Unbending Soul

After exiting the martial soul awakening room, Su Haitao led the two of them straight to the room next door.

The door opened, and the space suddenly widened.

In the center of the room stood a massive object, three meters high and six meters wide, its metal casing gleaming with a cold light. Through the semi-transparent cabin wall, one could see dozens of spheres suspended densely inside, each containing spirit souls ranging from ten to a hundred years old.

Yet, everyone looked at this lottery machine.

Su Haitao spoke up: "According to regulations, the Spirit Pagoda provides one free spirit soul. These complimentary spirit souls are generally artificial. Given your conditions, I suggest you add some money to purchase a rare spirit soul; it will be much better for a spirit master's future development."

He handed over a spirit guidance tablet. As the screen lit up, a dense list of spirit souls appeared.

"Take your pick."

In truth, the commission for selling spirit souls was quite high, while free ones offered no commission at all.

Xiao Mu took the tablet, his fingertips sliding across the screen. He skipped over the dragon-type spirit souls immediately; a spirit soul could be weak, but it absolutely could not be a traitor.

His gaze turned toward those spirit souls possessing the bloodlines of the phoenix, titan, or qilin.

Then, he paused on one in particular.

Titan Snow Demon.

The descendant left behind by the ancient Ice God's favor toward the Titan Giants. In terms of race alone, none in the Far North could surpass it. Cubs were ten meters tall at birth, and adults exceeded fifty meters. The one before him, nearly a thousand years old, was already twenty meters tall.

Xiao Mu stared at the name for a long time, pondering whether it could withstand the bloodline of the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings without rebelling.

I'll leave it as a backup for now.

He continued scrolling.

The light from the screen flickered across his face, and then he spotted another.

A spirit soul possessing the qilin bloodline. Its form was robust, its fur a dark gold, and its eyes were emerald-green like glazed glass, their gaze sharp and intimidating.

Golden patterns bulged on its forehead, its limbs were thick and powerful, and its demeanor was fierce and imposing, carrying an inherent aura of ferocity.

Xiao Mu watched it for a long time—so long that Su Haitao thought he had made his choice.

"This spirit soul is no simple matter. It possesses the ancient qilin bloodline; the qilin is not one bit inferior to the giant dragon."

"It's not bad, but let me look a bit more."

Xiao Mu continued to flip through, and he saw another suitable spirit beast.

It was a Three-Legged Crow.

It was draped in mysterious black feathers that shimmered with a dark luster in layers, and fine, brilliant golden patterns spread between its wings and body, with flowing light dancing across them.

Standing on its single leg, its posture was agile and spirited. As its feathers unfurled slightly in the wind, the golden patterns shone brilliantly, and a scorching aura swirled around it—divine, majestic, and clearly extraordinary.

Xiao Mu stared at it, feeling it was quite good, though he noticed Su Haitao's expression had turned somewhat ugly.

"Master Su, is there a problem with this spirit soul?"

Su Haitao was silent for a moment before saying, "This spirit soul has some minor flaws. You can tell by the price."

"What kind of problems?" Xiao Ming pressed, though he had already guessed something in his heart.

"It is an unyielding spirit soul," Su Haitao explained. "Among the spirit souls stored in our Spirit Pagoda, not all can be absorbed by spirit masters. This was true in ancient times, and it remains true today. The vast majority of these unabsorbable spirit souls are so because of their own pride or stubbornness. We call these 'unyielding spirit souls'."

"Once a spirit master tries to force an absorption, it will inevitably lead to life-threatening situations."

"As for why this one is being sold, it's because it was once a guardian of the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform. It would directly take command of all the spirit beasts in that area for a period of time. Any spirit master below the four-ring level who entered would be swarmed and attacked..."

Hearing this explanation, Xiao Mu couldn't help but feel puzzled. The capacity limit for the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform was for spirit masters below the four-ring level, right?

Moreover, for a hundred-year-old beast to know how to organize small groups—this level of intelligence sounded smarter than Di Tian.

They would just swarm the intruders.

This spirit soul sounds pretty good. This level of intelligence doesn't look like a hundred-year-old spirit soul at all. Xiao Mu had already made his choice. Although the Golden Crow in Douluo was golden-red, it wasn't even the ultimate form.

But this Three-Legged Crow had sufficient intelligence, and according to the description, its ability was to transform into a red sun, resembling a blazing star.

"Can I try? My spiritual power should be enough for a brief communication," he added. It was just a spiritual connection; there wouldn't be much loss.

Su Haitao hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "I need to ask my superior first."

He turned and walked to the corner, speaking in a low voice into his communicator.

Xiao Ming looked at his son and asked, "Unyielding spirit souls are too dangerous. Let's pick something else."

"Dad, if I shrink back at the first sign of danger, what kind of spirit master would I be? This spirit soul can definitely provide me with a powerful spirit skill."

Xiao Mu's voice was calm. If he only sought safety, he wouldn't be researching this.

Even if there were a bottomless abyss ahead, he would still carve out his own path. To be alive was to live with absolute brilliance.

There are no gods in this era, only me!

Before long, Su Haitao returned. "The Pagoda Master said it's possible, but he will have to stand guard nearby."

"Pagoda Master Li?"

"Yes, our Pagoda Master is named Li Jing." Su Haitao nodded.

"Does he have three sons at home?" Xiao Mu asked, puzzled.

"How did you know I paid the gift money three times?"

"I guessed."

Xiao Mu struggled to hold back his laughter. What a coincidence; after all, the East Sea was right next door, so he had just taken a wild guess. He simply hadn't expected Su Haitao to be so well-versed in social graces.

Suddenly, the main door opened.

Li Jing walked in. He looked to be in his early forties, with a tall, upright frame and the steady composure of someone who had long held a position of authority. In his palm, he carried a specially crafted spirit orb. Unlike the balls used for lucky draws, this one allowed for the spirit to be reclaimed within a certain timeframe.

"You are the genius with innate full spirit power and an innate Spirit Connection realm?"

"Do you have any interest in joining the Spirit Pagoda?"

Xiao Mu shook his head and said, "No."

He had absolutely no desire to; he only wanted to find a place where he could reasonably research weapons. Of course, it would be even better if the neighboring continent would lend him space for demolition experiments.

As for the issue of property rights, hadn't that been the case since ancient times...

Li Jing said nothing more, simply walking to the side and pressing a special button. The sphere slowly descended, leaving only a thin cabin wall between the Three-Legged Crow and Xiao Mu.

"You may probe it with your spiritual power. If it is not a suitable match, I will reclaim this spirit," Li Jing said coldly. He was also having a massive headache over this spirit; whoever said that having a Spirit Ascension Platform made storage easy was wrong.

With this Spirit Ascension Platform, the spirit simply rendered the platform's functions useless.

He had never seen such an intelligent spirit before.

Xiao Mu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let his spiritual power surge out like a tide.

Soon, he connected with the Three-Legged Crow.

The feeling the Three-Legged Crow gave him was like the sun itself—scorching, arrogant, and insufferably haughty, as if all things between heaven and earth were mere ants, and only it hung high in the firmament, looking down upon all living beings.

Above heaven and below earth, I alone am honored.

Xiao Mu felt like a speck of dust floating in the light, ready to be evaporated at any moment, yet he strangely felt the majesty of a monarch being watched.

Is this really a spirit beast?