Chapter 968: The Spirit of the Soul Sealing Mandate

“A spirit of the armament!!”

Mo Ni exclaimed at once.

A spirit of the armament was something Mo Ni had only heard about before, he had never seen one himself. While the Soul Sealing Mandate had been in his possession, Mo Ni had tried his best to find out any little thing about the item but found nothing. The only thing of note was when he used his soulsense to scour the object and saw the powerful energy within it. From that, he figured that had to be the root of the soul armament’s soul and had no desire to bother with him, so he wasn’t able to figure anything else out when he first tried.

So he never thought the spirit within the Soul Sealing Mandate would suddenly start to speak when his father touched it. He had to admit though, it made him curious. What kind of existence was this Regalia’s spirit?

The voice of the Soul Sealing Mandate was quite clear, but it was still hard to distinguish how old the speaker as if it had an age. And furthermore, not even the gender could really be distinguished.

The white-light being emitted by the Soul Sealing Mandate began to swirl around it. For a moment, it continued to swirl in place before solidifying to form into the shape of a white tiger the size of a small wildcat!

It was just an illusion, but it was similar to how Xiao Fang would normally portray itself as a stone as an avatar. The only difference was that this tiger seemed a little more lively and definitely more transparent. If not for that fact, anyone would’ve thought this cat was an actual living being.

It floated two meters above the ground to stare at the one holding onto the Soul Sealing Mandate. Cocking its head, the spirit took a moment before it spoke again.

“You are the first Soul Emperor I’ve seen in three hundred years. What is your name?”

Its voice held a slightly lofty tone to it as if not even a Soul Emperor was someone it could bother to care about.

The face of Mo Ni’s father couldn’t really be seen with how dim the candles were. The black mist around his person made it even harder to look while also making him seem like an ‘illusion’ almost. The only glaring detail to his person was his eyes that gleamed with such intensity that hardly anyone would be able to meet him eye to eye.

Mo Ni’s father was, at this current moment, a little surprised at the words of the spirit. “My name is…Nether.”

“Nether?” The spirit cocked its head again. “A strange name…is your body an avatar? Where is your real body?” 

Nether’s eyes flickered with surprise once again at that. “Indeed.” He nodded, “This is indeed an avatar, my real body is…closed off in cultivation. I cannot leave that place for now.”

“Ah…” The Soul Sealing Mandate nodded. “Given your avatar being an Early-stage Soul Emperor, your real body must be a Mid-stage Soul Emperor. I would wager you have not yet reached the Late-stage Soul Emperor level…”

The accurate analysis of the Soul Sealing Mandate stunned Nether once again. The spirit was far more intelligent than he initially thought.

“A Mid-stage Soul Emperor…” The Soul Sealing Mandate ignored Nether to think to itself, “And not yet a Late-stage Soul Emperor…it is barely passable. A soul armament’s purpose is to be used by a soul cultivator, I will not be too strict…”

Mo Ni had to suppress a frown on his face—he heard what the Soul Sealing Mandate had said just now, and the requirements to become its master. If a Mid-stage Soul Emperor was ‘barely passable’ in its eyes and that the Soul Sealing Mandate wouldn’t be ‘too strict’, just how high of a standard did it have?!

“Damn, why couldn’t the spirit of the Core Stone be like this?!”

Mo Ni lamented to himself. He knew that Bai Yunfei was already the master of the Core Stone, so that meant the spirit of the Core Stone hadn’t as high of a standard as the Soul Sealing Mandate. 

Bai Yunfei wouldn’t have been able to use the Core Stone if its spirit had the same attitude as the Soul Sealing Mandate’s spirit. And if that was the case, Bai Yunfei wouldn’t have been able to run away from the hall to begin with.

“Very well then. We will talk about the matter of fealty when your real body is present, not your avatar.”

The spirit spoke, but its voice was a little different compared to before and withdrew into the Soul Sealing Mandate. It was lacking interest. It was as if the Soul Sealing Mandate had no longer the interest in speaking to the ‘avatar’! 

“Wha…”

Mo Ni was stunned. Was the Soul Sealing Mandate’s spirit not even going to let anyone react a bit before leaving?

Nether had a similar thought as well. He looked at the Soul Sealing Mandate with a little disbelief, but he recovered quickly and began to think about other matters.

Not willing to bother his father when he was in such a state, Mo Ni just stood there and waited in silence.

Several seconds passed before Nether waved his right hand to store the Soul Sealing Mandate. “You said before that…this Bai Yunfei has the Core Stone?”

His voice was calm like before, but Mo Ni could tell that his father was clearly interested in this. They were talking about a Regalia after all, and not even a Soul Emperor would remain untempted by one. 

The stifling pressure Mo Ni felt before was gone now, meaning his father was allowing him the chance to explain himself. That was relieving.

“Yes, father.” Mo Ni replied dutifully. “As my report earlier, the Core Stone appeared during the fight for the Extreme King Pills. I fought with Bai Yunfei for it when he stole it. I can confirm that he is the Core Stone’s master now. He must’ve used the Core Stone’s power to get away from the other elders when he fled from the Black Bamboo Point.”

“The Core Stone, another Regalia…” Nether’s heart skipped a beat with interest, though he remained quiet on the surface to think.

“He must be found nonetheless! You were the one the bring him here, therefore you will be responsible for finding him. Our school’s personnel are free for you to use as you see fit, including the elders. Should you bring back the Core Stone, I will look the other way on your harmful actions these days to our school.”

Those ‘harmful actions’ were clearly referring to how Mo Ni had used multiple wandering soul cultivators allied with their school to kill Bai Yunfei. Many of the school’s resources had been used up for Mo Ni’s quest to kill Bai Yunfei, and it had all gone to waste in the end. 

Mo Ni was determined to succeed this time. “Worry not, father. Your son will not fail you. I will bring the Core Stone back to you as quickly as possible!”

Nether nodded. “Speak to the first elder and have him activate the Agitation Edict as a safeguard against the Core Stone. Have the students scour any place Bai Yunfei might be hiding.”

Mo Ni brightened at that order, he had in fact been ready to propose the same thing as well. What Mo Ni was afraid of most was Bai Yunfei using the Core Stone to teleport away. Should that happen, it’d be extremely difficult to capture Bai Yunfei.

The Agitation Edict was one of the most powerful layers of protection the school had. It was created by an ancestor of the school hundreds and hundreds of years ago and could agitate the elemental energy within the area. It wouldn’t do much to affect a person, but teleportation would be impossible in this area.

Mo Ni only knew of this when he read it from one of the more ancient records within the archives of his school. He never saw it put into use before, and the records said that it had been well over several hundred years since the edict last saw any use. It was a little surprising that his father would allow it to be used as a precaution against the Core Stone. That was apparently just how serious Nether took the Core Stone to be.

Mo Ni bowed his head and retreated from the hall. An icy glare entered his eyes when he turned around to walk away. 

“You were far too tired when you escaped, I doubt you made it that far away. You must be hiding somewhere to recuperate? Pah! Bai Yunfei…I said it before. You won’t escape from me this time. You’ll die today!”