A woman in red stood before the tower doors, her crimson hair draped over her shoulders, her features delicate and cool.
At the sight of the group, she spoke gently.
"Welcome to the Spirit Pagoda. I'm Leng Yaozhu, and I'm also Gu Yue's teacher."
Yan Qing silently committed her appearance to memory: Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, a Level 99 Limit Douluo and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master.
Under Leng Yaozhu's guidance, they arrived before a golden door. Beyond it lay the Spirit Pagoda's proud creation, the Soul Spirit Tower.
Stepping through the golden portal, they were transported into an ancient hall.
The teleportation array behind them slowly closed, and the light gradually dimmed.
Yan Qing looked around. They stood in the center of the hall, with eight doors in each of the four directions.
Yan Qing motioned for everyone to release their Martial Souls. Battle could begin at any moment.
Sure enough, eight stone doors vanished with a crash, and dense green dots appeared in the air.
"They're wolf-type Soul Beasts!"
Yan Qing called out in a low voice.
"Yuanen, handle them. Make sure to conserve your Soul Power."
There was no time to rest during the tower climb.
Yan Qing's strategy concerned the early floors that could be cleared solo without expending too much stamina.
They would clear them in groups of two or three, while the others recovered their Soul Power.
Whenever dragon-type Soul Beasts appeared, they would send Tang Wulin out to fight them alone.
Yuanen Yehui struck ferociously, smashing the wolves into meat patties in just a few blows and clearing the floor without trouble.
Following this strategy, the seven of them cleared eight floors in succession. The Soul Beasts behind the doors gradually grew stronger, their ages already reaching around three thousand years.
Their numbers also decreased. By the start of the ninth floor, the eight doors had dwindled to four.
Here, Xu Xiaoyan also encountered a Soul Beast she liked-a three-thousand-year Ice Bear.
Yuanen Yehui held off the Ice Bear at the front while everyone in the rear kept attacking.
This Tall-nut-and-Peashooter approach worked every time.
The Ice Bear howled under the beating and soon voluntarily became a Soul Spirit.
Xu Xiaoyan stayed behind to absorb it while the others continued to the higher floors, because Yuanen Yehui's condition for helping them climb the tower was that she would also obtain a Soul Spirit.
As expected, Yuanen Yehui found her ideal match, a King Kong Baboon, on the twelfth floor. The group's objectives were essentially complete.
As for Yan Qing's Soul Spirit, he planned to climb farther on his own.
Without Yan Qing taking part, the six of them already had to give their all against the King Kong Baboon.
There was no need to bring a few extra punching bags along.
In truth, even climbing alone was somewhat strenuous for Yan Qing. His strongest fourth Soul Skills, Heart Prison and Sever Thought, had no effect on Soul Beasts.
However, he had also taken inspiration from Tang Wulin.
When Tang Wulin fought the Demon Lizard Dragon on the eleventh floor, a single Golden Dragon Roar had turned the little dragon into a little worm.
It had been so frightened that it lay on the ground, not daring to move, and was gutted by a single claw strike.
Bloodline suppression was remarkably useful.
Yan Qing followed that gourd's shape to draw his own. Although he had no such bloodline, he had the more versatile Simulation.
On the later floors, whatever type of Soul Beast Yan Qing encountered, he simply used his Simulation Soul Skill to turn into its ancestor.
For instance, the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff on the seventeenth floor.
Yan Qing transformed into the Scarlet King, whose red wings blotted out the sky, and tore into the little three-headed beast with his teeth.
The little Scarlet Demon Mastiff was so shocked that it did not know what to do. It stood frozen in place as Yan Qing cut it down with a single sword strike.
Inside the Spirit Pagoda, Leng Yaozhu watched the group work together to climb the tower on a screen of light.
Their precise teamwork inevitably reminded her of her team in her youth, and a trace of regret vanished from the corner of her eyes.
Yet as she watched her disciple Gu Yue and her teammates leave the Soul Spirit Tower one after another, their captain stayed behind instead.
Leng Yaozhu grew a little more curious, but the longer she watched Yan Qing climb, the graver her gaze became. She decisively placed a call on a soul communicator.
Yan Qing cleared nineteen floors in succession.
He also knew that he had more or less reached his limit.
Floors one through eighteen held thousand-year Soul Beasts, while eighteen through thirty-six held Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Beyond those lay the terrifying hundred-thousand-year level.
Once Soul Beasts reached ten thousand years, their intelligence rose dramatically. However powerful the simulated ancestor was, they still dared to attack.
On the nineteenth floor, Yan Qing had even donned his Battle Armor.
The drawback was still the lack of rest. Otherwise, Yan Qing felt he could have fought through another four or five floors.
He had begun trying to communicate with Soul Spirits from the eight-thousand-year Soul Beasts onward, but he still could not absorb them.
His long brush Martial Soul had a natural aversion to Soul Spirits, and those Soul Spirits paid him no heed either.
With no other option, Yan Qing could only treat it as training.
The twentieth floor was about to begin.
Judging by his remaining Soul Power, this should be his final battle. He hoped he would encounter an interesting opponent.
The twentieth floor had only one tightly shut doorway.
Starting from the tenth floor, each floor had only one guardian left.
Boom, boom, boom!
The stone door opened, and a pitch-black figure slowly glided out.
No legs?
That height... was that bamboo?
Yan Qing had not expected his opponent on the twentieth floor to be his old friend Lone Bamboo-and at the ten-thousand-year level, no less.
After an hour of fierce battle, Yan Qing had nearly drained his Soul Power before finally chopping the damned bamboo in two.
He immediately moved closer to draw it in, an attempt he had held no hope for.
Yet the faint black light actually responded to his pull, gathering around him and beginning to condense into a Soul Ring.
It worked!
Delight burst into Yan Qing's eyes.
So it wasn't that my Martial Soul couldn't absorb older ones. It could only absorb Lone Bamboo Soul Spirits.
Yan Qing could not help praying that hundred-thousand-year Lone Bamboo existed in this world.
A quarter of an hour later, Yan Qing finished absorbing it. His Soul Power surged, reaching rank forty-three.
He walked out of the Soul Spirit Tower and came face-to-face with two figures.
Besides Leng Yaozhu, a middle-aged man also stood at the entrance.
Judging by Leng Yaozhu's position half a step behind him...
This was the master of the Spirit Pagoda-Qiangu Dongfeng.
Upon receiving the call, Qiangu Dongfeng had rushed over immediately.
There was actually a twelve-year-old boy whose spiritual power was at least at the High-Grade Spirit Sea Realm.
After all, their Spirit Pagoda had a trump card: Han Tianyi, whose Body Martial Soul was his brain.
With the amplification of Four-Word Battle Armor, his spiritual power could briefly reach the Divine Origin Realm.
Even this spiritual powerhouse, who stood at the pinnacle of the continent, had only possessed Intermediate-Grade Spirit Sea Realm spiritual power at thirteen.
Not to mention that this boy's spiritual power might even be at the Spirit Abyss Realm.
They absolutely had to keep such a talent in the Spirit Pagoda!
Qiangu Dongfeng studied Yan Qing carefully before speaking.
"Yan Qing, would you be interested in joining the Spirit Pagoda? As long as you agree, you can immediately become one of our reserve Spirit Envoys. I'll personally take you as my disciple, and you may choose from all the Soul Spirits in the Spirit Pagoda.
"I heard from Leng Yaozhu's disciple that you joined the Tang Sect. But that's no problem. Since you're an outer sect disciple, we can exchange resources for your release.
"You'll also be compensated for the Tang Sect Secret Arts in another way."
"My apologies, Pagoda Master Qiangu. I have a reason that makes joining the Spirit Pagoda absolutely impossible."
Yan Qing refused with righteous conviction.
Qiangu Dongfeng was somewhat surprised. These terms were already so generous as to be frightening, yet they still could not sway the boy before him.
"What exactly did the Tang Sect give you? Don't tell me you're the son of those two fellows."
Yan Qing could not help raising his eyebrows.
He really was enjoying the benefits of that identity right now.
He raised his hand, and a medal appeared in it.
"I've already joined the Soul Fighting Hall."
Unable to conceal his disappointment, Qiangu Dongfeng sighed.
"If you change your mind, come find me anytime."
After Qiangu Dongfeng left, Leng Yaozhu looked at Yan Qing with interest.
"Yan Qing, one eleven-thousand-year Lone Bamboo Soul Spirit.
"After the discount, that comes to two hundred million Federation Coins. How would you like to pay?"
"Holy shit! Is it too late for me to leave the Tang Sect right now?"