Substitute Grandson

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Despite losing his arm, Ja Sun wasn't treated any differently in the coming study. Taking a rest during the night, Ah Yin and used her domain to find a rather safe and uninterrupted path before settling close to the region where Xie Xan's Eight-clawed Golden Salamander was discovered. It was at this point Bibi Dong gave the three cultivators the same test that Liu Erlong and others received. Same restrictions, and same consequences, too. Even with Tang Yuehua, Bibi Dong didn't go easy because this test did not calculate one's spirit energy in mind. This was a slightly more technical test of one's potential and if Tang Yuehua is anything like Yu Xiaogang, which she should be because of her innate domain, then she should be able to pass this test eventually.

Leaving the group of three alone, Bibi Dong then brought others outside the large tent that would be clearly occupied by everyone together later on. Although Ja Sun had a lot of things to do, Bibi Dong's organized bundles of information are always welcomed and it wasn't like he was given a choice to either finally organize the loot from Ground Devil's corpse or study with everyone together.

Aside from the fact that Ground Devil was a 100000-year-old Beasttaken currently known only to Ja Sun and Bibi Dong, the fact that he could even achieve Spirit Fusion with Tang Yuehua was only known to Bibi Dong. It wasn't because of any form of mistrust. In the event that the group really don't care about the Spirit Bone, the fact remained that aside from a momentary bout of envy, this news wouldn't affect anything. Meanwhile, Ja Sun even told Bibi Dong about the Spirit Fusion only because he accepted the woman as his leader and in the future, if she makes a plan, she must know about this piece of information just like how Bibi Dong also made it clear that she wouldn't easily die to fatal threats, making Ja Sun's focus alter from then on.

Instead of the 'hoo' and 'haa' brought by such information, the like-minded Ja Sun and Bibi Dong thought it well-placed to reveal all of this when it truly is necessary.

Their study continued for three hours. Bibi Dong would always have different topics to discuss. Since the classes aren't as plain as Business Education and more mundane forms of studies, most of Bibi Dong's material also contained various case studies regarding Spirit Masters of the past to allow everyone to understand as much as they can from past experiences.

Once completed, everyone began to spar once again. Hu Lana would rotate between Liu Erlong and Ah Yin to practice her daggers because one is purely based on a long-range fighting system while the other one is a proficient close combatant. On the other hand, Xie Xan practiced regularly with Bibi Dong. Qian Daoliu once spoke specifically that he should learn what Bibi Dong had to teach regarding his situation and develop on one path and keep the other path as a support.

After all, Xie Xan can be both, a long-range attacker and a close-ranged swordsman. What he gained from Bibi Dong wasn't swordplay, but simply: experience. In the versatile paths of the mastery of weapons, Bibi Dong explained that two things are necessary— one's own mind, and experience taken from other sources to complete oneself.

This meant that Xie Xan will find his own fighting preferences by constantly engaging in combat, which, much to Bibi Dong's annoyance, only served to bring his Realm of Self closer to completion while Bibi Dong, Ah Yin, and Hu Lana were still stranded.

Finally, Ja Sun needed to retrain his balance. He hadn't lost his arm in his previous life so this was an entirely new realm for him. He began by setting up missions regarding optimizing his techniques based on his current condition starting from Gentle Tactics. Of course, given that he only needed to optimize it a bit, the difficulty settled only on an E-rank.

Ja Sun wasn't frustrated at all. Any mission with good enough rewards was well-received. In fact, he had already completed many S-ranked rewards that the effect of it was starting to show in the form of enhanced overall combat potential which would lower the difficulty of many of his missions.

---

*Swish*

Everyone slept early in the morning with Ja Sun's turn to keep watch. While sleeping, Ah Yin, of course, cannot maintain her domain so there was a need for someone taking the responsibility of lookout. The fire has already fizzled out, the only evidence of it was the chunks of blackened wood collapsed in a small pile. The sky was barely lit, dew collected on Ja Sun's body actually flowed with a shimmering wave of energy continuously moving around him and then settling into his right palm.

The loss of an arm meant the final and concentrated enhancement created from Silver Burst was reduced by 70%. It also meant that...

*Swish*

*Swish*

Ja Sun's arm moved and continuously stabbed the air. Sometimes with his knuckle and sometimes with the slap of his palm or jabs of his fingers.

His total versatility had fallen physically. Using one arm and two legs is clearly disadvantageous against an individual who knows how to bring the best out of two arms and two legs. Of course, this applied in a world of pure martial arts. This was the world of spirit skills.

Not only that...

A purple light flashed and Ja Sun equipped the purple headgear signifying his Nightmare's Fantasy Skull Bone.

Then it vanished. But the spirit bone hadn't disappeared. Ja Sun has always been able to use the spirit bone without revealing the physical change to the body brought by the use of spirit bones because he can use Illusion to hide the spirit bone itself. This is how he used Yin-Yang True Illusion on Tang Yuehua without anybody's notice.

Next thing, Ja Sun suddenly had his left arm.

An illusion.

Ja Sun only had to coordinate his left shoulder well enough and manipulate Illusion to make others feel that he didn't lose an arm. There were naturally many benefits to such a deception in a battle but since the illusion continuously expended his mental energy, Ja Sun revoked it and began practicing once again.

Sometimes he would use Gentle Tactics. Sometimes he would try to mix Storm Steps with Extreme Phantom Shadow Technique. And at times, he rested. This continued for six hours straight until he completed the first mission of optimizing the gentle tactics and skimmed through the One-Armed Tyrant Blaster technique as a reward: Just a powerful jab is all it was.

Ja Sun then set up the technique to fuse Storm Steps and the Extreme Phantom Shadow Technique. This time, even if completing the task in a week would only net him a C-ranked reward, unlike the first time he fused Tremble Tactics and Gentle Palm Technique where he was awarded the Final Buddha Array. The reward was a slightly more technical balancing technique from the name of it but he cannot be sure unless he gets it.

After a few minutes, Ja Sun heard the entrance of the tent opening up. It was Bibi Dong who came out. Still looking a little sleepy, she managed to smile and speak up, "They passed the test... but barely. Especially Oscar. Although he has a rare food-type martial soul..." She sighed. Food-type martial souls can be a blessing only if nurtured and trained properly. Not only that, Oscar needed proper martial training to be adept in close combat to deal with a temporarily disadvantageous situation, too.

"Are you confident about Tang Yuehua?" Bibi Dong questioned. She would also teach Yuehua, but the responsibility of helping her break past her natural limits fell on Ja Sun.

"About 60%," Ja Sun smiled, "A 100% if we just kill the bird but as we discussed, this method holds unknown side-effects. Even if Yu Xiaogang hadn't shown any of it, that doesn't mean he may not in the future. So it is better if Tang Yuehua does this on her own with sufficient knowledge."

Bibi Dong hummed in response and looked around.

"I was thinking about what Grandmaster said. He spoke that the rewards and his intentions were a clue to something. Did you understand what he meant?"

The group had set their tents close to a small hill. Right now, both of them looked towards the sky as clouds were beginning to gather around. It was going to rain.

"A little. If Master's actions of rewarding even Hu Lana was a clue then he probably wanted everyone to grow stronger than we are now. As quickly as possible, if I had to be more particular. He even gave us the instruction of not trying to be too eager in front of non-responsive treasures and look for the things we have an affinity with...

Finally, what he gave me as a reward is nothing short of a foundation for an organization itself. Master gifted me the tomes and parchments of various methods of construction of Spirit Guidance Tools. But most of these are quite basic and foundational level knowledge. A few of them are also quite damaged. So, he may have wanted to hint that you should start to finalize your own private faction or something. After all, you are the successor."

Bibi Dong frowned while hearing this.

"Maybe he meant something else? For instance, he could mean that we are the future pillars of the Spirit Hall and need to grow as such without being greedy over minor benefits and securing our future? If you can learn and improve upon the current methods of Spirit Guidance Tools, then it will also bolster the Spirit Hall's economy."

Ja Sun smiled.

"Honestly, I don't really wish to think too much about this. Previously, the war between Balak and Silvers Kingdom was a ploy to reduce the rogue spirit masters in the Heaven Dou Empire. This led to the increasingly alarming rate of unrest within the Star Luo Empire. With one side stabilized thanks to Spirit Hall, and the other side now requiring Spirit Hall's assistance due to the Beasttaken tides, the project of building Spirit Arenas has begun. Of course, this plan will probably benefit all the parties.

And now Hint of Evil has shown to be more than capable enough to have infiltrated the top three clans using various low and high-ranking members. This means that other sects from the Seven Sects of the Continent and even the Spirit Hall is not safe from such informants."

The more Ja Sun spoke, the more Bibi Dong sighed. If known well enough, and the facts are clear, then the political situation can be easy to understand.

"You mean everything is connected. And for some reason, it doesn't make sense since not only the Two Empires but even the Spirit Hall is balanced. Nobody truly is rising higher than the other and the motivation of this Hint of Evil seems shrouded in a layer of thick fog. And only at this point Grandmaster decided to hint us at something related to this situation... so he must also know something.

If he knows something..."

Bibi Dong frowned.

"Then chances are that your master, the Supreme Pontiff, may know something, too," Ja Sun shrugged.

"And that's why it is without reason to try and pry at this layer of fog for answers. The situation of the continent should barely affect us because our group is so small."

Bibi Dong nodded and then found a small boulder to sit on. "But if it's so easy to understand a small group like ours will not be affected, Grandmaster should have also considered and he still did all those things."

"That's true," Ja Sun replied and concentrated on his body.

The duo remained silent. Soon, Xie Xan walked out and sat down with his legs crossed, meditating like Ja Sun and Bibi Dong. Even others did. Everyone except the new addition woke up and entered their routine. The only reason the remaining three didn't wake up happened to be because they were too tired from Bibi Dong's test.

Bibi Dong also took the time to express her interest in changing how she would usually teach the group.

In reality, Bibi Dong was already running out of written material for the group because they already had understood the basics of the cultivation and their knowledge on the past Spirit Masters was expansive. This was all under Bibi Dong's schedule. The last few months before the competition, the group would have their creative freedom to finally peruse through their gains and develop their own preferences and try it out amongst themselves and spirit beasts to refine and hone their paths.

This also included Bibi Dong herself taking the time to digest her experiences and gains and grow stronger comprehensively.

However, now, she needed to think of her own future and teach three more students. She wanted to tackle this situation by appointing a substitute teacher who could explain the written material just as well as her. For this, she appointed Ja Sun.

Meanwhile, for the next week, the group remained in this forest to find Liu Erlong's fifth spirit ring. Meanwhile, Ja Sun also decided to finally make use of the few techniques that were quite good but would never be used by him.

For instance, the Asura Sight Technique.

Out of everything he had, from a simple gold coin that can be refined itself to the corpse of a 100000-year-old spirit beast holding an equivalent spirit bone, Ja Sun felt that this technique was something he could give out to select individuals without cost. It was unlike Spirit Bones that could be used right away. This technique needed time and resources to accomplish perfection in.

As for other techniques like his movement techniques, everyone had their own methods for this. Qian Daoliu wasn't stingy in this matter, too, as he granted quite a bit of mundane battle techniques to Ah Yin and Ja Sun for experience's sake. So did Bibi Dong with her other students.

And there was only one individual that Ja Sun knew of who could easily make use of this technique quickly and efficiently.