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After launching the initial attack and provoking Shi Nian, Su Wen ignored the man's fury. Having collected the blood sample he needed, he immediately activated his fifth spirit skill.
Void Traversal.
Su Wen vanished from the street instantly.
Shi Nian's powerful spiritual sense swept across the entire area, but he found no trace of Su Wen.
"An illusion?" Shi Nian's expression shifted slightly.
If it truly was an illusion, the opponent's mastery of the craft might be even higher than his own. After all, they had found his true body's hiding place and managed to conceal themselves from his detection.
After searching for a full three minutes, Shi Nian's face turned incredibly ugly.
He was gone!
He was certain now; that young man possessed a spatial spirit skill and had used it to escape.
"He's insane!" Shi Nian cursed.
To provoke a Spirit Saint for no reason, enrage them, and then simply leave—what was the point? Shi Nian couldn't wrap his head around it.
However, he didn't waste more time on Su Wen's intentions. His primary target was still Tang San. Having withstood the Seven Asura Illusion, Tang San definitely possessed a spirit bone—either a mental-attribute bone that boosted spiritual power or a head bone! Whichever it was, Shi Nian was going to take it.
Besides the allure of the spirit bone, Shi Nian simply enjoyed the process of tormenting and killing geniuses.
"Sigh, that unlucky bastard is still going to his death," Su Wen sighed from a distance.
Su Wen had set his sights on Shi Nian's spirit bone as well, but he hadn't wanted to kill the man himself. He hadn't expected the fool to actually go after Tang San.
Tang San might not have his Yama's Invitation yet, but Tang Hao was currently tailing him at every moment.
"Fortunately, this spirit bone is still mine," Su Wen chuckled, looking down at the spirit bone in his hand.
Spatial power was truly a wonderful thing. Once he researched it thoroughly, his combat methods would become incomparably unpredictable.
In the outskirts, after Tang Hao finished off Shi Nian, he felt a sudden pulse of spirit power. Seeing the light emitting from Shi Nian's head, Tang Hao knew instantly that a "goodie" had dropped.
However, before he could even reach out to collect it, a ripple of spatial energy occurred, and the spirit bone vanished into thin air.
"Argh! Su Wen, you go too far!" Tang Hao roared in fury.
As a dignified Titled Douluo, he was truly enraged this time. Su Wen had played the "good guy" by protecting Tang San earlier, yet he had the audacity to snatch the loot right from under his nose.
When Tang San learned that he had lost a head spirit bone—and that the one who took it was most likely Su Wen—his face turned dark, his eyes filled with a chilling coldness.
"Su Wen... you have a way to seek death (取死之道)!"
The Academy
Back at the Academy, Su Wen took out the spirit bone he had acquired. It was a head bone, though not entirely "complete," and its age didn't seem exceptionally high. (Note: In the original work, Tang San killing Shi Nian yielded a left arm bone, but it became a head bone during the tournament prizes; here, it is treated as a head bone.)
"This bone is relatively intact, but the age is a bit low—close to ten thousand years, but not quite there. Though it's a gem-type bone focused on illusions and would suit Rongrong, it's ultimately not the best choice. I'll find a better one for her when the opportunity arises."
A figure slowly materialized beside Su Wen. During his travels over the past half-year, he had replicated various clone-type spirit skills. After researching them thoroughly and merging their strengths, he had created a self-created spirit skill: External Incarnation.
It couldn't create a permanent clone, but it could produce a realistic one for a short duration—one capable of merging with and activating spirit bones.
Su Wen merged the head bone into the incarnation and activated its skill: Phantom Space.
This skill allowed allies' spiritual power to increase by 20% while establishing a mental network that allowed everyone to communicate through thought, ensuring they wouldn't get lost in illusions. For enemies, it created a hallucinatory effect that messed with their sense of direction and gradually weakened their spiritual power.
Without a doubt, this spirit bone skill was quite powerful. Knowing its utility, Su Wen reconsidered giving it to Ning Rongrong.
"We'll see. If I can perfect the Ring Replacement Method to the point where Spirit Masters don't need external rings and can absorb special energy to raise ring ages themselves, perhaps the age of spirit bones can be raised alongside them."
Regardless of whether he gave it to Rongrong, Su Wen intended to replicate this skill. For him, it was a top-tier ability.
"The effect of establishing a mental network will be a huge help in constructing my Virtual World."
Su Wen had never stopped replicating spirit bone skills during his travels. With bones of various ages in his possession, he had steadily improved the development of his replication skill. Combined with the External Incarnation, replicating the skill of this nearly ten-thousand-year head bone took only three hours.
"Actually, now that I have Phantom Space, Rongrong doesn't strictly need it as much. I'll definitely find her a better one," Su Wen said, putting the bone away.
The Fallout
Shi Nian had vanished without a sound, and no one knew where he had gone. However, news of Su Wen possessing spirit bones had begun to spread.
It took a week for Su Wen and Ning Fengzhi to realize this.
That night, Dugu Bo tracked down Huyan Zhen and gave him a brutal beating. Huyan Zhen frantically protested that he wasn't the one who spread the word. Even if he had made a "reminder" in the VIP section earlier, most people had been intimidated by Ning Fengzhi at the time. Furthermore, unless someone had a grudge against Su Wen, no one would intentionally destroy another person's reputation if they couldn't get the spirit bone themselves.
Therefore, the fact that news of Su Wen's bones was leaking out so aggressively definitely didn't come from the VIPs who had merely guessed.
"Little Wen, what have you done recently?" Dugu Bo asked after finding him.
Su Wen sighed. "I think I know who's spreading it."
He confessed the details of replicating Shi Nian's martial soul and snatching the spirit bone.
"You kid... you actually dared to provoke Shi Nian?" Dugu Bo was speechless. But since Su Wen had planned the whole thing out and used his spatial skills to ensure safety, Dugu Bo didn't scold him. Instead, he was amazed at the ability to teleport a spirit bone across space directly into his hand.
"It's actually a further development of the Phantom Realm. I just 'teleported' the spirit bone into the realm instead of myself."
Su Wen made it sound simple, but developing it to that level was far from easy.
The first round of the qualifiers was intense, with dozens or even hundreds of matches held daily. As the rounds progressed, they were nearing the end of this stage.
"Sect Master Huyan, did you take a fall? Why do you look so disheveled?" a voice asked.
(End of Chapter)