Xiao Yan flicked his fingertip. A pill, crimson from end to end and overflowing with medicinal fragrance, traced a perfect arc and landed in the Golden-Haired Lion King's half-open mouth.
This thing had cost him a fortune. He'd blown through all his funds and stayed up three nights to refine it into a top-grade pill. He'd originally planned to keep it as a lifesaver, but now it had come in handy.
The pill melted as soon as it entered the lion king's mouth, its pure medicinal power protecting the creature's battered heart.
After that, Xiao Yan brushed the medicinal residue from his hands, sat cross-legged on a pile of rubble, propped his chin up, and studied the huge beast before him, which was breathing in more than it was breathing out.
In truth, he wasn't suddenly feeling saintly and trying to save an injured Soul Beast. As far as he was concerned, all Soul Beasts that hurt people deserved to die. Once you'd eaten a person, you'd eaten people for the rest of your life. How could he save this lion king, ruler of countless beasts and with who knew how many human lives on its paws?
He was simply acting out of self-interest.
This Golden-Haired Blazing Lion King had genuinely awakened the bloodline of the Ferocious Beast known as the Golden Lion Mastiff. It was a brand-new breed, an SSR among Soul Beasts.
If he took advantage of the lion king's injuries and killed it for its Soul Ring, Xiao Yan would get, at best, a regular thousand-year Soul Ring. If he got lucky, it might even drop a Soul Bone from some unknown body part. Even though that would be a heaven-sent opportunity in the eyes of an ordinary Soul Master, for Xiao Yan...
Was that really a good deal? He'd be getting absolutely fleeced!
Compared to other worlds where people could cultivate, Douluo Continent was downright absurd. To cultivate, you had to kill Soul Beasts. But if you killed too many and drove them extinct, you couldn't cultivate at all. This contradiction remained unresolved even in later generations.
Even the third era had only managed to calm the turmoil by having the Silver Dragon King lead the Soul Beasts into compromise. But had the contradiction actually been solved? Soul Masters still had to rely on Soul Beasts sacrificing themselves to become Soul Spirits. The root of the problem remained untouched.
So even though these Soul Beasts had committed countless evils, Xiao Yan couldn't just wipe them all out with one Great Desolation Imprisoning Heaven Finger. Otherwise, where would future Soul Masters go to cultivate?
He wasn't God King Tang, who had inherited the Asura God's legacy and then demolished Slaughter City, only to leave the Evil Soul Masters to stink up the world for ten thousand years, then ten thousand more.
So Xiao Yan's goal wasn't just to cultivate. Soul Beasts weren't something to kill indiscriminately; they needed to be culled according to plan, with the first kills paving the way for more kills... Ahem, what he meant was, their value had to be put to the best possible use.
In the long run, in a few years, little Huo would learn how to create Soul Spirits from Elder Yi.
All Xiao Yan had to do was keep the Golden-Haired Lion King in captivity at Shrek Academy and make a few pills for it. By the time little Huo developed the Soul Spirit System, the lion king would probably have broken through the ten-thousand-year threshold. Then Xiao Yan could convert it into a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Spirit...
Tsk, tsk, tsk. He'd end up with two, maybe even three top-grade Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings!
A top-grade Thousand-Year Soul Ring versus two or three top-grade Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings—anyone could tell which one to choose.
Xiao Yan stroked the Golden-Haired Lion King's flame-like golden mane. After the battle, its fur had lost its luster and was caked with dirt and dust. It felt awful to touch.
Still, the lion king had a powerful regenerative ability. With the pill's help, blood had stopped seeping from the wound that had once been deep enough to expose bone, and fresh buds of flesh were already growing.
Seeing that the human wasn't going to kill him, the lion king finally breathed a sigh of relief. Exhausted, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Looking at the huge beast, Xiao Yan figured he couldn't just leave it there, but he had no way to carry it back to Shrek. So he used Martial Soul Possession with Charmeleon and carved out a cave in the nearby rock face with moves like Scratch and Fire Fang.
Then Xiao Yan took a tent and other supplies out of his pack and set up a simple shelter in the cave. After that, he and Charmeleon hauled the enormous lion king inside.
For the next few days, Xiao Yan lived in the shelter with Charmeleon and the Golden-Haired Lion King.
The aftershock of the Great Sun Rainbow Bird and the lion king's battle still lingered. The mid- and high-tier Soul Beasts within a hundred miles had long since fled, so Xiao Yan had an unusually easy time gathering herbs.
Since they were beyond the bounds of civilization, Charmeleon didn't have to worry about anyone coveting him and could roam freely. When Xiao Yan gathered herbs and searched for food in the forest, the little guy stayed by his side, protecting him.
In the evenings, when Xiao Yan cooked dinner and refined pills, Charmeleon helped out too. The man and dragon lived a wonderfully comfortable life in the wild.
The Golden-Haired Lion King slept for three days. Each day, Xiao Yan would finish refining a healing pill, then Charmeleon would pry open the beast's jaws and toss it inside. After that, Charmeleon would hold its mouth open until it swallowed.
It was a bit of a hassle, but for the sake of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, it was well worth it.
Once the lion king woke up, there was no need to go to such trouble. Xiao Yan would simply toss it a pill, as if feeding a dog, and the lion king would catch it himself. But if Xiao Yan came close to change its bandages, the lion king would still bare its teeth and snarl at him.
Xiao Yan wasn't about to indulge it. If the lion king dared to snarl today, tomorrow it would be stepping all over him. He had to break it in as soon as possible. So while it was still injured, he used Martial Soul Possession with Charmeleon and gave it a thorough beating.
Afterward, Xiao Yan didn't kill the beast. He kept giving it pills, changing its bandages, and tossing it food every day as if he were feeding a dog. After this carrot-and-stick treatment, the lion king gradually stopped putting up a fight.
After all, Xiao Yan's cooking was genuinely delicious.
Out in the forest, Xiao Yan didn't have the means to prepare anything fancy. He simply collected a few unlucky Soul Beasts that had been caught in the Great Sun Rainbow's blast nearby, skinned them, marinated them with seasonings he'd bought in Shrek City, and grilled them.
The pungent, delicious aroma of cumin and chili opened up a whole new world for the Soul Beast King, who usually ate only raw meat. Damn, how could anything taste this good?
So when the lion king saw Xiao Yan approaching with grilled meat, it no longer snarled. Instead, it lowered its head and rubbed it against his thigh, sweeping its tail excitedly across the ground. It had completely abandoned its kingly airs.
Xiao Yan turned to Charmeleon, pointed at the lion king, and laughed.
"Hey, look! This big dog isn't dumb!"
The former tyrant of Sunset Forest had undergone a complete change of heart.
In other words, it had been... corrupted.
In any case, a week later, when Xiao Yan woke up from Calm Mind again, he found the Golden-Haired Lion King crouched in front of him.
"Roar—!"
The lion king growled, then bent its forelegs and leaned its head toward him. A dazzling golden light lit up between its brows.
The golden light peeled away, becoming a complex, ancient array of runes that slowly spun in midair before drifting toward Xiao Yan.
It was a Subordination Contract initiated by a Soul Beast. The beast placed its life and death in human hands in exchange for living together in a mutually dependent bond. It was much like a sacrifice, but it didn't provide a Soul Ring or Soul Bone; the beast simply obeyed the Soul Master's commands.
Xiao Yan extended his right hand and touched the golden rune with his fingertip.
The rune flowed along his finger and merged into his palm, turning into a tiny lion-head mark.
A mental connection appeared in his mind. He could directly read the lion king's feelings:
Submission, dependence, and hope for the future.
At the same time, a stream of pure fire-attribute Soul Power flowed through the contract and back into Xiao Yan's meridians. The power was domineering but harmless, coursing through his limbs and bones as it purged the impurities still remaining in his body.
Although Xiao Yan still had no Soul Ring, he could feel that once he obtained one, he'd be able to use this Soul Power to level up. He might even... shoot straight to level thirty!
"From now on, I'll call you Golden Hair." Xiao Yan patted the lion king's broad forehead and casually ruffled its golden mane, which had regained its luster and felt wonderful to the touch.
The lion king snorted, showing mild displeasure with the perfunctory name, but still lowered its head obediently and let Xiao Yan pet it.
Xiao Yan roughly estimated the time. The Freshman Tournament was only a day or two away, and with a Core Disciple position on the line, he couldn't afford to be careless.
"Though I didn't manage to get a suitable Soul Ring, still..."
"Sorry, but I'm taking over the Freshman Tournament."
"Kids, you'd better stay out of this and stop wasting my time."
Before you continue