At that very moment, a group of people stood around a mud bowl about the size of an iron pot.
The Earth Spirit's true form wasn't the strangest thing they'd ever seen, but it was definitely the smallest.
In its own words, it was the embodiment of the earth path. Size was just a concept to it—or rather, its true form could be as large as it wished.
Hanyu and the Artifact Spirit exchanged glances. They'd already encountered this thing once, when they'd threatened the Earth Spirit into helping them.
That time, the Earth Spirit had revealed the strange inscriptions inside its true form to protect its integrity.
Those eerie markings had made Hanyu wary of touching it, so he'd abandoned his plan to use the Earth Spirit's true form to find other spirits.
Now, the mud bowl had appeared once more.
The Earth Spirit hopped lightly inside. As its tail swished, the bowl underwent an even greater transformation than last time.
It was as if layers of dust had been swept away. The mud bowl turned translucent in an instant, like jade, and began to glow faintly. Countless runes flickered into view, then suddenly shone brilliant and bright.
After hopping back out, the Earth Spirit circled around the Water Spirit, bubbles tumbling from it one after another.
"It says that ever since it awoke, its true form has looked like this. It's also always had a thought telling it to guard its true form. So if there's anything special about it, it can only be its true form."
The Water Spirit served as its mouthpiece, explaining on its behalf.
That only made everyone more curious. They crowded around the thing, now shaped like a jade bowl, and examined it with wonder.
"Could this be it?"
"It should be. There's