The Demon Pagoda Shows Its Might, First Test of Sealing

The Man Faced Demon Spider's enormous corpse lay limp on the ground, its carapace shattered as green blood and unidentified bodily fluids gushed out, soaking the ferns beneath it and releasing a thick, pungent stench. Its compound eyes, once gleaming with cruel bloodlust, had now gone dim, leaving behind only the hollow emptiness of death.

Soul power flowed around Bing'er's fingertips, giving off a gentle chill as she extinguished the lingering flames on the demon spider's corpse to prevent a forest fire. Yan'er lightly patted her chest, a flush of lingering fear and excitement still visible on her little face.

Qin Yuan stood with one hand stroking his beard, watching Qin Mo with approving eyes. His grandson's clean and decisive execution had perfectly embodied speed, precision, and ruthlessness. In particular, the intensity of the soul power gathered in that final punch had already surpassed the realm of an ordinary Soul Grandmaster. The advantage of Innate Level 20 Soul Power had begun to show itself.

Yet Qin Mo's attention was entirely elsewhere, not on the corpse gradually turning cold. He lowered his head slightly and stared at his left palm. There, the phantom image of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda was emerging uncontrollably, trembling faintly as it emitted increasingly brilliant nine-colored radiance.

An extraordinarily strange sensation welled up in Qin Mo's heart.

It was not the pull a spirit master felt when a soul ring's energy was about to emerge after killing a soul beast. Rather, it was something deeper, something born from his martial soul's instincts... hunger, and the sensation of having locked onto prey! It was as though the demon pagoda were a living creature, while the demon spider's corpse on the ground was a "delicacy" it craved and could not wait to devour!

The light around the pagoda, especially on its lowest floor, flowed with increasing urgency. That invisible suction force appeared again, more than a hundred times stronger than when it had absorbed fallen leaves before! It firmly locked onto the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse.

"Grandpa," Qin Mo said, raising his head to look at Qin Yuan, his eyes glinting with curiosity and resolve. "I don't want to absorb the soul ring it produces."

"Oh?" Qin Yuan raised a brow, waiting for him to continue. Bing'er and Yan'er also looked over curiously.

"I want to try... using my demon pagoda to directly 'seal' it!" Qin Mo's tone carried the excitement of experimentation. "I can feel that what the pagoda desires isn't energy, but... it itself!"

Even Qin Yuan froze for a moment at those words. Directly sealing a soul beast's corpse? Such a method was simply unheard of! Since ancient times, spirit masters had killed soul beasts and waited for their soul rings to emerge before absorbing them. What use was there in sealing a corpse?

But immediately afterward, even stronger interest and anticipation burst forth in Qin Yuan's eyes. A mutated martial soul inherently meant breaking convention! Perhaps this was the true and proper way to use the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda?

"Good!" Qin Yuan nodded without hesitation, his voice firm and ringing. "Do as you wish. Go ahead without restraint! Grandpa will guard you!"

Having received his approval, Qin Mo no longer hesitated. He drew a deep breath and poured the vast Level 20 soul power within him into the phantom of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda above his palm without holding anything back, like floodwaters bursting through a dam!

Buzz—!!!

With such an enormous influx of soul power, the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda abruptly erupted with unprecedented brilliance! Nine-colored radiance shot into the sky, illuminating the dim woodland in dazzling splendor as though some divine treasure had been born into the world!

The pagoda hummed. Its originally illusory form became much more solid, while the subtle and profound runes upon its walls grew clearer. They flowed faster, giving off an even more ancient and mysterious aura.

Most miraculous of all was the pagoda's base. The light there condensed almost into substance, forming a slowly rotating nine-colored vortex! An incomparably powerful suction force emerged from it. No longer a faint pull like before, it transformed into a clearly visible nine-colored light pillar that shot out abruptly, completely enveloping the enormous Man Faced Demon Spider corpse on the ground!

The next instant, a shocking scene unfolded!

Beneath the nine-colored light pillar, the Man Faced Demon Spider's hard, massive, incredibly heavy corpse began to turn illusory and transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye! It was as if some supreme force of law had forcibly erased and transformed it from reality itself!

Its form began to distort and compress. Green blood, shattered carapace, savage limbs... everything was broken down and reconstructed within the nine-colored light.

In merely two or three breaths, the enormous demon spider corpse vanished completely! It was as though it had never existed at all!

In its place appeared a condensed black-green streak of light, containing the demon spider's savage aura and Life Origin! As if drawn by an invisible thread, the streak let out a faint whistle and instantly shot into the vortex at the base of the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda. It flashed once and was completely swallowed!

Buzz...

The Nine-Story Demon Pagoda gave another faint, satisfied tremor. Its radiance gradually receded, but the nine-colored flowing light now appeared even more lustrous and lively than before.

On the inner wall of the pagoda's first floor, a miniature yet lifelike image of a Man Faced Demon Spider slowly emerged and condensed! The image was vividly detailed, with even the cruelty in its compound eyes and the barbs on its limbs clearly visible. It was as if a real demon spider had been sealed into the pagoda wall!

At the same time!

A stream of pure, immense, yet remarkably gentle energy abruptly surged out from within the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda, flooding into every part of Qin Mo's body like a bursting river!

This energy was not the resentful energy of an ownerless soul beast. It was the most fundamental life force and spiritual essence, refined and purified by the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda! Gentle yet vast, it perfectly matched Qin Mo's body and meridians. With almost no resistance, it was greedily absorbed and assimilated by him!

Boom!!!

Qin Mo felt as if an invisible barrier inside him had been effortlessly crushed by that torrent of energy! His Soul Power Level instantly broke through its bottleneck and forcefully entered an entirely new realm!

A soul ring gleaming with deep purple light then slowly rose from beneath his feet. It pulsed around him, radiating powerful energy fluctuations!

A thousand years! His First Soul Ring was a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring!

That deep purple was so dazzling, so utterly defiant of all common sense!

"It... it worked!" Bing'er covered her small mouth, her beautiful eyes wide with disbelief as her voice trembled. She had personally witnessed this scene that defied the common knowledge of the Spirit Master World—rather than absorbing a soul ring, he had sealed a corpse and directly obtained one? And it was even a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring!

Yan'er's mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg inside. She looked from the purple soul ring beneath Qin Mo's feet to his left hand, which had returned to calm, and could not speak for a long while.

Even Qin Yuan, with all his knowledge and experience, could not help drawing in a sharp breath. Unprecedented fervor burst forth in his eyes! It had worked! It had truly worked! He had gained his First Soul Ring through such an inconceivable method!

Moreover, he could clearly sense that the energy contained within the purple soul ring was extraordinarily stable and pure, perfectly suited to his grandson's body without the slightest strain! This was far safer and more perfect than forcibly absorbing a soul ring beyond one's level!

"Good! What a Nine-Story Demon Pagoda! What sealing and devouring!" Qin Yuan threw back his head and laughed heartily, his laughter filled with delight and pride. "Turning soul beasts into your own tools, directly seizing their origin imprints! Mo'er, your martial soul is heaven-defying! Truly heaven-defying! Hahahaha!"

Qin Mo slowly opened his eyes. Feeling the immense soul power surging through his body, several times stronger than before, as well as the closer, more responsive connection between himself and the Nine-Story Demon Pagoda, he could not stop a satisfied smile from rising on his lips.

With a slight movement of his thoughts, he looked toward the demon spider image on the pagoda's first floor.

Immediately, a clear stream of information flooded his mind—everything about this "Sealed Object," as well as the ability it had granted him.

He lifted his head, anticipation gleaming in his eyes.

"Grandpa, Bing'er, Yan'er," he said softly, with a trace of novelty and confidence in his voice, "my First Soul Skill... seems rather interesting."