Ou Yangming's conception slowly awoke from being in an endless feeling of comfort, and he only realized what exactly happened when his soul finally returned.

He was completely immersed in the great pleasure that he did not have his guard up against the outside world. If anyone wanted to harm him during the moment, he could be easily killed by the most ordinary military saber.

Moreover, his sea of consciousness could not fully accommodate the lights released by the Devouring attribute. After the largest portion, which was the withstandable amount, was absorbed, the rest was released outside.

Although Ou Yangming did not know what the consequence would be, he was certain that the outside world underwent some unusual change, but he did not know what it was.

His head pounded hard for a while before he took a deep breath and eventually calmed down.

Since he had learned his lesson, he would remember not to do it again in the future.

Ou Yangming's eyes lit up when he sensed the change in his body. He rubbed his hands to release the Appraisal Light once more.

[Race: Human]

[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Human, Yin Grade, Class Five]

[Power: 10]

[Agility: 10]

[Physique: 14 (10+4)]

[Mental Power: 53 (51+2)]

[Skills: Martial arts skills, Military Fire Smithing Art, appraisal art, Precious Stone Embedding Art, Blood Flight, Substitution (Passive), Runes Formation, Space Slicing]

[State: Integration of Heaven and man, thoroughly meticulous]

53!

His integrated mental power suddenly became 53 Points while his basic mental power was 51 Points.

In other words, his mental power increased by 8 Points after the crystal ball was devoured, and he managed to get past the 50-Point hurdle.

8 Points of mental power was a huge difference in value.

The further one was on the cultivation path, the harder it would be for one to improve. It was also worth noting that it would be tougher to upgrade one's mental power than one's martial arts.

Given that Ou Yangming set up a Runes Formation in his sea of consciousness, his mental power was very much triggered. On top of that, he always cultivated and had advanced in martial arts, which was why his mental power increased by 2 Points.

Now, the power was increased by 8 Points after a crystal ball was devoured. The gain was enough to make him content.

Besides, Ou Yangming had a vague feeling that he had not fully benefited from it yet. This was because an 8-Points increment was the withstandable limit for him at the moment, and for all he knew, he might suffer a counter-effect if he continued.

Once Ou Yangming's mental power became much greater, he curbed his thought and entered the indescribable and wonderful realm again.

As he observed through his consciousness, he noticed many nodes that went with the flow in the world. The nodes were not equally distanced from each other, and they were constantly changing. The world was filled with nodes like that.

Ou Yangming reached out his hand abruptly, and the edges of his palm were attached with greater mental power.

"Woosh…"

When he successfully sliced his palm at a node, he was moved, and he experienced an upsurge of insuppressible excitement.

It became easier.

He could clearly feel that the difficulty for him to do this became much lower.

Whether he was searching for nodes or slicing through the resistance, they became more straightforward.

It previously felt like he was slicing the node with his bare hands, but this time, it felt like he did it with a knife. The knife was not sharp and might even have a few notches, but it was much better than using only the palm.

Ou Yangming's mental conception hotly pursued the nodes. He exerted force along the connecting line between the nodes, where he sliced according to the strange curvy line and finally reached the next node.

He did it. This was his first time completing the basic movement smoothly.

Sure enough, the increase in his mental power resulted in an unmatched advantage.

Before this, Ou Yangming was like a half-grown teen, who was learning the way to maneuver a meteor hammer. The hammer's weight could not be withstood by a teen, such that he could be hurt if he used it.

However, the teen had now grown into a burly man. Therefore, even though a meteor hammer was not light, he could already toss it around.

The teen and the burly man were learning the same skill, but there was a huge disparity between them.

At the spur of the moment, Ou Yangming sensed that the carriage had stopped. He also vaguely heard the cavaliers shouting.

'Looks like today's practice comes to an end,' he thought and sighed.

As expected, he later heard Hu Yicheng's voice.

"Young Ou, we've arrived at the inn, so let's have dinner together."

Ou Yangming's hands shook as he withdrew the mental power in his hands. At the same time, he retracted his mental conception too.

When he looked at the nothingness in front of his eyes, he somehow felt a little disappointed.

Even he did not know which one of the two entirely different worlds was the real world.

Nonetheless, he quickly curbed his thought and answered in a deep voice, "Okay, I'll follow your arrangement, Big Brother Hu."

Ou Yangming left the carriage and glanced around, but he instantly noticed a slight difference in the people around him.

There was a subtle difference in the cavaliers' looks as they looked at him with respect and trust, which was completely different from before when they were afraid and worried.

Ou Yangming was not at all delighted when he was being stared at like that; he furrowed his eyebrows deeply.

He could guess that the change was likely related to the release of his overflowing energy earlier on.

"Uncle, please come this way," Hu Lingfeng said with respect as he approached Ou Yangming.

Ou Yangming was extremely shocked, and he was this close to having goosebumps.

'Uncle?'

Hu Lingfeng was the inspector's head cavalier, and he had a cultivation base of Yin Grade Class Four; he was only one rank below Hu Yicheng.

When Ou Yangming and Hu Yicheng became brothers, Hu Lingfeng was present as well, but he did not approve of it.

Indeed, it was unacceptable for a normal person to address someone much younger as an uncle, more so when the "uncle" was not related to that person by blood.

It was not odd that Hu Lingfeng was reluctant at first, but when he suddenly called Ou Yangming an uncle, the young fellow was taken aback.

Ou Yangming was stupefied, and he wondered, 'What exactly happened just now? Why are they looking at me so differently now?'

As Hu Yicheng and the rest led the way, they entered the best room in the inn.

Hu Yicheng grinned. "Young Ou, don't worry, we won't say a word about what happened today."

Ou Yangming smiled as though he was pleased, but he was incredibly curious.

'What happened today? What is it?'

The young fellow felt like his heart was like a cat that was being tickled when he looked at Sir Hu and Scholar Xu smiling mysteriously; he was itching to know, and it was making him feel uncomfortable.

'We were right, he doesn't want anyone to know what happened.' Scholar Xu nodded, then he beamed and remarked, "Brother Hu, nothing happened today, what are you talking about!"

Hu Yicheng slapped his forehead and laughed. "Ah, I'm so silly! Yes, nothing happened today. Come, come, come, let's have a toast."

'Liars,' Ou Yangming said to himself, but he still smiled and had a toast with the men.

The alcohol volume of the watery wine was not high, hence it was nothing for martial arts powerhouses like them. Ou Yangming pondered and expressed, "Gentlemen, I'd like to hear your opinions on what happened today."

His eyes were as sharp as lightning, and he looked high-spirited as if he was confident about everything.

Hu Yicheng and Scholar Xu were not dubious at all. They were startled at first, but they soon racked their brains to think about how they felt when the incident took place.

Sir Hu answered after a brief moment, "Young Ou, the power that you released was exceptionally wonderful. It could somehow boost our spirits and drive our weariness away, so we became a hundred times more energetic."

Scholar Xu nodded and commented, "That's right, but it seems to be quite wasteful to use the power on us. If it's used in a way, it'll surely result in an amazing effect!"

Hu Yicheng nodded as well. "I secretly observed the rest. Not only did they become more spirited, but they also became more courageous. Hehe, if we encounter the dwarf again, we'll be brave enough to fight with him."

They described their feelings in a few sentences. Following that, Hu Yicheng lowered his voice and added, "Master Ou, if that power can be popularized, it'll certainly become a formidable military weapon!"

Ou Yangming responded with a smile, "Big Brother Hu, it's exceptionally difficult to use the power, so it can't be adopted for regular use."

Hu Yicheng and Scholar Xu were visibly disappointed, but they understood what Ou Yangming meant, and they were not going to mention a word about it to anyone else.

Since they had to hurry on with their journey the next day, they had a simple dinner.

As soon as Ou Yangming returned to his luxurious guest room, which had been specially prepared by Hu Yicheng, the smile on his face disappeared.

It turned out that the overflowed mental power, which was converted by the Devouring attribute, had resulted in such a wonderful effect. No wonder Hu Lingfeng and the rest treated Ou Yangming with an entirely different attitude; they experienced the power's benefit.

As said by Hu Yicheng, if Ou Yangming could grasp the power…

Ou Yangming's eyes glowed because it seemed like a problem that he could study. If he could succeed, it would be quite stirring too even if it was slightly less exciting than the interspatial bag.

Before long, Ou Yangming's mental conception slowly sank into his sea of consciousness, where the largest purple light ball quietly floated on the same spot.

The Devouring attribute was a forbidden area as it was not something Ou Yangming could touch on and study yet due to his strength.

That said, Ou Yangming was suddenly attracted to a rune mark in his sea of consciousness.

It was a brand new mark, and he could tell everyone that he had never learned the rune. Furthermore, the rune was not naturally born from the Runes Formation.

More importantly, the rune mark was slowly drifting toward the top of the Devouring attribute's light ball.

Ou Yangming was struck dumb, and he only had a thought in his head.

'I didn't just make a petty gain, did I…'