So.
With her authority as Vice Pagoda Master, Leng Yaozhu had nearly exhausted the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters' entire collection of Soul Spirits.
The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear could tear apart a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast at a hundred years old, and contend with one at a thousand.
The Blazing Fire Dragon was a subspecies with a trace of the Fire Dragon King's bloodline. The dragon flames it breathed could melt gold and sever iron.
The Ice Crystal Phoenix was the ruler of the Far North. With its wings spread, it could freeze ten miles in every direction.
The Hell Spirit Cat was the pinnacle of speed. Legend had it that, at the peak of its cultivation, it could travel through shadows.
One after another, top-tier Soul Spirits capable of stirring up a bloody storm in the outside world appeared on the screen.
Luo Yang watched intently.
But each time, he slowly shook his head.
"Not enough."
"Still a little short."
"Still not right."
Leng Yaozhu's hand gradually began to go numb as she operated the console.
She had already shown him seventy-three top-tier Soul Spirits. That was almost the entirety of the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters' collection from the past century.
And yet Luo Yang hadn't been satisfied with a single one!
"You've gone through almost every top-tier Soul Spirit in the Virtual Ecological Library," Leng Yaozhu said, looking at Luo Yang with some helplessness. "Haven't you found one you like yet?"
Luo Yang furrowed his brow slightly and slowly shook his head.
Most of these Soul Spirits were merely "decent," nowhere near the "perfect" or "ultimate" standard he had in mind.
If there really were no better choices, perhaps he could go back to considering that... "simp" giant ape?
"BOOM!!!"
Just then, the entire Spirit Pagoda shook violently!
Dust sifted from the ceiling of the Testing Chamber, and the Soul Guidance Lamps flickered erratically. Faint roars and screams came from somewhere in the distance, the chaos drawing closer.
"What's going on?" Blood Eight instantly went on guard, stepping in front of Luo Yang.
Leng Yaozhu's expression changed. She was about to contact the control center when the door to the Testing Chamber was suddenly thrown open.
A middle-aged man in a Spirit Pagoda uniform rushed in, his face deathly pale and his voice trembling.
"Your Excellency, Heavenly Phoenix! Something terrible has happened! The Soul Beasts in the Confinement Layer... they've all escaped!"
"What?!"
Leng Yaozhu sprang to her feet.
At the same time, in the Spirit Pagoda's Soul Beast Confinement Zone.
This should have been an orderly prison block. Now, it had been reduced to ruins.
The alloy cages had been torn open by brute force, and claw marks and bloodstains covered the floor. The stench of Soul Beasts and the turbulent fluctuations of Soul Power filled the air.
Dozens of Spirit Pagoda staff were scrambling to contain the situation, trying to drive the fleeing Soul Beasts back into their cages.
But even more Soul Beasts were still struggling and roaring.
At the center of all the chaos stood a young man dressed in an extravagant Soul Master's robe.
Qiangu Zhangting.
This outstanding member of the younger generation of the Qiangu Family had a face like thunder, his fists clenched so tightly they creaked.
At twelve, he was already a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, a prodigy among his peers. He had come to the Soul Prohibition Layer today to obtain his fourth Soul Ring.
With his cultivation as a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor, absorbing a suitable Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit should have been a matter of course.
But not long ago, he had accidentally discovered an extremely rare Thousand-Year Soul Beast: a Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff!
Though this beast had only a thousand years of cultivation, it was exceptionally gifted and ferocious. Its domineering aura seemed to resonate with the inherited Martial Soul, the Coiling Dragon Staff.
On impulse, he had decided to "graciously" form a Soul Spirit Contract with the Thousand-Year Soul Beast, then use the Spirit Ascension Platform to raise its age.
Everything should have gone smoothly.
But who could have guessed...
That damned beast had pretended to submit during the contract ceremony, then seized its chance to escape when his guard was down! It hadn't just smashed through its own cage; it had also torn apart the Imprisonment Array across the entire area with its claws!
What a disgrace! Qiangu Zhangting had actually been played by a beast!
"A pack of useless trash!" Qiangu Zhangting roared at his subordinates. "You couldn't even keep watch over a Thousand-Year Soul Beast!"
The staff stood silent as mice, not daring to answer.
Suppressing his fury, Qiangu Zhangting asked coldly, "Which way did it go?"
"It, it went..." A supervisor stammered out a reply. "The surveillance footage shows... the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff went up to the upper level. Its exact direction seems to be the testing area."
The testing area?
Qiangu Zhangting's gaze turned cold.
It seemed Leng Yaozhu had a guest there today.
Heh. Perfect.
If that beast hurt someone, it wouldn't be his fault. After all, the Soul Beast rampage was an "accident."
"After it."
Qiangu Zhangting waved his hand, his voice icy.
"Turn the Spirit Pagoda upside down if you have to, but bring that damned Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff back to me!"
Once he caught the beast, he'd make it understand what price it would pay for playing Qiangu Zhangting for a fool!
Soul Beasts had gone berserk in the Confinement Layer!
Leng Yaozhu's beautiful face instantly turned frosty.
This was no minor matter.
The Spirit Pagoda's Confinement Layer held hundreds of living Soul Beasts, many of them ferocious creatures with a thousand years of cultivation. There were even several Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts kept as "treasures of the collection."
If these Soul Beasts completely ran amok inside the Pagoda, the destruction would be catastrophic.
"The cause." Leng Yaozhu's voice was as cold as ice. "Who did this?"
The middle-aged man who had come to report shuddered and stammered, "I-it was Young Pagoda Master Qiangu... He wanted to form a contract with a Thousand-Year Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, but the beast only pretended to submit. When the ritual was halfway through, it suddenly broke free and destroyed half the Imprisonment Array in the area..."
"Qiangu Zhangting?" Leng Yaozhu let out a cold laugh.
The apple didn't fall far from the tree, but the Qiangu Family had somehow produced an outlier in this generation.
Qiangu Dieting, a Quasi-God powerhouse, had pushed the family to the pinnacle of power within the Spirit Pagoda with his own hands.
Qiangu Dongfeng's cultivation was inferior to his father's, but his political maneuvering surpassed even his father's. He had built the Qiangu Family's influence into an iron fortress.
But when it came to Qiangu Zhangting's generation...
Unconcealed contempt flashed in Leng Yaozhu's eyes.
Even with his family's resources piled behind him, he had only barely reached four rings at fourteen. He was impetuous and overbearing. A piece of trash like him wasn't even worth a second glance.
Her gaze drifted unconsciously to Luo Yang beside her.
Six years old, yet to awaken his Soul Ring, but already possessed spiritual power at the Spirit Connection Realm and an innate Martial Soul Domain.
Now that was a true genius.
"Aunt Leng," Luo Yang suddenly said, "what kind of Thousand-Year Soul Beast escaped?"
"You tell him," Leng Yaozhu said, looking at the middle-aged man.
"It—it was a Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff with a thousand years of cultivation," the man replied hastily.
Luo Yang's eyes lit up.
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff was a pure stat monster.
It ignored all forms of dragon might suppression, and at ten thousand years could stand its ground against a Titled Douluo.
On the way to the Spirit Pagoda, this Soul Beast had already been one of his top choices.
"You're interested?" Leng Yaozhu asked, keenly noticing the change in his expression.
Luo Yang nodded frankly. "But that's the Soul Beast Qiangu Zhangting had his eye on."
"Pagoda Master Leng, are there any other Golden-Haired Lion Mastiffs in the Spirit Pagoda?" Blood Eight cut in.
In her eyes, Luo Yang deserved the very best.
Leng Yaozhu pondered for a moment, then shook her head. "Golden-Haired Lion Mastiffs are rare to begin with. According to our current records, this is the only one at the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters."
A trace of disappointment crossed Luo Yang's eyes.
It seemed he wasn't destined to have this Soul Beast.
However—
"If you like it," Leng Yaozhu suddenly said, a sharp glint flashing in her crimson eyes, "Aunt Leng will get that Lion Mastiff for you."
Blood Eight was slightly taken aback.
Steal a Soul Beast from Qiangu Zhangting?
Leng Yaozhu's regard for Luo Yang seemed to exceed what she had expected.
"Isn't that... a little inappropriate?" Luo Yang hesitated.
"What's inappropriate about it?" Leng Yaozhu sneered. "The rampage was his doing. For the damage he caused the Spirit Pagoda, even if Pagoda Master Qiangu intervenes, he'll still have to be confined for half a year. No matter what, he has no right to absorb this Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff."
There was something she didn't say: letting Qiangu Zhangting have the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff would be a complete waste.
As soon as she finished speaking—
BANG!
The door to the Testing Chamber crashed open.
A giant beast covered from head to toe in golden fur charged inside.