Spirit Capsule

Recalling the events of her childhood, Leng Qingning could not help but feel a sense of melancholy.

The Phoenix Family had always been small in number, and the incident involving Yun Ming in the previous generation had led to the disappearance of the family's twin star, the Dark Phoenix Douluo Leng Yulai—her own aunt—leaving no trace behind.

Although her eldest aunt, Leng Yaozhu, had taken over as the family head and successfully secured her position as the Vice Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda, she had long since lost any interest in marriage or bearing heirs.

No one in the clan dared to pressure her to marry, so as the new generation's genius, Leng Qingning had shouldered pressure far beyond her years ever since she came of age.

Six years ago, she was severely wounded and left half-crippled in the Abyss; seeing the direct bloodline on the verge of extinction and the family destined to fall into a third-rate power, the entire Phoenix Family had nearly fallen into despair.

To return home without success is like wearing fine silks in the dark.

Although An Lan was still young, he had been raised by her own hands, making him half a member of the Phoenix Family.

It was time to find an opportunity to take him back to pay his respects and put the minds of the clan elders at ease.

As for the future, that could wait until he was grown.

At this thought, the gaze Leng Qingning cast upon An Lan grew even softer, and she said gently, "Little An Lan, come, Teacher will take you to choose a spirit."

"Understood, Teacher."

For An Lan, he had long grown accustomed to his two masters casting strange, lingering gazes at him from time to time.

His heart was as still as stagnant water.

High-level hunters often appear in the guise of prey.

He, An Lan, harbored grand ambitions; he could withstand the tests and endure the loneliness.

Right now, the most important thing was to choose his first spirit.

From childhood to the present, he had been fed spirit herbs and bathed in medicinal concoctions, and his two teachers often channeled their own soul power to nourish his meridians.

Consequently, not only his mental power but his physical strength far exceeded his peers, making him fully capable of bearing a thousand-year spirit.

However, the first spirit was the foundation of a soul master's entire life—it was no exaggeration to call it a life-bound spirit—so the choice had to be made with the utmost caution.

Le Lingzhao watched An Lan's earnest expression as he lowered his eyes in thought, not daring to interrupt.

All spirits in the world originated from the Spirit Pagoda; this was the moment for Leng Qingning, the primary master, to display her resources and wealth. Even if she wanted to, she had no way to intervene.

The three of them walked slowly out of the awakening room, the elevator plummeting down toward the underground base in the deepest part of the Spirit Pagoda.

The true foundation of the Spirit Pagoda lay in the Spirit Ascension Platform and the rare spirits accumulated over ten thousand years; these spirits were not open to the outside world.

Given An Lan's status, it was naturally impossible for him to choose from the mass-produced goods available to the public.

In the current Spirit Pagoda, the Qiangu Family held absolute dominance, controlling two-thirds of the rare spirits within the tower. The remaining third was held by the Phoenix Family, the only faction other than the Qiangu Family that still retained a voice in the tower's affairs.

Leng Qingning had already arranged for the spirits she had scouted to be transferred from various locations to Shangling City, waiting only for An Lan to make his selection.

Thus, An Lan had no need to worry about the likes of Tang Wulin, who had to toil away at smithing and exhaust his savings, only to end up with a defective ten-year artificial grass snake.

The underground space was the core area of the Spirit Pagoda's Shangling City branch, lacking the crushing crowds of the surface.

Along the way, An Lan saw no more than a few dozen staff members.

As the Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda in Shangling City, Leng Qingning held absolute authority, and wherever she passed, the staff of the tower and the clan bowed in respectful greeting.

She walked with composure, leading Le Lingzhao and An Lan into a massive, pure-white metal chamber.

Deep within the room, a giant soul tool screen hung high, with rows of spirit illustrations arranged neatly, waiting for An Lan to browse.

An Lan's gaze, however, did not fall upon the illustrations, but was instead drawn to a piece of equipment nearby with a sci-fi design and sharp, aggressive lines.

Seeing this, Leng Qingning smiled faintly: "This is a spatial transmission device. It is only activated for large-scale or extremely rare spirit logistics."

An Lan nodded to show he understood, while knowing in his heart that what his teacher said was incomplete—if one's status was high enough, it could also be activated.

"Has the Spirit Pagoda's spatial soul tool technology become this advanced?" Le Lingzhao's bright eyes could not hide her surprise.

Although she had a close friendship with Leng Qingning, she was not part of the Spirit Pagoda, and this was her first time stepping into such a classified area.

One had to know that the entire southern region of the Federation was the territory of the Le Family; they had the manpower and the money, and their annual investment in soul tool technology research was also an astronomical figure.

She had assumed that the gap between the major powers like the Angel Family, Shrek Academy, and the Spirit Pagoda was merely the ten-thousand-year foundation—things like immortal herbs and spirits—but she had not expected them to be so far ahead in cutting-edge technology as well.

An Lan was equally curious, looking up at Leng Qingning, waiting for an explanation.

"It's not as exaggerated as you imagine." Leng Qingning shook her head. "Long-distance spatial transmission is fraught with difficulties. We are merely taking a shortcut by sealing the spirits within specialized spatial soul tools, which barely allows for cross-regional logistics. The cost-effectiveness is actually very low, and it is not worth promoting."

As she spoke, she operated the instrument and took out two spatial soul tools that looked completely different from the mainstream ones, handing them to Le Lingzhao and An Lan respectively.

"Spirit... no, these are Spirit Capsules."

Looking at the spatial soul tool in his hand that looked almost identical to a spirit capsule, An Lan felt a sense of novelty.

Le Lingzhao toyed with the Spirit Capsule at her fingertips and sighed in admiration: "Even so, this is quite remarkable."

The Southern Legion also invested heavily in spatial technology, but compared to the Spirit Pagoda, the gap was like heaven and earth.

One had to realize that the history of exploring and researching spatial technology was not long; everyone had started from the same starting line.

Yet the gap was so vast that she could not deceive herself by blaming it on a ten-thousand-year foundation.

She then realized that six years ago, she had been stationed in Shangling City, and before that, she had spent four years in the Blood God Legion; her understanding of the Southern Legion was already ten years out of date.

In ten full years, the Southern Legion must have been progressing rapidly as well; perhaps the gap was not as enormous as she had imagined.

Thinking of this, Le Lingzhao felt much more relaxed. She had no intention of continuing to pry into the secrets of the Spirit Pagoda, displaying a perfect sense of propriety.

After tossing the Spirit Capsule to Leng Qingning, Le Lingzhao took the initiative to end the topic: "Let's pick a few spirits for little An Lan to look at first."

"Alright."

Leng Qingning nodded, her fingers skillfully sliding across the light screen to filter for suitable spirits.

"Good disciple, which martial soul do you intend to cultivate first?"

"Red Edge Spear." An Lan answered without hesitation.

He had already considered it; the Red Edge Spear and the Immortal Shield were both Immortal King-level, one offensive and one defensive, peerless under the heavens.

Although both martial souls were top-tier, he preferred offense, so the Red Edge Spear was the first choice.

"In that case..." Leng Qingning pondered briefly before making a precise selection. Several Spirit Capsules were retrieved from the instrument's virtual space, hovering silently in mid-air.

An Lan only saw a flash of light across the surface of the capsules before they split neatly down the middle.

Several spirits of various forms emerged from the capsules, circling around him.