“Say, do you think that this soul weapon is a bit too weird?” Morya asked in a low voice.
Xia Fei was stunned. The soul weapon in Morya’s hands definitely looked unusual. Most primeval soul weapons were not too far off from the appearance of traditional weapons, yet this one actually took the form of a sharp fang.
His fingers involuntarily touched his spatial ring. This soul weapon reminded Xia Fei of the White Dragon’s Screech, a legendary sword said to have been forged using the fang of an Ancient Dragon. However, upon closer inspection, there was actually a jarring discrepancy between the two.
No matter what, White Dragon’s Screech still held the aura and the texture of an actual dragon fang and would even often let out a piercing scream that no one could explain whenever it was used. A good majority of exotic beasts and even Divine Beasts would involuntarily tremble all over the moment they heard its screech. Meanwhile, Morya’s soul weapon exuded nothingness, almost as if it was not even real.
“Indeed, what you’ve got there is quite strange. Tell me: Where did you get this? How is it used?” Xia Fei asked, his interest piqued.
Morya tugged at her hair and shook her head. “This soul weapon is something I found in my father’s study, wedged between the pages of his diary. It was originally a pair of soft gloves, but the moment I took it out, the gloves actually stretched into half a fang, almost as if it had its own consciousness.”
“Oh? Why did it disappear again?” Morya gasped, startled.
Just as the two were chatting, that holographic representation of the fang turned back into a pair of half-cut leather gloves, looking as tough as crocodile skin. It was as though the item would be very uncomfortable to wear.
Xia Fei could find no clue in this simulated environment, but he already had developed a deep interest in the pair of transforming gloves.
Thinking for a while, he said, “You’d better put your father’s diary together with those gloves. Perhaps that can help the Spiritualist if they choose to repair this soul weapon of yours.”
“Put my father’s diary alongside it? When my father was still alive, he was very secretive about his diary. Even I wasn’t permitted to get anywhere near it.” Morya furrowed her brows, hesitant.
Xia Fei reassured her. “I don’t know what you’re worried about. Since that Spiritualist is capable of repairing primeval soul weapons, I’m sure that they must be someone of upstanding character, so they shouldn’t end up squirreling away with your father’s diary. At most, he’ll likely look at the contents.”
Morya nodded. She took the pair of gloves with crocodile skin and placed it between the pages of her father’s precious diary again. Judging from the considerable attention she paid when doing so, if this soul weapon got repaired, at the very least, it could leave a memory for her ancestors.
“I believe you. Ever since I met you, my luck seems to have taken a turn for the better.” Morya giggled. “Oh, right. What’s your name?”
“You may call me ‘Xiao Fei,’” replied Xia Fei with his signature smirk.
Watching his back as he departed, a little voice in Morya’s mind went: ‘Why didn’t you ask for my name?’
….
Ulan’s cultivation room.
Xia Fei opened the diary of Morya’s father and was instantly shocked.
“The most powerful close-combat weapon isn’t a soul weapon but rather a fist!” Xia Fei read.
Quickly flipping through more pages, Xia Fei’s eyes brightened.
“To think that the Mor Clan would be so crazy! Their ancestors have done intensive research throughout their lives just so they could forge the strongest close-combat soul weapon. It’s truly unexpected that they’d end up choosing the fist!”
“Fist? Isn’t that a bit too hard to believe?” Radix looked at his two hands and commented. “Doesn’t this also mean that they’ve turned themselves into soul weapons? Do they intend to resist all Dark Energy with their bare fists?!”
Xia Fei was still flipping through the pages of the diary. He had this habit of reading something a hundred times till every content would be self-evident to him. Xia Fei was never the type to read important information just once and also never felt tired repeatedly studying something. Only until he had every word ingrained in his memory and every detail between the pages etched in his mind would he stop. Right now, Xia Fei was only on his first read of this close combat diary.
*Thump*
Placing down the diary, Xia Fei heaved a long sigh.
It was pretty clear that he felt thrilled!
Turning hardened fists into soul weapons… This had opened up a completely new line of thinking for Xia Fei!
The Mor was truly a very stubborn clan; holding fast to melee combat and not once giving up on this aspect, it had fully researched the pinnacle of close combat. Even to this day, with the advent of ranged soul weapons and their promising future, they had steadfastly stuck on to their pursuit of the clan’s tradition. Xia Fei could not help but admire such perseverance from the bottom of his heart.
“I’ve really found myself a treasure this time.” Xia Fei closed his eyes and lit a cigarette.
“What, is it really possible to turn fists into soul weapons?” Radix asked, curious.
“The diary is very clear-cut on this, so the moment close combat is demonstrated to its zenith, the soul weapons will become an impedance, which prevents warriors from making further improvement. Over-reliance on soul weapons isn’t a good thing, and that’s why the Mor Clan sought to abandon soul weapons, coming up with this crazy method of reinforcing fists with Dark Energy.
Xia Fei extended his arms and stared at his hard fists, saying, “Fists are part of our body, and so in terms of agility and power, they’re truly unmatched by any soul weapons out there. If I can imbue my fists with the power of close-combat soul weapons, can you imagine just how frightening that will be?”
“The Mor Clan has already advanced its research to the finishing stages of making fists soul weapons; what I need to do is research more deeply and choose the appropriate material as well as method for forging soul-imbued gloves. As long as I can wear this sort of gloves, my two fists will be able to wield the power of soul weapons!” Xia Fei lifted a clench fist in his excitement.
Radix blinked. “Are you telling me that Miss More basically gifted you the research that her ancestors poured their hearts and souls into?”
XIa Fei shrugged. “I didn’t expect the Mor Clan to have researched this topic till such a degree. I was merely curious at first.”
Radix was utterly speechless, sighing. “What a strange situation. You didn’t care about the crowd of people, yet you just happened to have chosen that woman from the Mor Clan to chat with. Meanwhile, who knew that she’d take out these very strange gloves? Is this what it means to be lucky? If you hadn’t struck up a conversation with Miss Mor then, would you have gotten your hands on this pair of gloves and her father’s diary?”
Xia Fei shook his head and replied in a low voice, “Well, you’re not being very accurate here. Many things are actually not coincidental. I noticed that she had a very similar air to me. Perhaps she shared the same upbringing as me, having been alone since young.”
Radix nodded as if he had gotten an epiphany, as if he had seen the truth hidden in the minutiae. Many times, the reason Xia Fei got lucky was his adeptness at observing his surroundings while having a free spirit. Even the people Xia Fei chose to interact with would often have quite the personality; he was never the sort to fraternize with ordinary people.
….
The mysterious Spiritualist who could repair primeval soul weapons had disappeared!
This news spread internally in the Spiritualist Association. It had been three whole days, and they had not heard anything from Xia Fei. It was as if he had come breezing in and out like the wind.
Those who had not managed to get their primeval soul weapons repaired were naturally very upset, while those who had one or two of their soul weapons repaired, instead, felt that they were very fortunate, for they had heard of his arrival early.
Though there would be people waiting in the trade sector every day, hoping that Xia Fei would make a return, he did not do that. Gradually, everyone began to lose their patience, and the crowd slowly thinned as a result.
Xia Fei did not waste any time in these few days, however. That legacy diary from the Mor Clan had inspired him, and he was now organizing his notes, in an attempt to forge a pair ofunparalleled soul-imbued gloves!
Master Ulan seemed to have figured something out, and so he was in a fairly good mood. No matter what materials Xia Fei needed, Ulan would take the initiative to scour the trade system to help him purchase those. He did not even make Xia Fei pay for these items and gave them to him for free.
Xia Fei quietly marveled at this development. Just what could Ulan be planning to do?
Studying the diary, reading books, and attempting to forge a soul weapon were the three activities Xia Fei had sunk his time into the entire week. While this week was uneventful, it was very fulfilling.
“SUCCESS! SUCCESS!” Inside the cultivation room, Radix yelped out of excitement. He gazed at the deep cavity on the wall with apparent glee.
*Whoosh*
Ulan came rushing in, flustered. “What happened? It sounded like an explosion had gone off; the entire pagoda shook from that blast!”
Xia Fei laughed as he glanced at the traces left behind on the wall and said sheepishly, “It’s caused by a new soul weapon I came up with. I didn’t expect the attack power to be so strong, so I ended up accidentally puncturing a hole on the metal wall of this room.”
Ulan was surprised but soon began laughing as if nothing had happened, dismissive of the damage. “Here I was wondering what happened. It’s just a wall; no harm done. As long as you didn’t damage my plants, I wouldn’t mind it even if you ended up toppling the pagoda.”
He had spoken so casually it caused Xia Fei to frown slightly, unsure as to what Ulan’s intention was.
During this period, Ulan had been spending money on Xia Fei like an open tap; he had made a large number of purchases through the holonet for him and had even given away many of the plants he was growing in his laboratory, selling quite a lot of them. It had gotten to a point where this large botanical garden was beginning to look rather sparse and empty. It must be noted that the plants here were Ulan’s lifework, and normally, he would not even let anyone touch them, much less give them away.
Ulan strolled off, leaving Xia Fei and Radix staring at the gray, halfcut soft gloves. After many rounds of experimentation, Xia Fei had finally settled on the skin of a rank 9 exotic beast Spirit Horn Rhinoceros to be the soul weapon’s vessel. Forging the soft soul-imbued gloves with it, a soul weapon in a class of its own was born!
About its combat strength, Radix had seen it in action with his own eyes. The moment the warrior wearing these gloves got into melee range, they could use their fists to blast away their opponent’s life and soul with a single hit!
Violent! It was completely violent!
The strongest melee soul weapon in all of history was born!
The fist!
It was the most unusual and unexpected soul weapon!
A masterpiece in close combat!
After storing away this precious experimental item, Xia Fei returned the fully repaired soul weapon and Morya’s father’s diary to her. After that was done, he headed over to The Archives and picked out a trove of books. He then got ready to depart from the Spiritualist Association.
In the blink of an eye, ten days had passed; Old Fuchen must have been waiting impatiently for him onboard the Silver Specter.
Ulan’s room had something called the Spirit Energy Boon System, which was unique to the Spiritualist Association. As long as anyone placed their arm to it, they would be able to convert points into energy, and vice versa. It was highly convenient.
“A total of 705 Spirit Energy standard units! Adding the 62 units you still have in your seventh brain region, you now have 767 standard units in reserve!” Radix gushed in excitement after reading the numbers displayed on the screen.
When he first arrived, Xia Fei only had 120 standard units of Spirit Energy left, but now he was departing with more than six times that number! This was not mentioning Xia Fei’s promotion in terms of cultivation and his acquisition of a unique type of close-combat enhancement method. He had truly reaped quite a bountiful harvest here.
Without warning, Master Ulan entered the room, too; he rolled up his sleeve and put his arm to the Energy Boon System.
“What are you doing?” Xia Fei asked curiously.
“Oh, I’m exchanging all my points into energy and then leaving,” Ulan answered breezily.
“All of them? Are you done living here?” Xia Fei asked, curious.
Ulan did not reply. All he did was look at Xia Fei with a rather strange expression on his face.
