Not a Single Worthy Opponent

"What would I have to fear?"

As the words fell, a pale silver glow of soul technology rose over the passage that had split open in the ground, its shadowy stairs leading straight to the deepest underground vault.

Tang Qingye did not pause, looking straight into the depths of the passage.

Leng Yaozhu nodded, and the two walked side by side into the narrow passage.

Patterns that blocked Spiritual Power were engraved on all four walls. The stairs descended until a heavy, sealed door of Star Silver Alloy barred their way.

The token slotted into place. A deep V8 roar shook the space, and the doors slid apart.

Inside was a circular chamber built of obsidian, with purple patterns flowing over its walls. Mm, now this looked a little more like a secret chamber.

Translucent Soul Spirit phantoms floated inside individual light barriers. Though virtual projections, the auras they emitted were all too real, their oppressive force crashing straight toward them.

Was this the Spirit Pagoda's strength and accumulated resources? Experiencing it firsthand, Tang Qingye was inwardly startled.

Some phantoms were wreathed in gentle vitality, yet beneath that beauty lay endless viciousness.

Some phantoms seethed with an intense aura of slaughter, as though someone were roaring inside your head.

"Kill! Kill!! Kill!!!"

Those laden with deep resentment had Asura ferocity coiling around them, faintly showing signs of condensing into gauzy robes. This really was finding traces of Soul Beast in a great mass of resentment. Their auras alone wound one's nerves tight-though in truth, holding it together was impossible.

Leng Yaozhu stepped forward and raised a hand toward a towering, dark gold bear phantom on the left.

"This is the dark gold terrorclaw bear with the high-grade bloodline you wanted."

Tang Qingye looked over. The bear phantom was as massive as a mountain, every strand of dark gold fur bristling upright. Its golden claws seemed capable of tearing space apart, and the towering baleful aura surrounding it surged against the light barrier.

"It is a direct descendant of Xiong Jun, with a noble bloodline. Back when it attempted its hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation, experts of the Qiangu Family joined forces to ambush it. Its origin was forcibly stripped out and refined into a Soul Spirit. Ordinary unyielding Soul Spirits retain only their proud defiance and obsessions, but it bears a blood-deep vendetta and sky-high resentment. Its grade far surpasses the ordinary, making it a top-tier ten-thousand-year Soul Spirit."

As Leng Yaozhu spoke, she revealed her original plan.

"I originally chose an Emerald Swan for you. The abilities your Martial Soul has displayed lean toward life, making them an excellent match for the Emerald Swan's healing origin. A safe choice with no room for error, and the best fit for you right now."

She looked at the bear phantom with its towering baleful aura and offered another reminder.

"This dark gold terrorclaw bear excels at both offense and defense, and its strength is unparalleled, but its ferocity is far too violent. You must at least cultivate to Soul Ancestor, or Soul King, and wait until your Soul Power and Spiritual Power are sufficiently robust before you can suppress its towering hatred."

Tang Qingye fell silent.

The Gourd in his dantian had been lying quietly dormant, but now, among the several ancient patterns intertwined within it, a spiraling deep cyan pattern suddenly grew hot. A faint cyan glow spilled through the Gourd's gaps.

From the depths of the chamber, a trace of clear, boundless aura drifted from the luan phantom, as though encompassing ten thousand miles of cloud-filled sky, resonating with the cyan pattern inside the Gourd.

A pull arose deep within him. His feet moved beyond his control, carrying him toward the enormous luan phantom wrapped in azure clouds and rosy light in the depths of the chamber.

Noticing the little fellow's movements, Leng Yaozhu followed his gaze toward the azure luan phantom deep within the chamber and explained:

"This spirit is called the Nine Heavens Azure Luan, a creature born in another plane beyond our world. Long ago, the planar barriers loosened, and rifts in the void sprang up everywhere. Swept up in the turbulence, it drifted to the Douluo Continent. At the time, the Spirit Pagoda assembled six Titled Douluo to fight together, including several experts from the Qiangu Family. After a battle to the death, every Titled Douluo from the Qiangu Family had fallen, and only then did the survivors barely manage to seal it and refine it into this one-of-a-kind otherworldly unyielding Soul Spirit."

"Azure clouds shroud its body, and its power comes from the layers of clouds in the firmament. When it unleashes its full strength, its combat power can soar."

Leng Yaozhu frowned. "It is just that its clear, expansive power of clouds and sky runs in the opposite direction from the life abilities you have displayed. They have nothing in common. Even with its formidable reserves, if a Soul Spirit and its host are incompatible, their fusion will struggle to achieve its full potential. You must weigh this carefully."

"Master, we haven't spent much time together. You haven't gotten to know me in depth yet..."

"My Martial Soul tells me he's the answer to the current meta. Master, will you trust me? I'll explain it to you in the future."

"You, honestly. Let's be clear first: if you can't satisfy me after absorbing him, you know the consequences..." Helplessness and fond indulgence showed on Leng Yaozhu's exquisitely beautiful face.

Just keep spoiling him, then. (Supply your own reaction meme, darlings.)

"In that case, I'll establish the connection and use Spiritual Power to construct a virtual spirit body for you. Go have a chat with him... or I could beat him up first."

Leng Yaozhu's fingertips swept over the chamber's patterns, and a live image unfolded.

The image settled on the primeval forest of the Spirit Ascension Platform.

Within the forest, the Nine Heavens Azure Luan cut a magnificent figure, its wings spanning nearly a hundred zhang. Azure-gold feathers densely covered its body, with spiraling pale cyan cloud patterns flowing over them-the marks of the sky's Dao resonance. Its luan head was like jade, its beak's sharpness restrained. A pair of black eyes looked down indifferently, carrying the innate chill of an eternal sky.

As it spread its wings, gilded flecks of light streamed from their edges. With only a slight beat, the forest's air currents fell into disarray, and the winds high above followed its every movement. Faint purple twilight twined around its long tail feathers; whether moving or still, its presence already towered above heaven and earth.

The Spirit Ascension Platform's forest.

The guardian occupying this place was disturbed by the foreign aura.

A low roar erupted, shaking leaves loose throughout the sea of trees.

A dark gold terrorclaw bear over three meters tall strode out, its dark gold fur gleaming and its eyes blood-red. Its thick arms hung at its sides, foot-long claws glinting coldly. Crushing earth and stone beneath its feet, it charged straight at the Nine Heavens Azure Luan with a surge of savage menace.

This bear was a veteran guardian of the Spirit Ascension Platform, with offense and defense united in one. Striking in fury, it swung an enormous paw upward, wrapped in wind pressure and carrying enough force to tear through the trees.

High above, the Nine Heavens Azure Luan remained motionless, pure indifference in its black eyes. Then its body flickered, lightly evading that gigantic paw.

Its wings quivered, and the clouds around it burst apart. Countless cyan blade-threads poured down from the sky. The surrounding trees were severed at their roots, their cuts smooth as mirrors, instantly clearing a vast stretch of forest.

The densely packed cloud blades all fell upon the dark gold terrorclaw bear. Its tough hide burst open again and again, leaving bloody wounds deep enough to expose bone.

The searing pain ignited the bear's savagery. Throwing its head back, it roared wildly and flailed its arms, sending more than a dozen dark gold blades of light hurtling through the air, bombarding the Azure Luan overhead in overlapping waves.

The Nine Heavens Azure Luan neither dodged nor evaded. The Dao resonance of azure clouds spread open, and the dark gold blades shattered layer upon layer the moment they touched that invisible domain.

It was actually an innate domain, revered as a divine skill on the Romance Continent!

Seizing the moment when the terrorclaw bear's old strength was spent and new strength had yet to rise, the Nine Heavens Azure Luan folded its wings, then flung them open. The clouds of the heavens converged into a gigantic cyan saber spanning the forest.

The great saber cleaved through the air, arriving before its sound.

A muffled impact erupted. The defense the dark gold terrorclaw bear took such pride in was sliced straight through, its round belly split in two. Disbelief filled its eyes. "You... why'd you split my melon?!"

Its stocky body crashed heavily to the ground, twitched a few times, and went lifeless.

The winds of ten thousand forest ravines all returned to a single blade's edge.

The Nine Heavens Azure Luan beat its wings and hovered over the sea of trees, light flowing quietly over its azure-gold feathers.

All sounds fell silent. Every lesser sprite hushed like cicadas in the cold-silence for the college entrance exams!

"Such a vast forest, yet not an opponent to be found. Do you lot actually cultivate seriously?"