Warrior's Promise

The Spiritual Soul was the essense of life, as well as the source of spirit of the Mind.

Once the Spiritual Soul blended with the Martial Soul and the Martial Soul evolved into the Fighting Soul, the Fighting Soul would become indestructible and the Spiritual Soul, everlasting.

He would continue to live on even if his physical body were to be destroyed.

The blending of the Spiritual Soul and Martial Soul certainly did not imply a complete fusion of the souls into one. Instead, it just meant that the two would cooperate and complement each other.

The Spiritual Soul of Su Mo had evolved into an extensive spirit of the Mind and had entered his Devouring Martial Soul.

According to the information given by Flaming Ghost Sage, the Ultimacy was the medium through which the Spiritual Soul could blend with the Martial Soul.

Since the Devouring Ultimacy had blended with the Martial Soul, and the Devouring Ultimacy came from Su Mo's spiritual understanding, which was an infinite power, it could well up from the spirit of his Mind without being controlled.

This was a bridge connecting the Spiritual Soul and the Martial Soul.

Su Mo was completely immersed in his cultivation as he strove to blend the Spiritual Soul and Martial Soul together.

Time slipped away slowly, hour by hour.

After dozens of hours had passed, Su Mo slowly opened his eyes.

He had made some progress, however, it would take time to succeed, and he did not have much time left.

With a sigh, Su Mo stopped cultivating and got ready to return to the Shenwu Academy.

...

Su Mo gathered the high-level personnel whose cultivation level had reached the Martial Royal Realm and beyond at the newly constructed Conference Hall of the Firmament Palace.

"Attention, everyone. I am going to depart once again. The development of the Firmament Palace will now rest upon your shoulders!" Su Mo scanned the crowd as he spoke with a clear voice.

"Rest assured, Palace Master. The progress of building up the Firmament Palace will be tremendous, so there is no need for the Palace Master to worry!" The crowd replied.

Su Mo nodded slightly. Seeing as the Firmament Palace was situated in a relatively small town, he supposed there would be little trouble as long as they did not offend other powerful and influential organizations.

"Su Mo, a few of us would like to venture out as well!"

Sikong Yan looked at Su Mo and spoke with a serious expression on his face. "The rate of progress in our cultivation is far too slow if we remain here!"

Su Mo was taken aback by Sikong Yan's words. He frowned at the thought that Sikong Yan wanted to leave this place.

"How many of you?" Su Mo looked toward Jiang Fengran, Zhan Luan, Long Teng, and a few others.

"Su Mo, I have the same sentiments!" Long Teng replied as the other masters of the nine palaces nodded in unison.

Even Xi'er was with them.

Faced with this situation, Su Mo sighed quietly. He knew that these nine were not happy to be cooped up in the small Firmament Palace.

The world was vast and wonderful. There were numerous experts, and they all naturally yearned to improve themselves.

Moreover, these nine were exceptionally talented.

Jiang Fengran and Sikong Yan were Spiritual Bodies, Zhan Luan possessed Twin Martial Souls, Long Teng's real body was a golden dragon, while Yi Xiaoxiao was a descendant of the Eight-winged Drake, which was a Divine Beast.

These five were exceedingly talented compared to most disciples of the Shenwu Academy.

Their talents would indeed be hidden if they remained in the Firmament Palace.

Although Xi'er, Wenren Tiandu, Cai Yun and Qing Ya were a little less talented, they were geniuses nonetheless.

Su Mo fell silent. He did not wish to limit them, however, what would happen to the Firmament Palace if all nine of them left?

"Elder brother Su Mo, do not worry. We will only be venturing out and trying our hands in the outside world. We are not going to cut ourselves off from the Firmament Palace!" Xi'er said gently, aware of Su Mo's concerns.

The reason Xi'er wanted to go out was not to pursue the peak of martial arts but rather, she did not want to be far from Su Mo.

She was aware that Su Mo, talented as he was, would not find it too difficult to progress to the Martial Emperor Realm and, eventually, to the Martial Sovereign Realm.

If she did not go out to seek opportunities, she would definitely lag far behind Su Mo.

"That's right! Although we are leaving the Firmament Palace now, the palace is our root. We will forevermore belong to the Firmament Palace," Zhan Luan said as he nodded in agreement.

The others followed suit and nodded in agreement. They meant to go out to try their luck, but they did not have any intention to cut ties with the Firmament Palace.

Su Mo kept silent for a moment. He thought to himself that he should not hinder them since they wished to go out and try their luck.

"Xiaoxiao, are you leaving as well?" Su Mo turned to look at Yi Xiaoxiao.

He was not overly worried about the others who wanted to leave the Firmament Palace, however, he was worried about this girl.

Yi Xiaoxiao looked around fourteen or fifteen years old. She was especially simple-minded because she was originally a demonic beast. How could she be allowed to go out?

"Elder brother Su Mo, I have already discussed with elder brother Long Teng and we came to an agreement to go out and try our luck together!" Yi Xiaoxiao said, smiling, and looking very excited.

Both of them belonged to the sect of the Demons, therefore, they tended to interact more and have a closer relationship with each other.

"Alright! I will allow all of you to go!"

Su Mo nodded his head and continued speaking. "However, the Firmament Palace should not be left unattended. Stay a few days more before you depart!"

Su Mo meant that the nine of them should stay at the Firmament Palace until it was stronger and stabler.

"Palace Master, please allow them to go ahead! I will remain here until Elder Hai and Elder Di break through to the Martial Emperor Realm. Then I will leave!" Qing Ya said gently.

Qing Ya's strength and capabilities were the lowest among the nine, therefore she was not in a hurry to leave.

"Is that so?"

Su Mo was surprised to hear her words. He turned around to face Hai Mingjiang and Di Shi, studied them for a little while and sensed an aura about them that was a sign of their impending breakthrough.

"Su Mo, I will be able to reach the Martial Emperor Realm in two months!" Di Shi said with a smile.

"Palace Master, I, too, will be breaking through to the next realm within one month!" said Hai Mingjiang.

The level of cultivation of these two had been stagnant. They had been at the Emperor-to-be Realm for quite some time. This was especially true for Hai Mingjiang, who had been at this level for a few hundred years.

Having gone into the outside world, the amount of cultivation he had accumulated over time was now manifested and the breakthrough was imminent.

"Ha ha, that's good!"

Su Mo was immediately relieved, knowing that these two were almost going to break through to the Martial Emperor Realm. They would be more than sufficient to guard Tushan Town.

Su Mo immediately began giving his instructions in detail so that the duty of managing and overlooking the entire Firmament Palace could be handed over to Di Shi and Hai Mingjiang once Sikong Yan and the eight others departed

He made arrangements for the two to oversee the development plan of the palace for the next dozen years and then left them some Lower Spiritual Crystals.

Finally, he bade farewell to everyone and then left Tushan Town.

Thousands of miles away from Tushan Town, high up in the air.

Su Mo stood facing Xi'er.

"Go back, Xi'er! There is no need for you to see me off!" said Su Mo with tenderness as he held her slender white hand.

Xi'er had followed him hundreds of thousands of miles outside Tushan Town to see him off.

"Elder brother Su Mo, when will we meet again after parting ways today?" Xi'er pretty face looked sad as she held on tightly to his hand, unwilling to let go.

After marrying Su Mo, she had not managed to spend much time with him.

Even back when they were in the Firmament World, before the Trial Testers arrived, they had busied themselves with cultivating their skills and had little time to get to know each other.

Su Mo could only sigh quietly. It was truly difficult to spend time together. In fact, most of the time, they were apart.

As he gently pulled Xi'er into his arms, he smelled the fragrance of her hair, and it made him even more reluctant to leave.

"It won't be long. I am still looking forward to having our baby!" Su Mo said. Although he could not bear to leave, he still managed to tease her light-heartedly.

Xi'er blushed immediately and buried her face into Su Mo's chest.

She had wanted to bear Su Mo a child for the longest time!

However, it was not easy for superior martial artists to bear descendants.

The higher the cultivation level of a martial artist, the slimmer the chances of bearing children.

However, it was a fact that parents with higher cultivation level would bear more talented descendents. There were both pros and cons to attaining a high level of cultivation.

The higher the cultivation level of a martial artist, the better his physical qualities would be. Each time the martial artist advanced to the next realm, his physical qualities would transform to a new level.

However, with each transformation, the martial artist's bloodline would evolve to shake off human qualities to become a higher being.

This was why high-level martial artists found it difficult to bear descendants.

This was nature's course to keep all living creatures in a balanced state.

Otherwise, if the martial artists in the Martial Sage Realm and the Empty God Realm were to give birth to numerous descendants who inherited their parents' talents, they would be taking over the entire universe.

"We will get there one day!" Xi'er whispered as her face went all red.

They embraced each other in silence as they savored the moment before they parted.

After a long time, Xi'er blurted out suddenly. "Oh yes, Elder brother Su Mo, the three men from the Sorcerer tribe are still in the Divine Map!"

She was talking about Wu Xian and two other Sorcerer tribe geniuses. Su Mo had handed the Divine Map to her, and the three had been in the Divine Map's Space all this time.

"Leave it to me!" Su Mo said. The three people were still of some use to him.

Wu Xian and the others were then released from the Divine Map by Xi'er and then put into the jade bracelet by Su Mo.

Su Mo and Xi'er leaned on each other for an hour before Su Mo bade farewell to Xi'er and headed for Shenwu Academy.