You'll need to survive for one full hour inside the Spirit Ascension Platform, Wu Zhangkong said, his tone flat. "If you can do that, you pass your final exam.
But I must warn you—this time, you'll be entering the Riot State Spirit Ascension Platform."
Xie Xie blinked in confusion. "Teacher, what does Riot State mean?"
He had never heard of such a thing before, but just from the name alone, it didn't sound like anything ordinary.
Nan Fusheng and the other four looked equally surprised.
The Spirit Ascension Platform had played a huge role in developing their actual combat ability, so what exactly was this riot version of it?
Wu Zhangkong explained calmly,
"The Spirit Ascension Platform enters a riot phase twice a year. Initially, it was due to unstable energy systems in the original construction. But over time, as technology advanced, the riot state became a controlled special feature."
During a riot phase, soul beasts within the platform become extremely active, and their numbers increase drastically. It's far more dangerous than normal.
Each of the Eighteen Spirit Transmission Pillars receives only three hundred entry slots for the riot period."
"This time, your academy has secured six of those slots for you. The price paid to negotiate with the Eastsea Spirit Pagoda was steep. So treat this opportunity with the importance it deserves."
"During the riot phase, you're allowed to enter the platform as a team, up to seven people.
The six of you will enter together and be transmitted into the same area.
This is a test of your teamwork and cooperation."
"Remember: you'll be facing not only soul beasts, but also other soul masters inside the platform.
And they can be just as dangerous as the beasts."
"Here's the key point: when a soul beast is killed during the riot period, its soul energy absorption time increases by a hundredfold—from one second to one hundred seconds."
"Which means, if you're eliminated from the platform while absorbing soul energy, the remaining energy will be absorbed by the nearest soul master.
That only happens during the riot phase. So yes—you can have your soul beast kills stolen, and you can steal from others, too."
Zhang Yangzi blinked. "So... we can take other people's soul energy, and they can take ours?"
Wu Zhangkong's voice was as steady as ever.
"If you think you have the strength for it, go ahead and steal.
But keep in mind—the maximum cultivation allowed in the beginner-level platform is Rank 39, and most people who enter the riot phase are at their peak, right before advancing to Four Rings."
"They take this chance to fight more soul beasts and attempt to evolve their soul spirits.
In other words, you'll be facing some very strong opponents."
Tang Wulin nodded firmly.
"Don't worry, Teacher. We'll rely on our teamwork!"
By now, Zhang Yangzi had long since improved his relationship with the others.
They were all still young—grudges didn't last long. Especially now that Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi had become close friends.
It was no secret in Class Zero that Tang Wulin and Wang Jinxi trained together.
Thanks to Wulin's assistance, Jinxi had jumped two whole levels in three months—now at Rank 23, just ahead of Zhang Yangzi at Rank 22.
"Three days from now, you'll enter the Spirit Ascension Platform," Wu Zhangkong said.
"You're being given three days off. Use the time to rest, relax, and prepare."
A vacation?
Since joining Class Zero, they'd only ever had the standard one-day weekly break.
Three full days off were a huge deal.
Xie Xie and Zhang Yangzi were the first to cheer.
Even Nan Fusheng showed a thoughtful look—three days should be enough to get used to his new soul spirit and soul skill.
After class, the group walked back toward the dorms together.
"Hey, Wulin, Fusheng," Xie Xie grinned, "What are you two planning for these next few days?
Why don't we go out and have some fun?"
"Fun?" Zhang Yangzi poked his head over. "What kind of fun?"
Xie Xie rolled his eyes. "I wasn't talking to you."
Zhang Yangzi laughed. "C'mon, I'll treat! Just bring me along!"
"Hm... I might consider it," Xie Xie said with a smirk. "I just remembered something—Teacher Wu said we have two parts to our final exam. The platform is just one.
What do you think the other part is?"
The others paused for a moment, then shook their heads—none of them had a clue.
Wang Jinxi chuckled bitterly.
"The Riot Platform... It's a great opportunity for us to grow, sure—but isn't it a bit early for us?
I've heard the competition inside is brutal.
People don't show mercy in there. After all, opportunities to evolve a soul spirit don't come often."
Nan Fusheng nodded.
"I think the academy wants all of us to evolve our soul spirits to the thousand-year level before graduating the junior division.
Think about it. They've spent so much just to give us this many chances to enter the platform."
His words made the others stop in their tracks.
A thousand-year soul spirit?
Did they understand what that meant?
If your first soul spirit evolved to the thousand-year level, it could provide three soul skills—saving a tremendous amount of spiritual energy.
Add another thousand-year soul spirit, and you could go all the way to Six Rings without worrying about soul ring shortages.
One of the biggest obstacles for a soul master's advancement was the limited number of soul spirits they could carry.
The capacity was strictly limited by one's spiritual power.
If your spiritual strength wasn't high enough, trying to fuse an extra spirit would fail.
That's why Wu Zhangkong put so much emphasis on developing their spiritual foundations.
"It does seem like that's their goal..." Zhang Yangzi muttered, swallowing nervously.
He had always craved strength. He was the kind of person who liked to stand out.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so arrogant during the class promotion match.
Xie Xie nodded.
"If that's the case, we need to treasure every Spirit Ascension opportunity."
Nan Fusheng added,
"As for me, I won't be joining you guys for fun. I'm going to obtain my second soul spirit during these three days."
That sentence stunned the other five.
Xie Xie blurted out,
"But wait, if the academy wants us to evolve our first soul spirit to the thousand-year level, shouldn't you focus on that first?
With your current spirit at the hundred-year level, it should give you two soul rings already, right?"
With Nan Fusheng's level of Spirit Connection Realm spiritual power, he could support two yellow soul rings or one purple.
If he fused a second spirit now, he might not be able to evolve to the thousand-year tier unless his spiritual power advanced to the Spirit Sea Realm.
As someone who had fought side-by-side with Fusheng, Xie Xie didn't want him to take a wrong turn.
Nan Fusheng gave a wry smile.
"I'd love to evolve it to the thousand-year level—but for some reason, my first soul spirit refuses to split off another soul ring after reaching the hundred-year tier."
"Maybe it's because it was a defective product from the beginning."
This was, of course, a lie—just a temporary excuse Fusheng had made up for Wu Zhangkong.
Now he was repeating it to the others.