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The battle for this floor had already lasted nearly a minute.
Xu Yuan had fully unleashed the Dreamscape three times: the first time controlling four Titan Snow Fiends for thirty seconds, the second time controlling three for ten seconds, and the third time controlling two for another ten seconds.
Na'er, throughout the fight, had continuously drained the life force of the Titan Snow Fiends with her Silver Dragon Spear. Even after repeatedly stabbing the spear deep into their chests, she had only managed to kill three of them.
Keep in mind, these Titan Snow Fiends had been standing there taking the hits without fighting back!
As for Xu Yuan?
If he had relied on his Five Elements Bombardment, the efficiency would likely have been even lower. While his elemental explosions could reach their internal organs, they were far less effective at depleting their life force compared to Na'er's direct life-draining technique.
Using the Dreamscape three times had consumed more than half of Xu Yuan's spiritual power.
The first instance placed the heaviest burden on him, while the subsequent two were slightly easier but still taxing. The physical pain inflicted by the Titan Snow Fiends only intensified their will to resist.
"Focus entirely on restoring your soul power!"
Xu Yuan instructed Na'er to restrain the last heavily injured Titan Snow Fiend while he began recovering his soul power as quickly as possible.
The ten-thousand-year soul beast on the next floor should, in theory, be easier to handle than this one. Even without using the Dreamscape, the two of them working together should still have a good chance of defeating it.
His spiritual power could recover during the next floor.
As for Na'er's condition?
Although she had unleashed her full strength three times, she had been continuously absorbing life force. Even though these Titan Snow Fiends were energy projections, she still managed to drain enough energy to replenish her consumption.
The life force of the first three Titan Snow Fiends hadn't been completely drained, but the vitality around their hearts had been utterly exhausted, causing them to finally collapse.
Now, as Na'er fought the sole surviving Titan Snow Fiend, she would occasionally use her Silver Dragon Spear to siphon its life force whenever her own energy was depleted.
The overall vitality of the Titan Snow Fiends was incredibly vast.
Even without fully embedding the Silver Dragon Spear into its chest to drain life force, Na'er managed to maintain her condition perfectly while simultaneously attacking and draining.
When Xu Yuan occasionally glanced at the battle situation, his lips twitched involuntarily.
He had underestimated the situation.
In the future, when facing giant opponents with absurdly high vitality, the main damage-dealing role would go directly to Na'er.
Ten minutes passed quickly.
Xu Yuan's soul power had recovered to about ninety percent—not quite at its peak, but close enough.
Just before the electronic voice chimed in, Na'er finished off the fourth Titan Snow Fiend, topping off her final burst of recovery. Her soul power reached its peak.
Aside from a slightly weary expression, her condition was now optimal.
"Spirit Pagoda, Eighteenth Floor cleared. Available soul spirit for absorption: Nine-Thousand-Year Titan Snow Fiend. Make your choice within ten seconds."
Xu Yuan hadn't expected the reward for this floor to be the soul spirit of a Titan Snow Fiend.
According to the standard process for most soul masters, once they reached this stage, simply passing the trial would grant access to a ten-thousand-year soul spirit. However, to obtain that soul spirit, they had to risk enduring the terrifying environment of four Titan Snow Fiends for ten minutes.
They weren't even required to kill the Titan Snow Fiends—just survive for ten minutes, and they'd earn the soul spirit of a nine-thousand-year Titan Snow Fiend.
This was an indirect way of dissuading further attempts.
Neither of them had any intention of choosing this nine-thousand-year Titan Snow Fiend.
However, this time, the two hesitated for a rare moment.
Xu Yuan remained seated cross-legged, continuing to recover.
After ten seconds passed, the electronic voice began to prompt them. By the half-minute mark, it was already warning that failing to proceed to the next floor would count as forfeiting the tower challenge.
With no other choice, Xu Yuan reluctantly stood up and entered the light portal alongside Na'er.
On this floor, only one metal door opened.
A slender, blurry figure emerged.
"An Illusion Fox, skilled in illusions. I'll establish a mental link with you. As long as we don't both fall victim to its illusions at the same time, we'll be fine."
Xu Yuan's tone was calm.
This was actually good news.
His spiritual power was already at the Lingyuan Realm, which inherently granted him extremely high resistance to illusions. Moreover, his brain-type martial soul and Yao Yao's assistance ensured that the Illusion Fox couldn't pull him into any illusory realm. Even momentarily confusing him would require the fox to exert its full power.
Under these circumstances, as long as Na'er noticed and struck immediately, it would be a guaranteed one-hit kill.
If Na'er were pulled into an illusion, Xu Yuan could instantly help her break free through their mental link.
The Illusion Fox's greatest strength—its illusions—was effectively neutralized by the two of them.
Hence, this was good news.
"Let's drag this fight out a bit longer. I need to recover some of my spiritual power."
Xu Yuan's spiritual power had reached the Lingyuan Realm—an abyss-like state—so his recovery speed was astonishing.
Generally speaking, soul masters with spiritual power at the Lingyuan Realm rarely experienced shortages during battles. This wasn't just because of the sheer volume of their spiritual power but also due to their incredible recovery rate. Even without deliberate focus, their spiritual power regenerated at a rapid pace.
The reason his consumption had been so severe was because the Titan Snow Fiends were simply overpowered.
Though not yet ten-thousand-year soul beasts, their individual strength rivaled that of ten-thousand-year soul beasts. In fact, each of them could potentially match a fifty-thousand-year soul beast. Their biggest weaknesses were their sluggishness and slightly weaker spiritual power—but even those "weaknesses" were only exploitable against someone like Xu Yuan, a soul master specializing in spiritual attributes.
Even so, these "weaknesses" were still equivalent to those of other ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
The Lingyuan Realm, vast and profound, could support a maximum of five black soul spirits. Yet, in comparison, Xu Yuan had managed to pull the complete spiritual wills of four Titan Snow Fiends into the Dreamscape and lock them down for a full thirty seconds.
The strain, naturally, had been immense.
Ordinarily, non-ten-thousand-year soul beasts and ten-thousand-year soul beasts were worlds apart.
If these had been four ordinary non-ten-thousand-year soul beasts, Xu Yuan could have easily pulled them into the Dreamscape—though, of course, they wouldn't include something like the Three-Eyed Demon Ape, a soul beast specialized in spiritual attributes.
If those four Titan Snow Fiends had truly matured and entered the ten-thousand-year tier, their spiritual power would likely have surged even further, making things much harder for Xu Yuan.
"Na'er!"
Xu Yuan called out mentally.
The Illusion Fox had chosen to unleash its full power against Xu Yuan.
The battle had dragged on for over half an hour. Every time the fox targeted Xu Yuan with its illusions, they failed to take effect. And whenever it successfully ensnared Na'er, Xu Yuan would immediately transmit a mental pulse through their link, snapping her out of the illusion instantly.
The Illusion Fox possessed rudimentary intelligence and, being a spirit-attribute creature, was highly intelligent. It had already analyzed their countermeasures.
The only way to break through their coordination was to target Xu Yuan.
By confusing Xu Yuan, it could prevent him from helping Na'er escape the illusion in time, allowing it to chain two illusions seamlessly and take them both down.
But, as they say, dreams are plump, reality is bony.
After unleashing its full-power illusion, the Illusion Fox always needed a brief interval before launching another.
And Na'er, through their mental link, immediately sensed the moment Xu Yuan fell under the illusion.
The greatest advantage of their mental link at this moment was the ability to monitor each other's status.
Having expended all its strength in one mighty illusion, the Illusion Fox was at its weakest.
Old strength spent, new strength not yet generated.
Na'er swiftly tapped the ground with her toes, gliding toward the Illusion Fox. With a single thrust, she pierced it with her spear.
"Spirit Pagoda, Nineteenth Floor cleared. Available soul spirit for absorption: Ten-Thousand-Year Illusion Fox. Make your choice within ten seconds."
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