Is that a Wisp?

'That isn't all as to why I chose the Cloud Whale,' Krune thought, closing his eyes as he focused for a while before a thin needle appeared in his hands.

Soul Needle!

It was a mysterious treasure with mysterious properties. Its primary ability was to detect treasures, acting as a compass that pointed in the respective direction.

Beyond that, it had two more abilities that it had absorbed. The first was the ability of the Sun Stone, allowing it to emit gentle rays of the sun. Surprisingly, it was actually hot.

Thankfully, only the tip was hot while the back of the needle wasn't. So, Krune was able to hold it without a problem. As this heat was something it inherently generated, Krune didn't expend any energy to use it.

On top of that, he caused it to disappear and reappear, getting used to summoning it. Unlike the Cloud Whale, it was a treasure. So, he wasn't condensing it. Therefore, he wasn't that much affected by summoning it.

Though, Krune realized that there was a limit to how many times he could repeat such an action. Even though it was minute, he was getting tired every time he summoned the Soul Needle.

After familiarising himself with the process, Krune held the Cloud Whale in the palm of his hands, summoning the Soul Needle within it. After a couple of attempts, he managed to perfectly summon it within the horn of the Cloud Whale.

Immediately, the Cloud Whale flew to the air before beginning to compress air in its body, aiming it at the ground beyond the house as it shot forth another Air Needle.

And this time, like a bullet, the Soul Needle blasted forth from it and lodged itself into the ground, causing a scorching mark.

With a thought, Krune caused it to vanish before summoning it on his palms again, observing it to see that the heat it emitted had dulled faintly. 'I see, so the heat it can emit isn't endless.'

He then smiled as he continued to think, 'But still, this gives me a lot of reassurance. As long as I manage to eat enough to turn healthy, I should be able to manage. Also, this Soul Needle should be capable of damaging a Nightmare, albeit a little.'

Thanks to the memories of Su Zixin, Krune was aware of the dangers of this world, causing his heart to thump in increasing intensities as he observed the still night. Even an Imperial Meister wielding an Imperial Arms could die under the hands of a Nightmare.

Each Nightmare was strong and possessed bizarre abilities. They couldn't be dealt with easily. In fact, the methods used by the Imperial Meisters to deal with the Nightmares caused him to frown.

After all, the process wasn't something he could tolerate.

A Nightmare was a strange entity in such a way that it could even possess a human or an animal, given the right conditions. Once it possessed a human, its might would increase.

Then again, human will wasn't that easy to eradicate. And the whole process would leave it in a weakened state. This was when the Imperial Meisters killed it.

To achieve that, they were accompanied by a group of people called the Ghost Appeasers. They were those trained from a young age to become vessels to contain the Nightmares.

So, once a Nightmare encountered them, it would possess them. But even though their bodies were the perfect vessel, the Ghost Appeasers possessed a terrifyingly strong will, causing them to fight with the Nightmare internally in a contest of will.

This way, they would delay the completion of the possession while the Imperial Meister would hack the possessed Ghost Appeaser. This way, the Nightmare would be significantly weakened and would no longer be an opponent to the Imperial Meister.

After all, when they go head-on, an Imperial Meister wouldn't be able to defeat a Nightmare one-on-one. Hence the requirement for such sacrifices.

But, since a Nightmare was capable of toppling entire villages overnight, sacrificing the life of one person—the Ghost Appeaser—to kill it was a great deal. It was an honorable task.

As for Krune, he abhorred such a notion. Unfortunately, the ego of Su Zixin countered such a notion. It caused a conflict to erupt in his mind as two opposing points of view clashed together.

After some time passed, Krune managed to suppress the conflict as he meditated, trying his best to integrate the egos of Su Zixin and Wang Hu into himself. This way, he would avoid any mental conflicts in the future.

And the way in which he would proceed about this was to slowly fuse similar parts between the three first. This way, he would be able to remain wholly himself, only causing some minor parts about him to change.

He could simply attribute the rest to a change in him, a maturity caused by the increase of his experience.

Normally, if left alone, the conflicting egos would cause his cultivation to go crazy once he left the place. But if he integrated everything in him, it would provide him benefit later.

After all, he was obtaining valuable life experience from various perspectives originating from different walks of life. All of them would accelerate his comprehension of the various laws thanks to his experiences.

'Then again, it's easier said than done.' Krune sighed, realizing that this would be a long process, something he would have to achieve after painstaking meditation, 'But until then, I have to survive. Otherwise, if another person's memories become a part of me, my mind would shatter.'

A gentle warmth pervaded the Soul Needle, warming up his aching bones. It also allowed the faintly shivering Wang Hao to relax and sleep comfortably.

Seeing such a scene, Krune sighed as he gently patted the child that had suffered a lot. "You'll eat plenty of rice in the future and grow up into a strong young man."

'But first, I must create an excuse that'll allow me to openly use my abilities,' Krune thought, soon thinking up a method as his expression brightened.

He then got up…slowly, as slowly as he could as he was really weak. A gentle gust of wind was enough to topple him.

Soon, he dragged himself over to a corner of the house, picking up a metal slab based on memory. The Soul Needle gave him faint light, allowing him to see in the dark.

Feeling up the metal slab, Krune smiled and thought inwardly, 'This'll do.'