Silver Mirror Beast (Seeking Follow-ups, Seeking Votes)

Leng Yaozhu looked at Na'er, looking quite satisfied.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Na'er gave a polite, obedient bow, then turned to look at Yang Fan, flashing a goofy smile.

It doesn't matter what kind of disciple I am; the important thing is not to let Brother get too far away from me, Na'er thought to herself.

Leng Yaozhu stood up and looked at Yang Fan, her eyes filled with a hint of scrutiny.

"I heard from Senior Longyuan that you are still missing a soul spirit? I will make an exception and take you to the Spirit Pagoda's treasury of rare soul spirits to choose one."

"Thank you for your patronage, Vice Pagoda Master Leng."

Yang Fan cupped his hands in a respectful, composed manner. He hadn't expected Leng Yaozhu to be someone who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside, especially since she had clearly stated she wouldn't provide him with resources.

Even with Di Tian's influence, the opportunity to select from the Spirit Pagoda's rare soul spirit treasury was far too valuable.

"I hope your discernment and strength are worthy of your performance."

Leng Yaozhu had truly bled for this; she had originally intended to find Yang Fan some ordinary ten-thousand-year soul spirits to fulfill her agreement with Longyuan. She hadn't expected that because of Na'er's request, she would end up taking Yang Fan in as well.

The Spirit Pagoda was divided into many factions with deeply intertwined interests. Despite her position as Vice Pagoda Master, she only had one opportunity per year to apply for entry into the rare soul spirit treasury.

As for her personal disciple, Na'er, Leng Yaozhu had her own arrangements.

She had watched the recording of Na'er's martial soul awakening. This disciple had a unique constitution, and a simple awakening was not enough to fully channel the power within her body. It would be better to use the Spirit Pagoda's secret techniques to create a life-bound soul spirit based on her bloodline to further develop her potential.

Bi Ji and Leng Yaozhu had already become close friends, walking arm-in-arm while chatting and laughing.

Na'er looked at Bi Ji and then at her newly recognized master, and mimicking their behavior, she linked her arm with Yang Fan's.

That's not what I meant...

I was just curious because I hadn't seen two beauties cuddling in a long time.

The four of them chatted and laughed all the way, heading straight into the depths of the Spirit Pagoda headquarters.

Leng Yaozhu led the group with practiced ease, avoiding public areas and arriving at a red elevator with no markings at the deepest part of the lobby.

She swiped a special badge embossed with a phoenix martial soul across the sensor, and the elevator doors slid open silently.

"The soul spirit storage vault is not above ground, but ten levels beneath the headquarters. This is one of the Spirit Pagoda's most important foundations."

Leng Yaozhu led the group into the elevator, and as a sense of weightlessness took hold, the elevator began to descend rapidly.

Accompanied by a soft chime, the heavy metal doors slid open to both sides.

Stepping into the soul spirit storage vault, the eerie blue soul-guided lights illuminated rows of towering, transparent stasis pods.

As expected of a power with ten thousand years of heritage, Yang Fan sighed inwardly.

Leng Yaozhu led the group to a spiritual power testing platform in the center and instructed Yang Fan, "Relax your mind, relax your whole body."

As she spoke, she slowly lowered a metal helmet, covering Yang Fan's head.

"You might feel a slight dizziness in a moment; that is normal."

Yang Fan closed his eyes as instructed.

As the instrument started, Yang Fan felt a slight heaviness in his mind, and an invisible ripple spread outward along his spiritual sea.

Accompanied by a low hum, the dial at the top of the soul-guided instrument soared wildly, the eerie blue light faintly revealing a hint of piercing purple.

The numbers jumped from single digits, instantly passed the hundreds, and finally locked firmly on the "555" mark.

"555 points!"

Leng Yaozhu gasped, her beautiful eyes filled with shock.

She whipped her head around to look at Yang Fan, as if she were looking at a monster.

One had to know that 0 to 100 was the Spirit Origin Realm, 101 to 500 was the Spirit Connection Realm, and 501 to 5000 was the Spirit Sea Realm.

This boy, not even twelve years old, had actually bypassed the Spirit Connection Realm and stepped into the Spirit Sea Realm!

The Spirit Sea Realm meant that Yang Fan was fully capable of directly absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul spirit—something most soul masters wouldn't even dare to imagine.

How many rings did he have? Not even two.

Wait... two rings. If he hadn't absorbed a defective product or a ten-year soul spirit, then his first soul ring came from a real soul beast?!

Was this the strength of a hidden family? Nowadays, aside from the few soul beast habitats strictly controlled by the Federation, real soul beasts were rarely seen on the continent. This was also the reason why the Spirit Pagoda's status was so high today.

Because if one didn't want to provoke those fierce sea soul beasts, the Spirit Pagoda's soul spirits were a necessity that no soul master could do without, even if people were willing to take the defective ones.

Before Leng Yaozhu could recover from her shock, Yang Fan had already removed the helmet and walked toward the soul spirit selection area.

His gaze swept over rows of ten-thousand-year soul spirits that radiated powerful pressure and brilliant light.

Those soul spirits seemed to sense the aura of the Dragon God Reverse Scale on Yang Fan's chest, and they began to emit low hums within their stasis pods, as if in submission or fear.

However, Yang Fan didn't even pause his steps, walking straight past them.

As expected of the Dragon God. Even a scale that has lost its energy over the passage of time has such power.

Di Tian really went all out; this is truly a treasure.

As long as he did not intend to backstab the soul beast clan, this reverse scale was no less than a divine artifact to him.

Unknowingly, Yang Fan had already summoned his martial soul. Ever since entering this room, he had felt his martial soul stirring restlessly, as if it were deeply intrigued by something inside.

Ultimately, his gaze locked onto a dust-covered stasis pod in the deepest part of the storage vault.

"You choose that one?"

Leng Yaozhu followed his gaze, her brows instantly knitting together.

It was a thousand-year-level soul spirit; not only was its light dim, but a glaring red seal labeled "Experimental Defect" was plastered across the stasis pod.

Such soul spirits were usually accompanied by various side effects and were recognized within the Spirit Pagoda as dangerous waste.

"This is a Silver Mirror Beast. The Spirit Pagoda poured massive resources into it, using the latest technology to fuse the genes of a Silver Shadow Beast and a Mirror Shadow Beast to cultivate this anomaly. Looking across the entire continent, this is the only one in existence."

Leng Yaozhu tapped her fingertip against the stasis pod, her tone tinged with a hint of regret.

"But it is a failed creation. No matter how high its age, it can only ever provide two soul rings, and its soul skills are locked firmly into 'Soul Skill Replication' and 'Martial Soul Replication'."

She turned her head, her beautiful eyes filled with gravity.

"The most fatal part is that its requirements for spiritual power are extremely harsh. Despite being only a thousand-year-level, it requires spiritual power at the Spirit Sea Realm just to barely absorb it. Moreover, the power of these two soul skills depends entirely on the soul master's spiritual power and the age of the soul ring. For an ordinary soul master, it is tasteless to consume but a pity to discard."

"With your talent in spiritual power, you are fully qualified to challenge an Indomitable Soul Spirit, or even the more unique Inheritance Soul Spirit. The cost-effectiveness is far higher than this one."

Leng Yaozhu sighed softly, attempting to persuade him gently.

"The higher-ups of the Spirit Pagoda have already decided to seal it away in the database as a failed creation and will not replicate it. Do you truly want to choose it?"

Yang Fan, however, did not think so.

High spiritual power requirements, only providing two soul rings, and soul ring effects tied to age and spiritual power—for others, it was indeed not a good choice.

However, his martial soul talent could increase his spiritual power, and as someone who could traverse timelines, he would not even lack beast-level soul rings in the later stages.

The reason he chose to absorb a soul spirit in this era was purely because he had no better options.

Based on this traversal experience, Yang Fan speculated that the period he had arrived in was likely when Huo Yuhao was six years old and awakening his martial soul.

In that era, what beast-level soul beast would sacrifice itself for him? He did not consider himself a child of destiny who could simply open his mouth and have these soul beasts willingly become his soul spirits.

He had a very clear understanding of himself.

He could grow stronger just by developing, and by collecting divine artifact fragments, he would have the opportunity to become a god and attain eternal life; why risk his life? When he had sufficient strength, he would naturally go after beast-level soul spirits.