While Zhou Yang and Na'er were having their adventure in the Spirit Ascension Platform, someone Zhou Yang had never expected set her sights on him.
Time turned back to when Zhou Yang and Na'er entered the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Meanwhile, Yali had launched a surprise attack on Leng Yaozhu, who had been preparing to eavesdrop on some gossip.
Her assistant had already helped make an excuse, but who could have known Yali would not believe a word of it? She had blitzed Leng Yaozhu directly, catching her red-handed.
At that moment, Leng Yaozhu was every bit as nervous as someone who discovered, with one minute left before an exam ended, that the multiple-choice section of her English answer sheet was still completely blank.
Yet facing Leng Yaozhu, Yali simply smiled openly, as though she did not care about any of this.
"It's not like I said you couldn't come and watch. Why are you being so sneaky?"
Hearing Yali's words, Leng Yaozhu felt even more embarrassed at having her little scheme exposed.
But they had been sisters for years, and things like this had happened plenty of times. One or two more hardly mattered.
Now that Yali had agreed, there was nothing more to say.
She was going to see for herself.
Since she had already embarrassed herself before even watching, wouldn't that embarrassment have been for nothing if she did not go?
And so, after the staff finished debugging, her own dedicated pod was ready.
Watching Leng Yaozhu enter the Spirit Ascension Platform, Yali chuckled and took out a peculiar pink-and-green cartridge.
Had Zhou Yang been there to see it, he would definitely have lost his composure and blurted out a line.
Holy shit, a Gashat!
Yali pressed the cartridge, which immediately released peculiar pink-and-green particles that enveloped her, then gathered into a streak of light and entered the Spirit Ascension Platform through the pod beside Leng Yaozhu's.
The two appeared in a concealed spot on the other side, not far from Zhou Yang and Na'er.
The moment they appeared, they saw Zhou Yang, who had completed his transformation.
At the sight of the armor on Zhou Yang, Leng Yaozhu could not help casting a sidelong glance and speaking in some surprise.
"Is this the new disciple you found? He really is..."
"No, he isn't."
She had assumed Zhou Yang was Yali's disciple, but Yali shook her head.
The style of that armor was entirely different from the Battle Armor of the Douluo Continent. Although most Riders' armor also differed from one another, those differences were merely the result of different artistic designs within the same era.
That was entirely different from the cultural disparity between it and the Douluo Continent's Battle Armor.
That was also why, after her first glance, Leng Yaozhu understood the reason for Yali's interest.
"...What a similar flower."
Looking at that figure before her, so much like the one in her memories, Leng Yaozhu was also stirred to reminiscence and melancholy.
But her attention was soon drawn back by the scene before her. Watching Woz appear and begin his celebration with her own eyes, Leng Yaozhu's lips twitched.
"He's at it again... Wait, was the one he mentioned before that Zi-O?"
Listening to Woz's celebratory proclamation, Leng Yaozhu seemed to realize something as well.
Beside her, Yali still wore a warm smile, but beneath the gaze as gentle as water that she fixed on Zi-O lay the understanding and satisfaction brought by the appearance and confirmation of an answer.
Yali murmured inwardly, The king of time. So that's how it is.
Having witnessed this scene, which might have been the opening of a great chapter in history, the two harbored different thoughts, yet their attention settled on Zhou Yang in unison.
They watched how he fought within the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Seeing Zhou Yang effortlessly kill the four-thousand-year-old Icefire Demon Tiger, a gleam flashed through Leng Yaozhu's eyes-the gaze of someone who cherished talent.
"Sister Yali, he still doesn't have a master, does he? I want to take him as my disciple."
"I'll definitely train him into one of the continent's best!"
At Leng Yaozhu's words, Yali paused, somewhat surprised, but her gaze soon took on a rather subtle look.
"Of course, if he's willing."
But Leng Yaozhu soon understood what that meant.
As Zhou Yang undid his transformation after reaching the cave, revealing his true appearance, Yali turned her gaze toward the woman beside her.
At that moment, Leng Yaozhu had gone completely still, her red lips slightly parted, her willow-leaf brows trembling faintly, her expression shifting through uncertainty, bewilderment, recognition, joy...
A whole series of emotions surged within her, finally becoming a complicated, incredulous look on her face.
"It's him!"
"He's back?!"
Had Yali not been prepared and held Leng Yaozhu back, she would probably have rushed over already.
"I know you're very anxious, but his current situation is a little unusual. It's not what you think."
"What's different?"
"He doesn't remember us."
"..."
"What?!"
Yali shared the account of her first encounter with Zhou Yang, as well as her conjectures about him, with Leng Yaozhu.
As she listened, the latter went from doubt and refusal to accept it, gradually shifting to conflict and bitterness, before finally having no choice but to accept reality, as though she had ridden a roller coaster.
"He actually doesn't remember any of it..."
"Those were memories that belonged to us..."
Leng Yaozhu's voice was somewhat downcast. Clearly, she still resisted accepting this reality.
Yali reached out and gently patted her shoulder, comforting her. "Actually, this is also an opportunity for us. Do you still remember that line he said?"
"The train of time will always move forward, never backward, just as our memories extend into a new future."
"Since he doesn't remember the memories we shared, let's create new memories and walk toward a brand-new future of our own."
"Isn't that what he taught us?"
Yali's words seemed to have an effect. Leng Yaozhu froze, her expression complicated, but more than anything, she felt helpless at someone's words from the past.
"That certainly does sound like something he'd say..."
Leng Yaozhu looked at Yali again, her unfocused gaze gradually gathering and becoming resolute.
"Then I have an idea..."
Zhou Yang and Na'er set off again, heading deeper into the Spirit Ascension Platform.
The Spirit Ascension Platform was divided into the Elementary Spirit Ascension Platform, the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform, and the Advanced Spirit Ascension Platform.
Although the three seemed to have extremely clear distinctions, different registration categories also had different level restrictions and requirements.
For instance, the Elementary Spirit Ascension Platform required Soul Masters below level forty, while the Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform was for Soul Masters below level seventy. The Advanced Spirit Ascension Platform had no such restrictions.
Different ecosystems had been built around these ranges, with Soul Beasts of corresponding cultivation levels inhabiting them.
They seemed to separate different levels and worlds, but in reality, these three worlds were interconnected.
The three Spirit Ascension Platforms were actually one shared, vast world. It was just that between the different regions, Spirit Soul guards whose strength far exceeded that of the current region stood watch.
The Intermediate Spirit Ascension Platform they currently occupied had no minimum level requirement. Generally speaking, if Grand Soul Masters like them came without a powerful expert leading them, they were essentially just giving money to the Spirit Pagoda.
But who could have known that the Zhou Yang who came would be such a god of slaughter?
Zhou Yang felt that after he slaughtered the Icefire Demon Tiger, the drop rate had fallen considerably. The Soul Beasts he encountered afterward were not particularly strong in either age or cultivation.
Have I been set up by capital?