Nebula Soul

Kemar City was far older than Coriti Province. The province had only gotten its current name after becoming the Coriti Clan's fief; no one remembered what it had been called before.

Kemar City had existed for at least tens of thousands of years. Back then, the Keir Kingdom didn't even exist yet.

Torista and Lei Mo entered the city at dusk. The presence of a Level Nine Magical Beast was more than enough to intimidate the guards at the gate. One glance, and the gate captain hurriedly cleared a path for Lei Mo.

Lei Mo didn't stand on ceremony. He led the way, riding the Divine Wind Bear into Kemar City—a city with a long and storied history.

Kemar City was no different from the other cities in human territory, with its thick medieval atmosphere.

The buildings were made mostly of stone. Whatever their comfort, they certainly lasted much longer.

The old ancestors of Huaxia had been masters of refined architecture, with carved beams and painted rafters, pavilions and towers. But wood was far too vulnerable to fire, and the dynastic wars in Huaxia had been especially frequent.

If Kemar City hadn't had so many stone buildings, it could never have lasted this long.

Lei Mo noticed scorch marks on the bricks and stones near the city gate. Clearly, Kemar City had endured its fair share of war.

As he wandered through the city, members of the Coriti Clan had already spotted Lei Mo. They didn't approach, but followed him from a distance.

With that tail in tow, Lei Mo visited the City Lord's Mansion and the Kemar Library, then spent the entire morning reading inside.

He even examined the military camp with his Divine Sense. It held only a few thousand warriors, ranging from Level Three to Level Five. They were barely enough to maintain basic order in the city, let alone control it.

Under Lei Mo's Divine Sense, robberies, murders, and rapes were happening every moment in the city's dark corners.

Setting that aside, the Kemar Library really was a wonderful place. Was this the deep foundation of an ancient city?

Amid that sea of books, Lei Mo discovered many remarkable things.

The War of Gods had taken place countless years ago, and the Elves had won a crushing victory.

There was no record of the exact era, where the battle had taken place, or who had been involved. Only a vague account of the events remained, more like a legend than a historical record.

Combined with what Tagore had told him, was this the war in which the Elf Queen unified the continent?

Or had another divine war taken place later?

The era was simply too ancient. There was no way to know anymore.

What Lei Mo found most curious was a travelogue that claimed an Elf had appeared in Kemar City tens of thousands of years ago. The Elf could transform into all kinds of Magical Beasts, with no difference from the real thing.

There was one drawback: the Magical Beasts he could turn into were all rather small, and far weaker than he was.

The ability didn't add much to his combat strength. Its greatest advantage was catching people off guard, making it quite useful for scouting.

Unfortunately, according to the Elf, his ability to transform into Magical Beasts came from an unexpected encounter. It couldn't be passed down as an inherited ability.

Lei Mo wondered whether that person was still alive. Probably not. Those who didn't reach the Saint Realm would all end up as a handful of yellow earth.

For no apparent reason, Lei Mo suddenly thought of the "complete" Rune on Franklin whose purpose he had never figured out.

"Boom—"

Franklin unfurled his Divine Domain and carried Lei Mo away, setting him down in a secluded spot. Lei Mo had already closed his eyes.

"Transform, shapeshift, Magical Beast?"

Something stirred in Lei Mo's mind. The Rune he had long since memorized, which somehow felt complete, materialized and lit up in his mindscape, slowly shifting and spinning.

Suddenly, his mindscape trembled. An inexplicable fluctuation spread from Franklin, passing silently over Lei Mo's body.

It traveled along his arm to his shoulder, then up his neck—

"Hum—"

The fluctuation went straight into Lei Mo's head and entered his mindscape. He seemed to find himself in a hazy gray space.

"This isn't Franklin's Soul Space. It looks a bit like the Soul Ocean!"

"Then where is my soul?"

At the thought, his consciousness arrived in an instant.

Within that hazy gray space, Lei Mo saw a vast nebula standing before him, like a magical array—orderly and beautiful.

The magical array was in constant motion. A towering, phantom Totem Pillar stood majestically within the nebula.

"Is this my soul? Whose soul looks like a nebula magical array?"

"Is this Totem Pillar the reason I can comprehend the Law of Destruction?"

"But what kind of talent does a nebula-shaped soul represent?"

Lei Mo fired off question after question in his mind, unsure who he was asking.

The nebula soul was far too orderly. A nebula in the starry sky couldn't be so complete and tightly structured, without the slightest excess spread.

The nebula magical array was mesmerizing and mysterious, like the most intricate magical array, its rings linked together, and like the most beautiful treasure. Simply looking at it was intoxicating.

"If I feel this way just looking at my own soul, what about other people?"

Lei Mo marveled at the sight. Being able to view his own soul had already been a strange novelty, and now he was seeing such a miraculous scene.

The shock stirred his mind, leaving his thoughts in disarray as all sorts of random ideas came to him.

"If a weapon-shaped soul has a talent for destruction, then what kind of talent does a nebula-shaped soul have?"

Lei Mo's mind wandered on, seemingly beyond his control.

"Boom—"

A complex, mysterious Rune, with a natural sense of completeness, suddenly flew into the nebula-shaped soul.

It slowly appeared above the towering phantom Totem Pillar, circling around it.

Every line of the nebula soul was so perfect, shimmering with flowing radiance and shifting waves of light.

Slowly, the light flowing within the nebula poured into the Rune.

"Hum—"

The entire nebula-shaped soul began to tremble. The frequency was irregular, as if it were adjusting itself. After who knew how long, it gradually stabilized.

The complex, mysterious Rune suddenly vanished into the nebula.

At the same time, a Rune appeared on the towering phantom Totem Pillar.

It was enormous and crystal clear, shining in harmony with the phantom pillar.

Wasn't it the same mysterious Rune that had just vanished?

This was the Rune whose purpose Lei Mo had wondered about for so long. He had searched all through his Soul Space, but no soul had ever shown any insight into it.

When he had observed the split body at the Ancestral Court last time, he truly hadn't seen it either.

Now, such a major change had taken place, and it was etched into Lei Mo's soul. He had no idea what would happen next.

Lei Mo decided to try it. He found a huge stone slab and engraved the enormous, mysterious Rune onto it.

As he engraved it, Lei Mo used his own blood as well.

A wave of soul energy passed through, and the Rune activated on its own, unlike any Rune Lei Mo had engraved before.

The moment the Rune took shape, light flowed across it. It slowly changed form, becoming a new combination of Runes.

It was similar to the original Rune, yet different. At its center, a vortex appeared, expanding and contracting by turns.

"Whoosh—"

The combination of Runes rose into the air, flew into Lei Mo's mind, and merged into the nebula. The Rune that had appeared in the nebula soul through his insight and the Rune that had just entered it slowly fused together.

With a boom, they burst apart and turned into specks of starlight, scattering through the nebula soul. The movement of the entire nebula soul suddenly halted.