The gap between people was immense.
Dugu Bo finally accepted this reality.
Su Ming was practically a beast. In just one month, he had successively completed two trials of extreme difficulty, while Dugu Bo himself was still struggling with the first trial. The Nirvana Flame was too terrifying for his poison cultivation; each baptism threatened to burn his Spirit Power to cinders.
Receiving Dugu Bo's plea for aid, Su Ming didn't just stand by and watch.
With his deep understanding of Nirvana, he knew the meaning behind the Phoenix God setting the First Trial for Dugu Bo.
Nirvana, nirvana, was about integrating power into flame, transforming it into Nirvana Flame, and then reviving it.
The power didn't change, only its form.
There were, of course, losses in this process.
For Dugu Bo, his entire Spirit Power was transforming form. First, it was completely devoured by the Nirvana Flame, where its toxins were consumed, leaving only pure Spirit Power.
The associated pain was unavoidable.
Dugu Bo's poison cultivation was connected to his own life essence. Purifying it was no simple matter.
One could say the significance of this trial was greater than the trial reward he would receive.
Although with Su Ming's help, Dugu Bo's mastery of his poison cultivation had improved, the essence of his cultivation method hadn't changed.
His cultivation method was inherently flawed!
Now, the Phoenix God was resolving this drawback for him.
First, purify the Spirit Power.
Then, with this purest cultivation foundation, rebuild his poison cultivation from scratch.
This time, he could no longer integrate external toxins into his poison cultivation but had to purely evolve toxins from his own Martial Soul.
This way, the root of everything would be himself, and he wouldn't be eroded by toxins.
Su Ming came to help.
The Nirvana Flame instantly burned even more fiercely.
"Senior, endure it. I'm trying my best to control the burning intensity of the Nirvana Flame for you."
With his manipulation, the Nirvana Flame no longer burned Dugu Bo indiscriminately.
Dugu Bo did feel much better.
Su Ming also received the Third Trial from the Phoenix God.
"Top-Grade Seven Trials, Third Trial: Find the Successor of the Phoenix God. Reward: All Spirit Rings increased by five thousand years, one God-Bestowed Spirit Ring with a directed Nirvana Spirit Skill (Upper limit: two hundred thousand years)."
Su Ming's eyebrows raised.
What kind of trial was this?
You, a mere Phoenix God, have finally shown your chicken foot, haven't you?
Sneaking in personal agendas!
So, giving me benefits was fake; having me cultivate your successor for you is the real goal.
As for the word 'find' used in the trial, Su Ming simply ignored it.
What 'find'.
Whether someone could inherit the Phoenix God Seat was ultimately up to Su Ming, wasn't it?
Given his current capabilities, cultivating a top-tier successor for a God Seat was far too easy.
The Phoenix God could only nod drooling, foolishly saying, 'Yes, yes, yes.'
After all, it was only a Second Class God Seat. Strictly speaking, a Spirit Master with a Phoenix Martial Soul possessing two hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings would be qualified to inherit it.
With three hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings, it would be almost guaranteed.
The situations of people like Mu En, Long Xiaoyao, and Ye Xishui in the Douluo Continent's next ten thousand years, who failed to become gods, were special cases.
Besides the trial content, the trial reward once again caught Su Ming's attention.
"Spirit Skills can also be specified?"
His expression turned odd.
What exactly was a God-Bestowed Spirit Ring?
From the last trial, Su Ming inferred from the Behemoth-bloodline-directed God-Bestowed Spirit Ring that the Douluo Plane had a gene bank. He naturally understood God-Bestowed Spirit Rings as connecting to this gene bank, with the deity responsible for charging them.
A Spirit Master absorbing a God-Bestowed Spirit Ring was essentially, with the deity's help, entering the gene bank to fuse with a Spirit Ring, obtaining the one most compatible with them from the entire bank.
Specifying a certain bloodline was understandable; it just broadly narrowed the range.
But specifying a certain Spirit Skill? That was a bit excessive.
"The Nirvana Spirit Skill is somewhat understandable, probably because the Phoenix God himself masters it and can set this. It likely doesn't have universal applicability."
The deities of the Douluo God Realm probably couldn't achieve such precision.
"Just as well, I'm still missing this one God-Bestowed Spirit Ring anyway," Su Ming muttered.
He currently had two God-Bestowed Spirit Rings in hand: one ordinary and one directed towards Behemoth bloodline.
He planned to wait for one more, then use all three rings for Little Gold simultaneously, letting him absorb them and directly evolve into a Fierce Beast-level Spirit Soul.
God-Bestowed Spirit Rings were still Spirit Rings and could also be used to activate Spirit Rings.
As for using a God-Bestowed Spirit Ring for his own seventh ring?
Su Ming smiled.
That was impossible.
He wouldn't overlook the greatest significance of Spirit Rings.
Each Spirit Ring was an opportunity for a Spirit Master to obtain supplementary characteristics for their Martial Soul from Spirit Beasts.
If it were just for the Spirit Skill, since the Spirit Transmission Pagoda had already built a gene bank, why not just research artificial Spirit Rings? Why persist with artificial Spirit Souls?
Su Ming believed that, given the same gene bank, human Spirit Tool technology was more precise than that of the deities.
One was a lifelong pursuit of researchers, striving for perfection.
The other merely dabbled in the field.
The Third Trial's Nirvana Spirit Skill God-Bestowed Spirit Ring seemed more suitable for Su Ming's Blue Silver Emperor rings, but that wasn't the case.
First, Su Ming's fifth Spirit Skill wasn't resurrection but the Dual Phenomena Symbiosis Domain, derived from the Blue Silver Emperor's Blue Silver Domain.
Secondly, the Behemoth itself was a type with thick skin, high vitality, and strong life force, representing tenacious vitality. The Nirvana Spirit Skill could complement its abilities.
Little Gold still hadn't completed his second evolution. If the Nirvana Spirit Skill could be used together with the Behemoth bloodline God-Bestowed Spirit Ring, it might stimulate Little Gold to achieve this breakthrough.
"What's wrong? Is the Third Trial difficult?" Seeing Su Ming pondering for so long, Chen Xin couldn't help but ask.
He had been the most comfortable this month.
His First Trial was simply to wait for Su Ming and Dugu Bo to complete theirs.
Of course, he hadn't been idle. He also used the Nirvana Flame to temper himself, further exploring the effects of his previous 'break and then establish' breakthrough, striving to reach level 98.
Normally, his foundation was slightly lacking, preventing a breakthrough.
But Su Ming had found time this month to forge a set of Soul Refined metal for him.
Although the core formations for Three-Word Battle Armor hadn't been inscribed yet, it provided crucial foundational supplementation for him.
Continuing cultivation in this minor world, within a year at most, Chen Xin could break through to level 98!
"Difficult? Not really. It's just that I might have to leave this place. Do you two plan to stay here?"
"Leave?" Chen Xin frowned.
"The two of us can't leave on our own?"
"Uncertain. You can try," Su Ming said.
This wasn't an ordinary minor world.
This was the Phoenix clan's territory under a deity's watch. It definitely couldn't be entered and exited freely like the Qilin or Dragon Valley minor worlds.
Chen Xin and Dugu Bo exchanged a glance, both trying to leave, but indeed, they couldn't.
"I'll go out," Chen Xin said.
Dugu Bo chose to stay.
His cultivation couldn't be interrupted.
"Alright."
Su Ming explained the direction of Nirvana to Dugu Bo, then left with Chen Xin.
By now, the Phoenix Continent's general layout had been roughly mapped out by Yueguan and the others.
The reappearance of Su Ming and Chen Xin, missing for a month, immediately drew their attention.
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