Spirit Ascension Platform!

A few days later, Gloxinia was in class, contemplating when Teacher Wu was going to take him to the Tang Sect entrance examination. It had already been a few days and he hasn't even talked to him about it since!

"Today we will be going to the Spirit Pagoda." Apart from his lectures, Wu Zhangkong's words were always concise.

'Going to the Spirit Pagoda? To do what? None of us need a spirit soul though?'

Tang Wulin, Gu Yue, and Xie Xie sank into confusion, but Wu Zhangkong didn't bother to explain.

Gloxinia, on the other hand, was very excited. He had been waiting for this day to come for years! Not only that but he also had a mission to complete that needed the Spirit Ascension Platform!

The mission that he can complete using the Spirit Ascension Platform is none other than the 100 year old spirit soul mission! When he completes it, not only will he have a 100 year old spirit soul but he will also obtain a better cultivation environment, the Fairy King's Forest!

With excitement bubbling within him, Gloxinia left the academy alongside his classmates and Teacher Wu.

Wu Zhangkong explained as they walked. "From now on, you will all cultivate in the Spirit Pagoda's spirit ascension platform once a week. You must treasure this opportunity; the academy fought hard to allocate some funds for this."

Gu Yue and Tang Wulin wore similar expressions of confusion, not knowing what it was. On the other hand, Xie Xie had a face full of awe, for he knew what it was. Finally, Gloxinia pretended to be confused and not know about it since his identity in this world was an orphan who didn't know much.

Xie Xie spoke with a voice full of admiration. "Wow! The academy sure knows how to spend money. Looks like joining class zero was a good choice after all!"

Tang Wulin softly asked, "What's the spirit ascension platform?"

Xie Xie stared at him in shock. "You don't know what the spirit ascension platform is? It's a great place!"

Tang Wulin grew impatient. "Hurry up and tell me. I really don't know."

==INFO DUMP==

(You can skip if you know about the Spirit Ascension Platform)

Xie Xie explained, "On our Douluo Continent, only the Spirit Pagodas of major cities have a spirit ascension platform. In total, there are eighteen on this continent. They are the best place for us Soul Masters to cultivate."

"The spirit ascension platform was created by the Spirit Pagoda. Soul Masters can go there to gain experience and increase their strength. Moreover, you can experience the charms of the ancient Soul Master's world. I'm not really sure what principles it operates on, but I heard that over ten Title Douluos were involved in its creation, and the greatest researchers of the time poured their efforts into it. Only after the Spirit Pagoda invested an enormous amount of resources was the spirit ascension platform completed."

"Originally, the spirit ascension platform was used as a step in the Spirit Pagoda's research into artificial spirit souls. They hoped that it would be able to upgrade artificial spirit souls, and hence manufacture even stronger spirit souls. After completion, however, they discovered that it was only a partial success. Although the spirit ascension platform could upgrade spirit souls, its effects weren't as great as they expected, and its nature wasn't too clear."

"Naturally, after making such a large investment, the Spirit Pagoda couldn't discard the product. After another period of development, the spirit ascension platform became a unique place. To put it simply, it's the crystallization of the continent's best soul devices and the efforts of the greatest Soul Masters and researchers. After entering the spirit ascension platform, a Soul Master will feel that they had entered a whole different realm, yet they would still be protected by the spirit ascension platform. The danger inside isn't too high, but Soul Masters can battle with soul beasts to increase their combat experience in there. If you're lucky, you might even be able to improve your spirit soul. I'm not sure how to attain the spirit ascension effect though, because this is only what I have heard from others. I've never actually been in there."

Xie Xie's explanation had piqued Tang Wulin's interest. The spirit ascension platform can upgrade spirit souls?

"How are spirit souls upgraded?" Tang Wulin asked.

Xie Xie dismissively answered, "It's not easy at all! Our spirit souls are actually pretty good. In the past, you would directly absorb a soul beast's soul ring, and its power would be limited by its cultivation age. Now, however, when we upgrade a spirit soul, we actually increase its cultivation age. This reminds me, since you have a ten year spirit soul, you have a decent chance at upgrading it. If you can cultivate for an extended period of time in the spirit ascension platform, you will have an even greater chance of upgrading it to the hundred year level. Although, I heard that the higher its age, the harder it is to upgrade it."

"What do you need to enter the spirit ascension platform?"

"Two things; money and space!" Xie Xie mischievously laughed.

The moment he heard 'money', Tang Wulin's heart began to ache. He was really too poor.

"How much money?"

Xie Xie answered, "The spirit ascension platform has multiple layers. It costs about 500,000 federal coins per entry into the elementary spirit ascension platform. Space is even more valuable though! There are only one thousand spots each month for the elementary spirit ascension platform. There are over a million Soul Masters on the continent right now, so can you imagine the demand… And spaces for the intermediate and advanced spirit ascension platforms are even fewer. This is because they consume even more resources, so the cost of entry is also several times higher."

==INFO DUMP END==

Eastsea's Spirit Pagoda was incomparable to the one in Glorybound City. This Spirit Pagoda was one of the eighteen great pagodas, collectively known as the Eighteen Pillars of Heaven.

The towering pagoda was visible from kilometers away. It was at least one hundred stories tall, surpassing a height of 400 meters. Even among a forest of skyscrapers, it was tall enough to become a giant landmark.

Spirit Pagoda's foundation was in the shape of an octagon and covered a large area. The pagoda then narrowed every ten layers until it reached the peak of the spire.

Even by just admiring it from a distance, one could feel its grandeur.

This pagoda branch already looked quite grand; what would the Spirit Pagoda headquarters look like? How majestic would it be?

Gloxinia had heard from others that the Spirit Pagoda headquarters was situated in the heart of the continent, inside Shrek City. That was the greatest city in the entire federation! As a comparison, the federation's headquarters was instead located in Bright City, the second greatest city on the continent.

After a long flight of stairs, the group were greeted by Director Long Hengxu. Clearly, the academy had been prepared for them.

When Long Hengxu saw Wu Zhangkong leading the students up the stairs, he quickly walked over and greeted, "Teacher Wu."

"Director Long," Wu Zhangkong bluntly called out, his face as wooden as usual.

Long Hengxu said, "Follow me."

After entering the pagoda's first floor, they were met with a dazzling sight of the interior. Dark gold stone tiled the floors, creating a beautiful granular pattern. Several obelisks stood tall in the center of the space, propping up a dome over ten meters in diameter. The most shocking thing, however, was that the dome being held up by those obelisks had a magnificent and colorful mural on it.

The mural was resplendent, the scenery painted on the mural seemingly recounting its characters' tales.

Wu Zhangkong explained, "This mural portrays the tale of the Spirit Pagoda's founder, a legendary Soul Master and inventor of spirit souls. It tells of how the Spirit Ice Douluo guided humanity's Soul Masters in resisting a tide of soul beasts. This is merely a part of the complete mural, that mural having eighteen parts in total.

"The mural within the headquarters depicts the Spirit Ice Douluo battling the strongest Soul Beast God, Di Tian. The Spirit Ice Douluo disappeared after that epic battle, never to be seen since. Yet, it is rumored that he was victorious, for the Soul Beast God, the Golden-eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, hasn't appeared since."

Although he had read about it in the novels, Gloxinia's heart was filled with awe. He could feel the impressiveness of the scene that the mural depicted. Within the soul beast tide, one giant soul beast after another advanced toward the walls of a great city, creating an atmosphere of extreme terror.

Floating above the city was a person with shining eyes. Surrounding him were several floating figures. One of them was a beautiful woman in white, another a woman dressed in green. Upon his shoulder was an existence that looked like an ice crystal, a gigantic bear, and an enormous white worm. Brilliant soul rings revolved around his body.

That's the Spirit Ice Douluo!

Gloxinia had seen the art work from the manhua and the official art work too but this mural was on another level! It was simply too realistic!

However, the thing that truly caught Gloxinia's eye was the beautiful woman next to him in the mural. He could feel a sort of connection that one only feels between bloodlines, as if the girl with the Butterfly-like wings was his child.

A strong sense to protect built up in Gloxinia's heart and he couldn't bear it. Sweat poured down his forehead and back, soaking his clothes. He could feel his veins expanding, as if his blood wanted to break-free.

Using his willpower to force his head downwards, Gloxinia no longer looked at the mural. The feeling also disappeared as soon as he looked away.

Breathing heavily, Gloxinia could hear Gu Yue and Tang Wulin talk about both the girl and Huo Yuhao, the Spirit Ice Douluo.

They called the girl Tang Wutong, and said she resembled Tang Wulin.

'So that's Tang Wutong.. But what just happened? Why did it feel as if I was looking at my own child?!'

As he kept thinking and theorizing, Gloxinia came to his own conclusion. 'Because of her Bright Goddess Butterfly, who I assume is descended from Fairies or at least related to them, I felt like that because of my bloodline?'

Although he has no way to confirm it, he can only believe that this is truly the case.

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Words: 1845

Author's Note: I feel like the last chapter was way too short so here's this one in advance. There is going to be some action soon don't worry.

ALSO HOW THE FUCK DO YOU SPELL THEORIZING?? THEORISING?? GOOGLE ISNT HELPING BRUH

Thank you for all the collections and powerstones! If you need more explanation on the tang wutong part just comment and ill expand on it!