First Soul Ring

But Lin Ye didn't. He hesitated, clearly thinking about how to lie.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion stared hard at Lin Ye. "You're thinking about how to trick me, aren't you?"

Ah? Lin Ye blinked. This guy... wasn't as dumb as he'd thought.

His hesitation was as good as a confession.

"I knew it. My instincts never lie. It really is you, Lin Ye."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lunged. Lin Ye was a beat too slow, caught off guard, and a massive paw slammed him to the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing? Get your foot off me!"

Lin Ye struggled, but the paw on his back pressed down like a mountain.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion bared its teeth in a grin. "Heh heh heh. Weren't you all high and mighty before? Where's that big shot energy now? All that bluster and bravado—still feeling tough?"

Lin Ye: "..."

Hearing that, Lin Ye finally got it. This was all stuff the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had picked up from him.

Talk about the tables turning!

"Heh heh. Hey, Auspicious Beast, let's talk this out. How about you let me up first?"

Since he knew he'd been the one to bully the Three-Eyed Golden Lion first, Lin Ye wasn't actually angry at its attitude.

"Aren't you supposed to have the Eighteen Styles of Cat Licking? Don't chicken out. Get up, let's go eighteen rounds." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion said that, but its big paw stayed planted on Lin Ye's back.

Xue Di and Bing Di just watched from the side, not interfering.

Wherever the Auspicious Beast dwelled, nearby soul beasts grew at double the normal rate. The breakthrough chance for a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast at a bottleneck doubled, and even stronger soul beasts benefited the same way.

Because of that, the Auspicious Beast was extremely popular in the soul beast world. All soul beasts gave way to it, doted on it, and granted its every request.

Xue Di and Bing Di were no exception. If they could, they'd gladly take the Auspicious Beast to the Extreme North Land.

"Hey, you two, don't just watch. Help me out!" Lin Ye called for backup from the two women.

They ignored him completely, pretending not to hear. They could tell the Auspicious Beast had no intention of hurting Lin Ye.

That made the Three-Eyed Golden Lion even smugger. "Hehehe. Go ahead, yell. No one's coming to help you, no matter how loud you scream."

Lin Ye: "..."

"Auspicious Beast, think carefully. If you keep targeting me like this, we're going to have a real grudge. Watch out—one day I'll string you up and whip you, then shave every last hair off your body."

Seeing that groveling didn't work, Lin Ye switched to threats.

Hearing that, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's momentum faltered. A chill ran through its heart. The thought of being shaved bare filled it with shame.

Feeling the pressure on his back ease, Lin Ye knew it was scared. He gave a little push and broke free from the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's hold.

Lin Ye dusted himself off. "Why are you so vengeful? I was just joking around back then."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion turned its head away in a huff. This wretched guy dares to threaten This Auspicious Beast? This Auspicious Beast will make sure you're plagued by Misfortune.

Knowing the Little Ancestor was still sulking at him, Lin Ye didn't push it. He just called out to Xue Di and Bing Di to keep searching for a suitable soul beast.

Seeing that, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion trotted after him. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Sightseeing."

"You're lying to me, aren't you?" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was instantly furious.

"Isn't that obvious? What else would a soul master come to the Soul Beast Forest for besides a soul ring?"

Hearing that, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion blinked. "Isn't there one right there? Why go looking?"

No need to ask—it meant the Cyclops.

"Go play somewhere else. Don't cause trouble." Lin Ye pushed away the big head that had leaned in, exasperated. This thing was kind of clingy, wasn't it?

He had no intention of absorbing the Cyclops's soul ring. Their attributes didn't match.

"Oh, just listen to me! Take it as your soul ring. You won't regret it, I promise."

No matter what it said, Lin Ye refused. Instinct told him this thing was unreliable. He tried to leave, but the Three-Eyed Golden Lion bit his sleeve and wouldn't let go.

"My instincts are never wrong. Why won't you believe me?" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion said sullenly.

Seeing it wasn't joking, Lin Ye turned serious. "Are you for real? Don't tell me you're trying to cripple me. I'm warning you—you can mess around with other things, but don't play tricks on this."

"Hmph. A dog bites Lü Dongbin—can't tell a good heart from a bad one." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion turned its head away in irritation.

Lin Ye: "..."

This thing had really learned a lot from him!

"Xue Nu, how many years of cultivation does that Cyclops have?"

"Three thousand years."

Three thousand years. What a coincidence? Lin Ye glanced thoughtfully at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. More than coincidence, he felt this was the luck the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had brought him.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was an Auspicious Beast. It was basically like those protagonists blessed with immense fortune.

What good was immense fortune? Some people fall off a cliff and splatter into paste; others fall off a cliff and find a secret manual. The former gets their ID canceled, the latter becomes a legend.

The path of fortune is invisible and intangible, yet it truly exists.

Lin Ye now figured that this was most likely the blessing of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's fortune upon him.

Drawing near an Auspicious Beast meant being blessed by its fortune.

Of course, there was a prerequisite: one must not be hostile to the Auspicious Beast. Otherwise, instead of receiving fortune's favor, one would be plagued by endless misfortune.

The Cyclops's attribute was the rare Chaos—an attribute that was not fixed and could shift at any moment. Could it be that when he absorbed it, it would transform into the Spirit Attribute suited to him?

That wasn't entirely impossible.

Thinking that the Three-Eyed Golden Lion wouldn't deceive him on this matter, Lin Ye hesitated repeatedly before ultimately choosing to trust it.

Under Bing Di's control, the ice encasing the Cyclops rapidly melted away.

But even after thawing, the Cyclops couldn't escape. Under the Ultimate Ice, its body—even its internal organs—had suffered severe frostbite.

With a thud, the Cyclops collapsed weakly to the ground, looking half-dead.

A three-thousand-year soul beast, so fragile and helpless under Bing Di's hands, utterly unable to withstand a single blow.

Lin Ye carried a longsword and approached the Cyclops's massive head. He thrust it fiercely into that single eye. The sword pierced through the eyeball and into the brain.

With that, the Cyclops was completely finished.

Purple specks of light rose from the Cyclops's body, gathering in midair to form a ring of purple—a circle.

This was his First Soul Ring. Lin Ye's heart stirred with excitement as he anticipated what kind of soul skill it would bring him.

Guided by his will, the purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring drifted above Lin Ye's head, slowly descending, and gently oscillated around his body.

Lin Ye sat cross-legged on the spot. His body jolted violently. The Thousand-Year Soul Ring was fiercer than he had imagined—its domineering, violent energy rampaged through his body, making him feel like a pufferfish bloated with air, as if he would burst at any moment.

In this situation, all he could do was focus every ounce of his attention on absorbing the soul ring.