at night. During the day, he practiced his body movements and swordsmanship.
He used up nearly all the Motivating Energy Elixirs he owned within that time, finally improving his physical body and pushing his Lv 4 of the Elephant's Strength Skill to its final peak. The skill was now close to the Completion Realm of Lv 4.
Now, he only needed his physical force to defeat the most Peak Lv 3 Spiritual Martial Realm martial artists.
In terms of his martial arts techniques, his Divine Wind Swordplay had also seen a tremendous progression and was moving toward the peak of the Great Completion.
Shadow Steps was what he practiced the most within the month. It was now about to achieve the Great Completion.
His single step forward would now be accompanied by many untraceable residual shadows. It was incredible how fast the shadows were.
Then there was his Nine Rapier Movements of Wind Devil. It was rather easy to practice that as it was a Medium Lv 2 Martial Skill. In that month, he had practiced all the nine techniques of the swordsmanship to the peak of the Great Completion.
Its power wasn't all that much weaker than his Divine Wind Swordplay.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
While he was cultivating in the divided room, he heard a series of knock on the door and Li Feng's voice.
"Su Mo, you in?"
"What's up, Li Feng?"
Su Mo asked with a smile, having opened the door to see Li Feng and Niu Xiaohu outside.
"Something big happened! Let's hurry and go to the mission palace!" Li Feng said hastily.
"Something big? What is it?" Su Mo asked in confusion.
"It's war! The Ironforest Country is waging war against us!" Niu Xiaohu said.
"War?"
Su Mo was shocked.
"That's right. The war began a few days ago. I heard the mission palace had announced the national war mission," Li Feng said, nodding.
"National war mission?"
Stunned, Su Mo said, "Let's go take a look at the mission palace!"
When they reached the outer gate of the mission place, they were shocked by the crowd outside. It was so packed that it was impossible to move around.
With at least 3,000 Outer Disciples at the mission palace, the atmosphere there was incredibly heated.
"I'll be joining the war in the southern frontier. Are you guys going?"
"Such a large-scale war is too dangerous!"
"No risk, no return. They're offering such great rewards. How can I miss it!"
Many were discussing among themselves, some looking rather excited.
Su Mo became incredibly intrigued after hearing the discussions, but the mission place was too packed and no one could enter.
Just then, he saw a disciple dressed in purple barely managing to squeeze out of the mission palace. He walked up to him and asked, "Junior Brother, what's the national war announcement about?"
The disciple dressed in purple was only of Lv 1 Spiritual Martial Realm cultivation. That was why he addressed him as Junior Brother.
"Su Mo!"
The disciple's eyes gleamed when he saw Su Mo. He seemed pleasantly surprised.
"Uh?"
Su Mo was stunned. Why did the disciple look so happy to see him?
"Eh?"
Noticing how familiar the disciple seemed, he finally recognized him after a moment's contemplation.
Zhou Xin!
It was the kid he saved in the Qingyuan Trial Test.
Su Mo remembered him to be a strong-willed person with a firm martial arts will. He was someone worthy of befriending.
"It's been a while, Zhou Xin!" Su Mo smiled.
"Senior Brother Su, we've only joined Gale Island for a short few months but your name has already been spread wide and far. You're amazing!"
Zhou Xin's expression appeared rather cautious.
"Those are just rumors, heh!"
Shaking his head, Su Mo said, "Zhou Xin, you've just left the mission palace. What's going on?"
"Senior Brother Su, the rewards for this national war mission are incredibly appealing. I'll tell you all about it."
Zhou Xin nodded and continued, "Six days ago, the southern Ironforest Country dispatched 800,000 soldiers via eight routes and invaded our Skymoon Country. They're invincible and have captured 17 cities.
"The Skymoon royals have dispatched a million-strong army to the war zone and also asked the four sects for help at the same time. Thus, the Gale Island has announced the national war mission. Any Outer Disciple of the Spiritual Martial Realm can participate.
"The rewards are incredibly hefty. If you kill an enemy in the Qi Cultivation Realm, you can obtain five contribution points. If you kill an enemy at the Lv 1 Spiritual Martial Realm, you can get 10 points, and 20 if you kill one at the Lv 2 Spiritual Martial Realm. The rewards double with each level. Finally, you can claim your reward with the head of an Ironforest Country martial artist!"
Zhou Xin's explanation was very detailed as he relayed the national war mission to Su Mo.
"Such a generous reward?"
Su Mo's eyes gleamed. With his current strength, he could kill the martial artists at the Lv 3 or Lv 4 Spiritual Martial Realm with ease.
If killing a Lv 4 Spiritual Martial Realm martial artist would give him 80 contribution points, then killing 100 of them would give him 8,000 points.
What if he killed 1,000 of them?
At this thought, Su Mo couldn't hold back his excitement.
"Senior Brother Su, I'll be participating in this mission! Are you going? I'll go with you if you are." Zhou Xin asked in anticipation.
"Of course! This is such a good opportunity!"
There was nothing to hold Su Mo back.
"Great! Then I'll be teaming with you."
Zhou Xin was incredibly happy. It was extremely dangerous to participate in this kind of mission. With an expert like Su Mo, it would be so much safer.
"Are you going, Li Feng and Xiaohu?" Su Mo asked the two people beside him.
Li Feng had long entered the Spiritual Martial Realm and Niu Xiaohu had also recently made it.
The reason why the latter could advance so quickly was thanks to the two Motivating Energy Elixirs that Su Mo gave him.
Though both Li Feng and Xiaohu were now martial artists of the Spiritual Martial Realm, the war zone was too dangerous. He still needed to ask for their opinion.
"Brother Su Mo, I'm coming with you!"
Niu Xiaohu said firmly without needing to think.
He had great confidence in Su Mo's strength. With Su Mo around, he felt very safe.
"I'm coming as well. I've been wanting to meet martial artists from other countries and see how strong they are!" Li Feng said, smiling.
"Okay, let's go back and pack. We'll meet at the pier in two hours!" Su Mo said, his voice loud and clear.