"Our East Sea Spirit Pagoda offers 873 choices of ten-year white soul spirits and 321 choices of one-hundred-year yellow soul spirits. The price of a ten-year white soul spirit is 70,000, and the price of a one-hundred-year yellow soul spirit is one million. Which one would you like to buy?"
For many years, since his last purchase of a soul spirit, Xiu Ran had been saving money. Relying on his various business acumen from his previous life and his advantages as a soul master, he had earned a considerable amount despite his young age.
However, it was far from a million Federal Credits; he had only saved 510,000 Federal Credits over the years.
Xiu Ran had memorized the prices from last time; if he couldn't afford it, he wouldn't have come. Fusion with a ten-year soul spirit was still beyond his capabilities, as this was his second soul ring.
"Look, this is my student ID."
The staff member took Xiu Ran's student ID, glanced at it, and then nodded, saying, "You can get a 50% discount."
The connection between East Sea Academy and the East Sea Spirit Pagoda was very close; every student at East Sea Academy received a 50% discount when obtaining their first three soul rings.
Xiu Ran browsed the large screen for a while and found a green bird-type spirit. This seemed to be a wind-attribute spirit, which suited him quite well.
With his selection complete, the rest was simple. A staff member retrieved the spirit orb and handed it to Xiu Ran; the whole process was quick. Spirit fusion was very convenient; he could find a quiet place and fuse the spirit himself without staff assistance.
"Could you help me find a room? I need to fuse a spirit," Xiu Ran asked a staff member, glancing at the spirit orb in his hand.
This was naturally no problem. Although fusion could be done anywhere, the Spirit Tower provided quiet locations for those purchasing spirits.
Xiu Ran currently had nowhere else to go, and fusing at the Spirit Pagoda was the best choice, at least no one would disturb him.
After entering the room provided by the Spirit Pagoda, Xiu Ran immediately began fusing his soul spirit without hesitation.
At this moment, the staff of the Spirit Pagoda also obtained Xiu Ran's basic information, which was quite simple, since it was here that he awakened his martial soul.
"His spiritual power is very high, it's just a pity that his martial soul quality is too low."
The person in charge of the Donghai City Spirit Pagoda was holding Xiu Ran's information, somewhat sighing and also puzzled. Such a spiritual power for a soul master, yet such a low-quality martial soul—it was truly strange.
Gu Yuena also saw Xiu Ran's information, her gaze slightly narrowed. She had seen this person earlier, and her impression of him was quite deep.
However, for some reason, her memory of the elevator was somewhat blurry; she had completely forgotten what happened, only remembering seeing Xiu Ran.
After getting out of the elevator, she suddenly felt weak all over, initially thinking it was due to the instability of her own power seal, since a part of her body was missing—Na'er. She didn't suspect any connection to Xiu Ran. She hadn't sensed anything different about the other person back then, but now it seemed it wasn't so simple.
Gu Yuena's eyes narrowed slightly as she stood atop a higher floor of the Spirit Pagoda, gazing into the distance. For some reason, she felt something was missing, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, leaving her somewhat bewildered.
Meanwhile, Xiu Ran, absorbing a soul spirit in his room, encountered a major problem.
He had fused with a soul spirit once before, so he knew exactly how to do it and began almost effortlessly.
However, the process wasn't so simple. Hundred-year-old soul spirits possess a faint will, which a soul master can sense during absorption. But this time, Xiu Ran clearly felt the small green bird, after entering the vicinity of his sea of consciousness, act as if its feathers had been ruffled, flying aimlessly within it.
This caused a brief period of chaos in Xiu Ran's sea of consciousness, which still affected him.
He hurriedly used meditation to stabilize his mind, and the little bird calmed down a bit, but at that moment, a sudden burst of flames completely engulfed his sea of consciousness.
It came with incredible speed; not only was Xiu Ran caught off guard, but the little bird's spirit was also caught off guard.
The little bird's spirit, which had just settled down, was instantly burned to ashes by the flames, transforming into a pure energy that flowed into the depths of his sea of consciousness.
His hundred-year-old spirit had actually been burned to death within his own sea of consciousness!
Xiu Ran had no idea where the flames came from; his martial soul's elemental attribute had always been wind.
The flames at this moment truly baffled Xiu Ran, but before he could even think about it, almost instantly, the sensation from the flames seemed to have entered his physical body from his sea of consciousness.
He felt extremely hot, heat emanating from within, and he was covered in sweat. His clothes were completely soaked with sweat, sticking uncomfortably to his body. Beads of sweat streamed down his forehead, constantly flowing down his cheeks and finally dripping to the ground.
The heat didn't disappear; instead, it intensified, almost reaching its peak. The scorching heat gradually subsided, but a tingling, itchy sensation appeared throughout his limbs and bones, as if thousands of tiny insects were crawling out of every part of his body.
This feeling almost made Xiu Ran scream, but being in a meditative state, he couldn't make a sound.
This state lasted for a long time, only gradually dissipating when Xiu Ran was about to give up.
The physical sensation disappeared, but the flames in his sea of consciousness continued. Xiu Ran's first soul spirit was not spared either; the unknown flames burned it completely, transforming it into a force that penetrated deep into his sea of consciousness.
Finally, only after burning his sea of consciousness clean did the flames gradually subside.
However, it wasn't over yet. Almost instantly, Xiu Ran's sea of consciousness was enveloped in dazzling nine-colored flames.
The nine-colored flames slowly condensed, finally forming the shape of a phoenix—a nine-colored phoenix.
Even though it was merely a shape formed of energy, without a physical form, Xiu Ran could still discern how beautiful and magnificent this phoenix was.
When the nine-colored phoenix appeared, Xiu Ran felt an extraordinary familiarity, as if connected by blood.
After a while, the nine-colored phoenix slowly dissipated and disappeared into his sea of consciousness.
At the same time, Xiu Ran was forced to withdraw from his sea of consciousness, his consciousness returning to his body, and he opened his eyes.
However, what he didn't see was that deep within his sea of consciousness, after the nine-colored phoenix dissipated, it slowly transformed into two energy spheres.
One sphere was green, representing the wind attribute, and the other was red, representing the fire attribute. However, the fire-colored sphere didn't appear as full as the green one, as if it were missing something. These two spheres hung side by side in the depths of his sea of consciousness, appearing very calm.
And right below these two spheres was a purple energy sphere, which occasionally flashed with seven-colored light.
(End of Chapter)