The Spirit Pagoda's treasury was also on the top floor, and it had more than five layers of security alone.
As Chen Zhou arrived at the treasury, he first passed the inspection by the black-clad guards, then underwent facial recognition and various other scans.
At last, he reached the innermost area, where an old man stood watch.
The old man looked nearly a hundred years old, his body frail and withered, yet the aura he gave off was not weak in the slightest.
He glanced at Chen Zhou, a faint glimmer in his eyes, then silently lowered his head.
"You may choose one Soul Bone. Go further inside. The third section is where the Soul Bones are kept. You may choose one of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones there as your reward."
The old man's voice was calm. After speaking, he fell silent.
Chen Zhou politely cupped his hands toward the old man, then turned and entered the treasury.
The Spirit Pagoda treasury was enormous, and its most plentiful treasures were naturally Soul Spirits.
Hundred-year Soul Spirits, Thousand-Year Soul Spirits—every kind was displayed in dazzling profusion.
Nearly everything Chen Zhou could think of could be found in the Spirit Pagoda treasury.
However, he had no interest in these Soul Spirits.
The second section farther in held all kinds of thousand-year and ten-thousand-year spirit herbs.
After all, the Spirit Pagoda had existed for ten thousand years, and with the Spirit Ascension Platform as a money-making machine, it was hardly short of funds. What it lacked was a deep foundation.
So it spent most of its resources on cultivating talent and purchasing vast quantities of resources.
The treasury held plenty of ten-thousand-year spirit herbs too, at least several dozen, perhaps even a hundred.
As for thousand-year spirit herbs and ordinary hundred-year spirit herbs, there were more than anyone could count.
After passing through these two sections, Chen Zhou calmly arrived at the third.
This was already considered a core area, and the treasures displayed within were Soul Bones.
The origins of the various Soul Bones were marked beside them.
The weakest here were ten-thousand-year Soul Bones. There were also a few thousand-year Soul Bones, but very few.
After all, it was rare for a thousand-year Soul Beast to produce a Soul Bone.
Besides ordinary Soul Bones, there was another special kind: Soul Bones produced inside the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Whether the Spirit Ascension Platform produced Soul Bones was beyond the Spirit Pagoda's control.
For instance, the guardians of the Spirit Ascension Platform, Soul Beasts like the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, had to be killed many times before one might appear.
Yet here, there were nearly a hundred Soul Bones produced by the Spirit Ascension Platform, with many different kinds among them.
Looking at these Soul Bones, Chen Zhou fell silent.
Still, his gaze wasn't fixed on them. Instead, he sought out the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
There were only fifteen Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones here.
Chen Zhou's gaze swept over them one by one.
A large proportion came from the Star Dou Great Forest, such as the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Soul Bone and the Myriad Demon Tree King's Soul Bone, as well as Soul Bones from several other Demon Kings.
The Star Dou Great Forest still had many Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts. Among its larger clans, such as the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear clan and the Myriad Demon Tree King's clan, there were other Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts besides Xiong Jun and the Tree King.
However, as Soul Beasts were hunted down, and Hundred Thousand Year Soul Beasts almost always produced Soul Bones, many of those Soul Bones had been acquired.
Chen Zhou's gaze swept over the fifteen Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones.
Some of them were familiar to him, others weren't, but most came from the Star Dou Great Forest.
Only two of them were particularly unusual.
One was a skull, a Soul Bone from an Evil Eye Tyrant. It was also a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, and among them, the least powerful.
The other was a chest bone.
As Chen Zhou read the note beside it, his eyes narrowed slightly.
This chest bone came from a creature known as the Titan Snow Demon King. There was only one Titan Snow Demon King in the entire world of the Douluo Continent.
Looking at the Soul Bone, Neuvillette's voice sounded in Chen Zhou's mind:
"Choose this one. Of all these Soul Bones, it's the most intact. It even contains an extremely terrifying hatred."
"An ordinary Soul Master probably couldn't absorb this kind of obsession. It would have a severe effect on their body."
"But after the transformation by the Primordial Sea, removing it won't be difficult."
Neuvillette's voice was calm. To him, this was just a Soul Bone.
But Chen Zhou fell silent as he looked at it.
Having learned the history of the Douluo Continent, he knew that after the Snow Empress and Ice Empress, the Titan Snow Demon King had been the most powerful being.
He hadn't expected that it, too, had died here.
Most likely, the Spirit Pagoda hadn't killed it. The Holy Spirit Cult that occupied the area had probably hunted it down.
Chen Zhou fell silent for a moment.
For once, he felt as though he were witnessing history, though the feeling wasn't strong.
As he looked at the Soul Bone, he could sense the hatred within it.
Clearly, the Titan Snow Demon King had been filled with unwillingness before it was killed.
Yet the obsession had no effect on Chen Zhou. On the contrary, it had kept the Soul Bone highly active.
Chen Zhou reached out with his pale fingers, gently grasped the Soul Bone, and took it into his possession. At once, all the other Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones around him entered a sealed state.
Seeing this, Chen Zhou didn't linger. He turned and walked out calmly.
There were even deeper areas inside, where other Spirit Pagoda treasures were likely hidden, but Chen Zhou had no interest in looking around.
Once he took control of the Spirit Pagoda, all of these would naturally belong to him.
If he couldn't take control of the Spirit Pagoda, then seeing them would only leave him coveting what he couldn't have.
With that thought, Chen Zhou quickened his pace.
As he stepped outside, the old man by the entrance calmly pressed a button, and the door began to close.
Chen Zhou didn't speak to the old man, but he cupped his hands toward him once more, then turned and left with impeccable courtesy.
Only after Chen Zhou had reached the next checkpoint did the old man, who had kept his head bowed, slowly open his aged eyes and gaze directly at Chen Zhou's retreating figure.
His eyes held a trace of curiosity, and a trace of puzzlement.
"What a strange kid. His aura clearly isn't strong, and yet he gives people a deeply unsettling feeling."
"What a strange power. I've only ever encountered this kind of power in that so-called Abyss Plane. But his power is exceptionally pure. Is it mastery of the water element? What an interesting Martial Soul and power."
The old man's voice was low. His gaze fixed on Chen Zhou's retreating figure, yet he could no more see through Neuvillette's disguise than anyone else.
Or rather, it would only be after Chen Zhou's Martial Soul fully evolved into the Primordial Dragon that these top experts would notice something was amiss.