1358 An Artifact Sprit

Everyone present watched as the figure began to form. The blue lights first formed a head that looked like a woman. It had long black hair and deep blue eyes. Its neck was slender while a dress made out of blue scales was on her torso.

The bottom of her body though was not human. It wasn't like that of a Haima tribe member either, having four legs. Instead, it was like that of a fish!

The woman that had just came into being was a mermaid!

She was about the size of a normal human, but had an illusory body.

"This… is an artifact spirit?" Lin Mu muttered in surprise.

He had learned about artifact spirits from both Elder Xukong as well as the Lost Immortal's memoirs.

An artifact spirit was a special type of lifeforms that would be born after thousands of years of nurturing. It could only be born in an immortal weapon or tool or above. But it didn't just form right away after the tool was made.

It took many years of time and nurturing to form. There were of course some unique treasures that could allow one to be born right from the start, but they were far and few in between.

Not to mention, the level of artifact spirit could vary greatly too.

For a low and mid grade immortal tool, the artifact spirit might just be a blob of energy that had gained sentience. Only high and peak grade immortal tools could form artifact spirits that had proper forms.

But even then, these spirits were still illusory and not real. They existed within the tool and could help one control it. And when they were under a master's brand, they could operate independently while following the master's orders.

Not to mention, being an artifact, they had full control over it and had the highest proficiency with it. A cultivator that obtained an immortal tool or weapon might take years to get used to it, and a lot more to be fully proficient with it.

But for an artifact spirit, they had a high proficiency right from the start. Having them with one was the same as having a second person fighting for you. This would pretty much double the battle ability of an expert.

This was also why the cost of an immortal tool that had artifact spirit was exponentially higher.

For example, a low grade immortal tool that had an artifact spirit might have the same price as a high grade immortal tool without an artifact spirit.

This was also why many experts liked to pick a proper immortal tool that was compatible with them. Once they found one such tool, they would nurture it until it developed an artifact spirit.

Since developing and artifact spirit took a long time, experts couldn't just do it for multiple immortal tools at once. It needed dedication and effort for one to be born, not to mention that it might take a great amount of resources too.

In many cases, the resources needed to nurture an artifact spirit might exceed the original cost of the immortal tool by several magnitudes.

Of course this also depended on the immortal tool and its type.

Some artifact spirits such as those in swords didn't develop simply from resources. They actually needed to be used in battle and bathe in the sword intent of the owner. Only then would they truly give birth to an artifact spirit.

Such a method of developing and artifact spirit didn't have an upfront cost, but still needed a lot of time to nurture, not to mention it would also need the appropriate owner to develop it.

Thus seeing an artifact spirit that was born from a peak grade immortal artifact was very rare. And yet, Lin Mu had the chance to see one right before him.

His eyes met the mermaid's and she trembled. She quickly looked at the others and had a similar reaction.

"Haima… Haima… The Haima… The Haima are really back!" The mermaid said with great emotion.

Her voice bordered on happy and trembling, but soon turned into a weak sob.

"You're back… you all are really back…" Tears started to fall out of the mermaid's eyes, making her look rather delicate.

If anyone looked at her face right now, they would feel great weakness and would want to make her feel better.

"Who are you?" Elder Niji asked, clearly not recognizing her.

His brows were furrowed, and he wondered if the bloodline memories weren't there entirely.

The mermaid didn't answer right away though; she continued sobbing while approaching them. She descended from the sky and came to a stop before all of them.

"Do you know how long I've waited!" She almost screamed.

"How long?" Lin Mu asked wanting to know.

"Eighty thousand years! It's been over eighty thousand years! No one came to see me when I was born… I was all alone… why did they leave me?" The mermaid cried non stop.

~Sigh~

Elder Niji shook his head, knowing that while the spirit in front of him might be older than him, its mentality was still that of a child. After all, having no one around it, the spirit never had the chance to fully develop its mentality.

While it might have intelligence on the same level as that of a human, its personalty was not fully developed. This was a secondary form of nurturing that needed interaction from the owner to develop.

And since the city lacked any inhabitants, she was always alone.

"Wait… eighty thousand years?" Lin Mu raised a brow. "So you weren't there during the time of Ancestor Muxuan?" he questioned.

"Mm?" The mermaid looked at the human male in front of her. "You're a human?" she wondered.

"Yes, I am." Lin Mu nodded his head.

~shua~

The mermaid quickly neared Lin Mu, checking out every side of him.

"So this is what a human looks like…"

She looked at the others in the distance too, but found Lin Mu to be the most pleasing.