"The race's potential is unknown, and there's no evolution method..."
Xu Bai fell silent as he looked at it.
Up until now, he had recorded nearly two hundred Soul Beasts, and this was the first time he'd encountered a situation like this.
And that description, too—"Heaven's way is fifty, yet only forty-nine are derived; one slips away." Compared to the descriptions of other Soul Beasts, it was on a whole different level...
"I've found a treasure—no, I've stumbled upon a stroke of fortune!"
Xu Bai's eyes flickered faintly, excitement mingling with hesitation.
After all, this was Sword Douluo's ancestral tomb. If he took this sword away, wouldn't it be like stealing his ancestor's gravestone?
If word got out that he'd done something pretty much equivalent to digging up someone's ancestral grave, wouldn't he be torn limb from limb...
Hiss—
Just thinking about it hurt.
But this Sword Spirit was simply too special.
On closer thought, its race's potential might be unknown because its age exceeded a million years, so the Manual couldn't display it for now. And perhaps it had no evolution method because this was already its final form.
Most importantly, having no evolution method meant he wouldn't have to spend any Gold Soul Coins in that regard, right?
A Beast Tamer's beast that knew how to save its master money was practically his dream beast!
In that instant, Xu Bai felt as if two little figures had appeared on either side of his head.
The one on the left said, "Heaven gives, and you don't take; you'll only suffer for it. How can you give up a stroke of fortune that's already within reach?"
The one on the right said, "Since you've decided to take it, why not go all the way and just take everything? These nine swords are all forged from rare precious metals.
"If we melted them all down, we'd have enough resources not just for First and Little Blue, but probably for the next few beasts' needs for the next ten thousand years, too."
The conservative faction thought the radical faction was being far too conservative.
Xu Bai pondered for a long while, but still felt that the one on the left made sense. The one on the right was simply too radical.
"That makes sense. Heaven gives, and you don't take; you'll only suffer for it. Besides, I'm contracting the Sword Spirit, and I might not take this sword away afterward. And judging by the dust on it, no one's been here for many years. If I really did take the sword, who knows when Sword Douluo would notice? Even if he did, with the Beast Taming Space, he might not be able to find me..."
"But I won't take it for nothing. There's that Soul Extermination Operation in a dozen years or so. I'll repay this debt of fate then. Of course, if I still don't have the ability by that time, I'll warn them in advance."
Thinking this, Xu Bai tried to give himself a little peace of mind.
'Beast Tamer, what are you thinking about?'
At that moment, First came over and asked curiously.
"I'm thinking about what to name your new companion..."
Xu Bai glanced at First and answered without missing a beat.
'A new companion?'
First froze for a moment. Seeing that the Beast Tamer had been staring at this sword while spacing out just now, it had a rare moment of cleverness:
'Beast Tamer, the new companion you mentioned wouldn't happen to be this sword, would it...'
"Correct, but there's no prize."
Xu Bai waved a hand. "Go play somewhere else. I'm about to start the contract."
First backed up two steps, found an open spot, and lay down, watching its Beast Tamer curiously.
Wasn't a Beast Tamer supposed to tame beasts? How could he sign a contract with a sword? First's big head was full of questions.
Xu Bai naturally didn't know what First was wondering. But even if he did, he couldn't be bothered to explain. Once he contracted the Sword Spirit, First would understand whatever it could; whatever it couldn't understand, no amount of explaining would help.
"Little Sword Spirit, can you hear me?"
Xu Bai looked at the sharp sword before him and asked softly.
Clang~
The sword trembled faintly, as if responding instinctively. Its meaning was a jumbled mess. Even with his Telepathy talent, Xu Bai couldn't understand what the Sword Spirit was trying to say. It was even worse than Blue Silver Grass.
But that was only to be expected. This sword had probably only just developed a faint glimmer of intelligence. If it were a Soul Beast, that would make it ten years old at most—just enough to become a proper Soul Beast.
It wasn't as if he could expect a sword that had been stuck in a valley for who knew how many years to understand human speech.
Since they couldn't communicate, he'd go straight to signing the contract.
Xu Bai sighed softly and silently murmured, "Senior, forgive me." Then, with a thought, the Soul Mark on the back of his right hand lit up with a gentle glow.
As with the previous two times, the light swiftly spread across his entire palm.
Then he slowly touched the sword's body. A streak of light seeped inside, found that faint glimmer of intelligence that had only recently come into being, and transformed into a Contract Mark, branding itself upon it.
Thus, the contract was complete. Those who broke their word would suffer the punishment for breaking it!
As that vague, otherworldly voice rang out, a formation appeared, and the sharp sword transformed into specks of light that flowed into the Soul Mark.
Immediately afterward, an almost transparent white Soul Ring slowly coalesced around Xu Bai. Then it rose unsteadily alongside the other two purple Soul Rings.
"Level thirty-two. I've finally become a Soul Elder!"
He murmured softly, sensing the Soul Power within him and roughly estimating his current Soul Power Level.
The Sword Spirit's age was too low. The Soul Power feedback he gained from contracting it wasn't nonexistent, but it could only be described as negligible.
The two levels he'd gained came from the leftover Soul Power feedback after First and Little Blue had reached a thousand years last time.
Suppressing his excitement, Xu Bai focused his thoughts and turned his attention to the Manual in the Sea of Divine Consciousness:
[Beast Taming Top 1]: Mutated Green-Red Tiger (First) [Attributes]: Metal [Current Age]: ... ... [Beast Taming Top 2]: Mutated Blue Silver Grass (Little Blue) [Attributes]: ... ... [Beast Taming Top 3]: Sword Spirit [Attributes]: Sword [Current Age]: Eleven years [Race Potential]: ???? [Race Skill]: Sword Heart Clarity (Transcendent) [Evolution Direction]: None [Currently Recorded Soul Beasts]: 185
"Unbelievable. It's only eleven years old, yet its race skill's initial proficiency is already Transcendent. No wonder the Manual calls it an anomaly."
Xu Bai clicked his tongue inwardly, thinking that his gamble had paid off. With talent like this, he felt he could just lie back and relax once he'd raised it.
He just didn't know how many resources it would take to raise the Sword Spirit. If he remembered correctly, simply deducing the Sword Spirit's initial cultivation method would consume a "massive" amount of mental power.
Xu Bai's mental power definitely couldn't sustain the deduction right now. Fortunately, he'd already become a Soul Elder. If he recorded some more Soul Beasts later, his mental power would surge again.
If he was lucky, he might be able to push his mental power to the upper end of the Soul Emperor level, or even its peak.
After learning about the Sword Spirit, he hurriedly turned his attention to the Beast Taming Space. That was the real highlight of today.
Just like the previous two times, after he contracted Little Sword Spirit, the Beast Taming Space expanded several times over. If it weren't for its lack of a complete ecosystem, it could already have been considered a small world.
For the Xu Bai of the past, this would certainly have been a happy problem. The space had expanded again, adding a huge amount of work to the task of completing the Beast Taming Space.
But now, the problem was gone, leaving only happiness. The bigger the Beast Taming Space, the better.
Because after becoming a Soul Elder, the Beast Taming Space Martial Soul hadn't given him True Body Armor, but it had granted him a new skill called "Devour."