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

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

She looked only eight or nine years old, dressed in a goose-yellow gown, her round face still carrying baby fat.

Her big eyes were dark and bright, and when she smiled, two little canine teeth showed. She was like a tender bamboo shoot just breaking through in spring, brimming with vitality.

"Got it, Grandpa." Tang Ya answered crisply, then skipped over to Mu Tianyi's side. Tilting her head up at him without the slightest shyness, she said, "Hello, Brother Tianyi. My name is Tang Ya."

Looking at the lively young girl before him, Mu Tianyi sighed inwardly.

The childhood Tang Ya looked far better than the low-EQ version from the original story.

A strange thought suddenly popped into his mind: What would it be like if he and Sister Lexuan had a daughter someday?

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 and smiled, saying it was nothing.

The banquet was already drawing to a close, and the sounds of clinking cups and lively conversation gradually thinned out.

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

He had no particular interest in little girls, but with more than twenty years of life experience from his previous life, soothing a child was effortless.

A few casual compliments were enough to make Tang Ya beam from ear to ear.

Tang Ya dragged him to see the training grounds, then the Hidden Weapon Pavilion, and finally ran to the rear courtyard to look at an old locust tree that was said to have been planted over a thousand years ago.

She tirelessly introduced every part of the Tang Sect, her tone overflowing with pride, as if there were no better place in the world.

Mu Tianyi responded aloud, but inwardly, he was considering something else.

By now, the destruction of the Tang Sect described in the original story was not far away.

After pondering for a moment, he took a red firework from his storage Soul Tool. It was palm-sized, with the emblem of Shrek's little green monster engraved on its shell.

Mu Tianyi extended his hand and offered the firework to Tang Ya.

Tang Ya took it and examined it over and over, her large eyes full of curiosity.

"Brother Tianyi, what is this?"

"A Shrek Supervisory Corps summons." Mu Tianyi's tone was casual. "If you run into danger, light it, and someone will come help you."

Tang Ya did not really understand what a Supervisory Corps or a summons was, but she knew it was a gift from him.

So she obediently tucked the firework into her clothes, looked up at him, and smiled. "Thank you, Brother Tianyi!"

Looking into her clear eyes, Mu Tianyi silently added in his heart:

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

He had not given Tang Ya this safeguard with malicious intentions, but neither could it be called pure kindness.

First, he wanted to change the ending where she turned dark in the original story. At the end of the day, she was only a pitiful person forced into a dead end by fate. If he could lend her a hand, he would, and he could also give his younger brother's future romance a little push.

As for the second reason...

It was to absorb the Tang Sect.

Its ten-thousand-year foundation, hidden weapons, poisons, techniques—what among them was not valuable?

Rather than let it slowly rot away in the river of history, or even commit treason ten thousand years later, it would be better to move it elsewhere and let it shine anew.

Of course, he could not say that now. If he did, he would be nothing more than a bandit.

When the time came, when the Tang Sect truly needed a lifeline, he would appear where he needed to be.

Not long afterward, the banquet ended.

After Mu En reached an agreement with the Tang Sect Master regarding future hidden weapon purchases, he did not linger any longer. He immediately led Mu Tianyi onto the official road from the Heavenly Soul Empire toward the Sun Moon Empire.

Although crossing the Mingdou Mountain Range would not have been a problem for someone of Mu En's strength.

Three nations had troops stationed around the Mingdou Mountain Range, however, and it was better to avoid trouble when possible.

The Jingyang Mountain Range lay in the northeastern region of the Sun Moon Empire. Its peaks rose and fell in endless succession, shrouded in mist year-round.

Mu Tianyi followed Mu En through the skies above these mountains for more than ten days.

The forests below shifted from dense to sparse, then sparse to dense again, yet they never caught even a glimpse of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

Mu En was in no rush. Every day, he led Mu Tianyi from one mountaintop to another, sometimes landing to rest and sometimes venturing deep into some nameless gorge.

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

"Tianyi, look." The old man pointed toward the valley below.

Mu Tianyi lowered his gaze. The valley was not large, surrounded by mountains on all sides, as though someone had dug a pit amid the mountain range.

The lingering rays of the setting sun shone in from the west, dyeing the entire valley gold and crimson.

Several silver-white unicorns were walking along a stream at the bottom of the valley.

Their coats gleamed coldly beneath the twilight. The leader was especially massive, and the tip of its horn nearly touched the branches above its head.

"This is a herd of ten-thousand-year Golden Unicorns." Mu En's voice came from beside him. "The leader has at least eighty thousand years of cultivation."

Mu Tianyi nodded.

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

The Golden Unicorns here were Soul Beasts unique to the Sun Moon Empire. They fed on gold, and every part of their bodies was valuable.

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

A Golden Unicorn more than ten thousand years old was enough to contend head-on with a Soul Douluo-level powerhouse.

Mu En did not descend immediately. Instead, he led Mu Tianyi around the valley in a circle, observing as they flew.

In the end, the old man landed with him on a cliff on the eastern side of the valley and pointed at the ground beneath their feet.

"There is a gold deposit beneath this place, and its reserves are considerable. Golden Unicorns cannot cultivate without gold. This valley has almost no contact with the unicorn herds outside. It has been sealed off for a long time, forming a small, isolated clan."

Following Mu En's finger, Mu Tianyi saw several exposed rock layers at the valley floor shimmering with faint golden light. They were oxidation marks on the surface of the ore vein.

He understood at once. The deposit nourished the unicorns, and the unicorns protected the deposit. Over countless years, they had formed a closed ecosystem. No wonder the outside world of soul masters had so few records of them.

Mu En's gaze rested on the herd of unicorns, as though he were counting them, or perhaps calculating something.

After a moment, he spoke in an unhurried tone. "Unicorns live in herds. Those ten-thousand-year ones below are subordinates. There should be another leader above them."

"To make a group of ten-thousand-year unicorns submit so completely, that leader must have at least a hundred thousand years of cultivation. It may very well have evolved into a Star-Glory Unicorn."

Star-Glory Unicorn...

Mu Tianyi searched his memories for the term.

It was the evolved form of the Golden Unicorn and required cultivation of one hundred thousand years. It was said to rival some of the weaker Super Douluo.

However, it was far too rare. The records in ancient texts were vague, making it difficult to distinguish truth from fiction.

"Find the leader first." As Mu En spoke, he had already started walking toward the depths of the valley.

Mu Tianyi followed, then glanced back at the valley entrance.

The mountain walls on both sides were steep as sheer cliffs, with only a narrow gap connecting the valley to the forest outside. If someone blocked that passage, 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 truly was a good place.