Chapter 17: The Starry Sky and the Vast Sea
“If I left one day, would you miss me?” Na’er asked as she raised her head to look at Tang Wulin. Her petite face was even more fairy-like under the splendor of the moon and stars.
Tang Wulin dumbly asked, “Why? Are you going to leave?”
Na’er pouted, “I’m just asking if I leave.”
Tang Wulin replied, “You’re my little sister. Of course I would miss you. I would really, really miss you. Eh, have you grown a bit taller, Na’er? You’re nearly up to my nose now.”
“I’ll miss you too. I’ll really, really miss you.” Na’er gave an answer beside the point. Her large purple eyes seemed to contain a hazy layer of water.
Tang Wulin happily embraced her by her shoulders. “We’re together everyday, so we don’t have to miss each other. I’ve already talked it over with mom and dad. Once I’ve entered an intermediate academy, you’ll be coming with me to attend an academy in the same city. Big brother will always protect you.”
Silently, the radiance in Na’er’s eyes dimmed and she rested her head on Tang Wulin’s shoulder.
Early morning.
Tang Wulin got up especially early and ate a smaller breakfast than usual today. Seeing the eager shine in his son’s eyes, Tang Ziran couldn’t help but smile. “Aren’t you awfully impatient? There’s no need to be so eager. Even if we went early, the Spirit Pagoda wouldn’t be open.”
For Tang Wulin, today was a very special day. Today was the day he was going to buy a spirit soul.
“Dad, what kind of spirit soul do you think I’ll be able to buy?” Tang Wulin was only a nine year old child. He had been working his hardest all for this day, and now that the day had finally come, how could he possibly be calm?
Tang Ziran revealed a slight smile. “How would dad know? But no matter what kind of spirit soul you get, you’ll still be promoted from a Soul Scholar to a Soul Master. Then you’ll truly be a Soul Master. The gap between you and ordinary people will grow even larger.”
“Mn.” Tang Wulin excitedly nodded his head. However, he had overlooked something in his father’s tone.
As Na’er watched Tang Wulin impatiently pulling his father out of the home, her pretty eyes displayed a perplexed look. She knitted her eyebrows, as if deep in thought.
“Dad, walk a bit faster. Let’s hurry up.” Tang Wulin urged as he practically skipped ahead.
Tang Ziran couldn’t help but shake his head while the deepest depths of his eyes revealed his worries. Obtaining a suitable spirit soul couldn’t possibly be that easy! Just because he could buy one didn’t mean he was able to buy a suitable one.
The Spirit Pagoda’s reach spread throughout the continent. Not only was it present in the Douluo Continent, it was even able to spread to the other two continents several thousand years ago.
Ten thousand years ago, the remnants of the Heaven Dou Empire after its defeat at the hands of the Sun-Moon Empire had embarked on a voyage and had experienced many hardships and perils. In the end, they discovered a huge continent which also had some indigenous humans. However, their development couldn’t even compare with the Douluo Continent’s. They were conquered by the Heaven Dou remnants and the continent was named the Heaven Dou Continent.
On the Douluo Continent, the conflict between the Sun-Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire was never ending. While the Sun-Moon Empire rapidly developed, the Star Luo Empire gradually declined. Instead, they chose to take a different route. The Star Luo Empire decided to invest in seafaring technology. Thanks to their research, they were able to discover another large continent which was followed by a quiet occupation shortly afterwards. With the whole continent taken, the Star Luo Empire migrated the whole empire over along with their many resources and named it the Star Luo Continent. Afterwards, the Star Luo Empire also changed to a federal system and became the Star Luo Federation.
The Sun-Moon Empire was able to unify the Douluo Continent and became the Sun-Moon Federation.
The Spirit Pagoda had a ten thousand year history. Due to their importance to Soul Masters and their groundbreaking research into artificial spirit souls, their status had risen dramatically to its current state. Throughout the three continents, they were the strongest power.
Glorybound City also had a Spirit Pagoda branch located in the heart of the city. It was a three layer pagoda. This was the lowest rank possible for a Spirit Pagoda branch. A mid-sized city would have a seven layer Spirit Pagoda branch. Major cities would have a thirteen layer Spirit Pagoda branch. However, the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters was situated in Shrek City. The headquarters had gone through many renovations over the years and it now had eighty layers. It was said to be the most magnificent building on the Douluo Continent.
In regards to Tang Wulin, the three layered pagoda in front of him was already a holy land. This Spirit Pagoda branch was the largest building in Glorybound City. Everybody knew where it was, but few had ever entered it.
When they arrived the Spirit Pagoda’s doors were already wide open, yet there weren’t too many people there. After all, this was a place for Soul Masters. With Glorybound City being as small as it was, there were simply too few Soul Masters.
After Tang Ziran brought his son into the Spirit Pagoda, Tang Wulin’s eyes constantly fluttered all about his surroundings. He was very curious about this fabled place.
The Spirit Pagoda was shaped like an octagon with three floors. The interior was very spacious and the marble floor carried the symbol of the Spirit Pagoda. Inside the huge hall, there was a circular door which led to an unknown location. There was a reception counter in the front with an ashen robed Soul Master seated behind it.
The Soul Master had already stood up by the time the two of them arrived in front of the counter and was inspecting Tang Ziran. “Hello, may I ask what you’re here for?”
Tang Ziran respectfully greeted, “Hello Lord Soul Master. I’ve brought my son to buy a spirit soul. His martial soul has reached the 10th rank.”
Once he heard this, the Soul Master’s enthusiastic expression clearly dampened a bit as Tang Ziran wasn’t a Soul Master.
“Do you have enough money?” He unenthusiastically asked.
Tang Wulin scrambled over. “Enough. I have enough.”
The Soul Master said, “What rank of spirit soul do you want to buy?”
Somewhat embarrassed, Tang Ziran answered, “Lord Soul Master, we’re not quite knowledgeable about these things. Could we possibly inconvenience you to explain this to us?”
The Soul Master impatiently said, “You don’t know about this yet you’ve still come? For such a small city like Glorybound City, the Spirit Pagoda only offers three types of spirit souls. Ten year white spirit souls, hundred year yellow spirit souls, and random spirit soul selection.
“There are 73 ten year white spirit souls and 11 hundred year yellow spirit souls to choose from. The price of a white spirit soul is seventy thousand coins, while yellow spirit souls are one million coins. Which one do you want to buy?”
Tang Wulin was stunned at his words and nearly lost his voice as he asked, “Lord Soul Master, aren’t spirit souls thirty thousand coins? How, how could it be…?”
Chapter 18: Spiritual Power Test
The Spirit Master shot him a glance. “Thirty thousand is for a random spirit soul. You can get a ten year spirit soul, or a hundred year spirit soul, but what you get is random. There’s a very high chance that the spirit soul you get won’t be suitable for your martial soul. Some people who want to save money and bet on luck would choose this type. However, I suggest that you get a suitable ten year spirit soul instead, it’ll be much more helpful.
From their tone of voice, it was clear to the Spirit Master that this father and son pair weren’t people who were able to purchase a hundred year spirit soul.
Tang Wulin looked over at his father. His original excitement had already been obliterated completely.
Tang Ziran crouched down to face Tang Wulin. At that moment, he had all sorts of feelings swell up in his heart, but he didn’t know what he should say in this situation.
“Son, let’s choose a random spirit soul then. Your martial soul’s adaptability should be very high and it should be able to fuse with most spirit souls.”
If Tang Wulin didn’t have the trash martial soul of Bluesilver Grass, Tang Ziran might not have opted to take this risk…
However, Bluesilver Grass truly didn’t have too much room for improvement. So being able to cultivate it to the 10th rank was already a surprise.
“I must warn you.” The Spirit Master’s voice caught the attention of the father and son pair.
He indifferently continued, “It’s possible to obtain a hundred year spirit soul from the random spirit soul selection, but it’s also possible to obtain a defective spirit soul.”
Tang Ziran asked in bewilderment, “Defective spirit soul? How could they be defective?”
The Spirit Master said, “When a spirit soul is being manufactured, it won’t necessarily succeed every single time. Sometimes, defective ones may appear. The defectives ones are also very expensive to manufacture and they can also be fused with too. So we include it in the random selection. If we didn’t and just left it as all white and yellow spirit souls, wouldn’t the losses outweigh the profits? It would seem that thirty thousand federal coins is quite a bit for you two, so you must think about this thoroughly.”
Tang Ziran looked at Tang Wulin and saw the lifeless look in his eyes. He had never thought that after all the effort he had put in these last three years, he would still be faced with this kind of situation.
“Son, how about we first go home. Dad will help you think of an idea. If there’s no other way, we can borrow some to try to gather up seventy thousand…” Tang Ziran saw his son’s appearance and couldn’t help feeling his heart ache.
Tang Wulin shook his head. “Dad, you and mom already tire yourselves out for me everyday. And anyways, my martial soul is only Bluesilver Grass. I’ll just try my luck and see if the Heavens care about me then. Maybe I’ll get a decent spirit soul.”
His eating capacity had increased by a lot ever since his martial soul had awakened. What’s more, Na’er also had a large appetite despite her petite frame. For a household living on a salary, it was already quite difficult for Tang Ziran and Lang Yue. All the good things were already given to the children to eat; the husband and wife weren’t even willing to eat meat.
The children of the poor had to take on household responsibilities at a young age. To Tang Wulin’s eyes, his household was already struggling hard enough as it is. How could he possibly let them strain themselves further to borrow money for him? His mom and dad worked very hard, so he wanted a strong spirit soul to become a renowned and powerful Soul Master. Although becoming a powerful Soul Master was important to him, his mother, father, and Na’er were much more important.
“He really is a thoughtful child.” When the somewhat impatient Spirit Master heard what Tang Wulin said, his expression couldn’t help but soften a bit.
“Sigh…” Tang Ziran’s sigh was full of bitterness. “It’s all because dad is useless.”
Tang Wulin held his father’s hand, then looked towards the Spirit Master and asked, “Lord Spirit Master, could I trouble you to take me to select a random spirit soul?” Saying this, he took out the thirty thousand federal coins he had saved up.
The Spirit Master nodded and said, “You really are a sensible child. Much better than my family’s stinky kid. Originally, you would have had to pay a fee for the spiritual power examination, but I’ll help you out and exempt you from the fee.”
Tang Wulin stared blankly at him before hastening to say, “Thank you. I really am thankful to you.”
The Spirit Master laughed as he rubbed his head. “Follow me. Your father will wait here. Ordinary people can’t look into the world of Soul Masters.”
The room he brought Tang Wulin into was different on the inside compared to its simple and unadorned outer appearance. It was brimming with modern technological apparatuses that were arranged about the room.
The Spirit Master gestured for Tang Wulin to sit down on a metal chair before he began speaking. “Do you know why we why test spiritual power?”
Tang Wulin blankly shook his head.
The Spirit Master explained, “This is your first time coming to choose a spirit soul. After fusing with a spirit soul, you’ll become a true Soul Master and the Spirit Pagoda will make a record of your spiritual power’s strength, the level and type of spirit soul you fused with, and other things. You’ll most likely attend an intermediate Soul Master academy later on.”
Tang Wulin responded in amazement. “Lord Spirit Master, spiritual power also has ranks? Like soul power? Is spiritual power very important?”
The Spirit Master answered, “For normal Soul Masters, spiritual power isn’t too important. It’s also divided into ranks, but it isn’t divided the same way soul power is. However, when it comes to high level Soul Masters, the strength of their spiritual powers becomes much more significant. A strong spirit soul requires spiritual power equally as strong to fuse with.”
“Before the existence of spirit souls, there weren’t any ranks for spiritual power at all. But when spirit souls first appeared, the previous generations gradually realized that fusing with a spirit soul required much more spiritual power than fusing with a spirit ring. After extensive research, they created the rankings for spiritual power. It was only in the last two thousand years or so that the rankings were completed.”
Tang Wulin inquisitively asked, “Then how many levels is spiritual power divided into?”
The Spirit Master responded, “From low to high, spiritual power is divided into: Spirit Origin, Spirit Connection, Spirit Sea, Spirit Abyss, Spirit Domain, and the fabled Divine Origin. These six realms are quite simple. Everyone is in the Spirit Origin realm when they are born. As for the meaning behind Spirit Origin, it means that it’s the single origin everyone starts from. Afterwards, nature takes on a new look. This is the most basic of soul levels. You should be at this level. As for the rest, you’ll learn it in school so I won’t speak of it. Alright then. I’ll start testing what degree of Spirit Origin you’ve reached.”
A metal helmet fell onto his head. Then, metal arms linked together and strapped his head in.
“Don’t be so tense. Relax your body. You might feel a bit of vertigo in a bit; that’s normal. You just need to stay relaxed.” The Spirit Master repeatedly warned.
“Yes.” Tang Wulin hastily promised.
A slight humming noise arose as the helmet began to emit a soft white glow. The Spirit Master watched the soul transmitter screen on the side as the screen began to display data.
When the numbers first appeared, they jumped up extremely quickly. After a moment, the numbers gradually stabilized. When the Spirit Master saw the number, his expression changed to one of astonishment.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
140 Power
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