First Battle

Among the rare-quality War Spirits, after countless years of survival of the fittest, only ten races remained: the water-type Dragon Palace guards—the Shrimp Soldiers, and the mist-dwelling Illusory Mirage Beasts; the fire-type fire spirits—the Fire Crows, and the Spirit Fox Warriors—Jiuli; the wood-type Wood Spirits, and the venomous flower vines—Poison Spirits; the earth-type stubborn stone youths—Stone Men, and Underworld Yin Soldiers—Ghost Messengers; the metal-type Golden Armored Warriors—Armor Spirits, and Sword-Wielding Attendants—Sword Spirits. As for the light and dark types, even their lowest-level War Spirits were epic-grade, while the lowest-level Space-Time War Spirits were all mythic-grade.

"Young Master, you still have one free Advanced Summoning available. Would you like to use it now?" Youyou's faint voice rang out again.

Xiao Yun did not hesitate this time either. He said softly:

The runes on the Altar began spinning rapidly before finally condensing into a violet glow. Within the purple light, a white-haired rabbit girl dressed in red appeared out of thin air. She held a round hammer with a blue handle, and it looked quite heavy.

The moment she fully materialized, she jumped down from the Altar and respectfully bowed to Xiao Yun. "Greetings, Lord. Tu Yaoyao of the Moon Palace Spirit Beast Jade Rabbit clan reports for duty."

Xiao Yun asked curiously, "Tu Yaoyao, where were you before you were summoned? What were you doing? Do you remember anything?"

Tu Yaoyao shook her head. "Reporting to the Lord, I do not remember much from before I was summoned. I only remember living in the Moon Palace, but when I was summoned, I was given a great deal of basic information. I can carry out all kinds of tasks for you."

It seemed that the Altar had indeed instilled quite a bit of information into her the instant she was summoned. Xiao Yun continued, "Then what abilities do you have?"

Tu Yaoyao immediately replied, "Reporting to the Lord, I currently have three skills: Giant Hammer Earthquake, Defense Enhancement, and Life Recovery. I can also command a squad of rare War Spirits."

Xiao Yun nodded. As long as she could handle basic tasks, she could help guard Imperial Capital City whenever he left. He then ordered, "Tu Yaoyao, take your orders. I'm placing this Sword Spirit under your command. When I am away from White Jade Capital, you are to carry out patrol duties."

Tu Yaoyao bowed respectfully. "Understood, Lord."

After arranging Tu Yaoyao's duties, Youyou softly reminded him, "Now that you have War Spirits, you should go outside and gain some experience. Raise your strength as quickly as possible."

There was indeed nothing left to see in White Jade Capital. Xiao Yun immediately said, "All right. It's time to take a look outside."

Youyou asked directly, "Would you like to teleport to Clear Wind Valley?"

Xiao Yun replied softly, "Yes."

His vision went black. When he saw the outside world again, he found that Tu Yaoyao and he had appeared in Clear Wind Valley beneath Imperial Capital City. At the same time, he discovered that his appearance had completely changed into that of the Sword Immortal Li Bai. It seemed that after inheriting Sword Immortal Li Bai's legacy, the world had automatically made him directly control the top-tier mythic War Spirit, Sword Immortal Li Bai, whenever he fought.

Just as Xiao Yun was feeling delighted and before he could even take in the scenery around him, he noticed quite a few demonized grass and wood spirits surrounding Tu Yaoyao and him.

Seeing Tu Yaoyao eager to make a move, Xiao Yun raised a hand to stop her. He happened to be holding back a great deal of anger that needed venting, and he also wanted to test the strength he had just inherited from Sword Immortal Li Bai. Following the circulation method of the Azure Lotus Sword Song, the thin Spiritual Power within his body began to flow, and a cyan longsword condensed from Spiritual Power appeared in his hand.

First form of the Azure Lotus Sword Song—Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon!

Xiao Yun's figure instantly transformed into a streak of White Light, darting through the demonized grass and wood spirits. Every strike pierced a vital point with perfect accuracy, and in the blink of an eye, he had wiped out the entire group.

"Phew..." Xiao Yun let out a long breath. Feeling the faint threads of Spiritual Power growing within him, he knew that from this day onward, his life would be completely changed.

Xiao Yun checked the rewards from this battle: experience, Spiritual Power, gold coins, Breakthrough Stones, Bounty Points, and a one-star green Clear Wind Sword.

Experience: Mainly used to raise Xiao Yun's Lord Level. Higher levels could unlock other buildings.

Spiritual Power: Mainly used to raise the levels of War Spirits. The higher a War Spirit's level, the greater the combat power it could unleash.

Gold coins: They had a wide range of uses. They could be used to buy certain Supplies in shops, and War Spirit upgrades also required large amounts of gold coins. Many other things later on would require gold coins as well.

Breakthrough Stones: Once a War Spirit reached a certain level, it needed Breakthrough Stones to overcome its bottleneck. Otherwise, its level could no longer increase.

Bounty Points: Used to accept Bounty Missions. Completing Bounty Missions could yield many rewards, including Normal Summoning Contracts, Advanced Summoning Contracts, Spirit Stones, Normal Treasure Hunt Keys, Arena Tokens, and more.

The last item, weapons, was the simplest. Naturally, they were used to equip War Spirits. For example, the Clear Wind Sword that had just dropped would add 30 points of attack power to a War Spirit once equipped.

All War Spirits could wear four basic pieces of equipment: weapons, helmets, armor, and accessories. Weapons and accessories directly increased attack power, while helmets and armor directly increased the wearer's vitality.

These pieces of equipment also had their own grade divisions: green, blue, purple, orange, and red. Green and blue each had two levels, purple had three, orange had four, and red had six. With every grade increase, the attributes provided by the equipment rose considerably.

After clearing out the monsters around their foothold, Xiao Yun's Lord Level rose from level 1 to level 2, unlocking the War Spirit upgrade function. He immediately poured all the Spiritual Power and gold coins he had obtained into the Sword Immortal War Spirit he currently controlled, raising its level by one and greatly increasing its combat power.

Xiao Yun then led Tu Yaoyao deeper into Clear Wind Valley. Before long, they reached the second stage. There were far more demonized grass and wood spirits here than in the entrance area, but they were still no match for the Sword Immortal War Spirit and were easily dealt with.

Xiao Yun did not save any of the newly acquired gold coins or Spiritual Power, pouring everything into the Sword Immortal Li Bai War Spirit he controlled. He wanted to level up the Sword Immortal War Spirit as quickly as possible and gain the Self-Preservation Ability he needed. As for Tu Yaoyao, he did not need to worry about her at all. Her strength was clearly formidable; she could basically kill those low-level demonized grass and wood spirits in a single blow. Furthermore, after she killed monsters, half of the rewards would automatically be transferred to Xiao Yun, while the other half belonged to her.

Soon, Xiao Yun and Tu Yaoyao arrived at the fifth stage. A minor boss appeared among the monsters for the first time there: a demonized member of the Xiangliu clan. Its poisonous attacks dealt heavy damage, but it was still far inferior to the level 10 Sword Immortal. Xiao Yun used the Sword Immortal's ultimate technique, Myriad Swords Returning to the Source, to turn it into a sieve.

At the same time Xiao Yun killed the Xiangliu, he received a prompt from Youyou.

"Having reclaimed half of Clear Wind Valley, your cultivation realm has been rewarded with an upgrade from an Ordinary Person to the first stage of cultivation: Refining Essence into Qi."