For the next month or so, Su Mo stayed home meditating and cultivating instead of attending classes at Eastsea Academy, hoping to break through to Rank 30 as soon as possible.
But breaking through to Rank 30 was not so easy, especially since Su Mo had only reached Rank 29 not long ago.
After waking from another night of meditation, Su Mo rubbed his growling stomach. Just as he was about to get up and find something to eat, the Soul Guidance Communicator on his wrist began to beep.
Su Mo checked it and saw that it was Wu Zhangkong.
The moment he answered, Wu Zhangkong's words came pouring out like beans from a bamboo tube.
"I'm Wu Zhangkong. Assemble in front of the Spirit Pagoda before ten this morning."
Having said that, Wu Zhangkong hung up without giving Su Mo any chance to respond.
As a former member of Shrek, Wu Zhangkong truly had little patience for a student like Su Mo, who showed no respect for his elders.
In Wu Zhangkong's view, even if he had specially permitted Su Mo to skip classes, Su Mo should not have attended only once in an entire month.
If Su Mo's habit of skipping class had happened at Shrek, he would have been thrown out long ago.
However, because Su Mo had not attended class this past month, Wu Zhangkong had taken it upon himself to give Tang Wulin the quota for Su Mo's weekly training sessions in the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Under normal circumstances, Yu Zhen, as the principal, would have simply turned a blind eye to Wu Zhangkong so openly giving Tang Wulin special treatment. It was an internal allocation, after all.
Besides, the Spirit Ascension Platform was not particularly useful to Su Mo anyway.
But this time was different. They were entering the Spirit Ascension Platform during its Rampage Period.
The so-called Rampage Period had initially been caused by unstable energy used in constructing the Spirit Ascension Platform. Later, with advances in technology, the Rampage Period had been brought under control.
Within a Spirit Ascension Platform during the Rampage Period, the Soul Beasts inside became exceptionally active, and their numbers increased as well.
And the more Soul Beasts there were, the more Soul Power Su Mo and the others could obtain while hunting them in the Spirit Ascension Platform.
So when it came to a Rampage Period Spirit Ascension Platform quota, Yu Zhen refused to let Wu Zhangkong reserve it for Tang Wulin again.
Only under Yu Zhen's forceful insistence did Wu Zhangkong reluctantly make the call to Su Mo.
Of course, if Su Mo still did not come or failed to make it in time, Wu Zhangkong still intended to give the quota to Tang Wulin.
As for Su Mo, the instant he heard that they were entering the Spirit Ascension Platform, he immediately perked up.
People really were asking for it!
Back when he had been trapped in the Star Dou Forest, Su Mo had spent every day thinking about escaping that cage.
But now that he had truly escaped, Su Mo had begun to miss that carefree, simple life.
Su Mo rolled out of bed, quickly got dressed, washed up, and sped toward the Spirit Pagoda in the center of Donghai City on his little electric scooter.
"Let's go!"
At 9:59, Wu Zhangkong, standing at the Spirit Pagoda's entrance, glanced at his watch and turned to leave without the slightest hesitation.
"Am I late?"
The very instant Wu Zhangkong turned around, that irritating voice rang out behind him.
Su Mo came charging out from some unknown corner on his little electric scooter. After tracing a graceful arc over Wu Zhangkong and the others' heads, he landed steadily on the ground.
"Long time no see, everyone!"
Su Mo put away his little electric scooter and warmly greeted Wu Zhangkong and the others from a distance.
Wu Zhangkong completely ignored Su Mo's greeting.
Tang Wulin's gaze darted away, and he did not dare meet Su Mo's eyes.
Although Wu Zhangkong had talked him through taking Su Mo's Spirit Ascension Platform quota, Tang Wulin still inexplicably felt guilty upon seeing Su Mo.
The others were not very familiar with Su Mo, so they did not show much of a reaction.
As Gu Yue, who was walking at the very back of the group, passed Su Mo, she paused. Her beautiful eyes held a probing light as she looked him over from head to toe.
According to the information Di Tian had provided, Su Mo's parents had died when he was young, and he had grown up in an orphanage.
But based on Xiong Jun's covert observations of Su Mo over the past month, Su Mo's background was clearly fabricated at a glance.
He consumed hundred-thousand-year Whale Rubber every day to improve his physique, then used Ten Thousand Year Ice Marrow to suppress the Whale Rubber's side effects.
He treated all kinds of heavenly treasures as after-meal snacks as though they cost nothing. Even Gu Yue, the Silver Dragon King, had clicked her tongue in amazement upon learning of such an extravagant cultivation method.
Gu Yue might currently bear the title of Master of Soul Beasts, but after the Spirit Pagoda's carpet-style plundering, she was actually dirt poor.
Over the past several thousand years, whenever even the slightest natural treasure appeared in the Star Dou Forest, the Spirit Pagoda would mark it and dispatch mechas to guard it before Di Tian and the others could even discover it.
The moment it matured, they harvested it.
They gave Di Tian and the others no opportunity to exploit any loopholes at all.
Other than the core regions guarded by Ferocious Beasts, which the Spirit Pagoda had not dared to touch much for fear of enraging them,
every other part of the Star Dou Forest had already become the Spirit Pagoda's private backyard, a place they could enter and leave whenever they pleased.
As for the heavenly treasures that grew only in the core regions, they were far too precious to circulate on the market.
Selling things from the core regions was no different from announcing one's identity.
In order to avoid drawing attention, Gu Yue could only live in "abject poverty."
Of course, if Gu Yue had been willing to lower herself and send Di Tian and the others to hunt Sea Soul Beasts like Su Mo did, she would not have had to be so stingy.
But even though the Sea Soul Beasts had severed ties with the Soul Beast Clan and pledged themselves to the Sea God hundreds of thousands of years ago,
Gu Yue still considered the Sea Soul Beasts her subjects. Proud of her identity as Master of Soul Beasts, she refused to act against them.
Seeing Gu Yue examining him, Su Mo generously spread his arms and let her get a good look.
Gu Yue immediately lost interest, turned around, and caught up with the group.
Seeing Gu Yue's look of disdain, Su Mo did not get angry. He leisurely followed at the back of the group and began admiring Donghai City's Spirit Pagoda.
Donghai City's Spirit Pagoda had thirteen floors. It was one of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars built by the Spirit Pagoda headquarters at enormous expense.
Unlike ordinary Spirit Pagodas that sold Soul Spirits and helped Federation citizens awaken, only Spirit Pagodas at the level of Donghai City had Spirit Ascension Platforms within them.
Donghai City's Spirit Pagoda stood straight and slender, its sharp edges clearly defined, like a sword piercing the sky.
A massive spherical pearl was embedded at the top of the tower. From afar, the entire Spirit Pagoda resembled a lighthouse, perfectly blending with Donghai City's culture.
Of course, that enormous pearl was not merely decorative. Its interior was packed with countless Soul Guidance devices and arrays.
When necessary, it could unleash a defensive array capable of covering all of Donghai City, protecting its people from natural disasters and invasions by other nations.
Although Su Mo was very interested in how the Spirit Ascension Platform worked, the Spirit Pagoda's secrecy was simply too thorough.
Even if Su Mo wanted to investigate, he had nowhere to start.
Without a single useful piece of information, even a god could not possibly crack it.
Not to mention that Su Mo's technological development was mainly focused on biotechnology.
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