Three-Eyed Golden Ni

Night fell.

Just as Duke Molong stepped out to check on his subordinates on duty, Xia Linyuan, who had appeared to be fast asleep, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His golden pupils were blindingly bright in the darkness.

"Second-Fold Inversion!" Xia Linyuan spat out the four words in a low voice.

The next second, something seemed to surge within the surrounding darkness, but it quickly fell silent, and Xia Linyuan closed his eyes once more.

A hundred meters away from the river where Xia Linyuan's group was camped, a tall, slender figure was walking away, his back turned to them.

He looked to be only about twenty years old with short, neat white hair. His golden eyes were cold and devoid of any emotion, yet those indifferent eyes were as deep as a bottomless vortex; meeting them felt as if one's very soul were about to be dragged into the abyss.

If Duke Molong and his men were to see this face, they would certainly never believe what they were witnessing.

Because this face was none other than Xia Linyuan's—or rather, an older version of him.

Just moments ago, while Duke Molong was out checking on his men, Xia Linyuan had used his ability, the Nine-Fold Inverted Body, to create a clone to mimic his presence in the tent, while he himself had slipped out into the shadows.

"Carlos." A low, refined voice echoed through the forest.

As if in response, a piercing cry rang out.

The next second, a massive Dragon Crow landed before him, its enormous wings beating and kicking up gusts of wind.

Xia Linyuan leaped lightly onto Carlos's back.

"Carlos, let's go pay a visit to that poor little thing."

Carlos let out a long screech, flapped its wings, and carried Xia Linyuan into the air, flying toward the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.

On the dragon's back, his indifferent, handsome face shifted and changed, transforming into an entirely different appearance.

In the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest, inside the cave of the Three-Eyed Golden Ni.

The resting Three-Eyed Golden Ni seemed to sense something; all three of its eyes snapped open, and it rose to its feet, about to bolt toward the cave entrance.

Suddenly, a massive, scarlet eye opened in the darkness before the entrance, startling the Three-Eyed Golden Ni.

"Carlos, this poor little thing doesn't seem to welcome us." The low, refined voice chuckled.

"Who are you! Why are you trespassing in my territory?" A cold, feminine voice emanated from the Three-Eyed Golden Ni.

"Who I am is unimportant. What matters is that I have taken a liking to you."

A flicker of light flashed at the cave entrance, and then the entire pitch-black cave became illuminated.

"A human!?"

Seeing Xia Linyuan and sensing the deep, abyssal aura of destruction radiating from him, the Three-Eyed Golden Ni instinctively backed away.

He stood like a supreme deity, looking down upon all living things, leaving one with no will to resist.

"What do you want? I'm warning you! If you dare to harm me, I will make sure you suffer a miserable death! You will be plagued by endless misfortune! Di Tian and the others will never let you go!"

"Oh, really?" Xia Linyuan couldn't help but laugh. "You don't actually think that just because you have the title of Emperor Auspicious Beast, you can control the fate of others, do you? Even R'lyeh could only destroy me, not control my fate—are you really worthy of doing so?"

The mocking tone was self-evident.

"As for Di Tian, do you really think he would turn against me for your sake?"

Xia Linyuan said calmly, "That little thing with three dog heads and three hundred thousand years of cultivation that I just dealt with? Even my pet, Carlos—who only knows how to hunt—nearly killed it with a single casual swipe."

"How about this? Let's make a guess. We are in the very core of the Star Dou Great Forest. It has been quite a while since I let that little thing go. Given Di Tian's cultivation, why do you think it hasn't appeared yet to save you from my hands?"

It was true. Di Tian usually slept in the core of the Star Dou Great Forest, so why hadn't it arrived after all this time? Wasn't it the one who cherished her the most?

Realizing the implication, the Three-Eyed Golden Ni's heart turned cold. It stopped being stubborn and lay down on the ground, looking like it was ready to be slaughtered.

"Heh." Seeing the Three-Eyed Golden Ni in this state, Xia Linyuan couldn't help but chuckle.

The Three-Eyed Golden Ni was already agitated from feeling abandoned by Di Tian, and hearing Xia Linyuan's contemptuous laughter made it furious. "Human! What are you laughing at?"

"Human?" A pitch-black mass appeared from nowhere, and Xia Linyuan sat directly upon it, lying down on his side. "I never said I was a human, though I once was."

Staring straight at him with all three eyes, the Three-Eyed Golden Ni asked coldly, "Human, what exactly do you want?"

"Didn't I tell you? I've taken a liking to you."

The Three-Eyed Golden Ni looked at him coldly, clearly not believing a word of it.

Xia Linyuan suddenly said, "You've been watching for long enough, haven't you? Di Tian?"

Di Tian!

Hearing that name, the Three-Eyed Golden Ni scrambled up from the ground.

"May I ask how to address you?" A low voice echoed.

Perhaps it was just an illusion, but the Three-Eyed Golden Ni sensed a note of forced submission in Di Tian's voice.

"My name is Nyarlathotep. You may call me Nyar."

"Respected Lord Nyarlathotep, what must be done for you to return the Three-Eyed Golden Ni to us Spirit Beasts? Our race needs it."

"I only said I took a liking to it; I never said I was going to take it away. I already have Carlos as a pet, and I have no interest in raising another little lion that can only serve as a mascot, even if this little lion has three eyes and is a bit fierce."

Though the Three-Eyed Golden Ni didn't understand what a "mascot" was, it could guess the meaning behind being described as a little lion meant only for show. It was instantly enraged, but knowing it couldn't win, it could only seethe in silence.

"My thanks, Your Excellency." Di Tian breathed a sigh of relief.

"The one sleeping at the bottom of the lake should be awake by now, right?" Xia Linyuan asked nonchalantly.

As soon as Xia Linyuan said this, the air seemed to freeze for a moment.

The Three-Eyed Golden Ni was a bit confused; who was "the one"?

After several minutes of silence, Di Tian's voice finally sounded again, "Lord Nyarlathotep, please follow me."

"Heh." Xia Linyuan chuckled softly, stood up, and walked toward the cave entrance.

The Three-Eyed Golden Ni was also very interested in that person, because this Nyarlathotep before it seemed to have come specifically for it, so it thought about following along to see what kind of existence that person was.

"Auspicious Beast, you stay here and get some rest."

However, before the Three-Eyed Golden Ni could walk very far, Di Tian's deep voice reached it.