Journey to the Spirit Pagoda

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 thirty as soon as possible.

But breaking through to rank thirty was hardly so simple, especially since Su Mo had only reached rank twenty-nine not long ago.

After waking from another night of meditation, Su Mo rubbed his stomach, which was growling with hunger. 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 looked at it and saw that it was Wu Zhangkong calling.

The moment he answered, Wu Zhangkong's words came pouring out in one breath.

"I'm Wu Zhangkong. Assemble in front of the Spirit Pagoda before ten o'clock 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 this had been Shrek, Su Mo's habit of skipping class would have gotten him thrown out long ago.

However, because Su Mo had not attended class for the past month, Wu Zhangkong had taken it upon himself to give Tang Wulin the slot Su Mo received each week to train in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Normally, Yu Zhen, as the principal, would have turned a blind eye to Wu Zhangkong so openly giving Tang Wulin special treatment. After all, it was still an internal allocation.

Besides, the Spirit Ascension Platform was not especially useful to Su Mo anyway.

But this time was different. They were entering the Spirit Ascension Platform during its riot period.

The so-called riot period had initially been caused by unstable energy used in constructing the Spirit Ascension Platform. Later, with advances in technology, the riot period had been brought under control.

Within a Spirit Ascension Platform in its riot period, the Soul Beasts inside became unusually active, and their numbers also increased.

And the more Soul Beasts there were, the more Soul Power Su Mo and the others could obtain while hunting them inside the Spirit Ascension Platform.

So no matter what Yu Zhen said, he could not allow Wu Zhangkong to reserve the Spirit Ascension Platform slot during the riot period for Tang Wulin again.

Only under Yu Zhen's forceful insistence did Wu Zhangkong reluctantly call Su Mo.

Of course, if Su Mo still did not come or failed to make it in time, Wu Zhangkong still intended to leave the slot for Tang Wulin.

The moment Su Mo heard that they were entering the Spirit Ascension Platform, he immediately perked up.

People really were ridiculous!

When he had been trapped in the Star Dou Forest, Su Mo had wanted to escape that cage every single day.

But now that he had truly escaped, he had begun to miss that carefree, simple life.

Su Mo sprang out of bed, quickly got dressed, washed up in a hurry, then rode his little electric scooter toward the Spirit Pagoda in the center of Donghai City at full speed.

"Let's go!"

At 9:59, Wu Zhangkong, standing before the Spirit Pagoda, checked the time on his watch and turned to leave without hesitation.

"Am I late?"

The instant Wu Zhangkong turned around, that irritating voice sounded behind him.

Su Mo came charging out from some unknown corner on his little electric scooter, tracing a graceful arc over Wu Zhangkong and the others' heads before landing 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 simply ignored Su Mo's greeting.

Tang Wulin's gaze shifted uneasily, and he did not dare meet Su Mo's eyes.

Although Wu Zhangkong had talked him through the matter of taking Su Mo's Spirit Ascension Platform slot, Tang Wulin still inexplicably felt guilty when he saw Su Mo.

The others were not particularly familiar with Su Mo, so they did not show much of a reaction.

As Gu Yue, walking at the very end of the group, passed Su Mo, she paused briefly. A probing gleam filled her beautiful eyes 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 had clearly been fabricated.

He consumed one-hundred-thousand-year Whale Rubber every day to improve his physique, then used Ten Thousand Year Ice Marrow to suppress its 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 been left speechless 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-like plundering, she was actually dirt poor.

Over the past several thousand years, whenever even the slightest heavenly treasure appeared in the Star Dou Forest, before Di Tian and the others could discover it, the Spirit Pagoda had already marked the location and dispatched mechs to guard it.

The moment it matured, they harvested it immediately.

They gave Di Tian and the others no chance to exploit any loopholes.

Other than the core region, where Ferocious Beasts were stationed and the Spirit Pagoda feared provoking them, they had not dared interfere too much.

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 region, they were far too valuable to circulate on the market.

Selling things from the core region was no different from announcing one's identity.

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 needed to be so frugal.

But even though the Sea Soul Beasts had severed ties with the Soul Beast race and defected to the Sea God hundreds of thousands of years ago,

Gu Yue still considered the Sea Soul Beasts her subjects. Proud of her status as the Master of Soul Beasts, she refused to lay a hand on them.

Seeing Gu Yue examining him, Su Mo openly 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 slowly followed at the back of the group, admiring the Spirit Pagoda of Donghai City.

The Spirit Pagoda tower in Donghai City had a total of thirteen floors. It was one of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars, built by the Spirit Pagoda headquarters at the cost of enormous resources.

Unlike ordinary Spirit Pagodas, which sold Soul Spirits and helped Federation citizens awaken, only Spirit Pagodas of Donghai City's level contained a Spirit Ascension Platform.

The Donghai City Spirit Pagoda stood straight and slender, its sharp edges distinct, like a sword piercing the sky.

A massive spherical pearl was embedded at its peak. From afar, the entire Spirit Pagoda resembled a lighthouse, perfectly blending with Donghai City's culture.

Of course, that giant pearl was not merely decorative. Its interior was packed with dense Soul Guidance devices and formations.

When necessary, it could release a defensive formation large enough to cover all of Donghai City, protecting its people from natural disasters and invasions by other nations.

Su Mo was very interested in how the Spirit Ascension Platform worked, but the Spirit Pagoda's security was simply too thorough.

Even if Su Mo wanted to gather some information, he had no way to begin.

Without even a scrap of useful information, not even an immortal could crack it.

Not to mention that Su Mo's technological expertise was mainly focused on biotechnology.