The Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit of the Soul Spirit Tower

Yin Hongye and the other two stepped into the white light.

The sensation of weightlessness lasted only an instant before their feet touched solid ground.

As their vision returned, an octagonal hall unfolded before them. It was at least three hundred meters in diameter, its floor resembling polished bluestone slabs, each one engraved with distinct patterns.

Qian Renxue looked up. The dome was so high that it nearly vanished into the light. Before she could ask about the rules, Yin Hongye was already walking toward the door directly ahead.

"We can speedrun these. The first thirty-six floors have nothing to do with us."

Mu Hongchen followed close behind, flipping a gold coin around his fingertips before catching it in his palm and entering a combat stance.

The first eighteen floors of the Soul Spirit Tower contained Thousand-Year Soul Spirits.

The three moved swiftly. Throughout these eighteen floors, Yin Hongye stood at the front. The instant his flaming sword left its sheath, the Soul Spirits across the entire floor scattered into motes of light, leaving Mu Hongchen no chance to act at all.

From the eighteenth to the thirty-sixth floor were Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirits. Their attacks began to show some structure, but before Yin Hongye's Karmic Fire, those Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirits could not last three seconds.

That was how long it took them to walk out through the doors.

When they finally reached the thirty-sixth floor, the octagonal hall had changed from bluish-gray to dark gold, and the runes on the walls were far denser.

Mu Hongchen looked up at the stairs leading higher and said, "Above the thirty-sixth floor, everything is over ten thousand years old. The final nine floors are Ferocious Beast level."

Qian Renxue then witnessed all kinds of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Spirits. The sight made the hearts of countless people before the heavenly screen itch with anticipation: a Hundred-Thousand-Year Golden Crocodile King, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Jade Spirit Snake Emperor, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul-Devouring Spider Emperor, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Golden Lion King. Who knew how many hearts these Soul Spirits had stirred?

"So many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts... That means the Spirit Pagoda has many Soul Bones..." Qian Renxue did not even dare imagine how many Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones the Spirit Pagoda possessed.

Until the forty-ninth floor.

The octagonal hall was broader than any of the previous floors. Its dome rose so high that its end was almost impossible to see, while the air was filled with a heavy, earthy stench.

At the center of the hall lay a massive beast—the Golden Earth Dragon King.

Its entire body, from head to tail, was covered in palm-sized golden scales. The edges of every scale gleamed with a dark golden luster, like ancient gold coins oxidized by time.

It lay prone upon the ground, its limbs as thick as stone pillars. Its claws were embedded in the stone floor, having gouged five deep trenches into it.

Even lying still, the pressure unique to a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast made the air tremble.

It raised its head, and three tiny figures were reflected in its vertical pupils.

Its eyes were filled with disgust and battle intent.

Yin Hongye did not look at it. Instead, he turned his head toward Mu Hongchen. "How about this one?"

Mu Hongchen sized up the Golden Earth Dragon King from head to toe, tapping his fingers against his chin as though picking out fish at a market.

"Light attribute, defense type, pretty big, and the quality is decent." He flicked the gold coin into the air, caught it, and shook his head. "But it still feels a little lacking, and it doesn't suit me. It doesn't fit my combat style."

"And you?" he continued.

Qian Renxue shook her head. "It feels a little lacking to me too."

"Fine." Yin Hongye withdrew his gaze. With a flip of his right hand, a flaming spear condensed in his palm.

He did not charge it up. The spear shot forward in an instant.

The moment it left his hand, the spear tip tore through the air with a sharp ripping shriek.

The Golden Earth Dragon King's vertical pupils suddenly widened. It saw something, as if it had encountered something terrifying.

Within the flames stabbing toward it was a fear it had never felt before. It was as if the Abyss itself had opened an eye and was silently watching it.

Its instincts told it to flee, but its limbs seemed nailed to the ground. It could not even summon the strength to raise a claw.

Its body trembled, gripped by instinctive fear.

A Hundred-Thousand-Year Golden Earth Dragon King renowned for its defense and light violently shook before three figures. Its golden scales collided against one another, producing faint metallic clinks.

The flaming spear pierced straight through its chest without any resistance. Its scales shattered, its dragon bones broke, and the spear tip burst from its back in a spray of golden blood mist.

The Golden Earth Dragon King let out a brief cry of misery as its enormous body crashed to the ground, kicking up a ring of dust. Golden light exploded from its corpse, transforming into countless tiny motes that rose toward the dome. The entire hall trembled faintly amid the glow.

One strike kill.

The dragon had not made a single move to resist before dying.

Mu Hongchen was not surprised in the slightest. After all, Yin Hongye was the natural bane of dragons.

Though he had no idea why.

Back when his Martial Soul awakened, he had clearly wanted to found a religion, yet the longer he lived, the more he became like someone else.

Still, being able to suppress them was all that mattered.

Qian Renxue silently watched the dragon corpse as it faded away, then glanced at Yin Hongye. She gained a new understanding of this man's strength.

"It was only a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. At most, it was at the level of a Titled Douluo to a Super Douluo."

Yin Hongye did not care about his achievement at all. It was merely a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Yet this display allowed people from twenty thousand years ago to witness the absolute gap in Soul Master combat strength between eras, with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast serving as the perfect comparison.

"Do you really not want this Soul Spirit? At least this one has a light attribute." His gaze turned toward Qian Renxue.

Qian Renxue shook her head. It still seemed to be lacking somehow. "This one isn't very suitable for me either."

They continued onward. The light door closed behind them as they entered the next floor.

A thin layer of mist covered the floor of the octagonal hall. The mist was not white, but tinged with an extremely faint gold, as though someone had scattered gold powder into water.

At the center of the hall, a Three-Legged Golden Toad crouched upon the ground. Its entire body was brilliant gold, its skin densely covered in coin-shaped protruding patterns, every one of them faintly glowing.

It had only three legs. Its rear leg was thick and powerful, while its two forelegs supported its body. Its posture was strange, yet as steady as a mountain.

When it saw the three emerge from the light door, it immediately pushed itself upright. A deep muffled sound came from its throat, like the lingering resonance after a bronze bell had been struck.

Mu Hongchen's eyes lit up. "This one is mine."

A flash of golden light appeared, and a leg emerged from behind him, right from his backside. The leg was entirely golden, while a dazzling golden layer covered his entire body at the same time.

As his back arched slightly, golden protrusions bulged beneath his clothes one after another, radiating a soft golden glow.

With a wave of his hand, dozens of metal spheres flew from his storage Soul Tool and floated around him, as though held up by invisible hands.

Barrels began to grow. With each metal sphere as a core, thick metal cannon barrels expanded from fist-sized cores into several-meter-long cannons in the span of a breath.

Every barrel was covered in fine rifling patterns, while lights of different colors shone from their muzzles. They were different attributes and different methods of destruction, arranged in a perfect fan around Mu Hongchen.

Dozens of cannon barrels floated in the air like Peacock Spreads Its Tail.

The humming of charging cannon barrels sounded at the same second. Dozens of lights ignited at their muzzles simultaneously, and their targets were automatically calibrated.

Firepower poured forth.

The explosions illuminated the entire octagonal hall as brightly as day. Shockwaves crashed against the walls and rebounded, while the golden mist on the ground was shredded apart by the blasts.

Spark after spark exploded across the Three-Legged Golden Toad's golden hide, but they did not cause much damage.

The bombardment continued without end, like a thunderstorm that would never stop.

Qian Renxue considered her wording before asking, "Is this the latest Soul Tool?"

"No. Fixed-installation Soul Tools cannot be used here. Otherwise, a Ninth-Level Fixed Soul Guidance Cannon would possess the power of a Limit Douluo's strike, and this Three-Legged Golden Toad would not be able to withstand it." Yin Hongye explained, "Although there are some Soul Tools that ordinary people can use, at our level, we simply do not think much of them."

Qian Renxue nodded, gaining a new understanding of Soul Tools.

Beyond the heavenly screen, the Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and Spirit Hall all noticed that Soul Tools were the future trend of development. They prepared to order people to research them and search for ruins.

Only Tang San dismissed it with disdain. "Mere Soul Tools are nothing but a minor path. How could they possibly compare to my Tang Sect Hidden Weapons? This is the true great path. Once I create the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, I'll show them what true power is."

"This is the foundation of our Tang Sect. The methods of our ancestors must not be discarded."

Yet the Tang Sect of the future had already altered Tang Sect Hidden Weapons beyond recognition. Their resemblance to the original hidden weapons was probably comparable to the resemblance between humans and bananas.