First Visit to the Spirit Ascension Platform

Under the guidance of the Spirit Pagoda staff, the five of them each entered a chamber with a silvery metallic interior. The doors closed, the surrounding Soul Guidance Lamps suddenly blazed, and a faint trace of energy permeated the air.

"Remember, this is your first spirit ascension. Don't chase results or rush recklessly ahead. Focus on familiarizing yourselves with the environment." Wu Changkong's voice reached everyone through their communicators, cold and clear.

"Understood!" Tang Wulin answered firmly, and the others nodded in turn.

The next instant, light flooded the chambers, the intense white glare forcing their eyes shut. Then a strange spatial tug seized them, as though their entire bodies were about to be torn apart.

When the light faded, the sense of weightlessness vanished with it.

Tang Wulin opened his eyes and found himself standing at the edge of a dense forest. Unlike the cold interior of the Spirit Pagoda, the air here was filled with the damp scent of soil and the rich fragrance of vegetation.

Yet when he looked around, Xie Xie, Gu Yue, and the others who had come with him were nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like random teleportation scattered us," Tang Wulin murmured.

He clenched his fists, feeling the soul power surging within him. This was the Spirit Ascension Platform, an independent plane constructed through special spatial technology, and an excellent place for Soul Masters to increase the age of their soul spirits.

Meanwhile, in other corners of the forest.

Xie Xie looked around at his empty surroundings and curled his lip. "Well, great. So much for teaming up. Still, this is a good chance to test my speed."

Gu Yue stood atop an ancient tree, her purple eyes sweeping the distance. A barely perceptible smile curved her lips, and with a flicker of movement, she vanished.

Wang Jinxi clenched his fists as he stared into the dark, dense forest around him and shouted, "Come on! Let me see how strong the soul beasts here are!"

In the monitoring room outside the Spirit Ascension Platform, Wu Changkong stood before an enormous light screen, his gaze cold as he watched the five scattered points of light.

"The Spirit Ascension Platform simulates appropriate soul beasts based on each student's circumstances," a staff member explained beside him. "They'll face their challenges alone. It's a test of both their willpower and their strength."

Wu Changkong said nothing. His gaze merely lingered on the point representing Tang Wulin, his brows drawing together slightly. He could sense that the power within Tang Wulin was unstable. This spirit ascension was both an opportunity and a risk for him.

Deep within the forest, danger lurked on every side.

Tang Wulin drew a deep breath and stepped cautiously into the dense woods. Fallen leaves rustled beneath his feet. His surroundings were frighteningly quiet, with only the occasional low growl of an unknown soul beast hinting at the danger within this forest.

He did not know where he would be teleported or what he would encounter next, but his gaze remained resolute.

To grow stronger, to protect others—whatever lay ahead, he had to keep moving.

Within the Spirit Ascension Platform, in a dark stretch of dense forest.

Zhang Yangzi had only just steadied himself when he looked up and saw an enormous avian soul beast with a wingspan of over three meters sweep overhead, its sharp eagle eyes fixed on him. As an Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Master, Zhang Yangzi possessed exceptional combat instincts. He sneered and activated Martial Soul Possession with his Dark Phantom Demon Eagle, black feathers emerging along both arms.

"I was just worrying I wouldn't get a chance to show my strength. Since you've come along, you'll be my first victim!"

He shifted his footing and shot forward like lightning, instantly activating his second Soul Skill, Eagle Strikes the Sky. His entire body became a streak of black light hurtling toward the giant bird overhead. Yet just as he was about to strike, the bird suddenly opened its beak. Instead of releasing wind blades, it unleashed a piercing screech.

A sonic attack!

This wasn't an ordinary wind-attribute soul beast at all!

The sound waves pierced Zhang Yangzi's defenses as though they were tangible, striking directly at the nerves in his brain. A deafening buzz exploded inside his head, followed by excruciating pain. He instantly lost control of his body and plunged from the air.

"Damn it! A mutant!"

Zhang Yangzi fought back his dizziness. He knew that getting immobilized in a place like this meant certain death. Although this was only the Spirit Ascension Platform, the mental agony caused by severe injuries was real. Without a moment's hesitation, his right hand darted to his waist, where a silver locator token hung.

"Consider yourself lucky!"

Zhang Yangzi slammed the exit button.

Light flashed, and his figure vanished from the forest.

Outside, in the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform control room.

"Ding—"

A soft chime broke the silence. Wu Changkong turned toward the exit passage on the left. As the light faded, Zhang Yangzi's bedraggled figure appeared. His face was pale, and he was gasping for breath.

"Teacher... that bird... it tricked me..." As soon as Zhang Yangzi finished speaking, he dropped onto the floor, drenched in cold sweat.

He was the first to emerge.

Wu Changkong frowned slightly. Before he could speak, light flared in the control room again.

This time, it was Wang Jinxi who emerged.

But he did not walk out himself. A powerful repulsive force "spat" him out.

Wang Jinxi was blackened all over, his school uniform in tatters. Most alarmingly, his skin had turned an eerie purplish-black. He was deeply unconscious, his body still twitching uncontrollably.

"Jinxi!" Zhang Yangzi nearly jumped to his feet in fright.

"Quick! Emergency team! Section B passage—mental damage and severe poisoning!" For the first time, Wu Changkong lost his composure and shouted sharply.

The control room doors burst open. Medical personnel who had been standing by rushed in with a stretcher trolley and swiftly lifted Wang Jinxi onto it.

"What happened?" Wu Changkong seized an emergency team leader.

The team leader's expression was grave. "A Man Faced Demon Spider! And a thousand-year mutant at that! It didn't attack directly. It mimicked a girl's crying to lure the student closer. This boy was exposed to its neurotoxin, and his mind became trapped in a hallucination of extreme terror. If he'd come out half a minute later, his Sea of Consciousness would have shattered completely!"

Wu Changkong's face turned ashen. Man Faced Demon Spiders were notoriously sinister soul beasts. Not only were they incredibly venomous, but they could also control their prey through Mental Interference. Within the Spirit Ascension Platform, such soul beasts normally appeared only in high-level areas. How had one appeared in a beginner trial?

"Neutralize the poison immediately and stabilize his Sea of Consciousness!" Wu Changkong said gravely. "At any cost."

Watching Wang Jinxi being wheeled away, Zhang Yangzi slumped on the floor, trembling with lingering fear. A bird capable of sonic attacks had been enough to force him into a humiliating retreat, while Wang Jinxi had encountered a soul beast that was practically death incarnate.

"If... if I'd been there..." Zhang Yangzi dared not finish the thought.

Wu Changkong looked at the three points of light still blinking on the screen, his gaze growing deeper.

Meanwhile, in another part of the Spirit Ascension Platform's forest, the tension had reached its breaking point.

Xie Xie leaned against a towering ancient tree, his chest heaving and sweat trickling down his cheeks. Before him, more than a dozen pairs of eerie green eyes flickered among the dim trees like ghostly flames.

They belonged to netherwolves, pack-dwelling soul beasts skilled at teamwork and tracking.

Just my luck. I run into a whole pack of troublesome beasts as soon as I get here, Xie Xie cursed inwardly. Yet there was not a trace of panic in his eyes. Instead, they burned with an almost maddening calm.

He knew perfectly well that, with his current strength, confronting the pack head-on meant certain death. But wiping them all out had never been his goal. His goal was—to hunt.

His gaze locked onto the rear of the pack, where a leader slightly larger than the other netherwolves stood, its fur a deep purple. It was the oldest of these netherwolves, and Xie Xie's sole target.

"Now!"

The instant the pack leader became slightly distracted while directing the others, Xie Xie moved.

Without making a sound, he darted out like a phantom. The Light Dragon Dagger and Shadow Dragon Dagger instantly fused in his hands, becoming a dazzling golden storm.

Light Dragon Storm!

The strike concentrated all his soul power, vitality, and spirit into one blow—fast, precise, ruthless!

Before the pack leader could even let out a dying cry, the golden storm ripped a massive wound through its neck. Blood gushed out, and its enormous body crashed to the ground.

With his strike successful, Xie Xie did not linger to fight. Taking advantage of the brief chaos caused by the leader's death, he swiftly withdrew, using the complicated terrain and dense shrubbery to conceal every trace of his presence.

"Awooo—awooo—"

Bereft of their leader, the wolves instantly flew into a rage. They sniffed the lingering blood and unfamiliar scent in the air, searching frantically in every direction. Yet Xie Xie was like a drop of water merging into the ocean. No matter how they searched, they could no longer find the killer of their companion.

Inside a concealed hollow in a tree, Xie Xie held his breath, feeling the warmth emanating from the soul weapons in his hands. A faint wisp of cyan light drifted in from outside and merged into his body. It was the crystallized soul power obtained from killing a high-age soul beast.

"It worked." The corners of Xie Xie's mouth lifted slightly in a smile of relief.

He knew that raising his metal soul spirit from the hundred-year level to the thousand-year level required an enormous amount of soul power. Head-on combat was too slow and too dangerous. Only this tactic of "slaying the king, severing the head, then vanishing" offered the greatest efficiency with relatively little risk.

Outside, in the control room.

Light flashed, and Xie Xie appeared in the teleportation chamber. Although he looked somewhat bedraggled, his clothes covered in dirt and grass clippings, his mental state was remarkably good.

"Hey, look who it is!" Zhang Yangzi, who had just recovered nearby, perked up immediately upon seeing Xie Xie emerge. Then he curled his lip. "But wasn't that a bit too 'ratty' of you? I heard you hid, killed one, then ran away. You didn't even dare face them head-on? If I'd played it that safe, that bird definitely wouldn't have blasted me out so quickly."

Standing nearby, Wu Changkong drew his gaze away from the screen and looked at Xie Xie. Rather than mocking him as Zhang Yangzi had, he shook his head solemnly.

"No, Zhang Yangzi. You're wrong." Wu Changkong's voice was low and forceful. "You could certainly call his tactics 'ratty' or opportunistic. But his soul spirit is currently at the hundred-year level. Advancing it to the thousand-year level requires an enormous amount of soul power."

He paused, looking at Xie Xie with a hint of approval. "Xie Xie understands his weakness perfectly—insufficient strength in head-on combat. So he exploited the netherwolf pack's weakness, precisely killed its leader, created chaos, and escaped unscathed. That isn't 'ratty.' It's tactical intelligence. Clearly, Xie Xie treasures this chance at spirit ascension. He doesn't want to waste even a sliver of soul power on pointless fighting."

After hearing his teacher's words, Zhang Yangzi was left speechless, his face alternating between red and pale.

Xie Xie scratched his head, a little embarrassed, but inwardly he was delighted. Teacher really understands me! What does pride matter when I'm trying to get stronger? As long as I can increase my soul spirit's age, I'm willing to use even the "rattiest" tactics!

Wu Changkong looked at the only two points of light remaining on the screen, his brows furrowing once more. Each of these two was more worrying than the other. He could only hope nothing happened to them.