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The Illusion Fox was actually quite suitable for Xu Yuan.
His martial soul was the brain, and the Illusion Fox itself was a spirit-attribute creature. They were compatible in terms of attributes, and its proficiency in illusions also meant that the Illusion Fox would greatly enhance the development of his brain-type martial soul.
Unfortunately, in this aspect, Xu Yuan already had Yao Yao.
Choosing the Illusion Fox would be redundant.
Na'er observed Xu Yuan's expression and knew he wasn't planning to select this Illusion Fox.
After silently waiting for half a minute, the two stepped into the light portal.
---
Twentieth Floor
Once again, there was only one soul beast.
A Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon!
It was an extremely rare type of dragon soul beast, possessing a strong dragon lineage. Although it was of a sub-dragon bloodline, its spatial attribute made it just as rare and valuable as true dragon bloodline soul beasts.
"Na'er, what do you think of this Thorn Dragon?"
Xu Yuan asked Na'er beside him.
Na'er didn't take long to think—the metal door was already nearly fully open.
"This Thorn Dragon is mine. I'll fight it alone, kill it, and then choose it as my soul spirit!"
Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan slowly retreated, leaving the opportunity for this battle to Na'er.
While Xu Yuan wasn't sure if Na'er could handle other ten-thousand-year soul beasts, he was confident that she wouldn't have much trouble with a dragon-type soul beast.
The spatial attribute of the Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon was incredibly troublesome.
Its already exaggerated speed and formidable attack power, combined with its unpredictable spatial abilities, made its piercing attacks terrifying.
Fortunately, Na'er's Silver Dragon Spear originated from the Silver Dragon King, giving her a bloodline advantage over the Thorn Dragon. After a brief struggle, Na'er verbally subdued the Thorn Dragon.
Yes, verbally subdued.
The Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon transformed into a mass of energy, condensing into a soul spirit form, and floated in front of Na'er.
Watching this scene, Xu Yuan was speechless.
This was the result of bloodline suppression.
The hierarchy of bloodlines was vividly demonstrated in this moment.
At the same time, Xu Yuan inwardly warned himself. Before ensuring that the Golden Dragon King's bloodline within Tang Wulin's blood essence was completely removed, he absolutely could not attempt to devour or fuse it.
Thankfully, Xu Yuan's current goal wasn't solely focused on devouring Tang Wulin's blood essence. Rather than finding a harmless way to absorb it, Xu Yuan was simply using Tang Wulin's blood essence for research purposes.
Studying the essence of blood essence itself was a form of cultivation.
Especially Tang Wulin's exceptionally high-quality blood essence, which held significant value for research.
In the past year, Xu Yuan had even made two trips to Tiandou City, collecting the blood essences of Mu Ye and Zhen Hua.
Strong blood essence, combined with blood essence fused with powerful lineages, provided different comparative data. Under these conditions, Xu Yuan's research progress accelerated, and his understanding of blood essence became increasingly proficient, allowing him to refine fusion techniques with greater ease.
"Reaching ten thousand years, it should possess a certain level of intelligence. Moreover, having been in the Spirit Pagoda for who knows how long, you should be able to communicate with us normally," Xu Yuan said, addressing the soul spirit of the Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon.
"You should be able to form a preliminary contract with Na'er first, enter her spiritual sea to sleep, and wait until the time comes for fusion, correct?"
If Xu Yuan were to continue challenging the tower alone, there was no guarantee he'd last long enough to find a suitable soul spirit. Therefore, Na'er still needed to accompany him on this journey.
The soul spirit of the Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon flashed with light and merged into Na'er's forehead before vanishing without a trace.
It seemed the system detected the disappearance of the Thorn Dragon's soul spirit and judged that Na'er had obtained it.
"Spirit Pagoda, Twentieth Floor cleared. The Ten-Thousand-Year Thorn Dragon soul spirit has been contracted. Remaining contract slots: 1. Please choose whether to proceed to the next floor within ten seconds."
The content of the electronic voice changed accordingly.
The two stepped into the light portal.
---
Twenty-First Floor
Their figures appeared once more.
It was still the familiar octagonal hall with eight metal doors.
However, something was off. This time, it wasn't just one door that opened.
Two doors opened!
No, not just two.
Xu Yuan watched as three translucent figures emerged from each of the two slowly opening doors.
Each figure resembled a semi-transparent crystal lion, its body lines elegant and smooth, covered in a faint starlight.
Their eyes glimmered with radiant spiritual light, like the brightest stars in the night sky. Their fur shimmered with flowing light effects, as if composed of countless tiny soul fragments.
As the six figures moved, faint streaks of light surrounded their bodies.
This was—
"Phantom Beasts?" Na'er's puzzled voice rang out.
She looked at Xu Yuan, asking whether they should choose this soul beast.
Phantom Beasts were considered aberrations, similar to the first soul spirit of Xu Yuan's brain-type martial soul. They weren't just mutations but also lacked a bloodline origin, being purely the result of powerful bloodline variations.
Dream Demons were born from the souls of numerous soul beasts that perished in the same area, forming the body of a Dream Demon. The first-generation Dream Demons purified themselves, making their spiritual forms purer by eliminating impurities from their previous incarnations before reproducing to create the Dream Demon lineage.
Phantom Beasts, on the other hand, originally descended from twin-headed lions that underwent variations induced by stellar energy. Over time, their spiritual attributes strengthened, and their twin heads gradually regressed into a single head. However, their brains became even more developed, granting them the ability to create physical phantom clones and coordinate with their main bodies.
Though limited by the intelligence of soul beasts, their overall IQ wasn't extraordinary, but they could think simultaneously, as if possessing multiple brains.
This was why Na'er looked at Xu Yuan.
Both Na'er and Yun Ming were aware of Xu Yuan's brain-type martial soul.
This time, Xu Yuan was searching for a second soul spirit for his brain-type martial soul.
Aberration.
Xu Yuan felt slightly excited inside.
Due to his wariness of the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King bloodlines, he was extremely cautious about choosing soul spirits from dragon-lineage soul beasts—or any soul beasts related to dragons or those that prioritized bloodlines. He tended to avoid them altogether.
Aside from a few rare aberrations, there were very few soul beasts that met his needs.
The Phantom Beast was an aberrant soul beast—powerful yet unaffected by bloodline influences.
"If it's a Phantom Beast, I can understand."
Though there appeared to be six figures, in reality, there were only two. The three figures behind each door included two physical phantom clones projected by their main bodies.
The soul skill of creating physical clones was indeed impressive, but Xu Yuan wasn't particularly envious.
Such clone-based soul skills had little effect on him. The clones, while possessing physical forms, couldn't perfectly replicate the strength of the main body, and controlling them required splitting focus.
Aside from agility-focused soul masters or spirit-attribute soul masters specializing in illusions, such clone-based soul skills had limited practical use.
Although Xu Yuan also had the dream realm for illusion-based techniques, he didn't intend to confine himself to that path.
"Let's see how things develop first."
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