Early morning.
After catching up on two hours of sleep, Xuanyuan Sheng felt as if he were being crushed beneath a thousand-pound weight.
He lowered his head and saw that, at some point, Xiao Xiao had placed a tree trunk beside him.
She was lying on it, pinning his arm beneath her as she slept.
The sounds Xuanyuan Sheng had made when he left to investigate last night hadn't seemed to wake her. But once morning came, Xiao Xiao had shifted back into position.
Last night, Xuanyuan Sheng and Zhang Lexuan hadn't found anything at all. They'd clearly sensed human activity in that area, but by the time they arrived, it had vanished.
Forget it. No matter how strange it was, there was no point dwelling on it.
But why did his chest feel so heavy? Xiao Xiao hadn't been this heavy yesterday.
The weight on his chest was making it a little hard to breathe.
He looked down. Xiao Xiao's long eyelashes were thick, and the corners of her mouth curled in a faint smile.
Xiao Xiao was only pinning down his arm. There was no way she could be making him feel so suffocated.
Xuanyuan Sheng reached his other hand toward his chest. From the shape beneath his palm, he realized there was a huge head resting on him.
It was lying on his chest, using him as a pillow.
"This Soul Beast is pretty heavy."
"Hey, time to get up."
At Xuanyuan Sheng's voice, Xiao Xiao yawned sleepily and pushed herself up. She'd slept so well. Her little wish had come true after all—no wonder she'd slept so soundly.
The only downside was that she had to renew it herself.
Waking up in the morning to find herself alone on the grass beside the campfire hadn't made her very happy. She didn't remember having a bad sleeping posture.
Xiao Xiao was up, but she hadn't been the one Xuanyuan Sheng was trying to wake. He'd been calling to the invisible Soul Beast on top of him.
"Still not getting up?"
Xiao Xiao stared at Xuanyuan Sheng, completely confused. "I'm up, aren't I?"
"It's fine. Go wash up with Sister Lexuan and the others. Sister Lexuan brought everything you might need, so you can ask her for it."
Xiao Xiao couldn't make heads or tails of what he meant, but since she was up, she might as well wash up. She stretched and headed toward the tent nearby.
After Xiao Xiao left, Xuanyuan Sheng grabbed the huge head on his chest with both hands and shook it rapidly up and down.
"Stop sleeping."
"Mm... Why is everything spinning?" a cool yet goofy female voice asked beside Xuanyuan Sheng's ear.
"Because you're in my hands."
The Soul Beast resting its head on Xuanyuan Sheng immediately pulled away.
Xuanyuan Sheng stretched too.
He was quite curious.
How had this Soul Beast, which could speak and turn invisible, managed to evade Zhang Lexuan's Soul Tools and spiritual power, as well as his own probing?
He didn't think he'd ever heard of another Soul Beast with an ability like that.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion had moved a fair distance away from Xuanyuan Sheng and watched him warily.
Yesterday, she'd spent ages playing with that Soul Beast that could turn into a person. This morning, she'd happened to notice the human lying there asleep.
Then she'd seen the tiny human break a tree with one punch just so he could sleep next to her. Curious, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had decided to give it a try herself.
She hadn't expected that a single touch from that person would make her, the playful one, fall peacefully asleep.
[That's because he's the master of humanity.]
"What is the master of humanity?" the Three-Eyed Golden Lion asked World-Shocking Wisdom curiously. Was it what she thought it meant?
Just as she was the Emperor Auspicious Beast among Soul Beasts, the master of humanity was the emperor of all humans, right?
[Not quite. Put simply, the master of humanity is the superior of you, the Auspicious Beast.]
World-Shocking Wisdom explained, then felt immensely relieved.
She truly hadn't expected this girl to start thinking for herself. She really had changed.
"What are zombies? They sound terrifying."
[I'm talking to you, and you're still chatting with that human. Come find me when you need to talk.]
World-Shocking Wisdom wanted to shut herself away for a few minutes. She really couldn't handle this problem child.
"Oh, then I'll play with him."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion obediently did as World-Shocking Wisdom said.
She slowly approached Xuanyuan Sheng, who was scratching himself, then suddenly turned invisible.
Her two big eyes stared at the human in front of her, full of confusion.
What was going on? Shouldn't her sudden appearance have scared him so badly that he fell to the ground? Why wasn't this human playing along?
Xuanyuan Sheng stared at the three eyes blinking in front of him.
After thinking for a moment, he remembered the name of the golden beast with three eyes. It was the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. What was she doing here?
Wait. That wasn't right.
Xuanyuan Sheng sprang to his feet, but accidentally struck the Three-Eyed Golden Lion under the chin. Ignoring the pain, he clutched his head and looked around.
He remembered that the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's guard was the three-headed dog, the Scarlet King. That thing was completely insane.
But even after sensing their surroundings several times, he couldn't detect any high-year Soul Beasts.
"Didn't your guardian come with you?"
"What guardian? There's only me, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion gave Xuanyuan Sheng a scornful look, then spoke dismissively.
He'd been looked down on—and by a Soul Beast that wasn't exactly the sharpest, either.
"Why does being looked down on by you make me feel like I don't deserve to be human?"
Xuanyuan Sheng couldn't figure out where that feeling came from.
Still, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's arrival was perfect. He'd just been thinking about the Emperor Auspicious Beast last night, and now she'd shown up on his doorstep first thing in the morning. They were truly fated to meet.
Hearing Xuanyuan Sheng's words, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion understood what he meant.
She butted him with her huge head.
"Human, I'm sticking with you today. I'm going to bully you."
She made a ferocious threat, then turned invisible again right in front of Xuanyuan Sheng.
What a mean human.
Xuanyuan Sheng shook his head with a laugh.
Zhang Lexuan and the others came over after getting ready.
"Xiao Sheng, how about we find a Soul Ring for Xiao Xiao today?"
Zhang Lexuan had originally planned to stay a few more days, but after the strange events of last night, she felt that even the outer area wasn't very safe.
It was better to head back as soon as possible.
"Sure. Getting a Soul Ring for Xiao Xiao was our goal in the first place." Xuanyuan Sheng nodded.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion beside him bit down on his clothes, trying to lift him up. "Mmph... You nasty human! You're trying to bully us Soul Beasts again."
Xuanyuan Sheng immediately held the Xuanyuan Sword between them.
She bit down. "Ptooey! What's this weird thing?"
"Is something wrong?" Zhang Lexuan thought she'd seen Xuanyuan Sheng summon his Martial Soul.
"It's nothing. My clothes were just out of place, so I was fixing them."
Xuanyuan Sheng covered the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's mouth with one hand and whispered to her, "Be quiet. As long as you stay quiet, you can follow us around all you want, okay?"
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