He was surprised to realize that the power could not only operate the Profound Qi but also increase it by levels!
The Martial Spirit only increases with the advancement in martial levels. It will be enhanced only with the progression to higher level.
This was to say, one would have a breakthrough in his Martial Spirit only when he enhanced from Elementary Level to Nascent Level, or from Nascent Level to Human Level, and so on.
The small progress from the First Sky of Nascent Level to the Second Sky wouldn't change the Martial Spirit a bit.
Only the progress across levels could develop the Martial Spirit!
However there were exceptions!
The Martial Spirit didn't increase with every advancement of a level. Sometimes, it only increased when the warrior progressed by two or three levels!
For example, the progress of Shi Yan's Petrification Martial Spirit consisted of four stages.
A descendant of Shi Family, who inherited Petrification Martial Spirit, would show grey skin about ten days after his birth, which meant the First Stage.
If this guy was diligent in training Martial Arts and reached the Human Level, the Petrification Martial Spirit would develop and his skin would turn dark brown, which was the Second Stage.
Once he got to the Earth Level, the skin would grow green with the advancement in Martial Skill, which meant it was the Third Stage.
If he was talented enough to get to the Sky Level, the Martial Skill would reach the pinnacle and the skin would turn purple, which would be the Fourth Stage!
The Petrification Martial Spirit of the Shi Family strengthened at every two levels and then changed one's skin color.
Everytime the Petrification Martial Spirit changed and progressed to a higher state, one's muscles' defensive power would increase by several times!
When the Petrification Martial Spirit was at the First Stage, one could easily defend against human fists and attacks infused with Profound Qi to a level.
When it reached the Second Stage and the skin turned dark brown, the defensive power would increase by many times, and one could not only defend against the strong attacks from Profound Qi, but would also be safe against attacks from average weapons.
The green skin of Stage Three had a much stronger defensive power! Weapons could hardly penetrate one's body, and at the same time, one's body would still be unbelievably agile and flexible!
As it reached Stage Four, the body would turn purple and wouldn't be injured by anything, not even by water, fire, or any mysterious tricks. The body would become enormously powerful and agile.
Initially, if the descendant of Shi Family was at Elementary or Nascent Level, his Petrification Martial Spirit would stay at Stage One. It wouldn't advance until he broke to Human Level. The stage of this Martial Spirit advanced only with the increase of one's level.
Other Martial Spirits on the Grace Mainland were all the same as Petrification: they increased along with the advancement of one's level. But some magical pills could change this rule and help the Martial Spirit increase by many levels.
On the Grace Mainland, these magical pills existed only in legends. Warriors of The Fire Empire, the God-blessed Empire, and the Merchant Union had merely heard of them. The real pills hadn't been held by anybody.
Even the three Medicine Kings of the Medicine Valley in the Fire Empire were only Soul-Level alchemists, far from the Divine Level alchemists who were able to refine such magical pills.
However, the mysterious power from his meridians seemed to have broken that rule!
That magical power could not only awaken the Martial Spirit, but also increase the Martial Spirit through stages!
His arms had turned dark brown after petrification, which would happen only to a warrior of Human Level from the Shi Family.
This was apparently the Second Stage of Petrification!
The magical power could awaken his Martial Spirit, and can also increase it, what did this mean?
It meant that he might enter Stage Four of Petrification Martial Spirit even if he hadn't advanced to the Sky Level!
Being impervious to either weapon or water, the body would become more agile and being able to defend against all kinds of attacks.
At the thought of power of Stage Four of Petrification, Shi Yan was pleased that he had gained something precious.
This ability was obviously a Martial Spirit too, which not only helped him purify the Profound Qi in his meridians, but also mysteriously imposed negative emotions on his foes during fights.
This mysterious Martial Spirit was able to absorb Profound Qi from the dead, alter it into live magical power in meridians, and awaken and increase other Martial Spirits...
Shi Yan's dark eyes were sparkling like stars.
Sitting there silently, he realized that if he trained hard with the help of this amazing Martial Spirit, he would become a formidable existence on the Grace Mainland!
...
The Dark Forest. In a bloody area, where there were dead bodies all around the ground, a gloomy looking troop of people were examining something.
"They were from the Wolf Mercenary Union." A worried Bernard walked among those dead bodies, "The Captain of the Wolf Mercenary Union is a Disaster-Level warrior----the same as me. It looks like they were obliterated completely."
On hearing that, the Crescent Emissary and Mo Chaoge frowned at the same time.
After a moment's hesitation, the Crescent Emissary took out a silver horn and began to blow it.
Instead of any sound, an odd wave was sent out and propagated away.
Before long, two men in silver gown and mask, showed up secretly from the woods. Their masks were green and tush-like, which were different from the pale masks on the Crescent Emissary and his people.
"Emissary, have you found anything?" The Crescent Emissary asked coldly.
"Many warriors and mercenaries were attacked last night by demon beasts. Too many footprints here. We can't tell which are of our targets'." one Star Emissary answered respectfully.
The Dark World had two divisions----Dark Emissaries and Black Emissaries. The former were responsible for tracing and collecting information, while the latter was for killing. They were graded as the Star, the Moon and the Sun.
Though the Dark Emissaries and the Black Emissaries did completely different work, they were strictly graded. The star emissaries of Star Level were under Crescent Emissaries of Moon Level.
"Is it so hard to find the target?" The Crescent Emissary was good at killing and fighting, but was bad at tracing. Hearing that, his eyes turned dim.
"Sir, it's a large area and there are too many warriors, demon beasts and mercenaries, so it's really hard to find the targets. During these days' searching, we were attacked by numerous mercenaries, and one of us was killed."
The Dark World was highly infamous, so the bold warriors and mercenaries who came to this area might kill people from the Dark World in a bad mood.
In the past couple of days, they had encountered such kinds of cases many times. Even with the cooperation with warriors from the Mo Family they were regularly challenged, though they didn't lose much.
"Can't find the targets, and unsettled demon beasts, too tough..."
After pondering on it, Mo Chaoge said, "We should stop this aimless search. What about waiting in the Silent Town? It is the only way toward the Merchant Union. They would definitely go to the Silent Town once they get out of the Dark Forest, thus we could wait for them there."
"Good idea." Bernard nodded and showed a murderous look, "whoever goes to the Merchant Union would pass the Silent Town, so we just need to wait and meet them there."
"Well then, let us cross this region as soon as possible. And wait for their appearance during our way to the Silent Town." The Crescent Emissary kept mute for a long time, and compromised to this suggestion, for he couldn't come up with a better one.
The three came to an agreement quickly and stopped searching for Shi Yan and his friends. They were preparing to cross the Dark Forest and ambush them on its border and the way to the Silent Town.
...
For five days, they were moving in the Dark Forest carefully, hiding from demon beasts and warriors.
At night, they would stop moving and rest in covert region.
This way, they avoided many high-level demon beasts, mercenaries and warriors with great luck.
And every night, Shi Yan would train ceaselessly to adapt the Second Stage of Petrification and let the shift go to every cell of his body.
Di Yalan had kept away from men for years. And since she had those amazing experiences with Shi Yan, she would always ask him for it. They let off their passions under trees, in bushes, and beside brooks.
Mu Yu Die knew she was not able to stop them, so she just let it go, though sometimes she still couldn't help cursing and complaining about them being shameless.
This night, after a short training, Di Yalan jumped up and shouted mirthfully, "I, I just had a breakthrough!" Not long before that, she was having a crazy time with Shi Yan under a big tree...
In another ancient tree not far from Di Yalan, Mu Yu Die stuck her head out with surprise. Seeing Di Yalan in messy clothes, she shouted, "That, that is working?"
...