18

Facing Skirk's request to learn how to cultivate spiritual power, Lu Li nodded.

After all, the stronger Skirk became, the higher the chances of defeating Surtalogi.

Lu Li knew what Surtalogi had said: he only killed Skirk's friends and family, not Skirk himself.

That is, he would sacrifice everyone around Skirk to the heavens, thereby making Skirk's magic boundless.

His goal was to make Skirk stronger through fear, strong enough to give Surtalogi a thrilling fight!

To prevent Surtalogi's goal from being realized, Lu Li needed to have two plans.

The first, and most important, was to improve his own strength and become stronger.

Strong enough to defeat Surtalogi and be unrivaled in the world.

The second plan was a safeguard: to enhance Skirk's strength as much as possible, providing a layer of insurance before Lu Li himself became powerful.

Although the current Skirk was no match for Surtalogi, he could basically be said to have no opponents in Teyvat.

This was enough to ensure Lu Li's personal safety in the future.

"To use spiritual power, you need to feel its source."

"I'll look for the spiritual root in your body."

Skirk extended his hand to Lu Li.

Lu Li circulated spiritual power in his palm, then injected it into Skirk's palm.

As soon as the spiritual power entered Skirk's hand, Lu Li instantly felt a void; the spiritual power injected into Skirk's hand dissipated instantly.

Only then did Lu Li remember that Skirk's body had been transformed by Abyssal Power.

His hand had no flesh and blood, and no meridians to transmit spiritual power!

Therefore, Lu Li couldn't inject spiritual power through Skirk's hand at all.

"It's not working."

"Your hand has been transformed by Abyssal Power; my spiritual power cannot enter."

Lu Li withdrew his hand.

"Then there's no other way."

A hint of disappointment flashed in Skirk's eyes, but he quickly returned to calm.

Lu Li motioned for Skirk to squat down.

Skirk nodded slightly and knelt on one knee.

Lu Li stood behind Skirk and stroked his exposed spine, which was cold to the touch.

This was one of the few parts of Skirk's body that had not been completely abyssalized.

Lu Li circulated spiritual power in his palm again, and it condensed once more.

Then, he injected the spiritual power from Skirk's back.

This time, the spiritual power seeped into Skirk's skin like a trickling stream, then entered his spine.

Lu Li felt that as his spiritual power permeated Skirk's body, the Abyssal Power within Skirk immediately surged forth, attempting to devour Lu Li's spiritual power.

Skirk controlled the Abyssal Power, removing its obstruction to Lu Li's spiritual power.

Lu Li also increased his spiritual power output, forcibly carving a path through what felt like a dark ocean.

"Hmm... cough..."

Skirk's body trembled, and his fingers unconsciously gripped the ground.

The spiritual power advanced with difficulty along Skirk's spine, slowly moving through the Abyssal Power within Skirk's body; Lu Li's spiritual power was rapidly consumed, with each inch of progress requiring a significant amount of spiritual power.

Fortunately, with the Primal Vitality Art, Lu Li's spiritual power recovered very quickly.

Half an hour passed quickly, and beads of sweat emerged on Lu Li's forehead; when the spiritual power reached Skirk's lower abdomen, a chill emanated from Lu Li's spiritual power back to his hand, and a thin layer of frost instantly covered Lu Li's small hand.

"Finally found it!"

Deep within Skirk's body, there was an ice-blue power source heavily enveloped by Abyssal Power.

This was the spiritual root!

He had only meant to try, but unexpectedly, Skirk actually had a spiritual root, and it was a mutated, single-attribute ice spiritual root!

And its quality felt very high.

With this ice spiritual root, Skirk gained another source of power.

His speed of becoming stronger would also be faster than solely cultivating Abyssal Power.

Feeling the presence of spiritual power, Skirk's body trembled.

"This power... my body actually still contains such power?"

Skirk had trained for so many years and never discovered that within his body, besides Abyssal Power, there was also this existence called spiritual power.

It was truly miraculous!

From a sensory perspective, Skirk felt that this spiritual power within his body was a cold sensation.

However, this spiritual power was extremely scarce, perhaps because he hadn't cultivated it?

Regardless, Skirk was very happy.

After all, having one more power to use meant one more possibility of defeating Surtalogi.

"Master, your Talents for cultivating spiritual power are excellent; you have an ice-attribute spiritual root."

Hearing Lu Li's words, Skirk was first delighted.

Then he fell into curiosity.

"Ice attribute I understand..."

"But what does this 'spiritual root' mean?"

Skirk was very unfamiliar with the concept of a spiritual root that Lu Li spoke of.

But from the name, it should be a key for using power.

Just like ordinary humans in Teyvat need a Vision as a key to use Elemental Power.

Pathwalkers need to embark on the path opened by the corresponding Aeon to use their power.

Then this existence called a spiritual root in Lu Li's words should be the key to using spiritual power.

"A spiritual root is crucial in determining whether a cultivator can sense and absorb the spiritual power between heaven and earth."

"Moreover, the number of spiritual roots determines cultivation potential and greatly affects cultivation speed and the difficulty of ascending through bottlenecks."

Listening to Lu Li's words, the expression in Skirk's eyes suddenly dimmed a little; he only had one spiritual root... wouldn't that make him the worst?!

However, Skirk quickly let go of it.

He had long clearly known that everyone's path is unique and cannot be replicated; he walked his own life path.

Even if the journey was filled with great storms, making every step difficult, even if it was overgrown with thorns that left him covered in scars... he would still experience such flavors.

Over so many years, whether it was loneliness, fear, separation, sadness, or pain, Skirk had experienced it all.

It was just the inability to cultivate this so-called spiritual power.

It was nothing major.

"Since I only have one spiritual root, and my Talents are not good, I won't learn this spiritual power."

Skirk hadn't yet fully digested the new understanding of swordsmanship he had learned from Lu Li.

Since his spiritual power Talents were poor and cultivation would be incredibly slow, it would be better to first study swordsmanship and quickly become stronger.

Having made his decision, Skirk looked at Lu Li.

"Tomorrow is your birthday, your annual day off. If you've decided where you want to go, come find me at my usual training spot anytime, and I'll take you out to play."

"Don't use that shouting trick of yours; it's too loud."

The shouting trick Skirk referred to was the Abyssal Telepathy Lu Li had comprehended when he first reincarnated into the Abyss.

Sometimes, when Lu Li couldn't find Skirk, he would just shout.

Sometimes it startled Skirk.

With that said, Skirk conjured his crystal blade sword, preparing to head to the training grounds to practice swordsmanship.

Seeing Skirk's demeanor, Lu Li understood.

Skirk thought he only had one spiritual root and that his Talents were too poor.

But in the path of cultivating spiritual power, the number of spiritual roots is not decisive.

Even with one spiritual root, one can cultivate spiritual power, and Skirk's was even a mutated ice spiritual root, which meant excellent Talents!

"Master... you might have a misunderstanding about spiritual roots."