Unfortunately, no one responded to Yue Yu's words.
Aside from the battle maniacs, everyone else found such fights, which served no purpose beyond revealing one's strength, utterly uninteresting. They instead turned to sharing their various insights and experiences.
"Yue Yu, stop provoking them. Aside from me and Chen Sen, who can't feel comfortable without a fight, all of them are holding back. Even when they spar, it's usually done privately, between two people, so no information is exposed, and the loser doesn't lose too much face," Liang Zhen Dao said, stroking Yue Yu's head.
"Uncle, don't mess with my hair. That's harassment of a minor girl, you know?" she said, instantly flashing to his blind spot.
"Alright, alright, stop bickering. Let's listen seriously to what they have to say."
"According to the institute's classification, we are currently all in a stage called the Spirit Animation Stage. The Spirit Animation Stage is divided into ten levels, corresponding to 10%, 20%... all the way to 100% spirit energy conversion of the body."
"However, there's currently no instrument that can precisely measure the degree of spirit energy conversion. So, generally, the completion of spirit energy conversion in the first Spirit Hub and the manifestation of the first ability marks entry into the Spirit Animation Stage, while the manifestation of a second ability marks the third level of the Spirit Animation Stage."
Sitting in a corner, Bai Mo conversed with the others about related topics while gazing at the screen.
"So what about the second level of Spirit Animation?" Yue Yu asked naturally. After all, jumping directly from the first to the third level seemed a bit odd.
"Perhaps it's a placeholder," Bai Mo said nonchalantly. "If they discover any smaller breakthroughs between the first and third levels later, then the second level of Spirit Animation, as a reserve rank, can be directly utilized, without needing to push everything back one level."
Everything had only just begun; the system needed some room for buffer. At least, that was Bai Mo's understanding.
"Deputy Captain Bai is right," Liang Gong continued. "The academy's current classification is indeed like that, but what I'm more concerned about is this thing called the Life Field."
"Life Field...?" Most people looked intrigued but confused.
"That field that envelops the entire body?" Yun Jie asked.
"Precisely."
"A Life Field can isolate external elemental manipulation and long-range attacks, preventing them from directly affecting the body enveloped within it. One can only launch a direct, forceful assault from the outside," Bai Mo said casually.
Ye Zi, who had always been indifferent to her surroundings, cast her attention over for the first time upon hearing this.
"If converted to Spirit Animation Stage levels, it probably appears around the fifth level of the Spirit Animation Stage. I don't know anything more than that," Bai Mo said, stopping the topic.
In the time that followed, everyone continued to share their thoughts on cultivation and Spirit Qi. Of course, they all held back some information, but this kind of "sitting and discussing the Dao" was truly mutually beneficial, especially when everyone's skill levels were mostly comparable.
Once their interest was piqued, time flew by swiftly, and in a blink, it was evening.
It wasn't until nearly eight in the evening that a bus carried the twenty Dao Academy members who had stood out in the day's battles back to the hall.
Bai Mo swept his divine sense over them. Among the twenty, every single one was energetic, most bearing minor, inconsequential wounds, looking like seasoned veterans.
However, despite appearing to have endured numerous battles, their level of spirit energy conversion and fundamental attributes still showed a considerable gap compared to the various captains beside them. After all, from the very initial selection, these captains had been the cream of the crop.
"I hope there's a more interesting match, not a complete sweep," Yun Jie thought to himself.
"Captains, please check the results of your draws on your accounts, find your corresponding challengers, and the final round of matches will begin shortly!" the announcer declared loudly over the broadcast.
"Go quickly and return quickly," Yun Jie quipped just before their departure.
The group and the twenty challengers all ascended to the top floor of the building, where there were four arenas, allowing for four matches to proceed simultaneously.
"I drew number twelve, which means the third round." After seeing his draw, Bai Mo walked to the line for the third round of matches and saw his opponent—a burly man standing two meters tall.
"Around the third level of Spirit Animation Stage, with spirit energy conversion primarily concentrated in his skin and eyes." Bai Mo quickly reached this conclusion after scanning the burly man's internal structure.
Bai Mo, who was already progressing towards the tenth level of the Spirit Animation Stage, felt that even if he stood there and allowed his opponent to strike him, he likely wouldn't be able to break through his Life Field's defense.
He stood to the side, simultaneously observing the four matches of the first round with his divine sense. His expanded information processing capabilities allowed Bai Mo to analyze the situations in all four arenas concurrently without any interference.
The first match was Ye Zi's battle. Bai Mo glanced at the situation of both combatants and instantly determined the outcome of the fight.
"I won't advise you to give up. Since you've stepped onto this arena, you naturally have your own resolve. However, I must warn you: if I make a move, you'll be laid up in the hospital for at least half a month," Ye Zi stated in a cold tone, as if simply relaying a fact.
"This old man doesn't believe in superstitions! There have been plenty of people boasting here today, and haven't they all been knocked down by me? Don't think I won't go easy on you just because you're a beauty!" the man standing opposite Ye Zi retorted, unwilling to show weakness.
Upon hearing his reply, Ye Zi, feeling she had done her utmost in kindness and advice, no longer wasted words.
"Three, two, one, match start!"
"Coalesce." Ye Zi uttered a single word indifferently, then pointed her index finger at her opponent.
With her single word, the burly man's body, both internally and externally, began to rapidly plummet in temperature.
The low temperature outside his body was a minor matter to him; after reaching the third level of the Spirit Animation Stage, his body's thermoregulation capabilities were entirely sufficient to cope. However, the freezing of water within his cells was an attack lethal enough to an ordinary person.
Once frozen into ice crystals, water expands by roughly one-tenth of its volume, enough to burst the cells within the human body. Without the protection of a Life Field, low-level ability users who had just awakened their powers were completely incapable of withstanding such an attack.
With widespread cellular damage inside his body, even with the enhanced self-healing abilities of an ability user, he would still have to lie in a hospital for a considerable period.
Of course, this move held little significance against an opponent protected by a Life Field. A person's body temperature falling below 30 degrees Celsius meant they were not far from death, yet a drop in external temperature, even to 10 degrees Celsius, would still not pose a significant problem.
Interfering with internal body temperature and changing external body temperature were entirely two different levels of attack.
After realizing that widespread problems were beginning to emerge within his body, the burly man surrendered without a second thought. Are you kidding? His opponent's very first move was a lethal skill that lowered body temperature, and he had no way to defend against it. If he didn't surrender now, he estimated his life would be in danger.
Upon hearing his surrender, Ye Zi immediately ceased her ability, allowing the medical team outside to transport her opponent, suffering from internal frostbite, to the hospital... Casually taking a life was something she couldn't do yet.