An hour later.
The spirit ring on Xia Tian's body trembled—he had completed absorbing it.
At the same time, his spirit power began climbing, finally reaching Level 11.
This improvement was within the normal range of spirit power growth.
Xia Tian slowly opened his eyes and met Qian Feng's probing gaze.
Qian Feng was also curious about Xia Tian's gains.
"Thank you for protecting me, Senior." Xia Tian stood and expressed his gratitude.
"Mm." Qian Feng nodded calmly before asking, "How is your first spirit skill? Is it useful?"
Xia Tian didn't hide anything. He raised his hand, and the Autumn Cicada spirit appeared in his left palm with a bright yellow spirit ring floating around it.
"Then please give me some guidance, Senior."
"First Spirit Skill: Space Concealment!"
Immediately, Xia Tian grabbed the Autumn Cicada spirit and took a step forward. The next second, he seemed to walk into another world, disappearing before Qian Feng.
Qian Feng's eyes widened instantly. He scanned the surroundings and pushed his perception to its limit.
He even used his wind powers to search.
Yet he still couldn't find any trace of Xia Tian.
Finally, about a minute later, Xia Tian's figure dropped out of thin air behind Qian Feng, his face deathly pale.
The moment Xia Tian appeared, Qian Feng caught him and discovered his spirit power was completely depleted.
"Why does your spirit skill consume so much?" Qian Feng asked in surprise.
Drained in one minute—couldn't even last three minutes?
Xia Tian's cheeks flushed red as he said embarrassedly, "That was my first time just now. I was too excited, so I moved too fast and couldn't hold out long."
"Actually, under normal circumstances, I should be able to last three minutes."
Qian Feng blurted out, "That's still not very long..."
Xia Tian: "...?"
"Ahem." Qian Feng coughed to break the awkwardness and inquired, "Xia Tian, what exactly does your spirit skill do?"
Xia Tian didn't conceal anything and explained directly, "Senior, my spirit skill is a space-type ability. It roughly inherited that butterfly spirit beast's ability—I can infiltrate space."
"While infiltrating space, others cannot detect me unless they can also sense spatial fluctuations."
"In that concealed state, I can clearly perceive everything in the outside world."
"But if I want to attack someone outside, I must exit the space."
"While infiltrating space, normal walking consumes minimal power. If I speed up, spirit power consumption intensifies."
Xia Tian finally said earnestly, "But I can control it. I just didn't control it well earlier. Once I recover and try again, I'll definitely perform better!"
"That's not necessary. I understand roughly." Qian Feng didn't plan to experience it again and interrupted Xia Tian's bold words.
However, he had already seen the value of this spirit skill.
"Your skill could be called a divine ability for infiltration and assassination. Although the duration is still short now, once you grow stronger and your spirit power increases, you'll definitely be able to maintain it longer."
Qian Feng looked at Xia Tian with approval.
What he didn't say was that the greatest advantage of Xia Tian's skill was that it could actually evade even a Soul Douluo's perception.
This skill's mechanism overcame level differences.
At certain critical moments, Xia Tian could serve as a surprise unit with this ability.
Most importantly, the spirit's mutation didn't prevent the skill from affecting Xia Tian himself. Unlike other summoning-type spirit masters who could only have their spirits use skills in battle.
"By the way, can your skill work on other people?" Qian Feng asked next.
Xia Tian paused. "I don't know, but once I recover, I can experiment."
"Mm, no rush. It's almost dawn anyway. This valley is fairly safe—rest well first. After daybreak, we'll return to Spirit City and discuss other matters."
"Understood, Senior."
"Thrilling~ cough cough—"
Outside the Worship Hall in Spirit City, Xia Tian leaned against a wall, coughing.
Compared to last time's vomiting, he was much better now.
"Strong adaptability," Qian Feng commented. Xia Tian's progress was visible to the naked eye—this was also remarkable talent.
Once Xia Tian recovered, Qian Feng brought him into the Worship Hall to report to Qian Daoliu.
After hearing about Xia Tian's spirit skill effects, Qian Daoliu's eyes flickered. He also saw the skill's value.
Then, like Qian Feng's curiosity, Qian Daoliu had Xia Tian test whether he could bring others into the concealed space.
Xia Tian grabbed Qian Feng's hand and activated his first spirit skill.
Qian Daoliu and Qian Feng carefully sensed everything.
With stronger perception, Qian Daoliu clearly felt an invisible, colorless spatial fluctuation emanate from Xia Tian and cover Qian Feng.
Then Xia Tian and Qian Feng's figures vanished before him.
But after only two seconds, they dropped out of space again, and Xia Tian had once more completely exhausted his spirit power.
Qian Feng quickly steadied Xia Tian.
"Xia Tian, how do you feel?" Qian Feng asked with concern.
"Senior, cough cough, I'm just severely depleted." A smile appeared on Xia Tian's pale face. "I didn't expect Senior to be so powerful. The moment I tried moving with you, my spirit power was instantly drained."
"So your spirit skill can indeed bring people along."
Qian Daoliu concluded, "However, it's not that you bring others into space, but rather you drag them in."
"Therefore, for others to move, you need to pull them, which consumes spirit power. The stronger the person you're dragging and the greater the gap between your strengths, the more spirit power is consumed."
Xia Tian looked at Qian Daoliu in shock. "Grand Worshipper, how did you know? That matches my feeling exactly."
Qian Daoliu smiled kindly.
Qian Feng was also delighted because the experiment proved Xia Tian's skill value had grown even greater.
Xia Tian had evolved from a surprise unit to strategic-level talent.
Though the current Xia Tian couldn't do much, once he matured, he might even drag an entire team into enemy camps for internal disruption!
Qian Daoliu's smile remained as he instructed, "Xia Tian will stay with the Angel Legion for now. Your cultivation resources will be provided by the Worship Hall. Your teacher at Spirit Hall Academy will handle things there for you."
"The Worship Hall will also send a generous sum of gold spirit coins to the orphanage and station a Spirit Emperor there for protection."
"Really?" Xia Tian looked at Qian Daoliu with delight, but then appeared quite uneasy. "But I haven't made any contributions to Spirit Hall yet..."
"This isn't a reward—it's an investment in you. Your talent has earned the Worship Hall's attention," Qian Daoliu explained.
Xia Tian was moved beyond words, thanking them repeatedly. "Thank you, Angel God! Thank you, Worship Hall! Thank you, Grand Worshipper!"
Qian Daoliu nodded with satisfaction.
At least this child knew whom to thank.