The group of ten from Ten Thousand Flower Valley eventually left the clothes shop and continued to explore the city. They strolled along the bustling streets, occasionally stopping at jewelry stores, herb shops, and others. Chen Wentian followed behind them with a smile on his face. His disciples had all trained hard for the convocation so he didn't mind giving them a few days to relax.
"Master, let's go here!" Lin Qingcheng's voice came from the front of the pack.
They stopped and she pointed to an average-looking sword shop with a forgettable name.
Chen Wentian scanned the interior with his spiritual sense, only to find mediocre goods. The swords varied from the most basic ones at the Body Refinement Realm to the average ones at the Mind Focusing Realm. Only a few choices were at the Spirit Initiate Realm.
Such a sword shop catered to mortal cultivators and disciples of mortal sects. For the target audience, the quality of these swords could be considered quite good. But for an immortal, it was a little too shabby and pointless.
He was about to say no when his spiritual sense picked up something he didn't expect. It was a feeling he hadn't had in some time, the pull of a strong and unique soul. There was something good hidden inside this store and he wanted to find out what it was.
"Okay, go in." Chen Wentian said.
Lin Qingcheng led the way with the twins in tow. The others followed as well. The inside was spacious but dimly lit. Swords lined the walls. Swords were arrayed on tables and shelves. There were all shapes and sizes. After greeting the shopkeeper, his disciples spread out in all directions.
Zhou Ziyun stood near the entrance cliched her tongue in annoyance, "Why did you want to come in here, master? I'm sure there are much better sword shops elsewhere in the city."
"These swords are pretty good, much better than the ones we can get at home. I want to buy some for my relatives!" Lin Qingcheng said from across the store.
"That's right!" Su Xue chimed in, "We can buy some swords as prizes for the junior sisters at Glacier Palace."
"Great idea!" Su Yue added.
Chen Wentian looked at Zhou Ziyun, shrugged, and walked off towards the back of the store, following the pull on his soul realm. He arrived in front of a messy shelf that displayed various materials that could be used to craft swords. It mostly consisted of various metal ores and a few things from beasts such as horns and scales.
He scanned all the items and finally found it. It was a deep-blue horn around thirty centimeters in length. It was straight, had some ridges along its length, and tapered to a sharp point. It didn't seem that remarkable and the store also seemed to think so. The placard described the horn as that of a frosthorn mountain goat, a common breed across the Eastern Sanmu Subcontinent. They could be found on icy mountains and thrived in extremely icy conditions, which turned their horns a distinct deep-blue color.
There was the remnant of a dead soul within the horn. It was cold, defiant, and gave off the hint of great potential. However, a frosthorn mountain goat could never develop a soul powerful enough to draw him to it. It was a common spiritual beast that rarely reached the Spirit Initiate Realm. Whatever it was, there was only one way to find out.
Chen Wentian activated his soul art and touched the horn. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, he was once again in the endless realm of his soul. His ethereal body was illuminated by colorful stars from all directions. A pure blue one burned the brightest, radiating fiery spiritual energy of the divine blue dragon.
He summoned all of his power and then pulled the foreign soul into his soul realm. A white fog appeared before him. It didn't move and it didn't speak. It was the dead soul and it was very weak. It had been dead for a long time.
He raised his palm towards it and sent it a large amount of soul energy. The soul was only in the Mind Focusing Realm so there was no danger in doing this.
After injecting enough energy, the dead soul finally stirred. It shifted in place and a foggy protrusion that looked like a head turned to Chen Wentian.
"Human… who…" It spoke in the small voice of a child.
Chen Wentian was surprised and delighted. A wisdom beast that could speak at the Mind Focusing Realm was certainly special enough.
"Where am I?" The white fog said as if found more strength.
"My name is Chen Wentian and you are within the realm of souls where I am the master, the creator and the destroyer." He replied.
It let out a sound that was obviously a derisive snort.
Chen Wentian didn't respond but eagerly sent it more soul energy. This soul was one of the most exciting ones he had encountered in the past few years and he was eager to find out what it really was.
The white fog shifted again, this time against his expectations. Instead of turning into a beast, it took the form of a small child. Chen Wentian's heart shook as he stared at the avatar the soul had chosen, trying to wrap his thoughts around the only possibility.
"Origin beast?" He said softly. It had to be, a beast that could take human form, a powerful being that could shake the immortal world. "What are you?"
"Are you going to kill me?" The soul asked.
"No, of course not." He replied.
"Lies, humans can't be trusted. Your kind killed all of us." It said, its voice filled with a deep bitterness that was almost unimaginable for a small child.
"I promise, I am not like other humans." He replied.
In the next moment, a massive blue shadow descended behind him. The soul of the blue dragon uncoiled and unleashed a torrent of divine flame into the void.
"Blue dragon… how?" The other soul muttered in shock.
Chen Wentian's own soul body melded into the blue dragon's and spoke through it, "I am Chen Wentian. I am a human. I am a blue dragon. In this realm of the soul, I am everything. I am divine."
"What?"
The soul was still weak and it was still a child. It could not understand.
Chen Wentian lowed his voice and said gently, "I can help you. All of your anger and resentment, I will take it all. Those humans that killed you and your kind, I will make them pay a hundredfold. You have my word."
The soul shifted again. This time, it turned from its human form into that of a four-legged beast. It resembled a goat but with a fluffy white tail, a curly-haired body, and a blue mane like that of a lion. On top of its head was a singular horn, straight and short and very similar to a frosthorn mountain goat.
Only, this wasn't an ordinary goat. This was an origin beast known as the Ageless Ice Unicorn. It was quite famous within various human records. It was highly prized and its body had all kinds of uses for human cultivators. There was also a rumor that its bloodline could be traced back to xiezhi, a divine beast with similar physiology.
Chen Mo was also an origin beast but it couldn't quite compare to Ageless Ice Unicorns. That plucky shadow fox had managed to reach its current state through hard work and a lot of luck. On the other hand, this soul had been born as an origin beast. It was already that powerful, even as a child, simply because of its species and its innate ability. The difference was quite substantial.
The two souls continued to converse. Chen Wentian, in dragon form, described the Anatta Soul Nirvana Art in a way it could understand. In return, the origin beast retold the story of its life and its death.
It had been so unwilling to die that it ended up tearing apart its soul, leaving a chunk of itself behind for many millennia. In the process, it had used up all of the spiritual energy within its horn, leaving it useless and almost identical to the horn of an ordinary goat. The horn was then thrown aside by human cultivators and forgotten for many more thousands of years before it was sold to this sword shop.
The soul of the Ageless Ice Unicorn understood its situation and what was being offered. It didn't take long for it to be convinced by his blue dragon and accept its fate.
With a burst of soul energy, Chen Wentian melded it with his own soul, adding a new soul avatar to his collection, one with vast potential.
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