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The weather today wasn't very good. The sky was overcast, causing dawn to arrive later than usual. Despite this, the work-study dormitory was already bustling with activity.
After everyone had finished breakfast, they gathered together. Yuanen Yehui stood somewhat apart from the others, especially keeping her distance from Yue Zhengyu.
Yue Zhengyu didn't approach her either, instead standing beside Tang Wulin and murmuring quietly with him.
Gu Yue and Bai Xu were also whispering to each other, chatting about trivial matters.
Clap! Clap! Tang Wulin patted his hands together. "Now that everyone's here, we should get ready to set off. Before we go, let's briefly plan today's tower charge. Does anyone have suggestions?"
His gaze first fell on Bai Xu. In his mind, Bai Xu's strength even surpassed that of Yuanen Yehui, who possessed twin martial souls.
Bai Xu waved his hand dismissively. "I'll follow the arrangements. I'll listen to your command."
When it came to leadership, Bai Xu showed no interest. He had no desire to command a team in battle.
Accustomed to acting alone, he felt somewhat uncomfortable suddenly having to cooperate with others. However, this time, his goal was to see the Spirit Pagoda and get acquainted with Yuanen.
Seeing that Bai Xu had no objections, Tang Wulin turned to Yuanen. Yuanen Yehui shook her head. "I don't have any suggestions. I'll cooperate with you all. After Xu Xiaoyan obtains her spirit soul, you can continue accompanying me in charging the tower."
"No problem. What about you?" Tang Wulin's eyes shifted to Yue Zhengyu.
Aside from Bai Xu, Yuanen Yehui and Yue Zhengyu were the strongest among them and could potentially take over Tang Wulin's leadership role.
Before Yue Zhengyu could speak, Yuanen Yehui suddenly interjected, "I can accept anyone's command—except his."
Yue Zhengyu's eyes widened, and he was about to retort when Tang Wulin quickly grabbed him and whispered something in his ear, promising him additional benefits.
Yuanen Yehui's expression darkened slightly as she turned her head away.
Yue Zhengyu finally managed to suppress his temper and snorted. "Fine, Wulin, you take command. Wasn't it always you leading your team before? Since you organized this, I'll just do my part."
Bai Xu's lips twitched. Are people with incompatible martial souls destined to be mortal enemies? He sighed inwardly, finding their personalities rather peculiar.
"Gu Yue, are there surveillance systems in the Spirit Pagoda battles?" Bai Xu asked.
"Yes. This time, I've asked my teacher for help. She'll likely be monitoring it personally. Do you plan to keep charging upward? That would expose your secrets," Gu Yue replied via voice transmission.
"Let's assess the situation first."
Having roughly resolved the team's internal issues, Tang Wulin declared, "Alright, then it's settled. I'll take command of the team. Our formation will be arranged like this: one agility attacker—Xie Xie; four power attackers—me, Yuanen Yehui, Yue Zhengyu, and Bai Xu. Yuanen Yehui will take the center, with Yue Zhengyu and me supporting from the left and right, while Bai Xu covers the rear. I'll handle team control, Gu Yue will assist with control and provide ranged attacks, and Xiaoyan will focus on ranged output. But there's one thing I must remind everyone: we don't have a food-type soul master this time, so spirit power consumption will be an issue. Everyone should conserve their spirit power as much as possible to deal with the higher-level spirit beasts."
The group nodded in agreement.
"Let's move out!"
The seven of them left the work-study dormitory and headed outside the academy. Just as Tang Wulin was about to hail a soul-powered taxi, a luxurious commercial vehicle pulled up in front of the academy gates.
They boarded one after another, and the soul-powered car slowly set off.
The journey was somewhat long, and Gu Yue once again leaned against Bai Xu's shoulder. This time, Bai Xu didn't panic. Meeting her gaze, the two of them exchanged faint smiles.
Shrek Academy's city was enormous. Even though they spent most of the trip on high-speed roads, it still took them over forty minutes to reach the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda—an imposing, colossal tower.
By the time they took the elevator to the upper floors, they could already see a sea of clouds outside. Gu Yue took out her soul communicator, dialed a number, and stepped aside to murmur a few words before beckoning the others to follow her.
The interior was adorned in milky white, and combined with the scenery outside, it gave the sensation of walking among the clouds.
Further inside was a silver door. Gu Yue knocked on it before pushing it open and leading everyone in.
Behind a desk sat a tall, elegant woman. She appeared to be in her early thirties, with delicate features and long crimson hair cascading down her back. She was like the most exquisite ornament in the room—her presence alone infused the space with vitality and energy.
Bai Xu recognized her—the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, Leng Yaozhu.
Under her guidance, Bai Xu also saw the monitoring station staff.
The hall was several hundred meters in diameter and over fifty meters tall. The ceiling was triangular, with what seemed to be a gemstone suspended at the very top, emitting a faint golden glow.
At the center of the hall was a raised platform. The base was hexagonal, with steps leading upward to an altar-like surface spanning about a hundred square meters. In the middle of the platform stood a towering golden gate, over fifteen meters high.
Surrounding the hall were various pieces of equipment, with hundreds of staff members working there.
Bai Xu swept a glance over the scene and thought to himself, It seems making a move on the Spirit Pagoda is out of the question. With hundreds of soul masters working here, even if my spiritual power is strong, it's not enough to control all of them or erase the surveillance footage.
After this trip, I won't be coming back.
Having made up his mind, Bai Xu instantly lost interest. The only remaining purpose of this trip was to get to know Yuanen Yehui.
"Go ahead. I've already made the arrangements," Leng Yaozhu said, pointing at the golden gate.
"Thank you, Teacher," Gu Yue replied with a smile. Though she didn't seem particularly reverent toward her teacher, her tone carried warmth and familiarity.
The group stepped through the golden gate, embarking on their tower-charging journey.
They found themselves in a vast octagonal hall, over three hundred meters in diameter. Along the walls were eight massive metal doors, each standing over ten meters tall and five meters wide. Just standing there, they could feel the grandeur of the place.
Tang Wulin quickly arranged the team into combat positions. The first floor featured wolf-type spirit beasts—dozens of them, all low-level, emerging from the eight metal doors.
Bai Xu spoke up, "I'll handle this. Let's clear it quickly."
With a mental command, the wolves began attacking each other. Before long, only one wind wolf remained—before collapsing under the strain of Bai Xu's spiritual power.
!!!
The group was stunned. "What kind of soul skill is that? It made the spirit beasts kill each other?"
Bai Xu explained, "A spiritual-type soul skill. It allows direct control over lower-level spirit beasts like these."
A mechanical voice echoed throughout the hall: "First floor of the Spirit Pagoda—cleared. Optional spirit soul absorption: Wind Wolf! Thousand-year spirit beast. Select whether to absorb within ten seconds."
A golden gate appeared before them, smaller than the first but equally profound. Hovering in front of it was the phantom of a wind wolf.
The group stepped through the gate, entering the second floor.
The spirit beasts on the early floors were too weak—mere thousand-year creatures stood no chance against Bai Xu, a four-ringed soul master. They crumbled almost instantly.
"Wow! What kind of soul skill is this? It's insane!" Yue Zhengyu exclaimed. They didn't even need to lift a finger.
Yuanen Yehui kept glancing at Bai Xu, her interest in him growing significantly.
However, starting from the eighth floor, where two-thousand-year spirit beasts appeared, Bai Xu stopped using his abilities, leaving the battles to the team.
By the ninth floor, Gu Yue warned solemnly, "Be careful. Every ninth floor in the Spirit Pagoda is a major checkpoint. This one will be the strongest among the first nine. Xiaoyan, how about this one?"
Xu Xiaoyan's eyes sparkled as she looked at the ice bear before her. "It's so cute! A three-thousand-year spirit beast, nearly four thousand—that's more than enough for me. Anything higher would be too hard to absorb. I'll take this one!"
Bai Xu didn't intervene in this battle. The team expended some effort to defeat the four ice bears.
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