The two of them had walked for barely ten minutes before encountering a soul beast—a black tiger passed ahead of them.
"Roar!" The black tiger sensed human presence, turned its head, and through the trees spotted Yunze and Gu Yuena. It immediately let out a deafening roar.
From that roar, Yunze and Gu Yuena could clearly feel the beast's excitement. Of course, it wasn't the excitement of joy, but the thrill of having found prey.
"You do it. This soul beast is simulated. Kill it, and you can absorb its energy to increase your soul ring's age," Gu Yuena said.
As the queen of soul beasts, she could naturally distinguish which soul beasts here were simulated and which were formed from true soul spirits.
This black tiger was over two thousand years old. With Yunze's strength, it was no problem at all to deal with it.
Yunze nodded and stepped forward. As he advanced, the Phoenix Martial Soul burst out from his back. The air twisted violently wherever it passed, and the surrounding temperature spiked sharply.
"Cry…" The phoenix let out a shrill call, spreading its wings and diving down. As it neared Yunze, its body rapidly transformed from flesh and blood into a phoenix-shaped longbow.
The longbow was exquisite, its phoenix engravings so lifelike that it seemed as if they might take flight at any moment, burning in blazing flames.
Two soul rings rose up. The second soul ring lit up. He drew the bow, and a flaming arrow appeared out of thin air, resting on the string.
The black tiger, which had been charging toward Yunze and Gu Yuena with vicious intent, froze. Its excitement disappeared instantly, replaced by overwhelming terror. Its fur bristled, its instincts screaming danger.
Its limbs skidded across the ground, gouging several meters of dirt before it could stop. Without hesitation, it spun around and tried to flee.
"Whoosh!" The arrow shot through the air, leaving a blazing streak across the sky.
"Roar!" The tiger let out a pained cry—it hadn't escaped its fate. The fiery arrow pierced straight into its neck.
It staggered forward a few more steps, rolled across the ground, and thrashed violently. The searing flames devoured the flesh of its neck, twisting its features in agony.
"Whoosh!" Another arrow whistled out, this one striking true between its brows, piercing its skull.
The tiger's struggles ceased instantly. Its head hit the ground lifelessly, and its body dissolved into a phantom haze, transforming into violet energy that surged toward Yunze.
"Wasn't that a little too easy?" Gu Yuena asked in surprise. Just two arrows, and a black tiger of over two thousand years was slain?
"I did use my second soul skill. You can't exactly call that easy. It was just… fast," Yunze explained.
The first arrow had been a soul skill. The second was a regular arrow, condensed from pure flame. The difference was the lack of amplification from a soul ring, so its power was weaker. But the soul power cost was also far less.
He relaxed his grip, and the longbow dissolved back into flames, merging into his body. His aura returned to calm.
When the violet energy surged toward him, Yunze could clearly sense the excitement of the soul spirit within him. It wanted to devour the energy badly.
But without Yunze's permission, it didn't dare emerge. The pull of the violet energy wasn't enough to outweigh its reverence for him. So it stayed obediently inside.
Yunze didn't release the soul spirit immediately. Instead, he drew the violet energy into his palm and extended his spiritual sense to carefully examine it. After ten minutes of close observation, he finally summoned his soul spirit and allowed it to absorb.
The Blazing Nine-Headed Bird appeared in its small form, about the size of a duck. When it emerged, it glanced at Yunze, as if asking, Is it okay?
With Yunze's nod, it chirped happily and began devouring the violet energy, its expression brimming with pleasure.
Yunze watched carefully. Once absorbed, the energy directly merged with the Nine-Headed Bird's own, increasing its aura.
"So that's how it works," Yunze said with a faint smile. With his observations before and after, he had figured out the secret mechanism of the Spirit Ascension Platform.
"Chirp chirp…" The Nine-Headed Bird let out excited calls, brimming with energy.
"Back you go." Yunze waved, and the bird dissolved into flames, returning to his palm.
"You just said, 'So that's how it works.' What did you mean?" Gu Yuena tilted her head as they walked.
"I figured out the deeper principle behind the Spirit Ascension Platform," Yunze replied.
Gu Yuena halted in her tracks, then quickly caught on. Her eyes widened. "If you've figured out its principle… could you create another Spirit Ascension Platform?"
"With my current soul power, I can't reproduce a whole platform," Yunze admitted. "But creating a simple spirit ascension device? That I can do."
"When we leave, I'll work on it. Hopefully I can build one in Dragon Phoenix Hall itself. Then spirit ascension will be convenient." He smiled.
"You really can make a replica?" Gu Yuena's voice rose in shock.
Because of their connection with Leng Yaozhu, the monitoring devices on them couldn't record sound, so they could speak freely.
"Is it really so surprising?" Yunze asked, glancing back at her.
Gu Yuena quickly caught up and walked beside him. "How can I not be surprised? Countless factions have tried to uncover the Spirit Ascension Platform's secret to replicate it. If they succeeded, they wouldn't have to depend on the Spirit Pagoda anymore."
"But until now, no one has succeeded. The Spirit Ascension Platform remains exclusive to the Spirit Pagoda."
"If you really manage to create a spirit ascension device, it would break their monopoly. It would shake the entire Federation."
Before Yunze could reply, Gu Yuena continued, almost to herself:
"If I also succeed in developing artificial ten-thousand-year soul spirits, and with your ascension device, we could become a second Spirit Pagoda. We could even replace them."
Her eyes shone with excitement. If they could replace the Spirit Pagoda, then the slaughter of soul beasts would finally end.
Over the past ten thousand years, the soul beast population had declined more than in the previous hundred thousand combined—and the Spirit Pagoda was the biggest culprit.
She despised them to her core. If not for her plan to take over the Spirit Pagoda from within, she would never have joined such a vile organization.
Of course, she also wanted their research materials to advance her own study of artificial soul spirits.
If her ten-thousand-year artificial soul spirit succeeded, it would not only help soul beasts but also earn her a seat at the Spirit Pagoda's highest levels—a double benefit.
But now, knowing Yunze could replicate the Spirit Ascension Platform, she was reconsidering. Rather than inheriting the Spirit Pagoda, she wanted to see it destroyed and replaced. Only then would her hatred be appeased.