All Things Have Spirits

"Read Through the Years... can increase Mental Strength..." Duan Rong blinked.

"Requires Host Mental Strength Level 9."

"If I had Level 9, would I still need you?"

Duan Rong's eyes suddenly shifted. "Could it be that all tree-type artifact spirits can increase Mental Strength?"

Duan Rong immediately strode to an Old Locust Tree at the other end of the Martial Arts Field.

The Old Locust Tree was already thick enough for one person to wrap their arms around, its crown spread like a roof. Judging by its age, it had to be several decades old at least.

Duan Rong placed his hand on the Old Locust Tree's trunk and said, "Read Artifact Spirit."

Object: Locust Tree (thirty-two years old)

Artifact Spirit Rank: Not Ranked

Devouring Requirement: None

Devouring Effect: None

Looking at the blank slate of data before him, Duan Rong was instantly disappointed.

Then his eyes flickered as he thought of a possibility.

Could it be that ancient trees, once they reached a certain age, suddenly entered a period of awakening, just like a person opening their spiritual apertures?

From a blank, ignorant artifact spirit, they gradually developed intelligence!

"Three hundred and sixty-one years." Duan Rong silently repeated the age of that Ginkgo Ancient Tree. To him, that number was like some benchmark that needed verification.

Such a thick Old Locust Tree had no Devouring Effect, so the smaller trees went without saying.

But this also confirmed his earlier suspicion: an artifact spirit's rank was related to the passage of time!

Duan Rong lowered his head and looked at a Stone Table beneath the Old Locust Tree. He stared at it for a while, then suddenly walked over, placed his palm on it, and silently said, "Read Artifact Spirit."

Object: Stone Table

Artifact Spirit Rank: Not Ranked

Devouring Requirement: None

Devouring Effect: None

Like a child who had discovered a new game, Duan Rong's face lit up with delight. Just then, a crisp crack sounded by his feet.

A broken roof tile had fallen from above and landed beside him.

Duan Rong's eyes shifted. He picked up the shard of tile, held it in his hand, and silently said, "Read Artifact Spirit."

Object: Broken Tile

Artifact Spirit Rank: Damaged Artifact Spirit, Not Ranked

Devouring Requirement: None

Devouring Effect: None

Duan Rong looked at the broken tile in his hand and the data floating before him. After a long while, he raised his head.

Holding the tile shard, he looked around at the arena platforms and weapons in the Martial Arts Field, the surrounding houses, tiles, stones, and the stretches of connected buildings, trees, and streets farther away...

A surge of joy suddenly rose in Duan Rong's heart.

"All things have spirits!"

"As long as my Mental Strength Level is high enough, all things under heaven can be used by me!"

"Though some are merely ignorant artifact spirits like blank slates, given enough years of soaking in time, those ignorant spirits will slowly grow intelligence."

At that moment, several people dressed as escorts walked past Duan Rong. Seeing him holding a tile shard, grinning foolishly one moment and lost in thought the next, they thought they had run into a madman.

Only when Duan Rong noticed them whispering and glancing at him did he suddenly come to his senses. He tossed away the tile shard and straightened his expression.

Then Duan Rong suddenly remembered the Secret Manual Xiao Zongting had given him today.

Duan Rong took the Secret Manual into his hand and silently said, "Read Artifact Spirit!"

Object: One worn-out book

Artifact Spirit Rank: Not Ranked

Devouring Requirement: None

Devouring Effect: None

Looking at the data floating before him, Duan Rong was utterly stunned!

Could it be that Secret Manuals had no book spirits?

Duan Rong thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up as realization dawned on him. "If Secret Manuals had book spirits, then wouldn't anyone who copied one have an identical book spirit?"

"Laozi may have possessed Laozi's realm, but if you copied the Tao Te Ching once, could you obtain the same realm as Laozi?"

"Artifact spirits cannot understand words. They are not human; they are products of time's erosion!"

"No matter how well-written or profound a Secret Manual is, its artifact spirit will not grow. It will still be a blank slate!"

As Duan Rong thought this, he suddenly realized it was getting late. He left the Martial Arts Field and headed for the Inner Treasury in the Middle Courtyard to collect his things.

At the entrance to the Inner Treasury in the Middle Courtyard, an elderly man with a face full of wrinkles sat against the wall with narrowed eyes, pretending to doze. At a table by the door, a slightly plump middle-aged man was yawning.

It was nearly time for the Inner Treasury to lock its doors. The slightly plump middle-aged man was just preparing to finish work when he suddenly saw a figure flash out from the mouth of the alley, clearly heading toward the Inner Treasury.

The slightly plump man clicked his tongue and shot Duan Rong an unhappy glare. Coming at this hour of all times—wasn't he delaying me from getting off work?

Duan Rong pulled out a slip of paper from his inner pocket and placed it on the table before the middle-aged man.

The slightly plump man picked up the slip and glanced at it, then said coldly, "Turn in from this side. The Weaponry Depot is inside. Pick out a new sheathed Oxtail Saber yourself!"

Duan Rong turned to look, then followed the direction the man had pointed and entered the Weaponry Depot.

Only after Duan Rong's back vanished around the corner did the slightly plump middle-aged man glance at the old man behind him, whose eyes were half-closed, then rise and head toward the Herb Depot.

As soon as Duan Rong entered the Weaponry Depot, he was mildly surprised. The depot was actually quite large, and it had all eighteen kinds of weapons.

Axes, poleaxes, hooks, forks, sabers, spears, swords, halberds, whips, rods, hammers, and ge blades—nothing was missing. There were also weapons whose names Duan Rong did not know, most of them strangely shaped.

And among them, sabers were the most numerous!

Among the sabers, Oxtail Sabers were the most plentiful, because they were the standard weapons of the Yuan Shun Escort Agency!

Though there was a saying that the spear was king of all weapons, spears were easy to learn but difficult to master, and not easy for beginners to handle!

But in the martial world, the most common and popular weapon was the saber!

This was the weapon chosen by the martial world's travelers with their feet; naturally, there was a reason for it!

A saber had both edge and spine, balancing attack and defense. It could chop, cleave, thrust, and sweep upward. Though it lacked the sword's elegance and the spear's killing power, it was easy to learn.

Thus, the saber was the true king of practical weapons!

Duan Rong came to a row of sheathed Oxtail Sabers. Just as he was about to choose one, he suddenly saw that a weapon was enshrined at the very back of the Weaponry Depot.

The weapon rested inside a shrine, which stood against the back wall.

Beside the shrine was an Incense Table, with an Incense Burner atop it. The burner overflowed with ash, with scattered flecks fallen onto the Incense Table.

What kind of weapon was it?

That someone actually enshrined it and offered incense to it every day?

Duan Rong's curiosity surged, and he slowly walked over.

When he drew close and looked, the weapon enshrined in the shrine was actually a Phoenix Wing Gilded Halberd!

A tang was a long, heavy weapon, not something an ordinary person could wield!

It resembled a fork, and because its flared sides looked like phoenix wings, it was called a Phoenix Wing Halberd!

The strange thing about this tang was that its blades gleamed with golden light, as if plated in gold. It was clearly no ordinary item!

Yet even stranger, all three of its tang blades had been cut off.

Such a divine weapon had actually been reduced to a damaged relic.

Duan Rong's curiosity flared. His eyes shifted as he stepped forward, reached into the shrine, gripped the halberd shaft, and silently said, "Read Artifact Spirit!"

Object: Phoenix Wing Gilded Halberd (Damaged)

Artifact Spirit Rank: Rank 13

Devouring Requirement: Host Mental Strength Level 13 (Not Met)

Devouring Effect: Forty-Six Forms Major Accomplishment (Incomplete)

Duan Rong's face changed drastically. A damaged artifact spirit was actually Rank 13.

And its Devouring Effect was not some miscellaneous item, but a martial art.

A martial art—and an incomplete one at that—yet its artifact spirit was already Rank 13?

From that alone, one could imagine what kind of martial art the Forty-Six Forms was, and what kind of existence this tang's owner had been.

But none of that had much to do with the current Duan Rong.

A Rank 13 artifact spirit was something he could only look at.

"Far too out of reach!"

Duan Rong was just about to turn and leave to pick a sheathed Oxtail Saber when he suddenly noticed a saber lying against the wall not far from the Phoenix Wing Gilded Halberd.

The saber was unremarkable. Its blade and hilt were forged as one, while the hilt was wrapped in thread to prevent slipping. And this saber had not even been sharpened.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered.

"Since this saber is also placed at the very back of the Weaponry Depot, it must have some history behind it!"

Duan Rong suddenly bent down, gripped the saber in his hand, and silently said, "Read Artifact Spirit!"

Object: Unsharpened Greatsword

Artifact Spirit Rank: Rank 1

Devouring Requirement: Host Mental Strength Level 1 (Met)

Devouring Effect: Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber Mastery

Looking at the data before him, Duan Rong was overjoyed.

This was the Mastery Level Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber he had been longing for. As long as he devoured this artifact spirit, not only would his Five Tigers Herd Sheep Saber techniques reach Mastery Level, he would also obtain the second level of the Inner Power Cultivation Method.

"Just what I needed!" Duan Rong cried in his heart and silently said, "Devour!"