Spirit Pagoda, Spirit Ascension Platform

"Damn it, what the hell is this?" Qiangu Yunling looked thoroughly displeased. His subordinates made mistakes, and he had to foot the bill?

Those idiots—he definitely would not let them off easily!

The only people with permission to enter the core area were his four top lackeys. They were useless at everything except bootlicking, but today, they had kicked an iron plate—was Lin Chen someone they could just snatch?

Mu Zhen could find him in minutes. Did they really think everything would be fine just because they had put him in the core area, which could block all signals?

They were really asking for trouble!

Qiangu Yunling's head throbbed, but he still forced himself toward the core area.

They had come knocking at his door, yet he still had to open it for them. What a humiliation!

At this very moment, Mu Zhen had made his way unimpeded to the Soul Tool gate leading into the core area of the East Sea Spirit Pagoda. Countless Spirit Pagoda masters surrounded him, including quite a few powerful figures, but none of them had the ability to fight back against Mu Zhen.

Mu Zhen had no intention of making a move either. He simply stood there quietly.

Before long, Qiangu Yunling arrived before him, his bearing naturally a notch weaker. "Senior Mu Zhen, I believe there must be some misunderstanding here!"

"A misunderstanding? So you mean Lin Chen accidentally wandered inside by himself?" Mu Zhen raised a brow. "If I'm not mistaken, this is the core of your entire Spirit Pagoda, isn't it?

It connects to the hundred floors of the Spirit Pagoda. One move affects the whole structure. Without a core command, no one can open this door.

And you call this a misunderstanding? It doesn't look that way to me!"

Qiangu Yunling was rendered speechless. There was truly nothing he could say—anything he said would sound feeble and hollow.

He could only force himself to say, "Senior Mu Zhen, I failed in my supervision, but I swear I knew nothing about this matter!

I swear on my character that I would never do something so despicable!"

"Your character? Heh." Mu Zhen shook his head disdainfully. "I can't be bothered wasting words on you. Why aren't you releasing him already?

Do you want me to go in and bring him out myself?"

Mu Zhen barked coldly, and only then did Qiangu Yunling snap out of it. He hurriedly used his authorization to open the core gate.

When he saw Lin Chen unconscious on the ground and confirmed that he was unharmed, merely suffering the side effect of falling unconscious after being stored in a spatial Soul Tool, he finally let out a deep breath.

Although he wished Lin Chen would die sooner rather than later, right now, he did not want anything at all to happen to him.

Qiangu Yunling quickly carried Lin Chen out. Mu Zhen took him without ceremony and, after confirming that he was all right, shot Qiangu Yunling a cold glance. "You should be grateful he's fine. Otherwise, I wouldn't be so easy to talk to.

This old man is retired now and doesn't want to cause trouble for the War God Hall, but today's matter cannot be treated as if it never happened.

I'm taking him with me. Think carefully about how you intend to compensate us.

If you can't satisfy me, I'll blow this matter sky-high—I recorded the entire process. You won't get away with it!"

With that, Mu Zhen left with Lin Chen.

Though Qiangu Yunling had been threatened, he did not dare let out even a peep. His face alternated between green and purple, and in his extreme fury, he could only roar, "Sang Biao! And Dog Egg! Get your asses over here right now..."

A day later, Lin Chen slowly woke up in Mu Yao's room.

People crowded around him: Mu Yao, the butler, and his aunt...

The moment Lin Chen woke up, everyone revealed excited expressions.

"Young Master, you're finally awake! You worried me to death!" the butler wailed falsely.

"Xiao Chen, it was Auntie's fault. I shouldn't have forced you to go to school. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have..."

Guilt filled Meng Qingrou's face. Her reddened eyes looked as though she had nearly cried herself dry.

"You can go to school if you want, and if you don't, then don't! I'll never interfere with anything you do again."

"Wuwuwu, Lin Chen, it's all my fault for not keeping an eye on you. Thank goodness you didn't die!" Mu Yao burst into tears.

"What happened to me?" Lin Chen asked weakly.

Seeing how seriously the young master was acting, the butler decisively played along and explained the whole sequence of events to him.

Upon hearing this, anger immediately appeared on Lin Chen's face. "The Spirit Pagoda actually dared to kidnap me so openly?

I have to go demand an explanation from them today!"

As he spoke, Lin Chen threw off the blanket, only to be held down by his aunt, Meng Qingrou. "Elder Mu has already gone there. The Spirit Pagoda will provide generous compensation.

Elder Mu's meaning is that he won't tear things apart with the Spirit Pagoda and implicate the War God Hall on your behalf. If you want an explanation, wait until you're strong enough and go yourself."

A gloomy expression appeared on Meng Qingrou's face. "Without strength, you're just this powerless. You can only let others bully you..."

Yet Lin Chen nodded understandingly. "Don't worry, I won't act rashly.

Besides, I didn't really suffer any losses. They'll provide generous compensation, right?"

Meng Qingrou nodded.

Lin Chen immediately sneered, though inwardly he was delighted—wasn't this exactly why he had staged the entire thing himself?

"The compensation has already been given," Meng Qingrou said slowly.

"Already given?" Lin Chen froze for a moment, but he was not too alarmed inside—as long as the old man was not foolish, he should know what Lin Chen needed.

Sure enough, Meng Qingrou's next words completely put him at ease.

"Elder Mu had the Spirit Pagoda remove you from the blacklist. Qiangu Yunling can no longer deliberately target you. From now on, you can freely enter and leave the Spirit Ascension Platform to train and raise your Spirit Soul age.

Xiao Chen, this time you can be considered to have turned misfortune into a blessing. After all, if a Soul Master cannot enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, it's truly difficult to become stronger."

Lin Chen was deeply moved upon hearing this. Of course, he understood it better than Meng Qingrou did. Otherwise, he would not have staged this whole performance himself.

Now that he could enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, he could finally test that crazy idea in his mind—if it succeeded, the progress of raising Soul Beasts could be accelerated dramatically, provided the idea could actually work.

In any case, he would first go to the Spirit Ascension Platform and give it a try!

The reason Lin Chen had gone to such great lengths was mainly because he had no other choice.

It was impossible to enter the Spirit Ascension Platform anonymously. He had to use an identity card to register information such as his Martial Soul, Soul Power, and spiritual power. He also had to bind his brain waves and Soul Tool equipment. Everything was completely open and transparent.

The only way to exploit a loophole was through upper-level authorization. For example, those evil Soul Masters had entered by colluding with the Qiangu Clan, but that path was closed to him. That was why he had thought of setting Qiangu Yunling up. He had not expected it to actually work. He had truly gotten lucky.

With his goal achieved, Lin Chen was secretly delighted.

He had not been injured in the first place. Just half a day after waking up, he got out of bed, left Mu Yao's room, and headed toward Mu Zhen's workshop.

He felt extremely uneasy at the moment, because the old man had specifically ordered him to come see him after he woke up. Elder Mu was not easy to get along with, and if he wanted to see Lin Chen, it could not be anything good.

Lin Chen guessed that the old man had probably noticed something. He could not possibly confess anything to him, so he could only take things one step at a time.

Beep, beep, beep—

After arriving at the entrance to Mu Zhen's workshop, Lin Chen quickly rang the doorbell.

With a click, the door soon opened, and a wave of hot air rushed toward him.

From a distance, Lin Chen saw Mu Zhen shirtless, his lean, powerful muscles exposed as he swung a hammer at a chunk of heavy silver. His movements were highly pleasing to watch, brimming with rhythm.

Lin Chen was instantly dumbstruck!

So this was a Saint Craftsman? Truly terrifying!