Opportunity to Annex the Tang Sect, Shrek Supervisory Corps Summons, Hundred Thousand Year Star-Glory Unicorn

As the words fell, a little girl with twin tails stood up from the side seat.

She looked to be only eight or nine years old, dressed in a goose-yellow dress, her round face still carrying a touch of baby fat.

Her large eyes were dark and bright, and when she smiled, two small fangs peeked out, making her look like a tender bamboo shoot just emerging in spring, full of vibrant energy.

"I know, Grandpa." Tang Ya replied crisply, hopping over to Mu Tianyi's side. She tilted her head to look at him, showing no shyness at all. "Brother Tianyi, hello! My name is Tang Ya."

Mu Tianyi looked at the lively young girl and sighed inwardly.

The young Tang Ya looked infinitely better than the low-emotional-intelligence version in the original work.

A bizarre thought suddenly popped into his mind: what would a daughter look like if he and Le Xuan had one in the future?

Before he could finish the thought, Tang Ya's voice pulled him back.

"Brother Tianyi, what are you thinking about?"

Mu Tianyi shook his head, smiled, and said it was nothing.

The banquet was drawing to a close, and the sound of clinking glasses and chatter gradually thinned out.

He decided to play the part of a good older brother and take her out for a stroll.

He had no interest in little girls, but with over twenty years of life experience from his previous life, coaxing a child was a piece of cake.

A few casual compliments were enough to make Tang Ya beam with joy.

Tang Ya dragged him to see the martial arts arena, then the Hidden Weapon Pavilion, and even ran to the backyard to see the old locust tree that was said to have been planted over a thousand years ago.

She introduced everything about the Tang Sect with tireless enthusiasm, her tone filled with pride, as if there were no better place in the world.

Mu Tianyi responded with words, but his mind was calculating something else.

At this point, the destruction of the Tang Sect from the original story was not far off.

He pondered for a moment, then fished a red firework out of his storage Soul Tool. It was palm-sized, with the mark of the little green monster from Shrek engraved on its shell.

Mu Tianyi reached out and handed the firework to Tang Ya.

Tang Ya took it, turning it over and over to examine it, her large eyes filled with curiosity.

"Brother Tianyi, what is this?"

"A summons from the Shrek Supervisory Corps." Mu Tianyi said casually. "If you encounter danger, light it, and someone will come to help you."

Tang Ya didn't quite understand what a Supervisory Corps or a summons was, but she knew it was a gift.

So, she obediently tucked the firework into her clothes and tilted her head to smile at him. "Thank you, Brother Tianyi!"

Mu Tianyi looked at her clear eyes and silently added a line in his heart:

"Don't thank me. If you knew what I was thinking right now, you might even curse me."

He wasn't harboring any malicious intent by giving Tang Ya this insurance, but it couldn't be called pure kindness either.

One reason was to change her dark ending from the original story; after all, she was just a poor soul pushed to the edge by fate, and if he could pull her back, he would. It would also help add fuel to his younger brother's future romance.

As for the second reason...

It was to annex the Tang Sect.

Ten thousand years of heritage, hidden weapons, poisons, techniques—which of these wasn't a treasure?

Rather than letting it slowly rot in the river of history, or even commit treason ten thousand years later, it would be better to move it to a new place and let it shine again.

Of course, he couldn't say that now; saying it would make him a bandit.

When the time was right, when the Tang Sect truly needed a straw to grasp at, he would appear exactly where he needed to be.

Not long after, the banquet ended.

Mu En finished discussing the purchase of hidden weapons with the Tang Sect Master and did not linger. He immediately took Mu Tianyi and headed toward the official road leading from Tianhun to the Sun Moon Empire.

Although with Mu En's strength, crossing the Mingdou Mountain Range would be no problem, the range had troops from three different nations stationed around it, and it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The Jingyang Mountain Range was located in the northeastern part of the Sun Moon Empire, with rolling mountains shrouded in clouds and mist all year round.

Mu Tianyi followed Mu En, flying back and forth over this mountain range for over ten days.

The forests below changed from dense to sparse and back to dense again, yet they hadn't seen a shadow of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Mu En was in no hurry, taking him from one peak to another every day, occasionally landing to rest or venturing deep into some nameless valley.

Finally, on the evening of the seventeenth day, Mu En stopped above a valley.

"Tianyi, look." The old man pointed to the Vale below.

Mu Tianyi looked down. The Vale was small, surrounded by mountains on all sides, as if someone had dug a pit in the middle of the range.

The afterglow of the setting sun shone in from the west, dyeing the entire Vale in golden red.

Several pure white unicorns were walking along the stream at the bottom of the valley.

Their fur shimmered with a cold luster in the twilight, and the leader was exceptionally large, its horn nearly touching the branches above.

"These are a herd of ten-thousand-year Golden Unicorns," Mu En's voice came from beside his ear. "The one leading them has a cultivation of at least eighty thousand years."

Mu Tianyi nodded.

These Golden Unicorns were different from the ones in the Star Dou Great Forest.

The Golden Unicorns here were a soul beast species unique to the Sun Moon Empire; they fed on gold, and their entire bodies were treasures.

He had read records of these creatures in the Sea God Pavilion's library.

A Golden Unicorn over ten thousand years old was enough to go head-to-head with a powerhouse at the Soul Douluo level.

Mu En was in no rush to descend, instead taking him on a circuit around the Vale, observing as they flew.

Eventually, the old man brought him to land on a cliff on the eastern side of the Vale, pointing at the ground beneath their feet as he spoke.

"Beneath this lies a gold deposit, and the content is not low. The cultivation of Golden Unicorns cannot be separated from gold. This herd in the Vale has basically no contact with the outside world, remaining sealed within the valley for a long time; they can be considered a small, isolated population."

Mu Tianyi looked down in the direction of Mu En's finger. Indeed, several exposed rock layers at the bottom of the valley shimmered with a golden luster—the oxidation marks on the surface of the ore vein.

He suddenly understood: the mineral deposit sustained the unicorns, and the unicorns guarded the mineral deposit. Over millions of years, a closed ecosystem had formed, which explained why there were so few records of them in the outside soul master world.

Mu En's gaze fell upon the herd of unicorns, as if he were counting them or perhaps calculating something.

A moment later, he spoke, his tone unhurried: "Unicorns are herd animals. Those ten-thousand-year ones down there are subordinates; there should be a leader above them."

"To keep a group of ten-thousand-year unicorns so obedient, that leader's cultivation must be at least one hundred thousand years. It is very likely that it has evolved to the level of a Star-Glory Unicorn."

Star-Glory Unicorn...

Mu Tianyi searched his mind for the term.

It was the evolved form of a Golden Unicorn, requiring a cultivation of one hundred thousand years. It was said that its strength could rival some of the weaker Super Douluo.

However, these creatures were far too rare, and the records in ancient texts were vague and difficult to verify.

"Find the leader first," Mu En said, already striding toward the depths of the Vale.

Mu Tianyi followed, casting one last look at the exit of the valley.

The cliffs on both sides were as steep as if sliced by a blade, with only a narrow gap connecting to the forest outside. If someone were to block that opening, those inside could not get out, and those outside could not get in.

He withdrew his gaze and quickened his pace to catch up with Mu En.

This place was, indeed, a good spot.