The Thousand-Year Golden Lion

The Spirit Pagoda was the tallest building in Proud Arrival City, as well as the core of this remote coastal town.

As that cloud-piercing structure came into view, the atmosphere inside the vehicle grew somewhat solemn.

Stepping out of the car, Tang Heng looked up.

This was his first time seeing the Spirit Pagoda from such close range; even as a branch tower, its grandeur was enough to command awe.

The massive tower spiraled upward, constructed entirely from an unknown silver metal that refracted a cold, sacred radiance under the sunlight.

Looking closely, he could see complex soul guidance arrays inscribed upon the tower's surface, and he caught the faint energy fluctuations radiating from them.

A giant tower like this likely cost more to build than the entire tax revenue of Proud Arrival City over a decade.

This was the organization founded ten thousand years ago by the Spirit Ice Douluo, Huo Yuhao. In an era where soul beasts had gone extinct, this organization, which held the monopoly on Soul Spirit technology, had effectively seized the lifeline of all soul masters, growing into a behemoth.

Regrettably, the Spirit Pagoda had completely strayed from its original founding purpose.

The Child of Destiny had ultimately become a puppet for the Demon from Beyond the Heavens, and even the plane's consciousness itself would soon be completely usurped by another.

Sigh, this Tang San is truly wicked!

"We're here."

Wu Qingfeng had the driver park the car, and as he looked at the Spirit Pagoda before him, he even took a moment to straighten his collar.

As a soul master—and one without much of a background—Wu Qingfeng viewed the Spirit Pagoda as an inviolable holy land that demanded reverence.

Tang Heng, however, was not nearly as nervous as him.

Backed by the resources of an entire world, he had no need to curry favor with the Spirit Pagoda.

They wouldn't sell him a Soul Spirit?

Then he would just go out and kill a living one himself; he didn't care for their artificial ones anyway—they lacked nutrition and weren't healthy.

Following behind Wu Qingfeng, Tang Heng entered the Spirit Pagoda.

The hall inside was spacious, surrounded by a ring of doors leading to unknown destinations, while the front featured a counter-like area where a Spirit Master in gray robes sat.

Seeing them, the Spirit Master stood up, his gaze landing on Wu Qingfeng. "Greetings, Principal Wu. How can I help you today?"

The Spirit Master's tone was warm, and his attitude was quite professional.

There were few soul masters in Proud Arrival City, and those with any real strength were even rarer. As the principal of the Primary Soul Master Academy and a four-ring Soul Ancestor, Wu Qingfeng was considered somewhat famous in this city.

"I've come to bring this child to purchase a Soul Spirit. We made an appointment yesterday."

After confirming the appointment, the staff member enthusiastically led them to a room filled with precision instruments and pointed to a metal chair.

"Don't be afraid, little one. We're just testing your mental power. The strength of your mental power determines what level of Soul Spirit you can fuse with; this is very important."

Tang Heng followed the staff member's instructions and sat on the high-tech instrument.

As a metal helmet slowly descended to cover his head, the machine began to hum softly.

A soft white light began to glow outside the helmet, and the Spirit Master looked at a soul guidance screen nearby as data began to flicker across it.

The numbers jumped rapidly from the start, not climbing slowly as they usually did; they surged like a wild horse off its leash, skyrocketing!

20... 40... 60... 80...

A buzzing alarm was triggered—not because of a malfunction, but because the value had broken through the preset "initial test" range.

Finally, the frantically jumping numbers slowed their growth amidst a teeth-gritting sound of electricity, locking firmly onto a value that left everyone present in disbelief:

251

The smile on the Spirit Master's face gradually froze, turning into an exclamation:

"Is... is this instrument broken?"

"Test it again!"

The result remained unchanged, and the staff member confirmed the instrument was not malfunctioning; the alarm had only triggered because the subject's mental power exceeded the preset range.

"Hahaha! Spirit Connection Realm! A six-year-old with mental power over a hundred—even those on the Continental Youth Genius Ranking are barely this good at this age, right?"

Wu Qingfeng was overjoyed and personally stepped forward to help Tang Heng down from the instrument.

According to the standards of the soul master world, mental power from 0 to 100 is the Spirit Origin Realm, and 101 to 499 is the Spirit Connection Realm.

The so-called Spirit Connection meant that one's heart and mind were clear, and one's thoughts were spiritually attuned.

Many Soul Elders or even Soul Ancestors had to cultivate for years to reach this realm.

Wu Qingfeng was so excited he could barely speak, thinking that the one million federal credits he'd spent were well worth it; he felt like the god of investments himself.

Tang Heng hopped off the instrument and rubbed his temples.

Having such high initial mental power was within his expectations.

As a transmigrator, his soul was inherently powerful, and on top of that, he possessed Twin Martial Souls, one of which was the Silver Dragon King, renowned for her mental prowess.

Combined with his third martial soul, which was linked to an entire plane, it would be strange if his mental power weren't strong.

"When can I choose a Soul Spirit?" Tang Heng asked casually.

"Ah? Right now, right now! Please follow me, little genius." The staff member snapped back to reality and led the two toward the Spirit Room.

While leading the way, he took the opportunity to report Tang Heng's specific information to the branch pagoda master, who was currently away on business.

"In our Proud Arrival City Spirit Pagoda, we have seventy-three options for ten-year white Soul Spirits and eleven options for hundred-year yellow Soul Spirits. Based on your Martial Soul and spiritual power, we recommend choosing a Soul Spirit that contains dragon-type bloodline."

The staff member brought out a screen and enthusiastically introduced their Soul Spirits to Tang Heng.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he hesitated for a moment before saying:

"Actually, we have one thousand-year Soul Spirit here that was originally transported from the Star Luo Continent to be delivered to the Spirit Ascension Platform in Eastsea City."

"If you have a need for it, this thousand-year Soul Spirit can be sold to you at the price of a hundred-year Soul Spirit."

Hearing this, Wu Qingfeng also became interested and spoke up: "Would it be convenient to tell us the specific details of this Soul Spirit?"

The Spirit Master operated the light screen, and soon, detailed information regarding this Soul Spirit appeared before Tang Heng and the others.

Golden Lion, 1,200-year Soul Spirit, possessing a trace of auspicious aura.

It is rumored that ten thousand years ago, a variant Three-Eyed Golden Lion appeared, bearing the destiny of the entire Star Dou Great Forest; it later passed away due to certain reasons and sacrificed itself to the first-generation master of the Spirit Pagoda, the Spirit Ice Douluo.

Its personality is arrogant, and after being replicated in the Star Dou City Spirit Pagoda, no one was able to successfully absorb it for three consecutive years, so it was sent back to the Douluo Federation.

"It's her!"

Tang Heng was quite happy. He knew that in a backwater place like Proud Arrival City, he probably wouldn't find any good Soul Spirits, so he had already prepared to spend effort in the MC plane to raise the quality of his Soul Spirit later on.

He hadn't expected such an unexpected joy; could it be that the plane's consciousness, which had not yet been possessed, was exerting its influence?

"Little Heng, are you sure? Although your spiritual power is enough to absorb a thousand-year Soul Spirit, this fellow is clearly unusual; I'm afraid there will be risks." After reading the introduction, Wu Qingfeng tried to persuade him, as he also hoped Tang Heng could have a higher starting point.

However, forcing growth is not necessarily a good thing, and the fact that this Soul Spirit sat in Star Dou City for three years without anyone being able to absorb it already proved the problem.

Responding to him was Tang Heng's confident smile:

"It's alright, trust me!"

A while later, Wu Qingfeng looked at the little Golden Lion affectionately curled up in Tang Heng's palm, and the deep purple Soul Ring that had emerged beneath his feet, unable to recover from his shock for a long time.

Is this the lingering charm of a genius? Truly, one cannot judge them by conventional logic.