"No, I demand to check your cards!"
Da Bai's and Xiao Bai's eyes nearly popped out of their heads. Both sisters inwardly cried that they must be seeing ghosts.
Wasn't this Blazing Flame Dragon supposed to be wild and untamable?
How had a single glare subdued it?
Naturally, the sisters had hoped Li Zha could subdue this Blazing Flame Dragon.
But taming it with a glare was beyond their comprehension!
Leng Yaozhu was equally astonished.
"What happened? Could Zha'er's martial soul naturally suppress dragons?"
"That shouldn't be possible. Can a body martial soul do that?"
Leng Yaozhu couldn't figure it out either.
But whatever the explanation, success was a good thing!
Li Zha extended his hand.
The Blazing Flame Dragon circling the ceiling immediately descended obediently, placed its head in Li Zha's palm, and even rubbed against him ingratiatingly.
A fiery red totem mark appeared on the Blazing Flame Dragon's forehead. Li Zha pressed his hand against it, sealing the contract!
The Blazing Flame Dragon's body immediately turned ethereal, transforming into a scorching torrent of energy that poured entirely into Li Zha.
A moment later,
the Blazing Flame Dragon appeared in Li Zha's sea of consciousness, swimming about freely, satisfaction gleaming in its dragon eyes.
Although the Blazing Flame Dragon didn't know why it feared Li Zha's martial soul, when it carefully recalled that overwhelming pressure, majestic as the might of heaven, it felt that even the terrifying Dragon God of legend might not be a match for that being!
In other words,
as long as it followed Li Zha,
it might well become an overlord in its own right someday!
It might even become the new dragon calling the shots for the Dragon Race!
As the spirit contract was completed,
the soul power inside Li Zha immediately surged. He effortlessly broke through the level 10 bottleneck, and his soul power soared all the way to level 14!
Leng Yaozhu happily stepped forward, cradled Li Zha's head, and pulled it tightly into her embrace, giving it a vigorous rub.
"Congratulations, Zha'er. You're a true soul master now."
Li Zha endured a thorough face-scrubbing against her breasts. When he finally managed to get free, Da Bai and Xiao Bai took their turn pinching his cheeks.
Only after obtaining their first soul ring did someone truly set foot on the path of a soul master.
So Li Zha understood why Leng Yaozhu and the two sisters were so happy.
"Li Zha, how exactly did you subdue that Blazing Flame Dragon just now?"
Da Bai and Xiao Bai questioned him eagerly.
Of course, Li Zha couldn't tell them about the Great Deity of the Three Altars and Seas. He could only answer vaguely, "Well, I'm actually not too sure myself."
Leng Yaozhu said, "Zha'er, it seems your martial soul still holds some secrets that you'll have to slowly explore in the future."
Li Zha nodded.
Meanwhile, Leng Yaozhu was considering how to nurture Li Zha going forward.
Even she couldn't fathom the mysteries of his lotus body.
Remembering that this was a body martial soul,
Leng Yaozhu began to form a plan. She intended to invite the Body Sect to take a look when the time came.
Leng Yaozhu had heard
that body martial souls possessed a secret method for a second awakening. This method had been discovered ten thousand years ago by Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao and was now kept at Shrek Academy.
Even if there was only a sliver of a chance,
Leng Yaozhu would fight to obtain it for Li Zha.
His lotus body transcendent self martial soul had already been so terrifying upon its first awakening. If it awakened a second time, Leng Yaozhu simply couldn't imagine what heights it would reach.
"Li Zha, since you've already broken through, why don't we take this opportunity to head straight to the Spirit Ascension Platform? We can test your first soul skill while we're at it."
Leng Yaozhu spoke.
Li Zha's eyes lit up. "Sure, Teacher."
The Blazing Flame Dragon had only four thousand years of cultivation, still far short of the limit Li Zha could currently withstand.
Leng Yaozhu nodded and led Li Zha out of the awakening chamber. They soon arrived in another room.
The Spirit Ascension Platform.
This was the Spirit Pagoda's famous device.
As its name suggested, the Spirit Ascension Platform was a device that helped soul masters increase the ages of their soul rings.
Through the Spirit Ascension Platform, soul masters could enter a virtual environment and kill soul spirits.
One-tenth of the slain soul spirits' cultivation would then be returned to increase the ages of the soul master's own soul rings.
For example, if Li Zha killed a hundred-year soul beast now, the Blazing Flame Dragon soul spirit's purple soul ring would gain ten years.
If someone had multiple soul rings, the increase would be distributed evenly among them.
For instance, Leng Yaozhu and the two sisters were all nine-ring Titled Douluos.
After killing a hundred-year soul beast,
each of their nine soul rings would gain a little over a year.
Thus,
when it came to increasing soul ring ages, the lower one's level, the better.
The fewer soul spirits and soul rings one had, the better.
The four of them walked inside.
A coffin-like device slid out, its outer lid opening to reveal the various precision instruments within.
Li Zha lay down inside, and instrument suction cups swiftly attached themselves to his body.
Beside him,
a staff member carefully explained:
"You're a One-Ring Soul Master, so you'll be entering the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform, which is for those below four rings. Most of the soul beasts inside are ten-year or hundred-year ones, though thousand-year soul beasts occasionally appear."
"Once you enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, although the environment is virtual, any pain from injuries will feel completely real."
"Generally, there's no danger. But... if you experience extreme pain, it can still cause some harm to you.
So if you encounter any danger, please make sure to press this emergency escape device promptly. The Spirit Ascension Platform will eject you."
Li Zha nodded.
Soon,
the lid of the Spirit Ascension Platform device closed.
The instruments began to hum. Since the device connected through brain waves, Li Zha simply closed his eyes.
The next instant,
his vision flashed.
When Li Zha opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the heart of a primeval forest.
Towering ancient trees, so thick that even several people joining hands could barely encircle them, formed a deep green forest stretching beyond the limits of sight.
Sunlight filtered through gaps in the leaves, casting irregular patches of varying sizes across the ground.
Li Zha took a deep breath.
Even knowing it was fake, he found the refreshing air of the forest incredibly real.
Outside the Spirit Ascension Platform,
Leng Yaozhu and the two sisters watched the screen quietly and intently, observing Li Zha's combat performance.
As Li Zha's teacher, Leng Yaozhu naturally needed to assess her student's talents carefully, striving to cultivate his strengths and avoid his weaknesses so that his growth would be faster and smoother.
With no clear direction in the forest, Li Zha simply picked one at random and walked forward.
After walking for about half an hour,
Li Zha still hadn't spotted a single soul beast, but he sensed an eerie silence spreading around him.
The chirping of cicadas and birds had stopped here.
"Looks like there's a predator nearby. Where is it?"
Li Zha stopped and looked around.
His right hand curled loosely, ready to summon the Fire-Tipped Spear at any moment.
Li Zha had chosen the Fire-Tipped Spear as his first martial soul, so the Blazing Flame Dragon soul spirit had naturally been attached to it.
"Good vigilance, Li Zha..."
Outside,
Bai Haoze offered a word of praise.
Just then,
above Li Zha's head, a dark green figure nearly nine meters long glided silently through the air, swiftly lunging to bite the top of his head.
It had a dark green triangular head and a pair of small, ruby-like eyes. Dark green scales covered its entire body, proclaiming its potent toxicity.
In addition,
a pair of small, fleshy wings helped it fly through the air.
It was unmistakably a Mandala Snake!
"Hiss~"
The Mandala Snake flicked its tongue and swiftly approached the top of Li Zha's head-right in his blind spot!
"Poor little brother Li Zha..."
Xiao Bai, Bai Zhicen, sighed regretfully.
Before reaching a thousand years, a Mandala Snake's body was dark green, and it grew one meter every hundred years.
After a thousand years, it turned pink and shrank by one meter each year.
This Mandala Snake was green all over and more than nine meters long. Clearly, it was already nearing a thousand years.
In other words,
the very first soul beast Li Zha faced could practically be considered a thousand-year soul beast!
"Zha'er..."
Leng Yaozhu watched quietly.
With its potent venom and ability to fly, a Mandala Snake with a thousand years of cultivation was simply a nightmare for novice soul masters.
And Li Zha was being ambushed. Even if he fell to this Mandala Snake, Leng Yaozhu wouldn't have found it surprising.
Yet at the very instant the Mandala Snake was about to bite the top of Li Zha's head,
Li Zha suddenly lunged forward with uncanny timing. His scalp practically brushed past the Mandala Snake's venomous fangs as he narrowly evaded the attack.
The Mandala Snake was clearly startled, its body braking sharply in an awkward motion.
Seriously, buddy?
I didn't make a single footstep or slip into your field of vision. How did you notice me?
Are you cheating?!
The Mandala Snake immediately twisted its body. Fortunately, it was already physically strong enough to avoid the embarrassment of plunging headfirst into the ground.
"He actually... dodged it?"
The corners of Leng Yaozhu's lips lifted, delighted surprise filling her heart.
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