“Hou Xi Pa!” Daren Wu interrupted again. “I understand that I shouldn't interfere in the affairs of cultivators, but what the hell are you doing!”

  “Calm down, old man. I just want to help her, for a small fee,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Have I ever done anything to earn your distrust?”

  The man just snorted at his words.

  May suddenly remembered that it was a little foolish of her to follow someone whose identity she didn't know, so she decided to ask the leader of the company about it. “Leader Wu, can I trust this cultivator?”

  He fell into thought for a moment, while Hou just smiled when he heard her question.

  “Yes. He can be trusted. He has been the guard of our trading company for many years. Despite everything, he can be trusted and is also rather strong.”

  May nodded. He didn't seem to belong to any sect, which probably meant he was a loose cultivator. Still, since he had been defending their company for years and there had never been any problems with him, she doubted he was lying.

  “Anything else? Can we already go to a more secluded place?” he asked, looking slightly bored. “We need some silence.”

  May agreed, and they left the room. The man led her to the river that ran through the city. It was a fairly remote spot among the bushes, where no one tended to venture. He sat down on one of the nearby rocks, took off his shoes, and put his feet in the icy water.

  May stood on the riverbank, not intending to enter the cold water.

  “So?” May began. “How are you going to cure me?”

  “Money first.”

  May frowned. She didn't trust him that much. Nevertheless, she reached into her bag and took out some money. She was lucky because she barely had enough to cover the costs.

  The man took the money and began to count it. After a moment, however, he looked at her angrily. “Half is missing,” he said dryly.

  “You'll get the other half when we're done. I hope you understand,” she replied calmly.

  Even if he was just a guard, he still worked for a trading company. So he had to understand how important security issues were.

  He chuckled quietly. “Wise,” he praised her, shaking his head. “So be it. When I examined you then, I noticed that despite your injuries, your soul is surprisingly strong.”

  May was not surprised by this information. After all, the main purpose of those nightmares had been to strengthen her soul. While they ultimately caused micro-damage, they had also strengthened her at the same time.

  Even so, she still didn’t really understand what it meant. No one had ever explained to her what it meant to have a stronger soul.

  Seeing her not particularly surprised expression, the man smiled. “Judging by your reaction, this doesn’t surprise you at all. So you had some special method to strengthen your soul, but at the cost of damaging it in the process… didn’t you?”

  May didn’t respond.

  “You’re surprisingly quiet,” he chuckled softly, cheerfully splashing river water with his feet. “But that doesn’t matter. Just don’t do it again. In any case, it didn’t turn out that badly for you. The strength of your soul exceeds any standard for the level you’re currently at.”

  “Senior...” She addressed him without being entirely sure of his status. However, she was certain that he was at a higher stage than her, so she decided to use a more dignified title. “Forgive me, but I don't quite understand what soul enhancement means... Could you explain it to me?”

  The man looked at her with slight puzzlement. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to fall into deep thought, which was slightly out of character with his typically playful behavior up to that point.

  “You tried to enhance your soul and didn't even know what the benefits were?” He laughed foolishly. He really didn't give the impression of a dignified cultivator. “Well, it would take a long time to explain, as there are many benefits, but I'll tell you what will be beneficial for you today.”

  “I would greatly appreciate an explanation, Senior,” she replied with curiosity.

  Hearing her words, he merely shook his head and sighed, suddenly rising from the stone and splashing water around. “It will be better to show you.”

  As he said this, he slowly raised one hand, bending it at a ninety-degree angle. May had no idea what he was doing, but she deemed it appropriate to activate her skill [Qi Sensing]. When she did, she noticed a significant amount of energy gathering around his hand.

  Soon after, she saw a faint glow of light appear around his palm, growing more and more intense. May had never seen such a technique before.

  Moments later, something appeared and began to circle around his body. It had a spherical, faintly red form, yet lacked any physical substance, resembling an entity made of pure light. She didn’t even need to use her skill to see it, she quickly understood what it meant.

  “You can summon spirits?” May asked in astonishment.

  Spirit summoning was an extremely rare ability, as it required natural talent. It wasn’t something one could simply learn. Up until now, May had never encountered a spirit summoner.

  “Indeed, I can,” he said with a faint smile on his face, clearly pleased that May was impressed.

  However, seeing how satisfied he was with himself, she quickly composed herself and returned to her usual indifferent expression, unwilling to give him the satisfaction.

  She soon recalled a few pieces of information she had learned at the academy. In the Island Mountain Sect, spirit summoning was indeed rare. However, the man like the trading company he worked for, most probably came from the Mount Yrdia Sect. May remembered that spirit summoning was more common in the northern part of the region.

  “It’s incredibly beautiful,” she said in admiration, watching as the red sphere of light danced around the man’s body as if performing a graceful dance.

  “It's a Lesser Fire Spirit. Lesser Spirits aren't very smart, so it's easy to make a contract with them. I'll teach you how to summon a spirit,” he said with a smile.

  This information shocked May.

  “But... Doesn't that require talent... Wait... Does it have something to do with soul power?”

  But if that was the case, why couldn't any of the sect's elders do that? After all, they had unlimited access to the Devil Hole.

  “Yes and no,” he replied. “A strong soul is required to summon Spirit into our world. However, even having a strong soul does not mean that someone is capable of doing so. However, in your case, you are able to see that lesser spirit with your own eyes... Your talent for summoning is sufficient."

  “And how exactly is this supposed to help with the damage to my soul?” she asked, not entirely certain how the two things were connected.

  “That’s exactly what I was about to explain. When you summon a Spirit from the spiritual realm, you connect your soul to that world. That is precisely why this discipline is so dangerous,” he explained, occasionally swatting the red sphere of light away with his hand as if it were an annoying mosquito. “However, we can use that to your advantage.”

  “To my advantage?” she asked in surprise, never taking her eyes off the Spirit circling around them.

  “Yes. There are many types of Spirits. The one flying next to me, for example, possesses the fire element. We need to find a lesser Spirit that is capable of healing your soul.”

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  “Does it have to be a specific type of spirit?” she asked curiously.

  “No, but it's best if it's a ‘delicate’ element, like water or plant type one.” He said, “The most important thing is the connection itself. It has been proven that there is a small degree of spiritual healing during the connection between the summoner and the spirit. Unfortunately, it will be quite slow, as you will only be able to summon a lesser spirit.”

  “That’s possible?”

  “Of course. Unfortunately, at your current level, you can only contract a lesser spirit. Even a Spirit just one rank higher would most likely tear your soul apart. The very ability to summon a Spirit at your stage is only possible because your soul is so strong despite damage.”

  May considered his words. She had no objection to learning a new skill. Spirit summoning sounded rather interesting, though it wasn’t something she expected to rely on heavily in the future.

  “What will be required for me to learn this?” she asked.

  “First and foremost, I will have to teach you the skill itself. However, considering the level you’ve reached at such a young age, your talent is undeniable, and I have no doubt you’ll grasp it quickly,” he said. “After that, you’ll need to form a contract.”

  “That sounds rather dangerous,” May said. The very word contract didn’t sit well with her.

  The man merely snorted at her words and stomped his foot hard into the water, splashing a significant amount of river water onto her. May hissed aloud at the cold.

  “When it comes to lesser spirits, it’s not a problem. They’re too stupid to attempt anything. Lesser spirits usually only want you to feed them your Qi energy regularly. That allows them to grow and become stronger, which is precisely why they’re so eager to form contracts with humans.”

  “I see,” May replied, having no objection to occasionally feeding a small amount of Qi. She already possessed an excess of it, thanks to numerous rare pills, her Qi reserves far exceeded what was typical for someone at her cultivation level.

  “All right, then let’s begin the lesson. There’s no point in wasting any more time, it will take at least a few hours anyway.”

  And so they began learning this rare skill. To be honest, even May herself couldn’t believe that it was possible to learn it at such a low cost. Out of curiosity, she quickly checked how much it would have cost to obtain the skill directly from the system, the price came out to nearly 20,000.

  She soon understood why.

  Contrary to Hou Xi’s assurances, the skill was anything but simple. On the contrary, it required performing a series of bizarre and highly intricate steps just to achieve even the most basic result. To the man’s growing irritation, May struggled tremendously to follow his instructions correctly.

  “Right foot one meter forward, the other turned to the left. Next, raise your right hand, straighten the left, then cross both hands and clench your left fist as tightly as possible. Now turn your head exactly twenty-seven degrees in a lateral motion, don’t forget to tilt it slightly to the left. Finally, close your eyes and open them after ten seconds! What part of this don’t you understand? It’s simple! And this isn’t even ten percent of the instructions! You were supposed to be a genius, why is this taking you so long?!”

  He couldn’t restrain his anger as he watched her fumble through the movements. He kept shouting at her, hurling curses she had never heard before. Two full hours had already passed, and May had barely grasped the absolute basics.

  This is too difficult… she thought. He must be insane if he thinks I can master this in a few hours.

  She was exhausted, irritated, and utterly fed up with his shouting and relentless swearing.

  More and more time passed. May began practicing this skill when the sun was still high in the sky. Now the moon was already setting, and she knew there wasn't much time left before sunrise.

  The man was no longer angry, but rather surrendered. He looked completely depressed and defeated. May, on the other hand, was struggling to keep her eyes open and stay awake.

  Being such a powerful cultivator, the man didn't need as much sleep as May, so he was more bored than tired like May. Only occasionally did he let out frustrated sounds.

  “If I had known you were so untalented, I would have charged three times as much...” he said quietly, struggling to hold back his tears.

  Damn it! I didn't return to the academy for the night! I hope no one notices my absence, I could get into terrible trouble for this, even though I'm a disciple of Hua Tang!

  More and more time passed. May could no longer feel her arms or legs. She felt that she could lose consciousness at any moment... Until...

  Finally!

  Although it was a weaker version of what she had hoped to achieve, it was still more than she wanted!

  “Senior! I did it, I felt that tingling and cold sensation you were talking about!”

  “Finally!” he shouted and jumped up nervously. “I thought we'd be sitting here for another three days! I think I would have gone crazy!”

  May wasn't even angry at his rude words anymore, she just wanted to get it over with!

  It was supposed to be a short trip to take care of some business! How did it end up with her spending the whole night learning how to summon spirits from some weirdo?!

  “Ugh... Normally I'd make you do it yourself, but I'll help you!” he said angrily. “Take my hand!”

  May didn't question his words and did as he said. They held hands.

  “Now what?”

  “Focus on that feeling from earlier... You're still too weak at this, but luckily I have a technique for such occasions! You're so lucky! I'll strengthen your, hmm, how should I put it...”

  “Signal?”

  “Something like that... Anyway, this should do the trick. Your technique is too weak, so you would never have succeeded on your own!”

  May tried to use the technique again, emitting strange movements with great difficulty... But this time she felt the power transfer to Hou Xi Pa and become ten times stronger! She had no doubt that it would be impossible for her alone.

  “Now repeat after me, carefully. We are now superficially connected to the spiritual world... Our words reach there, so we must be careful because something strange may be listening to us.”

  May stammered.

  “I, say your name here.”

  “I, May Shang.”

  “Summon a lesser soul with no ill intentions toward me, offering access to my Qi resources in exchange for maintaining the connection and help I may need!”

  May repeated.

  “You who have heard, come!” He said.

  “You who have heard, come!” She repeated.

  Suddenly, she felt a strange sensation, her whole body trembled, and her Qi energy began to rapidly escape from her body.

  Around May, there appeared many similar balls of light in all colors. Some were smaller, some were larger. There were dozens of balls circling around her, but she felt that they were all sucking her Qi out of her.

  “You are currently maintaining them all, you must choose one before you lose the rest of your Qi.”

  “What should I do?”

  “Choose one and touch it. Preferably light or dark blue, green, or brown. They will be the most suitable.”

  “Does light blue correspond to the element of water?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  With a decisive movement, she chose the largest light blue ball. She chose water because she knew she had a very strong affinity with that Path.

  “Keep touching it and start feeding it Qi. The two of you need to reach an understanding. The amount of Qi you give it now is the amount you’ll have to give it regularly.”

  May began transferring small amounts of Qi energy, increasing it little by little. Unfortunately, the large blue sphere wanted more, forcing her to pour in even greater quantities of Qi. It was truly greedy. She had already invested over one hundred units of Qi, yet the sphere still refused to establish contact with her.

  “That’s nothing unusual,” Hou Xi said suddenly. “You chose the largest one, so it’s no surprise it has the biggest appetite.”

  She repeated the same process for several more minutes. Finally, when she had nearly doubled the amount of Qi, the sphere drifted slightly to the side, signaling that it was satisfied.

  “So what now?” she asked, turning toward Hou Xi.

  “That’s basically it. Touch it once more and repeat my words.”

  May repeated after him, reciting words that were, in essence, the contract between her and the strange light-blue sphere, which was, in truth, a lesser water spirit.

  Moments later, the lesser water spirit vanished, and May felt a wave of relief. The entire ritual had consumed a significant portion of her Qi reserves.

  “Well, and that’s that.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes. Simply summon the spirit every day and feed it. Your soul will slowly begin to heal naturally thanks to the connection with the spiritual realm.”

  May sighed and lay down on the wet grass. She was truly exhausted. Lying there, staring at the sky as it slowly began to brighten, she asked, “So… what can this spirit do?”

  “Basically nothing.”

  “Huh?”

  “Why are you so surprised? It’s just a lesser spirit. It’s practically useless.”

  May didn’t know what to say.

  “Listen. The fact that it will heal your soul should be more than enough. Without it, you’d need millions mu,” he said with slight irritation, having caught the ungrateful tone in her voice. “Oh, and one more thing, don’t try to summon intermediate spirits, and for heaven’s sake, not higher ones. You would definitely die.”

  “Umm…”

  Before she could finish her thought, the man began walking away.

  “That’s all. I have no intention of staying here a minute longer. Farewell. I hope we never meet again.”

  “But…”

  “No buts! Goodbye! Bye!”

  “Senior, I just wanted to…”

  He didn’t listen to her calls and disappeared into the distance.

  I just wanted to give him the second part of the payment… After all, he only received half…