Chapter 19: Bring on the Hacks!

Chapter 19: Bring on the Hacks!

A few days later, Oscar returned, having successfully obtained his first spirit ring. Just like in the original story, Oscar still obtained the Recovery Sausage.

Surprisingly, because no one had taught him how to cultivate his spirit, Oscar, who had been cultivating blindly on his own, jumped directly to level 19 after obtaining the spirit ring. He had always thought spirit rings just appeared on their own; failure to break through must have been due to not working hard enough.

Amidst Oscar's smug showing off, the formal cultivation of Xia Tianling and his companions at the Spirit Academy began. The cultivation content at this age was quite simple: theory lessons in the morning, self-cultivation in the afternoon.

When it was time for afternoon cultivation, Xia Tianling declined the teacher's guidance and pulled Fatty and Oscar into a private training room.

"Fatty, when you try to cultivate on your own, do you always feel an unknown fire rising in your lower abdomen, forcing you to get distracted and causing great trouble for your cultivation?"

"Yeah, Brother Ling, how did you know?" Ma Hongjun was puzzled; he hadn't told Brother Ling about this, how did he know?

"You don't need to worry about that. I'm now passing on a spirit power cultivation technique to you. Just follow this practice; don't use that old meditation technique anymore." Xia Tianling took out a jade slip, handed it to Ma Hongjun, and gestured for him to place it against his head.

Fatty did as told and immediately felt a large stream of information rushing into his mind.

How to solve Ma Hongjun's evil fire issue was something Xia Tianling had considered long ago. Relying on the Crested Phoenix Sun Flower and the Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's inner core would take who knows how long. If Fatty could control the evil fire earlier, surpassing his cultivation speed in the original story would be effortless.

When in doubt, just make a wish! The system was very helpful, quickly providing two solutions. First, cultivate an orthodox Buddhist technique or an orthodox Daoist profound art. The former suppresses desires, the latter promotes tranquility and inaction; the characteristics of both could suppress the evil fire within Ma Hongjun. Upon reaching a high cultivation realm later, such as Spirit Saint, the evil fire could be completely refined away. Second, cultivate a technique called the Desire Fire Phoenix Art. This method originated from a powerhouse with phoenix bloodline from some unknown plane. The greatest benefit of this technique was its ability to convert the evil fire within the body into usable power, refining it into Natal True Fire.

Upon mastering the basics of the Desire Fire Phoenix Art, the refinement could be completed. From then on, the evil fire would become a characteristic of his internal true fire, controllable at will. It would naturally become one of Ma Hongjun's combat methods rather than a cultivation hindrance. As Ma Hongjun's cultivation reached the Spirit Saint stage (the seventh layer of the Phoenix Art), he would undergo a transformation, entering a state of Nirvana. After rebirth through Nirvana, the evil fire within him would be completely eliminated with this 'death', and his Natal True Fire would undergo purification, evolving into true Phoenix Fire. In Soul Land terms – Ultimate Fire. His Evil Fire Phoenix spirit would also transform into a true Fire Phoenix spirit, unparalleled in the world.

Seeing Ma Hongjun gain benefits, Oscar couldn't sit still anymore. He giggled and hugged Xia Tianling's arm. "Boss, I was the first one to follow you! You can't forget about little me, Ao!" Since Xia Tianling didn't let him use "Brother," he had switched to calling him Boss. As he spoke, he conjured a sausage, "Boss, try it. My first spirit skill, it's delicious."

"You won't be left out." Xia Tianling shot him an exasperated look and similarly took out a jade slip, handing it to him. At the same time, he took the sausage from Oscar's hand and took a bite. It actually tastes pretty good.

Honestly, what's so unacceptable about Oscar's first spirit skill incantation? In Soul Land, where men and women can even sleep together and customs are open, some people can't accept a mere spirit curse?

Oscar had seen what Ma Hongjun did earlier, so he copied him, pressing the jade slip to his forehead.

Compared to Fatty's internal evil fire, Oscar's 'hack' was much easier to activate. Xia Tianling gave him the cultivation method for the Martial Dao Golden Body.

Martial Artists cultivate Qi and Blood, focusing on opening the body's acupoints. As a food-type support Spirit Master, Oscar lacked means of self-preservation and offense. The Martial Dao Golden Body, being a powerful category within martial arts techniques, tempers the body, circulates Qi and Blood, and unlocks the body's hidden potential. After developing the body to a certain extent, one's Qi becomes like mountains, blood like mercury, breathing aligned with heaven and earth. All acupoints become seamless, spirit and flesh perfectly integrated, like metal and stone.

However, martial artist cultivation is much more arduous than Fatty's method. It requires not only tempering the body, circulating Qi and Blood, and practicing martial techniques, but also coordination with large amounts of precious medicinal materials for medicinal baths. Why else is there the saying "Poor Scholar, Rich Martial"? If not for the backing of the Spirit Hall, Oscar, without the aid of medicinal baths, would take nearly ten years just to get started.

Martial Dao cultivation could rapidly increase Oscar's physique, allowing him to withstand stronger spirit rings. While adding means of self-defense and offense, it could also promote spirit power progress – killing multiple birds with one stone.

Xia Tianling could already imagine the future All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament: Little Ao, seemingly a support master, chewing on a sausage while punching out those Power Attack type Spirit Masters one by one, making them cry for their parents. Sausage Specialist Oscar competing in strength against Evil Eye White Tiger Dai Mubai... hehe, that scene will definitely be interesting! Little San, oh Little San, your brother here has prepared a big gift for you a few years down the line! Hopefully, you won't be too crushed by the blow then.

BOOM!

Just as Xia Tianling was plotting how to "affectionately care for" (Translator's note: The symbols added here imply teasing/malicious intent) Tang San in the future, a burst of aura erupted from Ma Hongjun beside him. A faint phantom of a phoenix composed of purple-red flames appeared on his body, then faded away.

Ma Hongjun opened his eyes and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Brother Ling! I've entered the threshold! I'm already level 10!" As he spoke, he excitedly gestured to show Xia Tianling the trace of Natal True Fire he had just refined.

"Not bad. Go report to Teacher Li, have him take you to get your first spirit ring."

"Alright! I'm off!" Fatty shouted joyfully, running off to report the good news to the teacher in charge of them.

Xia Tianling smiled and shook his head. Without that perverted aura, Fatty was quite interesting, full of vitality. I'll have to educate him properly in the future so he doesn't grow crooked. Little Ao, however, isn't much cause for concern; in the original story, his personality didn't change much even after growing up wild with Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun for so long.

Oscar, having finished receiving the Martial Dao Golden Body cultivation method, gradually came to his senses, his face crestfallen. Unlike the Desire Fire Phoenix Art, which showed immediate effects upon starting cultivation, Martial Dao cultivation required persistent effort accumulated over time. Moreover, at eight years old, Oscar was already slightly old to start; achieving success would require even more hard work.

But despite the gloomy face, Oscar had no intention of giving up. Having gained a general understanding of the Spirit Master profession after a morning of study, Oscar knew clearly: enabling a food-type Spirit Master to possess offensive capabilities! This was practically a heaven-defying method, an opportunity one couldn't find even searching with a lantern!

So what if it requires more hard work? As long as the practice doesn't kill me, I'll practice like hell! What's a little hardship if I can gain offensive power? After all, no Spirit Master doesn't desire great strength. Who wants to be a weak chicken when they can become strong?

(End of Chapter)