Treasure-hunting: Into the Unknown

By this time, the guardian beast had already come out from one side of the White Elephant Pagoda and redirected.

Not wasting any chances, Zachary quietly approached the pagoda using Flawless Illusion and Shadow Pace. However, just as he did so, the beast turned around and started to lift its limbs toward his direction.

Zachary clicked his tongue in exasperation and hurried back.

Bang!

The beast's giant feet plowed into the ground, where it left a large, gaping hole, and from its wreckage, there scattered crumbs and specks of dust.

'How could it have possibly found me?' Zachary looked over, eyes narrowed. But the guardian beast remained motionless after landing on the ground, which meant it couldn't see him. 'Can it sense my aura? But the Flawless Illusion is an excellent skill to hide my aura.'

Zachary hesitated, but nevertheless tried again. Once more, he tried to rush to the pagoda. Sure enough, when he got close, the guardian beast stomped towards his direction, as though it could see him. Fortunately, he anticipated this, and was able to avoid being hit using his Thousand-Avatar Skill.

As Zachary retreated, the beast moved again slowly. This time, however, it seemingly changed its route, moving around the pagoda instead.

'How can it be possible to sneak in like this?' Zachary thought to himself. He decided to hide in a safer place, out of sight for now, and settling down to think.

And that was when it occurred to him. He turned away at once and began to deliberately cause a loud ruckus.

It didn't take before a pack of green dog-like beasts appeared amongst the white fog surrounding the jungle. Zachary seemed to have successfully attracted about twenty or thirty of them. Although they weren't obviously massive, from their mouths dripped yellow liquid that corroded the ground as soon as it came into contact.

'I wanted to get big ones, but they should be enough either way, ' Zachary thought. His eyes flashed, and wasting no time, he sp

underneath the dim light, the whole atmosphere reeked of resentment and death.

Zachary propped himself up and stood on his feet. He took a deep breath—in the large, quiet room he was now in, there was no spiritual soul in sight.

"Master Andrew, I think the other warriors have taken all the spiritual souls," Zachary muttered.

"Don't worry. There's usually no spiritual souls on the first floor. Countless others have entered over the years. Besides, I killed those guys on the fourth floor. This place, like the Soul Testing Pagoda, tests your ability to cultivate the spiritual soul. This place bars those who are unqualified. That year, the Holy Level warrior tested those came here. If they didn't have spiritual souls, then nothing would be formed after their deaths," said Andrew nonchalantly.

"That sounds terribly underhanded," Zachary commented.

"After testing their talents in that area, he let them cultivate on different levels. And when they reached a certain point, he killed them and devoured their spiritual souls," Andrew continued.

"You seem to know an awful lot! Those who don't know you might think you are the one who built the pagoda!" Zachary said.

"Ha-ha, I heard from the spiritual souls trapped here when I came in. Chatting with them was my way of killing time." Andrew laughed.