After hearing Yun Ming, Yun Ze scratched his cheek and said,
"Our academy has facilities for spirit advancement too. Is it really necessary to sneak around like this?"
Yun Ming tapped Yun Ze on the head and said,
"If you were using an ordinary Soul Spirit, I wouldn't have chosen this underhanded approach, even if you'd asked me to."
"But your Soul Spirit is the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Not only does she need far more energy than an ordinary Soul Spirit to break through, she'll also absorb some of the fortune of the place where she breaks through."
"Although I don't put much stock in such things, when it comes to luck, it's better to believe than not. The records advise against having her break through at Shrek Academy Headquarters."
Only then did Yun Ze nod. Now that Yun Ming had explained it, he understood: it was another case of the two factions fighting each other in the open and behind the scenes.
That was good news for Yun Ze, too. If she really could absorb some of the Spirit Pagoda's fortune, perhaps they wouldn't be able to bring in so many Fixed Soul Cannon Shells.
Even if the Spirit Pagoda tried to sneak in Fixed Soul Cannon Shells, Yun Ze would find a way to stop them.
Early the next morning, with Yun Ming's help, Yun Ze quickly arrived at the Spirit Ascension Platform inside the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters.
At this time, the two staff members in charge of monitoring the Spirit Ascension Platform were both sympathetic to Shrek.
The two of them kept their eyes fixed on the Soul Guidance Screen, watching Yun Ze's movements inside the Spirit Ascension Platform and ready to delete any important footage at a moment's notice.
Yun Ze had no idea. He was focused on experiencing the unique sensation of the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Unlike the spirit-advancement facilities in Shrek Academy's Inner Court, the Spirit Ascension Platform felt much more realistic, as if even the smells had been simulated.
That was because they had different design philosophies. Shrek Academy's spirit-advancement facilities weren't intended for combat assessments; separate equipment was used to simulate battles.
So Shrek's spirit-advancement facilities were essentially like a mining game: great clusters of energy blocks that could improve a Soul Spirit's cultivation. All you had to do was smash them so your Soul Spirit could absorb the energy.
The Spirit Ascension Platform, on the other hand, combined combat and spirit advancement. The energy blocks took the form of Soul Beasts that had once existed.
Yun Ze held the Heaven-Propping Spear in his hand, careful not to reveal his Heaven-Surpassing Spear Martial Soul. After all, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion supplied Soul Rings to both of his spears.
There was no need to expose his Second Martial Soul. Although, according to his father, the Spirit Pagoda personnel assigned here were on their side—Shrek's planted agents—Yun Ze believed that even their own agents weren't necessarily a hundred percent reliable. For all he knew, they could be double agents. That would be a disaster.
Besides, he hadn't entered the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform. He could handle a Primary Spirit Ascension Platform without the Heaven-Surpassing Spear.
With that thought, Yun Ze gripped the Heaven-Propping Spear and headed out.
The Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform hadn't placed him on a simulated grassland, but in the middle of an icy plain.
Looking at the simulated ice plain, Yun Ze wasn't bothered by the cold. He simply felt that he was witnessing what "sky and earth in one color" truly meant.
Everything was a deep, icy blue.
Yun Ze soon encountered his first opponent.
It was a Snow Demon Titan, one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North, who had once dominated the region.
As a Soul Beast with both spiritual and ice attributes, the Snow Demon Titan had spotted Yun Ze long ago. But because it was in the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform, it was only a thousand-year Soul Beast.
Yun Ze dodged the Snow Demon Titan's opening punch, planted his toe against its wrist, and sprang upward, borrowing its momentum.
He rose high into the air, then thrust his spear like a dragon.
Using the force of his own weight, Yun Ze drove the spearpoint straight through the Snow Demon Titan's chest.
The Heaven-Propping Spear's keen edge gave Yun Ze the confidence to pull off such a move.
The Snow Demon Titan hadn't failed to defend itself. It had raised its arms and crossed them over its chest, but it had underestimated the spear's sharpness.
The spearpoint pierced straight through its arms and pinned it to the ground.
If even one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Far North couldn't stand against Yun Ze, the other Soul Beasts on the snowy plain were nothing more than experience points for him.
Yun Ze rarely used Soul Skills as he carved his way across the Far North Ice Plains, relying on his well-practiced spear techniques to slaughter his opponents.
But Yun Ze wasn't killing indiscriminately, attacking anything he came across. He was also searching for something else.
According to the original story, the Primary and Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platforms were connected, and a guardian stood at the point where they met.
Killing that guardian would earn him a Spirit Bone as a reward.
The rarity of Spirit Bones in this era went without saying. Even Yun Ze, Shrek's most favored young heir, had only received Yun Ming's promise that he would be given a suitable Spirit Bone when he reached Soul King rank.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With a Spirit Bone right in front of him, Yun Ze had no reason to pass it up.
After carefully identifying his direction, Yun Ze continued killing his way north.
After traveling roughly a hundred li, Yun Ze suddenly noticed that the Soul Beasts around him had become much less numerous.
The little Soul Beasts he'd encountered from time to time, like Ice Silkworms, seemed to have vanished all at once.
Yun Ze stopped, realizing he had reached roughly the right location.
Closing his eyes, Yun Ze began sensing the changes in the surrounding Soul Power, trying to locate the creature that kept every Soul Beast in the area from daring to set foot there.
Outside the Spirit Ascension Platform, the two Spirit Pagoda staff members who favored Shrek also noticed what Yun Ze was after, and grew a little nervous.
One of them, clearly the senior of the two, said,
"If Young Master Yun really manages to get that Spirit Bone, we can explain it easily. At worst, we'll upload the recording to the Pagoda Master. He paid to get in fair and square, so it's all aboveboard."
The other man nodded and simply pressed a button, stirring the emotions of the guardian Soul Beast inside.
Yun Ze suddenly felt a disturbance beneath his feet. Sensing danger, he leapt into the air at once.
The ice beneath him shattered in an instant, and the twisted maw of a gigantic worm shot out, snapping shut just past his feet.
If Yun Ze had been even a moment slower, the worm would have bitten him around the waist and dragged him beneath the ice.
Yun Ze stood on the Heaven-Propping Spear, using it to keep himself suspended in the air.
His Second Soul Ring flashed, and a golden glow enveloped the spearpoint.
Then, as Yun Ze swung his spear, six golden chains extended from its tip and tightly bound the worm beneath the ice.
Spear of Fate's Judgment was Yun Ze's second Soul Skill. It had two effects: first, it bound the opponent with Chains of Fate; then a spear-blade with greater piercing power struck at the opponent's vital point...
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