12 Magic Iron

"You know that this world is divided into the normal realm and the higher realm, right?" Xue Ling suddenly asked.

"Of course." Qiu Nuo nodded.

There were three thousand worlds in the normal realm, and Jiuzhou Mainland was one of them.

The Divine Realm that people often spoke of was part of the higher realm.

According to legends, the Divine Realm was extremely vast and boundless.

It was said that there were innumerable strong men there. Just one person from the Divine Realm could easily destroy the entire Luojia Empire!

But the Divine Realm seemed to exist only in legends. Although everyone seemed to know of its existence, no one had ever found its entrance.

"But you know that there's another place in the higher realm apart from the Divine Realm… That's the Demon Realm! This Soul Stick is made from a material called Magic Iron, a rare ore produced in the Demon Realm. When used to make the staff body of a Soul Stick, it can be matched with just about any soul crystal and will even drastically increase the power of the Soul Stick!" Xue Ling glanced at Qiu Nuo. "That's to say that you won't even need to change the staff body of your Soul Stick when you enter the higher realm!"

The way of judging a Soul Stick was undoubtedly by how well it blended with the soul crystal. The better the fit, the greater the soul power of the Soul Stick.

Whenever a Soul Master advanced through the stages, replacing his or her Soul Stick was inevitable.

Yet, a more advanced soul crystal wouldn't always fit his or her staff body.

As such, that would necessitate a replacement of the staff body too. Eventually, all these replacements added up to a significant amount!

Besides, it was already difficult to find materials that could fit perfectly with soul crystals. A material like that was almost unheard of!

Qiu Nuo had never expected that Mo Ziyan had given her such an invaluable and precious Soul Stick! It was so precious that she was at a loss.

"Don't get your hopes up just yet."

Xue Ling gestured at the Soul Stick in her hands. "Have you seen a fire attribute Soul Stick that looks like that?"

Qiu Nuo was stunned, suddenly realizing the biggest problem of the Soul Stick.

Indeed. She hadn't felt even the slightest bit of a fire attribute power from the Soul Stick at all. Instead, she had felt a cold power seeping out of it.

She hadn't noticed that earlier because she had been misled by the fire attribute soul crystal on the staff body.

Never once had she thought that staff bodies that fit with fire attribute soul crystals could be forged with anything other than fire attribute materials. That defied all logic!

"So, can I still use this Soul Stick?" Qiu Nuo frowned. It would be such a pity if it couldn't be used.

Even if this Soul Stick was only of the first level, it would probably be as powerful as a second level one since it was a perfect match for the soul crystal, right?

"I can't say for sure." Xue Ling took a few rounds around the Soul Stick. "Magic Iron is obviously a darkness-attribute material. Although it's slightly colder, it has a high tolerance. That's why it's a match with soul crystals of any attribute. But human beings are born with an aversion to anything of the darkness attribute. If you use this Soul Stick openly, you might find yourself in trouble very soon."

Qiu Nuo's expression stiffened as she understood the severity of the matter.

Things that had any relation to the darkness attribute were undoubtedly related to the Demon Clan.

They were the natural arch-enemy of humans. It wasn't just in the higher realm. Even in Jiuzhou Mainland, everyone was dead set against any creatures related to the darkness attribute.

Although Magic Iron was indeed precious, it emitted a coldness too obvious to be overlooked.

While she didn't care much about clan pride, that didn't mean that others shared her opinion…

But what piqued her curiosity was whether Mo Ziyan had something to do with the Demon Clan.

If his master had gifted this Soul Stick to him, had his master known about its origins? Or was this all just a coincidence?

…

The next morning.

Qiu Nuo was dressed in dark-gray coarse clothes with a Soul Stick tightly wrapped to her waist as she quietly made her way outside of the Qiu family's medicinal garden.

Upon seeing her dressing, Mo Ziyan froze and almost laughed. "We're just making a trip into the mountains. Is there really a need to dress up like a refugee?"

He himself was wearing a pale white and flowy robe that had delicate cloud patterns embroidered with a gold thread at the cuffs of the sleeves. It was elegant yet low-key at the same time. His dressing was accompanied by a charming and handsome face that could charm anyone and cause others to feel ashamed just looking at it.

"It's more convenient to travel like this." Qiu Nuo shrugged, tossing him a pack. "Here are some herbs in case of an emergency. I'll leave them with you for the time being."

She had gone to pick these herbs the previous day after sunset.

Since she had made a deal with Mo Ziyan, she would take good care of him during their trip into the mountains.

Besides, it wasn't as though she didn't have personal motivations for heading into the mountains.

Now that she was a Soul Master, she should have a go at finding a personal summoning beast too…

Summoners were strong and powerful because they could fight alongside their summoning beasts.

And summoning beasts were equivalent to several Warriors or Soul Masters of the same level!

More importantly, Summoners could summon even more summoning beasts as they increased their skills.

A powerful Summoner could summon an entire army of summoning beasts! That was their most terrifying and yet impressive skill…