Joining the Spirit Pagoda, Challenging the Soul Spirit Tower
The air inside the Soul Spirit Tower was thick with ancient, wild soul energy, tasting of ozone and damp earth. Yao Xuan stood alone in the vast, silent hall, the sheer scale of it pressing down on him with a tangible weight. His eyes were fixed on the ethereal, towering structure at the center—a hundred and eight floors ascending into unseen heights.
'A trial by combat. Not just for a title, but for her.' The thought surfaced, clean and clear. Proving himself here, earning status within the Spirit Pagoda, was another step on the path. A step that would bring him closer to understanding the forces that shaped Gu Yue's world, and thus, closer to her.
A resonant, mechanical voice echoed through the hall, devoid of emotion.
< Trial Commencing. Level One: Endurance of the Pack. Defeat the assault. Proceed to the central spire upon victory.>
The bluish-gray stones of the floor in front of him shimmered. From the light, ten figures coalesced. Not illusions, but physical manifestations of soul power—a pack of Phantom Wolves, their forms semi-transparent, eyes glowing with pale blue fire. They were thousand-year level manifestations, real enough to kill.
Yao Xuan didn't wait for them to charge. He breathed in, and the dragon within stirred, not with rage, but with focused intent. Golden scales shimmered into existence along his right arm. He didn't summon the full martial soul. This was about control, efficiency.
The pack surged forward in a silent, coordinated rush.
He moved.
His body became a blur of calculated motion. He didn't smash through them with overwhelming force; he flowed between them. A sidestep avoided a lunging bite, his scaled forearm coming up to deflect a swipe from the side. The impact sent a tremor through the wolf's form, dissipating part of it. He pivoted, his leg sweeping out in a low arc charged with dragonforce, disrupting the footing of two others.
It was a dance of precision. He used their numbers against them, letting their momentum carry them past him, delivering concise, powerful strikes to their cores. A fist driven into a spectral flank. A palm-heel strike to a descending skull. Each impact was accompanied by a faint golden ripple and a sound like shattering glass.
He felt no exhilaration in the destruction, only a steady, purposeful rhythm. This was the first gate. A test of foundational strength and tactical mind. Within thirty seconds, the last Phantom Wolf dissolved into motes of light that were absorbed by the floor.
The hall fell silent once more. A section of the floor leading to the base of the central spire glowed softly.
Yao Xuan walked forward, his breathing even. As he passed the spot where the pack had fallen, he felt a faint, cool strand of energy seep into him—not soul power, but information, a minor boost to his spiritual perception. The Tower was already rewarding precision.
He reached the base of the impossibly tall spire. A simple archway of light served as an entrance. Without hesitation, he stepped through.
The scene shifted.
He stood now in a dense, twilight jungle. Giant ferns brushed his shoulders, and the air hummed with the sounds of insects and distant, haunting calls. The feeling of reality was absolute; he could smell the rich, decomposing foliage, feel the humidity clinging to his skin.
< Level Two: The Jungle's Stalker. Locate and defeat the hidden predator.>
'A test of perception and environment.' Yao Xuan's senses expanded. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting his hearing and the subtle vibrations of his dragon blood extend outward. He ignored the obvious noises, seeking the silence within the noise—the space where a predator would hide.
A flicker of malice, to his left and above.
He dropped into a roll without opening his eyes. A dark, spear-like limb, chitinous and silent, pierced the space where his head had been, impaling a thick fern trunk with a sickening thud.
Yao Xuan came up in a crouch, eyes now open and gleaming with golden light. Clinging to a giant tree was a Nightstalker Mantis, a three-thousand-year level soul beast, its body a mosaic of shadows and bark. It blended perfectly.
It detached and dropped, its scythe-like forelimbs crossing in a scissoring cut.
Yao Xuan didn't back away. He stepped in, inside the arc of the deadly limbs. His scaled hands came up, not to block the scythes directly, but to slam against the joints where the chitin met softer membrane. Golden energy flared on impact.
CRACK.
The mantis shrieked, a sound of grinding stone, and reeled back. It was fast, but Yao Xuan was faster now that he had its measure. He followed its retreat, a burst of dragonforce propelling him forward. He targeted its spindly legs, crippling its mobility with sharp, focused kicks, before ending the contest with a driving punch to its core, dissolving it into shadows that melted into the jungle floor.
A path through the dense foliage illuminated itself.
As he walked, the jungle around him began to fade, transforming back into the stone hall of the tower's base. He was now at the foot of a staircase that spiraled up the inside of the spire.
< Trial Cleared. Proceed to Level Three.>
Yao Xuan began to climb. The stairs were wide, each step humming with contained power. He thought of Gu Yue, watching from behind that isolated screen. Was she analyzing his every move, compiling data for the Silver Dragon King? Or was she, in some part of her heart that remembered being Na'er, simply hoping for his safe return?
The duality no longer felt like a conflict to him. It was simply her. And for her, he would climb as high as this tower demanded.
He reached a landing. A new archway.
This one pulsed with a deep, rhythmic light, like the heartbeat of the earth itself.
Taking a firm stance, Yao Xuan stepped into the third trial.