69 Nuan

A single quick sweep of divine sense revealed the truth to Shin Sumi.

"All of these possess a spirit creature inside?! But this shelf clearly says Fox-tails Squirrels... Squirrels don't lay eggs!"

Full of surprise, Shin Sumi had not realized she had voiced her thoughts out loud.

Gen She appeared silently next to her, startling her before answering.

"You have a good knowledge young lady. Indeed only a fraction of the beasts on display here lay eggs. And even for them, only a rare few are still in their original shell.

Every day the Divine-Beast Pavilion receives spirit creatures from disciple quests. Our role is to treat them properly to make sure they are not injured."

Shin Sumi was pleasantly surprised. It seemed like in this Pavilion people cared about the spirit creatures.

"Using the secret magic of our branch, we then put them to sleep and create a Shinsoo egg around them. They are permanently stuck in a resting stasis, until they are awoken."

The old man Gen She explained that the first few corridors were a bit different. They were more or less resources for the sect, a small army of weak creatures.

They could even be bought as food for the Beast branch disciples to feed their magical pets.

"These ones cannot be woken up by a single sweep of divine sense. This is why they are in the front, so newcomers like you can understand the situation without any risks."

Shin Sumi understood what Gen She meant. The most natural thing to do for a cultivator was to use divine sense to probe the surroundings.

If one were to accidentally wake up thousands of beasts at once, it was truly a disaster for the entire upper valley.

"Now that this is clear, follow me."

Directing her, Gen She accompanied Shin Sumi to a few other rooms.

The way the Pavilion was arranged, the beasts were stacked according to their strength, and then to their type.

In order to target a spirit beast, a disciple only had to release divine sense on a single egg. If the egg cracked, the search was over.

As Gen She had said before Shin Sumi entered, the creature did the choosing. Only if they were compatible and the egg entered in resonance with the divine sense would it signal the cultivator.

"And the most powerful ones?" Shin Sumi asked.

Gen She sighed but with a knowing smile.

"Like anybody else I guess. Sure, you can start over there at the end of the corridor. I'll let you try a few ones and come back this way until you've been chosen. You have eight minutes left."

Gen She disappeared.

Contrary to what the old man had thought, Shin Sumi was not actually set on giving a try with the stronger eggs. She simply wanted to confirm what was at the end of the path.

The entire Pavilion looked strange to Shin Sumi. She wasn't really into it, and the atmosphere felt quite cramped. Of course it could also be due to the fact that her divine sense was completely restricted.

In fear of waking up a random beast, Shin Sumi was too afraid of using her divine sense, thus being like a mortal which had become an unusual feeling now.

"Little nut, where are you?! I swear to the gods don't put me in trouble or else..."

Shin Sumi was walking the rows of shelves, looking for her small companion, but her mind was clouded by strange thoughts.

She remembered the first time she had seen a cultivator from the Beast branch summon its fighting creature.

The pattern left on the disciple's skin, and now all the eggs looking like small colored balls with a light patterning on them.

According to the type they represented, all the eggs were lightly colored. Red for fire types, blue for water or ice, green for plants, brown for earth and gold for metal.

The pattern that was more distinguishable the more she got closer to the powerful spirit creatures was even representative of the species of the eggs.

And yet, she couldn't find a single egg that had a leaf pattern or a grey color.

"Maybe the little nut isn't an egg after all..."

At this point, Shin Sumi had arrived at the end of the path. After a last flight of stairs, the walls were that of a cave, clearly indicating that she was not above ground anymore.

"This is where the most powerful creatures are. I bet they only react to an insanely strong divine sense and they must be difficult to tame."

Because of sheer curiosity, and because in her life in the Dark Sky Starry Sect Shin Sumi had come to fight a lot of strong creatures, she wondered what level could the beasts displayed there attain.

The display of eggs there was a bit different from above. A light curtain of Shinsoo separated each alcove in the wall, each one housing only a single egg.

Shin Sumi was about to look into the first alcove, trying to decipher a pattern to see if she knew what beast it was, when she realized that she couldn't see an egg at all.

"Uh? There's nothing there. Maybe somebody has been chosen by it before. Let's look at the next one."

But the next Shinsoo cage was empty as well.

Overtaken by a terrifying intuition, Shin Sumi started walking faster and faster towards the end of the room.

Empty, empty empty... They were all empty.

"Oh no..."

In the second to last alcove, a small round egg was rolling in place. It's color was a dull grey, engraved with little leaves that made it look like a nut from afar.

"What have you done?!!!"

Shin Sumi tried to retrieve the little nut but her hand was immediately blocked by the Shinsoo curtain of energy.

Taking advantage of her moment of hesitation, the little nut bursted out of the alcove, rushing into the very last cage.

Shin Sumi only had time to see that in the center was a brown colored egg with lines that formed small wings when the little nut touched it.

A small vortex appeared in an instant, sucking the egg inside the little nut.

Like it did with any spirit stone, the little nut had sucked in the egg like it was nothing, taking away the last strong creature that the Divine Beast Pavilion had in stock.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Shin Sumi asked again, angry like she had never been before in her life.

Without realizing, a terrifying wave of power erupted from her, Shinsoo distorting the air with her madness. The wave of Shinsoo rippled against the Shinsoo curtains, her full power completely unleashed.

But then, as soon as the power made contact with the little nut, a small crack appeared on its surface.

"Uh?" the unexpected development startled Shin Sumi who instantly retracted her energy that had involuntarily bursted out.

"Is the little nut... hatching?!"

The tiny grey ball with which Shin Sumi was familiar was slowly cracking open.

A small portion of thin shell crumbled on itself, revealing a tiny bead-like black eye to the shocked Shin Sumi.

For her, the little nut, despite being abnormally lively, was still a nut of some kind! Never had she actually thought of it as a small creature.

Around the pearly eye was dark golden fur, shivering with the slightest rustle of wind. The shell cracked open further on a slender body covered in the same colored fur.

A small mane of hair wiggled with the creature's breathing. On its back, a grey membrane slowly detached from the fur, unfurling like skeletal wings.

The last part to come out of the shell was a long grey tail, the end being a dark golden tuft whipping at the air.

"Little nut, you are... no, I shouldn't call you a little nut anymore. What are you?"

Not answering, the small creature the size of a palm looked at Shin Sumi from below. A tiny wimp that instantly melted Shin Sumi's heart came out of the creature's small jaw.

Joyfully hopping around, the beast finally ended on Shin Sumi's extended hand, quickly crawling along her arm. It finally stopped when it reached the opening of her robes, finding comfort in the girl's bosom like it always had.

Shin Sumi smiled, a tear appearing out of nowhere on her cheek.

"Oh little nut..."

Carefully protecting the small newborn creature with one hand, Shin Sumi was about to walk away, taking her precious companion to see the sun for the first time when the memories of what happened right before came back rushing in.

In the emotion of the moment, she had forgotten that the little nut had completely ruined the sect's stock of powerful eggs...

Not wasting time in case Gen She came around, Shin Sumi grabbed a handful of eggs from the next room, a little bit of each kind.

The quickest she could, she placed an egg in each of the empty Shinsoo cages at the end of the corridor. She was aware that this replacement was awful at best but what else could she do?!

At least she wouldn't be found out immediately.

Running away from the scene of the crime, she only stopped when she reached about halfway back to the entrance to the Pavilion.

There she held the small dark golden creature with grey wings, waiting for Gen She whose unhurried steps could be heard.

"Oh my...!" said the old man resting his sight on the small beady black eyes in Shin Sumi's palm, "what a precious little friend! How lucky you are, young lady."

Shin Sumi was relieved, smiling back to the guardian of the Pavilion.

"It's a Lion Bat. A really good companion. Friendly, not too dependent on its master, easy to tame. But don't worry she is also a fierce fighter!"

"A Lion Bat... She?"

"Yes, it is a female!"

Shin Sumi had never heard of the species before, only familiar with mortal bats. She had heard of 'lion' before but only from the big city library books, never had she ever seen one in real life.

"This one is really small, I didn't even know we had one so small! Usually we get adult ones, this is a real blessing!"

Gen She accompanied Shin Sumi and her little companion to the exit, spilling all his knowledge about Lion Bats on the way.

He then ceremoniously handed her a scroll with a wax seal representing claw marks. The scroll contained the method to magically bind a creature to its master, consequently forming the summoning pattern on the master's skin.

A single discrete look at her wrist, though, confirmed to Shin Sumi that the leaf pattern had not left her skin nor changed at all.

As expected, Shin Sumi received the corresponding insignia to add to her small collection.

Before she knew it, she was back at her forest house, her eyes never having left the small creature's frail appearance.

"Why did you never tell me before, little nut? I would have gone straight to the Divine Beast Pavilion for you. No, that's not right, I can't call you that. What is your name?"

An unhelpful but warming wimp was the only answer. The warmth spread through Shin Sumi in much the same way the little nut had previously boosted her abilities with its own Shinsoo.

"How about Nuan?"

Instead of answering, the baby Lion Bat bit Shin Sumi with affection.

"Nuan it is... I'm happy you didn't lose your teeth, little Nuan" Shin Sumi smiled as she saw the familiar row of indents in her silky skin.

Time passed quickly, Shin Sumi simply holding the frail little creature in one hand, resting against her breasts while she sat down on the bench in her garden.

At first she was completely lost in bliss at the sight of Nuan, but then her calculating mind started to creep around again.

"But now that the little nut has become Nuan... Can it still refine spirit stones?"

Gently waking up the Lion Bat that had fallen asleep by brushing its folded wings, Shin Sumi held a fingernail sized spirit stone to its head.

The baby Nuan looked at the white stone with her black beads for eyes. The one sided staring contest didn't last long before a long pink tongue stuck out and snatched away the spirit stone!

Turning from a strange egg into a little furry creature didn't impact its appetite for magical items at all.

In fact it was quite the opposite, Shin Sumi discovered, as even some small bits of broken jade seemed to pick Nuan's interest, something that had never happened before.

Shin Sumi also found herself relieved when, an hour or so later, the Lion Bat spat out the refined resources.

"Pfiuu, I'm glad it doesn't come out the other end!"

Shin Sumi did some more testing about Nuan's nutrition, remembering that bats usually ate insects. Unfortunately for Shin Sumi's inventory, the newborn would only frown away when presented with a fly or a grasshopper, it's attention completely turned towards magical items.

The last experiment Shin Sumi could afford to do at the moment turned out to be a complete success when with a single thought backed by divine sense, she prompted Nuan to enter the leaf pattern on her wrist.

"Concealment: perfect! Now stay still for a bit, Nuan, I have to go back to the Sword Pavilion."

That was the advantage of having a spirit creature born out of an egg that was already linked to her.

Shin Sumi completely disregarded the scroll given to her by Gen She. Even upon opening it, Nuan didn't bother stealing the lines inscribed on them, as Shin Sumi already had a summoning mark on her wrist.

Bonding with a spirit creature had never been that easy!

Shin Sumi also thought this way about taming the animal. Because the little nut was already 'alive' before, Nuan seemed to have no interest in discovering the outside world, having already been Shin Sumi's companion pet for more than two years.

Not forgetting to switch identities and pin the sword insignia to her robes, Shin Sumi presented herself at the Star-Sword Pavilion at the expected time.

After a quick review of the disciples present, an older disciple guided the newcomers inside the grand building housing the most selective branch of the Dark Sky Starry Sect.

"Well, after the secret sixth branch of course" thought Shin Sumi.

Diligently, Bai Fulong paid Xiao Yue a courteous bow, to which she replied with a discreet wink. Sitting not too far from each other, they both silently attended the lesson given to them by an older disciple about the way of the sword.

In the Sword Pavilion, the lessons were taught along a simple processus. First there was a session with a mentor, teaching about fighting forms or techniques. Then was a practice time, where disciples of the same skill level would spar between each other, sometimes with dummy weapons and sometimes real ones.

After all that, the day would end, leaving the next six days for disciples to practice by themselves, often going to a Star Arena for this purpose.

After a few weeks, Shin Sumi had already grown accustomed to the teaching methods of the Dark Sky Starry Sect. These methods rarely differed from one branch to the next, always allowing time to progress in certain skills between each lesson.

Only the Divine Beast Pavilion was a bit different. Because their primordial way of fighting and cultivating depended on a spirit creature, the first few months were crucial for establishing a good relationship between beast and master.

It was also the right time to learn how to take care of them, earn their trust and form a life-long bond.

Spending a few days per week with the Sword Pavilion and the Formation Pavilion, Shin Sumi still had lots of time to spare. Because of her peculiar cultivation, she didn't need nearly as much time as other disciples to assimilate a new technique or a way to control her Shinsoo.

The rest of her time was mostly spent with Nuan, playing around and testing the small Lion Bat's abilities, or going to the upper valley library to look for scrolls or Immortal world related information.

Only a few days after her rebirth, Shin Sumi was shocked to discover that Nuan still had the power to turn into a book. No matter how much she researched this fact in the old tomes on the dusty shelves of the library, there was no instance of a living being turning into a book ever being recorded.

"This one is very interesting, but it's a book that has gained sentience after thousands of years of use. I don't think there's anything in there concerning you, Nuan."

Nuan was a complete mystery. Shin Sumi knew from her instinct as well as the new pages in the wooden book that the little nut had taken the appearance of a Lion Bat for a single reason.

"According to the last page, the last spirit egg, the brown one with wings pattern, was a Lion Bat egg. So you've taken the appearance of the last egg you stole, eh? But what about the other eggs? Do you have any of their traits? And are you really a Lion Bat or can you change?"

Of course, Nuan did not answer any of these questions. Even if she could, there was no indication that she even knew the answers.

Shin Sumi was almost tempted to turn to the most knowledgeable person she could find in the sect for help.

"Technically, even if he is the sect's head, Patriarch Sen should be my Fourth Brother, right? What kind of older brother doesn't help his little sister?!"

Shin Sumi was only joking to herself about the fact that she was the Seventh Ghost, when suddenly her heart stilled and a bone-chilling feeling took over her entire body.

A divine sense message from the Patriarch, right as she was thinking of him.

"Oh no, what have I done, talking about my senior like that?!!"