Chapter Twenty-One: First Steps onto the Ascension Spirit Platform

Between his words, Xu Zhao was quite confident.

He possessed absolute certainty that he would break through to the rank of Soul King before the age of fifteen, and would condense a Soul Core—something normally achievable only at the Soul Sage level—at least twenty levels ahead of schedule. Therefore, if Xu Zhao wanted to reach the rank of Saint Craftsman before his current pair of Cloud-Gold forging hammers became obsolete, he needed to become a seventh-rank forger by the age of fifteen at the latest. While he was confident in his own talent, that confidence was predicated on dedicating sufficient time and energy to forging.

Everything has its priorities. As a transmigrator living his second life, Xu Zhao understood this principle well. The reason he studied forging was merely to obtain the metal alloys required for crafting Battle Armor. The path of a Soul Master was the most important pursuit, and the one that required the greatest investment of time and energy. This was also the fundamental reason why, despite his deep interest in mechs, he was unwilling to waste time dual-cultivating as a Mech Master. As for his forging rank, it only needed to keep pace with his cultivation progress; there was no need to sink excessive time or energy into it.

Seven days is neither long nor short. While staying in Heaven Dou City, Xu Zhao had nothing to do but meditate and cultivate. His two teachers were both occupied: one was busy with the handover of affairs at the Heaven Dou City Forging Association, while the other was busy tailoring a customized cultivation plan for him. Neither had the time to instruct him for the moment.

Consequently, on the third day, seeking a change of scenery and a way to satisfy his restless hands, Xu Zhao had his grandfather take him to the Spirit Pagoda in Heaven Dou City. He intended to enter the Primary Spirit Ascension Platform to pass the time and, incidentally, push his soul spirit, Xiaoyue, to a millennium-level age.

Constrained by the regulations of Heaven Dou City, the Spirit Pagoda here stood only forty-nine meters tall, far less grand and majestic in appearance than the one in Mingdu. However, that was only in terms of height; in terms of ground footprint, the Heaven Dou Spirit Pagoda far exceeded the one in Mingdu, which was the only reason it was ranked among the Eighteen Pillars of the Spirit Pagoda. Due to the perspective, standing before the main gate often gave one the illusion that the facility was quite small.

Upon entering, one would see the colorful murals present in every one of the Eighteen Pillars. These murals depicted nothing other than the story of the first Pagoda Master and Spirit Ice Douluo, Huo Yuhao, during the era of the Peerless Tang Sect. The headquarters and the ten main pillars each featured a different portion of this history.

"Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, Di Tian..."

Xu Zhao gazed at the giant black dragon on the mural and thought to himself, "At this point in time, the amnesiac Silver Dragon King should have already been picked up by Tang Wulin. Di Tian is likely scouring the world for the sovereign he yearns for."

He had no intention of involving his family in this matter. He knew that after the amnesiac Silver Dragon King recovered her memories, she would split off a human incarnation—Na'er—who possessed a full thirty percent of her power. If he could quietly eliminate this human incarnation before the Silver Dragon King consumed her, he could ensure the Silver Dragon King permanently lost thirty percent of her strength. This was an extremely favorable outcome for him, so he naturally would not interfere and risk the situation veering into an unpredictable direction.

Deep underground, in a circular room, Xu Zhao stood before a metal pod, listening to the Spirit Pagoda staff member drone on about the numerous precautions for entering the Spirit Ascension Platform. Finally, after finishing his lecture, the staff member pressed the button to open the hatch and said to the six-year-old boy before him, "Alright, you can lie down inside now."

Once inside, Xu Zhao closed his eyes, automatically filtering out the staff member's chatter. Before long, a tingling sensation spread through his limbs, and his brain began to drift into a state of drowsiness.

He did not know how much time had passed, but when Xu Zhao opened his eyes again, he found himself in an ancient, primeval forest.

"Star Dou Great Forest..."

He recognized the scene immediately. Because his family possessed holographic projections recording the topography of the Star Dou Great Forest, he had seen them countless times during his childhood.

"The Spirit Ascension Platform certainly lives up to its name; the realism is far superior to holographic projections." Xu Zhao glanced at the red button on the back of his hand, then began walking into the depths of the forest, his face relaxed and showing no signs of wariness, as if he were in a tourist resort rather than a perilous Soul Beast forest.

He had walked less than a hundred meters when an uninvited guest appeared before him: a pack of Wind Baboons of varying ages. Among the dozens of baboons, most were ten-year beasts, only five were over a hundred years old, and the strongest among them seemed to have an aura of about five hundred years.

"I never expected the first type of soul beast I'd encounter in the Spirit Ascension Platform would be the Wind Baboons, who almost became the 'God-Slayers'." Xu Zhao smiled at the sight. "Xiaoyue, time to work."

He spoke calmly, and after a flash of white light, his soul spirit, Xiaoyue, appeared by his side.

"Awoo!"

After letting out a long howl toward the sky, Xiaoyue flapped its four wings and dove into the pack of Wind Baboons to slaughter them. Faced with a seven-hundred-year-old mutated Silver Wolf, the dozens of Wind Baboons were quickly wiped out. Their bodies dissipated into the air, turning into wisps of energy that flowed into their master, Xu Zhao.

As he currently only possessed Xiaoyue as his soul spirit, there was no need for any allocation strategy; Xu Zhao poured all of the energy into Xiaoyue for it to absorb. A Soul Master killing soul beasts in the Spirit Ascension Platform could obtain spiritual power equal to one-tenth of the beast's age. With thirty-five Wind Baboons—thirty under a century and five over—the resulting spiritual power increased Xiaoyue's soul spirit age by approximately one hundred and fifty years.

Xiaoyue’s original age had been just over seven hundred years; with this increase, it was now approaching nine hundred years. Even the yellow hue of Xu Zhao's first soul ring had deepened, faintly beginning to show a trace of purple.

"What an impressive soul spirit!" An astonished, childish voice came from behind him.

Xu Zhao turned toward the source of the voice and saw a boy of similar age, standing a few centimeters taller than him, walking over. Xu Zhao studied the newcomer, thinking, "Blue hair, blue eyes, handsome features, not much older than me, and appearing in Heaven Dou City..."

He quickly guessed the boy's identity: Luo Guixing, the future seventeenth-ranked genius on the Youth Genius List, known as "The Imprisoned," whose martial soul was Space Element Control.

"Hello, my name is Luo Guixing, a local of Heaven Dou City," the boy said. After introducing himself, his gaze fell upon Xu Zhao's Sun-Moon dual pupils, and he asked curiously, "My family is considered a prominent clan in Heaven Dou City, yet I have never seen you before. I assume you are not from here; may I ask your name and where you hail from?"