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Na'er was going berserk.
She truly loathed Xu Yuan, her junior brother.
"Junior Sister, I've genuinely fought and slain a ten-thousand-year soul beast in the arena. The one who couldn't handle a ten-thousand-year soul beast was you," Xu Yuan smirked, shrugging slightly.
"That's because I hadn't broken through yet!" Na'er placed her hands on her hips, glaring at Xu Yuan with her purple eyes, her cheeks puffing up in anger.
Xu Yuan reached out and pinched her cheek, then ruffled her silvery-white hair.
"Ouch! What are you doing~~~" Na'er shrieked and immediately tattled, "Teacher, Teacher's Wife, look at him~~"
Xu Yuan withdrew his hand and stopped teasing her.
Yun Ming and Ya Li watched the playful bickering between the two siblings with smiles, ignoring Na'er's whining plea for intervention.
Ya Li's voice was gentle, instantly soothing to the heart.
"Alright, you two, stop fooling around. Prepare yourselves properly; we'll head to the Spirit Pagoda tomorrow."
"Okay, Master's Wife."
"Yes, Master's Wife."
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The next day.
The two siblings boarded a soul-guided train and arrived at the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda.
Standing at the base of the Spirit Pagoda, they looked up but couldn't see the top.
This magnificent tower was one of the most authoritative structures on the continent, comparable even to Shrek Academy's Sea God Island.
The Spirit Pagoda bore some resemblance to the Ascension Platform, as both were virtual constructs, but the Spirit Pagoda was far more advanced and formed an integral part of the headquarters.
Compared to the Ascension Platform, the Spirit Pagoda was superior because it didn't merely simulate soul beasts using spiritual energy. Every soul beast encountered on each floor of the Spirit Pagoda corresponded to an actual soul spirit stored within the Spirit Pagoda.
The Spirit Pagoda had 108 floors, each storing soul spirits collected by the pagoda over the past ten thousand years. In another sense, the Spirit Pagoda could be seen as the Star Dou Great Forest of ten thousand years ago.
Such an enormous number of soul spirits were all stored in the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda, categorized meticulously. Managing these soul spirits and maintaining the operations of this virtual structure were incredibly complex tasks.
Nearly half of the vast Spirit Pagoda headquarters was dedicated to matters related to the Spirit Pagoda.
After presenting their credentials, Xu Yuan and Na'er entered the Spirit Pagoda headquarters.
They took an elevator to the thirty-sixth floor of the Spirit Pagoda and then transferred to another elevator, arriving at a circular hall. At the center of the hall stood a golden light portal—this was the entrance to the Spirit Pagoda.
Though the Spirit Pagoda was a virtual construct, the process of ascending it was entirely real.
In simple terms, the Spirit Pagoda was another space created within the broader framework of the Spirit Pagoda headquarters. It existed in the form of the Spirit Pagoda and operated according to its unique rules, sustained by the various devices of the headquarters.
The golden light portal served as a teleportation device, transporting soul masters into the Spirit Pagoda.
Once all procedures were completed, the two siblings stepped into the golden light portal, their figures vanishing instantly.
Unlike the dizzying sensation of entering the Ascension Platform, Xu Yuan felt as though he had simply walked through a doorway. The scene before him shifted—the staff disappeared, replaced by a massive hall. Surrounding the hall were towering pillars that supported the entire space, while the ground was paved with ancient-looking grayish-green stone bricks.
In the blink of an eye, a holographic vision appeared before them.
It was a luminous tower suspended in the clouds, its layers extending endlessly upward. As the light solidified, the two found themselves inside the Spirit Pagoda.
The octagonal hall had a diameter of at least 300 meters, vast and spacious. Around the hall were eight massive metal doors, each standing ten meters tall and over five meters wide, exuding a grand and imposing aura.
Xu Yuan and Na'er stood at the center of the hall.
"Junior Sister, we'll take one floor each, with breaks for recovery in between."
"Alright."
"The first floor will be handled by me, Senior Brother."
Xu Yuan glanced around.
The eight metal doors trembled and slowly opened with a rumbling sound. Behind each door glowed pairs of green, glowing eyes—numerous pairs, with more than ten behind each door.
"Wind Wolves. They excel in speed, skilled at confusing opponents, and live in packs."
Xu Yuan remained calm and composed.
Na'er crossed her arms and stood still, showing no fear. Instead, she looked quite relaxed.
Xu Yuan sighed helplessly.
"One person per floor means the main effort is handled by one person—you shouldn't just stand there like a target."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Na'er giggled but still made no move to attack or dodge.
Xu Yuan shook his head.
Thankfully, dealing with group attacks at this level wasn't particularly challenging for him.
If there was one thing Xu Yuan excelled at, it was handling encirclement.
He raised his right hand, summoning the Tianyuan Brush.
The surrounding natural energy surged violently, converging toward him as five elemental forces.
The bristles of the Tianyuan Brush split into five elemental dragons, rapidly growing and wrapping around the area.
The five elemental dragons further divided, each bristle splitting into countless elemental spears that spread out in all directions.
Pfft, pfft, pfft!
Each bristle carried an incredibly sharp spear tip, easily piercing through the bodies of these Wind Wolves, which were only several decades old.
In the blink of an eye, Xu Yuan raised his right hand, and the bristles extended outward, impaling all the charging Wind Wolves.
The Wind Wolves dissolved into energy.
"Spirit Pagoda, First Floor cleared. Available soul spirit for absorption: Thousand-Year Wind Wolf! Make your choice within ten seconds."
An electronic voice echoed from all directions, accompanied by the appearance of a golden light portal in front of them. Unlike the larger portal they entered through, this one was smaller but infinitely deeper. Before the portal floated a holographic image of a Wind Wolf.
Selecting the hologram would allow them to absorb the soul spirit, while stepping into the portal meant choosing to advance to the next floor.
Naturally, neither Xu Yuan nor Na'er had any need for the Thousand-Year Wind Wolf, so they stepped directly into the portal.
The scenery shifted, and they found themselves in a hall identical to the previous one—an octagonal hall with eight metal doors.
Without much time to prepare, the eight metal doors slowly opened.
On this floor, behind each door stood a single soul beast—massive lions wreathed in flames, Fire Demon Lions.
Based on their size and energy fluctuations, they were all hundred-year soul beasts, not reaching the thousand-year mark but still over five hundred years old.
Xu Yuan carefully sensed the state of the eight Fire Demon Lions.
"The essence of these eight Fire Demon Lions is very similar, or perhaps they originate from the same Fire Demon Lion. So, this is a single Fire Demon Lion soul spirit that has been replicated through some kind of technology?"
Similar to the Wind Wolves from the previous floor, these Fire Demon Lions were individually only several decades old but numbered eight in total, all replicated from a single thousand-year Fire Demon Lion soul spirit.
Though the individual lifespans were reduced, the increased numbers posed a greater threat to challengers.
"Na'er, it's your turn."
Xu Yuan hadn't expended much energy on the previous floor, but according to their prior agreement, this floor would be handled by Na'er.
"Hmph, watch me!"
Her long silver-white hair fluttered behind her, her purple eyes grew serious, and she raised her right hand, summoning a silver spear.
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