Spirit Ascension Platform

"Then go ahead and try."

Being mocked to his face by a junior was more than Zhang Geyang could stomach.

With that,

the master of the Spirit Pagoda on the Spirit Ice Continent left, leaving only the staff operating the Spirit Ascension Platform behind.

"Can you handle this?" En Ci looked at Long Yue.

Although Long Yue only had two rings, his combat strength was on par with a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor. Like the protagonist of a hot-blooded anime, he could even take a shot at a Five-Ring Soul King if he went all out.

Still, entering a Spirit Ascension Platform with no tier divisions whatsoever was far too dangerous.

"Dying here won't kill me for real. I heard the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters has a way of obtaining soul spirits called 'tower climbing.' If you die in there, you really die."

Following the staff's instructions, Long Yue entered a metal chamber.

Suction cups attached to various instruments emerged from all around him and swiftly sealed snugly against his body.

The chamber slowly slid into the wall, and darkness filled Long Yue's vision.

Gen... Spirit Ascension Platform! Launch!

The metal chamber vanished. A lush green forest lay before him, and a red emergency signal device appeared on the back of his hand.

"Look, it even has one of these. I thought the affected Spirit Ascension Platform would work like Sword Art Online, where you can log in but can't log out."

Long Yue knew the people outside could see what happened inside the Spirit Ascension Platform's virtual reality world, so he brazenly waved the back of his hand at them.

Outside, En Ci's face darkened. This disciple of his was always like this, saying bizarre things and behaving outrageously.

Long Yue stopped fooling around. It was time to get down to business.

Under the Spirit Ascension Platform's rules, each soul beast killed yielded spiritual energy equal to one-tenth of its cultivation age, divided evenly among all the Soul Master's soul rings. The increase in their ages was also the increase in the soul spirit's age.

Long Yue was a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster. Killing a hundred-year soul beast would yield only ten years' worth of spiritual energy, split between his two soul rings for an increase of five years each.

Long Yue's soul spirit was a five-hundred-year mountain sprite. In other words, to raise it to a thousand years and complete its ascension, he needed to obtain at least five hundred years' worth of spiritual energy in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

"Hunting hundred-year soul beasts is too inefficient. I'll have to find a way with thousand-year soul beasts."

Having made up his mind, Long Yue ignored a group of low-level soul beasts and headed straight into the depths of the Spirit Ascension Platform.

In the azure sky, a blue-green avian soul beast spotted Long Yue leaping between branches. It folded its wings and dove straight at the human Soul Master.

"You're the one asking for death!"

Sensing movement overhead, Long Yue's eyes flashed with ferocity. He kicked hard off a branch and launched himself toward the great bird.

Powerful force gathered in Long Yue's fist. Just as the bird's sharp talons were about to touch him, he viciously swung the fist into which he had amassed ample strength.

With a crack, that single punch blasted the oncoming avian soul beast apart.

Accompanied by a nauseating reek of blood, the blue-green bird burst into a cloud of bloody mist in midair, its mangled remains falling helplessly toward the ground.

A little blood splashed onto Long Yue's face. He stuck out his tongue and licked it, then suddenly stopped where he was.

Now he would not have to waste time and effort searching the depths of the Spirit Ascension Platform for soul beasts to kill. Those that smelled the blood would come to him on their own.

"Roar!"

A low growl suddenly sounded ahead, followed by an enormous figure appearing beneath the tree.

An Iron-Armed Ape, a hundred years old, tall and powerfully built, with gray-black fur and blood-red eyes.

"Why is it only a hundred-year one?"

Long Yue lightly jumped down from the tree. The imposing might of his Mountain Dragon King martial soul pressed down on the Iron-Armed Ape until it could not raise its head. A charged punch shattered its skull.

A hundred-year soul beast could not withstand even one exchange with Long Yue. Once he realized this spot would only attract hundred-year soul beasts, he resumed venturing deeper into the Spirit Ascension Platform.

If he could find a ten-thousand-year soul beast, both his soul rings could instantly become thousand-year rings.

A Cultivation Level of ten thousand years would do... a ten-thousand-year soul beast in the Spirit Ascension Platform.

A yellow-green web descended from above.

Long Yue's expression changed. He activated his first soul skill, Mountains and Rivers, and the ground rose, instantly forming a stone pillar that caught the web and prevented it from falling over him.

"A Man Faced Demon Spider." With his solid grounding in theory, Long Yue recognized the soul beast attacking him.

An enormous figure dropped from above, its eight long legs spread like eight spears.

As the Man Faced Demon Spider descended, Long Yue could clearly see a hideous human face on its underbelly.

A two-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider.

Long Yue looked at the Man Faced Demon Spider's long legs.

They already exceeded three meters in length, which meant it had at least two thousand years of Cultivation Level.

"Just my rotten luck!"

The muscles across Long Yue's body bulged.

Once a Man Faced Demon Spider had set its sights on him, a fight to the death was inevitable. There was no escaping.

But the Man Faced Demon Spider only had two thousand years of Cultivation Level. Killing it would yield very little spiritual energy, and it was difficult to deal with besides. This was simply a losing proposition.

Long Yue crouched slightly, tremendous strength surging through his body.

The Man Faced Demon Spider attacked first, springing into the air and stabbing its forelegs toward Long Yue as fast as lightning.

Boom!

Long Yue stamped down fiercely, cracking the ground in a ring visible to the naked eye. He hurtled toward the Man Faced Demon Spider like a shell fired from a Soul Cannon.

"Mountains and Rivers."

Just as the Man Faced Demon Spider's forelegs were about to stab Long Yue, a thick stone wall suddenly rose from the ground without warning.

The stone wall blocked the Man Faced Demon Spider's path perfectly. Its legs stabbed hard into the wall, sending showers of sparks flying, and its tremendous momentum was forcibly halted by the sudden barrier.

Crack, crack!

The sound of the ground splitting was like hell opening its gaping maw.

The Man Faced Demon Spider sensed the danger, but still sank into the ground. The earth locked it firmly in place and kept dragging it deeper underground.

"Roar!" Long Yue vaulted over the stone wall and descended from above, his right fist carrying the weight of a thousand tons as he struck at the Man Faced Demon Spider's head.

Boom!

A muffled thunderclap seemed to erupt from the ground as Long Yue's fist slammed into the demon spider's vital spot.

The Man Faced Demon Spider let out a piercing shriek of pain. Even its carapace cracked, green slime seeping through the fissures and giving off a pungent stench.

Crouched atop its carapace, Long Yue rained down punches with both fists, soon beating the Man Faced Demon Spider to death.

Like a demon-subduing lord descending from heaven, truly a baleful god walking among mortals.

Having played Wu Song for a moment, Long Yue stood and turned around. Behind him, a bipedal Unicorn Dragon had been planning a sneak attack, but it feared his ferocious might and dared not approach.

Seeing that Long Yue had noticed it, the Unicorn Dragon could not help roaring and hissing at him.

"You won't fight, and you won't leave. Feeling unloved?"

Long Yue assessed the Unicorn Dragon's age. Four meters long, with a single horn in the center of its forehead, it was merely a hundred-year soul beast.

The spiritual energy its death would provide was not even worth the soul power he would expend killing it.

"Scram!" Long Yue snapped impatiently.

"Whimper, whimper~"

With its tail tucked between its legs, the Unicorn Dragon fled, trailing an aggrieved puppy-like whine. Yet it had barely taken a few steps before a Crystal Bear slammed into it, sending flesh and blood flying.

A ten-thousand-year soul beast!

Long Yue's eyes widened. My soul spirit finally has a chance to evolve. Once I take down this Crystal Bear, I can press the rescue button and leave the Spirit Ascension Platform.