The Charm of Soul Pets (WN)

……

Nightmare City

It wasn’t long after Chu Mu rode on the Night Thunder Dream Beast into Nightmare City when he obtained the Devil Tree Battle Soldier’s terrible news.

It was impossible for a soul pet and soul pet trainer to communicate from such a long distance. However, Chu Mu could detect how far away his soul pet was from him.

Therefore, Chu Mu had previously told the Devil Tree Battle Soldier that if something unexpected occurred, it should travel in his direction.

If a serious matter occurred, for example if Barbarian Valley was met by an attack, the Devil Tree Battle Soldier would move further away from Chu Mu. This would indicate to Chu Mu that he should immediately head back.

Chu Mu could sense that the Devil Tree Battle Soldier had moved towards him, meaning that something happened in Barbarian Valley, but he still had a bit of time.

“Western Kingdom is fighting with Western Marsh, and Western Marsh doesn’t have the ability to spare forces to for Barbarian Valley. Moreover, the Devil Tree Battle Soldier hasn’t fought yet, so what on earth has happened?” Chu Mu calmed down and pondered about what could have happened.

"There’s no point in thinking so much. I’ll find healing medication first then exchange for the spirit items the White Nightmare needs. Then I’ll immediately head back to Barbarian Valley.” said Chu Mu.

Chu Mu was in Nightmare City and had to finish these two tasks. Otherwise, the Chu Family would be wiped out by the illness while trapped in Barbarian Valley.

……

Chu Mu still had his seventh rank title Nightmare Prince identity title, so entering Nightmare Palace was extremely easy.

“Old Li, where should I go to exchange? Are spirit emperor exchanges different than normal exchanges?” said Chu Mu.

“Young master, you should wear a mask. You should avoid being recognized by others and pretend to be a wandering spirit master. This way, people won’t know what’s real about you and won’t dare find trouble for you.” said Old Li.

Chu Mu did as he said and bought a silver mask in a market. He also hid his aura.

Chu Mu was originally wondering what he should do in a spirit emperor exchange, but it turned out to be the same as a normal exchange and also in the same large hall.

Only, the spirit master exchange occurred in a special room. Most items were exchanged with other items. It was more rare to exchange using spirits.

Spirits were consumables and most spirit masters would keep them. After all, spirit sources were not found anywhere. This also meant that spirits were very popular to be exchanged for. They were not like other items that would stay here for a long time before being exchanged for.

As long as one had enough spirits, there would definitely someone who was willing to exchange and the price often wouldn’t cause too much of a shock.

After Chu Mu wore the mask, the old man who recommended Chu Mu to the spirit emperor exchange room used a complex gaze to look at Chu Mu; but he didn’t dare ask anything.

“Everyone calls me Old Shi. I’m equivalent to a custodian here. When everyone obtains a spirit emperor rank item, they will give it to me, and I’ll create a list. If someone wants to exchange, I will notify the owner of the item, whose name will be kept a secret. I act as a middle man, but even if you were to point a knife at my neck, I still wouldn’t divulge the owner’s identity.” Old Shi ostensibly could see that Chu Mu didn’t really understand spirit emperor exchange systems. Thus he gave a very cordial introduction.

At this moment, Old Li’s voice rang out: “Young Master, the backings of these spirit emperor middlemen are powerful figures who control much of the economy. As long as it isn’t above a fifth rank emperor spirit item, you won’t have to worry about giving it to this old man to watch over. You won’t have to worry about him stealing it. Aside from Nightmare Palace, the various large factions all have people like this. Once every while, these middlemen will convene together and will help the people who stored their items with them exchange them. Of course, many spirit emperors will appear when that happens and when they find something they like, they will purchase it with spirits. If they don’t have spirits to exchange and use items, the big factions will have an old appraiser to appraise the value of the item.”

Chu Mu nodded his head. He didn’t have the heart to fully understand the spirit emperor exchange system. Promptly, he got straight to the point and inquired if there were spirit items that had a hundred percent chance of strengthening a peak monarch rank White Nightmare to an emperor.

“A hundred percent? An item like this will be extremely expensive!” Old Shi emphasized.

“Do you have it or not?” Chu Mu also added emphasis.

“This… we do have it, but it’s not easy to be exchanged for.” said Old Shi.

Spirit items that strengthened a White Nightmare were best-selling and practically all spirit emperors in Nightmare Palace would fight for an item like this. Who would be willing to give one away to exchange?

Moreover, people who did sell a mainstream emperor spirit item like this would always try and make a profit by raising the price.

“I’ll use spirits to exchange for it!” said Chu Mu.

“Spirits!” Old Shi’s eyes lit up, but he quickly coughed, covering up his fervent expression. He said: “Are you clear how many spirits are required to exchange for a White Nightmare Soul?”

“Give me a number.” said Chu Mu.

“This…” Old Shi’s eyes spun and he hesitated before saying, “Twenty thousand spirits!”

Twenty thousand spirits happened to be the standard price, and Chu Mu didn't feel that the old man’s price was unreasonable.

“I want to immediately obtain this item.” said Chu Mu.

“If you can immediately give me twenty thousand spirits, I will immediately give you the White Nightmare Soul.” the old man bluntly said.

The old man had been paying attention to Chu Mu’s eyes under the silver mask. The old man felt that this man truly had spirits, but didn’t have too many. As for being able to hand over twenty thousand spirits at once, this old man didn’t have too much hope of this.

How many kingdoms, spirit sources and years of accumulation were required to gather twenty thousand spirits? Moreover, the spirit emperor’s soul pets that occupied said spirit sources also would have to not eat.

These past few years had been in turmoil, and spirits were lacking. The old man knew that spirits were rare and precious. Unless someone slaughtered their way into a forbidden region, normal spirit emperors were unable to mysteriously obtain twenty thousand spirits. At least in Western Kingdom it was impossible.

“If you don’t have this many, take out as many as you have. The remaining amount can be exchanged with using mainstream emperor spirit items. Of course, you must have at least ten thousand spirits. If you don’t have that, you will have to give a little extra.” the Old Man saw that the opposing party had hesitated and gave Chu Mu a way out.

Chu Mu had hesitated because he was conversing with Old Li. Since this exchange had authority and had safeguards, Chu Mu directly handed over the spirit spatial ring.

“You can use soul remembrance to search. There are twenty thousand spirits inside!” said Chu Mu.

The Old Man looked a bit surprised, and he quickly used spirit remembrance to search.

The old man was suspicious at the beginning, but when he felt the enormous spirit energy in the spatial ring, a shocked and excited expression appeared on his face.

“These really are spirits. An entire twenty thousand spirits. Not even one fake one!” this old man had spent half his life doing this job, so how could he have counted the spirits incorrectly? His eyes lit up, and he became much more cordial to Chu Mu!

This Nightmare City was incomparable to a large city like Tianxia City and twenty thousand spirits could be considered a huge amount. Selling them in batches would allow one to obtain much profit!

……

The exchange went very smoothly. When Chu Mu handed over the twenty thousand spirits, the old man immediately gave the White Nightmare soul to Chu Mu.

Chu Mu had previously already obtained a spirit item that could refine souls. This was an item that could strengthen the White Nightmare’s soul, and was the most efficient strengthening method for a creature that devoured souls.

After Chu Mu obtained the emperor rank White Nightmare soul, a smile rose on his face.

Subsequently, Chu Mu only had to raise himself to the spirit emperor level before being able to evolve the White Nightmare to the emperor rank. The most important thing was that the emperor rank White Nightmare would have a secondary attribute, making its strength more powerful than normal pseudo emperors. There was a chance it would be able to fight one versus two!

Of course, Chu Mu would also be able to evolve it right now. He only needed to have confidence in his soul remembrance at the ninth remembrance spirit master rank being able to suppress an emperor rank first rank White Nightmare Soul and imbue it into the White Nightmare’s soul.

However, if he attempted it at the ninth remembrance, there was a chance the hundred percent effectiveness spirit item would fail.

……

Time was running short, so after Chu Mu left the spirit emperor exchange, he took off his mask, and immediately issued a huge gold reward for the medication; he also detailed the situation of Barbarian Valley’s illness.

The reward amount was enormous, and not long after Chu Mu issued it, a female soul teacher from Nightmare Palace appeared.

This female soul teacher was beautiful and elegant. She gave people the feeling of refined beauty. Chu Mu was surprised that Nightmare Palace would have a soul teacher like this and he indistinctly felt that he had seen this female soul teacher somewhere before.

“Hello, I’m called Jian Qin. I am a soul teacher about to reach the ninth rank. Where is the illness you speak of?” asked the woman called Jian Qin.

“It’s in Western Kingdom Western Region Seven Color City.” Chu Mu knew that the situation was pressing so he didn’t hide anything.

“Seven Color City? Hasn’t that place fallen? You’re telling me there are survivors there?” immediately asked Jian Qin.

Chu Mu knew that if he wanted to eradicate the illness, he had to describe the situation to the soul teacher. Thus, he explained the situation of the fortunate thirty thousand survivors from Seven Color City. He also described the symptoms of the illness.

“Purely from your description, an even stronger soul teacher would not even be able to concoct a medicine for this. I can only go myself to diagnose it.” said Jian Qin.

“This… can Young Lady Jian Qin come with me to Barbarian Valley? There are thirty thousand people there, and the illness rank is very high. If we don’t solve this in ten days, I’m afraid many people will die.” Chu Mu earnestly said.

Chu Mu was clear that if the illness continued to spread, even the Chu Family’s lives would be threatened. He had to immediately deal with it.

“That place has been surrounded by the Western Marsh Tribe. Nightmare Palace temporarily cannot dispatch experts to protect me as I go to Seven Color City. Even if I wanted to go…” said Jian Qin.

“I can guarantee your safety.” Chu MU hastily said.

Chu Mu could see that this soul teacher seemed to really care about the survivors.

Jian Qin blinked her eyes, and she looked at Chu MU. She didn’t seem to believe that the young Chu Mu would be able to protect her as they passed through a tribe.

“I will give you a large reward, and I will pay for all of the necessary ingredients. Just tell me what you want to bring.” Chu Mu had been with Ye Qingzi for a long time and knew that medications required a large amount of materials.

“I only want to save them. This isn’t a problem of the reward. As long as you can guarantee that I will be able to safely enter Barbarian Valley that you spoke of, I am willing to follow you.” earnestly said Jian Qin.

……