Gu Yue lowered her head and looked at the two Soul Rings beneath her feet. They pulsed slowly, like two blooming violets, and had already crossed the thousand-year threshold.
"It worked!"
Xiao Mu withdrew his force field. After what had just happened, even the few Soul Beasts nearby no longer dared approach.
The three continued onward. Jun Wu circled overhead at an unbelievable speed, each beat of his dark wings bringing flames with it.
The wildfire spread wider and wider, consuming the blackened ruins until the entire forest was ablaze.
Roars rose and fell amid the sea of flames, then faded into silence.
Xiao Mu led the way, his force field spreading around him to push back the heat and smoke.
"Bro, this is such a fast way to clear everything!" Na'er looked around. The smell of roasted meat was already drifting her way. Too bad there were no spices.
She didn't have any particular thoughts about it.
Xiao Mu raised his head. Countless tiny points of light streamed in from every direction, like fireflies on a summer night, floating and swirling amid the flames.
Every Soul Beast that burned to death released spiritual power, whether it was a hundred-year or thousand-year Soul Beast. The points of light gathered into a river and surged toward the three of them.
"No wonder there are so many Evil Soul Masters. This really is a shortcut!" Xiao Mu's lips curled slightly upward.
He reached out, and the points of light were drawn toward him by an invisible force, like iron filings pulled to a magnet.
He was still pondering whether the visions of the future were based on basic knowledge, like how a poor student couldn't see the right answer.
The three continued absorbing spiritual power. Na'er's face looked a little pale. Her body had evidently reached the limit of what it could absorb from a Soul Ring, and she still couldn't withstand a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
"Have you reached your limit? Then let's leave first." Xiao Mu noticed that something was wrong with Na'er and spoke gently.
"We can come back to the Spirit Ascension Platform next time."
The three pressed their emergency signal devices one after another and logged out of the Spirit Ascension Platform.
A flash of light passed, and their figures vanished from the forest.
Outside the Spirit Ascension Platform, in the monitoring room.
The red warning lights finally went out. The operator's fingers slipped from the control panel, as though he'd just awoken from a long nightmare.
"Supervisor, they're finally out!"
The supervisor stood before the main console, staring at the three points of light that had disappeared from the screen. He remained silent for a long time.
"Assess the damage."
"Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform... thirty-seven percent of the ecosystem has been burned. Spiritual power loss... impossible to calculate."
The supervisor closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
This thing was a real monster.
Xiao Mu sat up in the metal pod, a faint smile on his face.
"That trip to the Spirit Ascension Platform was really worth it. My Soul Spirit is almost six thousand years old now."
Li Jing, the Eastsea City Spirit Pagoda Master, heard him and his mouth twitched. Was that any way for a person to talk?
He'd taken a huge loss. He should never have sold that Soul Spirit to him back then.
That kid had been corrupted by that evil Soul Spirit.
Unfortunately, Xiao Mu's thinking was simple: efficiency came first.
The three stepped out of the metal pods. The lights in the hall were painfully white, making everyone's face look bloodless.
Tang Wulin sat on a bench, a trace of fear still lingering in his eyes.
Xie Xie leaned against the wall, terror still in his eyes too. The two of them had evidently gone through the same thing.
The other three were also still shaken, and it was clear they hadn't gained much.
"They're finally out. They actually made it into the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform. Is this what the gap between us looks like?" Xie Xie couldn't help saying.
Wei Xiaofeng stood up and forced a smile. "Boss, you almost tore the Spirit Ascension Platform apart this time."
"You have no idea how frantic the staff were just now."
Wu Zhangkong suddenly stepped forward, dressed in white as pristine as snow, his expression still unchanged. His gaze swept over everyone, paused on Xiao Mu for a moment, then shifted to Tang Wulin.
"In the Spirit Ascension Platform, I saw how far apart you are."
He raised a hand and pointed at Xiao Mu.
"You killed the Spirit Ascension Platform Guardian and entered the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform. You brought two people with you and burned half the forest. What reckless arrogance."
Then he pointed at Tang Wulin.
"You were chased all over by a thousand-year Soul Beast. Xie Xie was forced to leave by a Flame Lion. Zhang Yangzi and Wang Jinxi failed to work together."
His voice suddenly rose, sharp as cracking ice.
"What is Class Zero? A group of monsters! The strongest students at Eastsea Academy! But look at yourselves—"
Finally, he turned to Xiao Mu again. "You're too much of a lone wolf. You brought Na'er and Gu Yue, and completely ignored everyone else, even though you had the ability to find them."
Xiao Mu was silent for a moment before replying, "That was more efficient. Gu Yue was just an exception. I wasn't planning to bring her in the first place, and she slowed me down."
Wu Zhangkong's voice turned abruptly cold. "Do you think you can do everything by yourself?"
"One person can't do everything, but you can't deny that what I need to do is dangerous."
Xiao Mu retorted without hesitation. He didn't deny that he had teammates, but what he had to do was dangerous.
Wu Zhangkong walked up to Xiao Mu. They faced each other, their gazes clashing in midair like two swords striking.
"Class Zero is a whole. You need one another, you need trust, and you need to be willing to put your backs in each other's hands."
"Xiao Mu, next time you enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, find everyone from Class Zero. At least try to work together."
Xiao Mu looked at him, his eyes unmoved. "What if they can't keep up?"
"I know you have a way to make them keep up with you!" Wu Zhangkong said.
"Starting tomorrow, you'll train in team coordination."
Xiao Mu was speechless. Who could keep up with his speed? Na'er and Gu Yue had spatial abilities, so maybe they could.
He suddenly remembered that Jun Wu had been faster in the Spirit Ascension Platform than he'd expected, and couldn't help asking, "True Monarch, why do you fly so fast? Your wingspan shouldn't be enough to reach that speed, according to my calculations."
"Oh, ignorant youth. I fly this fast even without flapping my wings. Who told you that I fly with my wings?"
"Huh? What? There's still something I don't know?"
"When I want to fly, the whole world has to carry me and make way for me. I am the child of destiny! If you humans hadn't used such despicable methods, how could I have been captured with my Rainbow Transformation?"
"I am the fastest Soul Beast on the Douluo Continent! There's no one faster."
"Let me put it in a way you can understand. You've seen fish, right? Sea Soul Beasts can let the water push them forward. That's the bond between Sea Soul Beasts and the ocean."
Xiao Mu understood now. This creature was simply blessed by the sky, an absolute ruler of the heavens.
At the same time, in the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters in the eastern part of Shrek City.
In a lavishly decorated office, heavy curtains filtered the light into a dusky gold, like a layer of old rust.
Qiangu Dongfeng sat in the Spirit Pagoda Master's chair, the collar of his black suit slightly open, revealing the dark pattern of the Coiling Dragon Staff Martial Soul branded beneath.
A screen before him was replaying the footage on a loop: surveillance footage from the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform in Eastsea City.
In the footage, Xiao Mu stood at the center of the battlefield, a bright silver coin resting in his right hand. Electricity spiraled up his right arm, while blue-white plasma formed a track around it.
The coin flew up. An orange-red streak of light tore through the night and pierced the chest of the Dark-Gold Dread-Claw Bear.
Qiangu Dongfeng's face darkened. He watched the boy turn and walk away on the screen, his eyes seeming to freeze over.
"With two Soul Rings, he killed the Guardian of the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform..."
The screen changed to show Xiao Mu's profile. Twelve years old, Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster, Soul Spirit: Three-Legged Crow, Body Martial Soul.
Qiangu Dongfeng drummed his fingers on the desk, unable to conceal his irritation.
Phantom Brain Douluo sat nearby. His Martial Soul was a brain, and he had once been a member of the Body Sect.
"A Body Martial Soul this powerful. It definitely isn't his hands; it could be his whole body. I wonder how strong he'll be after his Second Awakening."
He pondered how to recruit Xiao Mu into the Body Sect.
Across from him, a red-haired woman had her eye on another girl. She was fascinated by the girl's ability to control so many elements.
Of course, that was before she'd seen Xiao Mu set the mountain on fire.
The two watched for a while, then turned their eyes to Qiangu Dongfeng at the same time. That man was still fretting over his hundred-year Soul Bone.
"All right, everyone. I called you here because of the matter of bringing Soul Tools into the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform."