Half a month quickly passed. Oscar and Zhao Wuji finally returned from the Star Dou Forest.
Oscar had obtained his third spirit ring, though it wasn't from the Phoenix-Tailed Crest Serpent like in the original story. As a result, his third spirit ability also differed.
His new skill was called Extreme Speed Sausage, which could temporarily boost speed by 30%. It was a fairly average third ability—not weak, but not particularly impressive either.
Compared to Ning Rongrong's Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, Oscar's new skill lacked growth potential. After all, Ning Rongrong's spirit abilities gained a 10% increase with each new ring.
During the time Oscar was away, everything at Shrek Academy ran as usual.
Yu Xiaogang came every day to observe the training of Xiao Wu's group. Initially, he focused on Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. But after noticing they only practiced climbing trees, he lost interest and turned his attention to Xiao Wu instead.
To Yu Xiaogang, Xiao Wu's method of controlling spirit power was clearly more advanced. She could alter the form of her spirit energy in her hands and even release explosive bursts for heavy damage.
He carefully recorded every detail of her training.
Usually, he observed in the mornings and trained alone in the afternoons.
After two weeks, Yu Xiaogang felt he'd made real progress in controlling spirit power. Though he still couldn't scale trees vertically like Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, he didn't think he was doing anything wrong.
Instead, he believed he had skipped the beginner phase of training by chance and jumped straight to Xiao Wu's current level.
He discovered that by focusing all his spirit power at a single point and releasing it in a burst, he could also achieve strong explosive power.
The only difference was that his foundation wasn't solid. He couldn't shift or mold the spirit energy's form like Xiao Wu, nor could he control the intensity of the burst precisely.
And each training session left his meridians feeling strange—bloated and slightly painful.
At this rate, he knew there would be consequences.
So, Yu Xiaogang came up with a solution: soak in a medicinal bath after training or have Shao Xin make some healing candy for the students.
As a food-type Spirit Saint, Shao Xin had recovery abilities.
Yu Xiaogang even tested it himself. After eating one of Shao Xin's healing candies, the soreness in his meridians vanished instantly.
That excited him—this might be a shortcut!
Even if the method wasn't entirely safe yet, with Shao Xin around, he had room to experiment and make mistakes.
He believed that once his spirit power control improved, his meridians would stop hurting altogether.
Another half a month passed.
Once Yu Xiaogang confirmed his theory, he immediately told Tang San and Dai Mubai.
As the saying goes: "Joy is greater when shared."
He felt this kind of discovery should benefit everyone.
In the training yard, in front of Tang San, Dai Mubai, and Flender, Yu Xiaogang punched through a tree as thick as a bowl and stomped a pit three feet wide into the ground.
Then, a rare smile appeared on his usually stiff face. Confidently, he said, "I've fully grasped Qi Lin's training method."
"Qi Lin is a genius, no doubt. But his research into this area isn't deep enough. That's why I found a shortcut he couldn't."
"Wow, Grandmaster, that's incredible! Teach us!" Ma Hongjun exclaimed.
Oscar was equally amazed. "Grandmaster, can support-type spirit masters like me learn this too?"
"Of course!" Yu Xiaogang replied with full confidence.
Oscar's eyes lit up. If that was true, didn't it mean he could also gain offensive capabilities like an assault-type spirit master?
Flender smiled. "Xiaogang, why don't you explain your research to these kids? I'm interested to hear it too."
Yu Xiaogang then shared his findings and training method with confidence.
However, as soon as he finished, two people in the group frowned.
One was Flender. The other—Tang San.
Tang San thought to himself, According to Teacher, the method involves gathering spirit power in the dantian and releasing it at one point for maximum destruction.
But isn't such a brute-force approach risky for the meridians? Even with healing support, surface wounds are easier to fix than internal injuries.
Despite always trusting his teacher, Tang San had doubts. He noticed that this method of controlling spirit energy was oddly similar to techniques like Mysterious Jade Hand, Controlling Crane, Catching Dragon, and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
All of them involved controlling energy from the dantian and releasing it through special forms, creating various techniques.
It reminded him of the martial arts secrets from his past life—only now using spirit power instead of internal energy.
Even so, those past-life techniques didn't allow free transformation of energy form like Qi Lin's method did.
His instincts told him that Qi Lin's training system wasn't nearly as simple as Yu Xiaogang made it seem. But to avoid embarrassing his teacher, he stayed silent.
Flender, however, didn't hold back.
"Xiaogang, there's a serious issue with your training method," he said directly.
"You're doubting me?" Yu Xiaogang frowned.
Flender spoke solemnly, "It's not that I want to doubt you. But you're only Rank 29. You may not understand how immense the spirit energy of a Spirit Saint, Spirit Douluo, or even a Titled Douluo truly is."
"If they tried your method—releasing such vast spirit power without using a skill as a medium—it could do massive damage to their bodies."
Yu Xiaogang's expression tightened, but he argued, "Flender, like you said, that applies to high-rank experts. At that level, they have more options anyway. My theory is for lower ranks."
"Besides, if you can fully control your spirit power, you can regulate the release strength and stay within safe limits. There's no danger."
"And look at Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. Haven't they trained under Qi Lin all this time? Did anything happen to them?"
"Trust me, Flender—it's safe."
Flender looked at him, then thought of Ning Rongrong and the others training with Qi Lin.
Well… they've been fine. And Qi Lin's method hasn't caused problems.
Besides, if something does go wrong, there's always Shao Xin to back them up.