A colossal beast covered in golden fur, with a pair of wings growing from its back, charged inside.
It stood nearly two meters tall at the shoulder. Blood drenched its body, and a deep wound on its left hind leg exposed the bone, but the ferocity burning in its golden eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
The moment it entered, it let out a deafening roar, trying to frighten away the humans before it.
However—
The three people in the room reacted with eerie calm.
Leng Yaozhu even raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "You came right to our doorstep."
Blood Eight stood with her arms folded, a probing look in her eyes.
Luo Yang watched with interest.
Why did this feel like takeout had been delivered right to their door?
Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff: "???"
It felt its dignity as an apex predator had been gravely challenged! What was wrong with these humans?!
"Roar—!!!"
It roared again, even more furiously, trying to intimidate these reckless humans.
In response, they remained just as calm, their silent disdain almost saying, "You're disturbing me."
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff instinctively sensed that something was wrong. Without drawing attention to itself, it shifted half a step backward and glanced toward the open doorway.
Time to make a run for it!
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
"Since it came to us on its own, this saves us some trouble." Leng Yaozhu's cool voice rang out.
She didn't even move her feet. She merely swept out one slender hand.
An invisible Soul Power field instantly enveloped the entire room.
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff realized in terror that it was trapped as if in solidified amber, unable to move even a single claw.
It was lifted into the air and slowly "floated" in front of Leng Yaozhu.
Even with its back against the wall, the Ferocious Beast's eyes still blazed with unbridled savagery. It bared its fangs and glared at the human before it, its golden pupils fixed on her as threatening growls rumbled in its throat.
"Do you see?" Leng Yaozhu said to Luo Yang. "The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's defiance is etched into its blood. Its will is more tenacious and more violent than that Titan Giant Ape's. Are you sure... you want to choose it?"
Blood Eight also gave him a concerned look.
Luo Yang didn't answer at once.
He walked up to the Lion Mastiff and looked up at the Ferocious Beast, which towered several times over him.
Their eyes met.
He could clearly sense its defiance and fury—the pride of an apex Soul Beast.
"I'm sure." Luo Yang spoke slowly. "Aunt Leng, please perform the Spirit Transmission Ceremony for me."
Leng Yaozhu looked at him deeply, a hint of approval flashing in her eyes.
The path of the strong was always fraught with danger. If one hesitated at every turn, how could one ever climb to the summit?
"Very well."
She formed hand seals, and crimson Soul Power surged from her palms, weaving together in midair into a complex magic array.
Ancient incantations flowed from her red lips.
A golden hexagram lit up beneath Luo Yang and the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff at the same time, enveloping both human and beast in its radiance.
The Spirit Transmission Ceremony began.
At the center of the array, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's expression turned utterly savage.
Again...
Again, this power that tried to enslave it!
It had already toyed with that human ant called Qiangu Zhangting once.
And now there was another?
Damn them!
Every last one of them deserved to die!!
"Roar—!!!"
Its frenzied will burst forth like a mountain flood, surging toward Luo Yang!
This was no Soul Power assault, but pure spiritual oppression.
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff would use the ferocity and pride it had accumulated over a thousand years to destroy this human's mind outright!
"Boom!"
Luo Yang's body swayed.
It was as if he had been thrown into the heart of a storm.
Howling gales roared from every direction, each gust carrying the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's fury.
You weak little ant! You think you're worthy of commanding me?!
I'll tear you apart! I'll chew your bones to pieces!
Kneel! Beg for mercy! Kneel and wait to die!
His vision began to blur.
His eardrums rang.
Luo Yang felt his consciousness like a tiny boat tossed about in a tempest, liable to be smashed to pieces by the waves at any moment.
"Luo Yang!" Blood Eight couldn't help taking a step forward, but Leng Yaozhu raised a hand to stop her.
"Trust him." Leng Yaozhu's voice was soft, but her crimson eyes stayed fixed on the boy in the array.
Inside the array, cruel delight flashed through the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's eyes.
It was over.
This human would soon suffer a mental collapse and become an idiot. That was what happened to anyone who dared try to command it!
However—
Luo Yang didn't kneel.
He hadn't even bent his back.
"Not a bad will." Luo Yang spoke. His voice was quiet, yet it somehow pierced through every roar.
"Unfortunately..."
"You've got one thing wrong."
Luo Yang took a step forward.
Just one step.
But the light of the entire array dimmed for an instant.
"I'm not trying to command you," he said. "I want to... show you a higher mountain."
The instant his words fell—
"Hum!"
Ash-gray ripples spread out from Luo Yang.
Calamity Domain, fully unleashed!
Frost flowers instantly crystallized across the floor of the Testing Chamber. Spiderweb-like cracks crawled over the walls, and the air filled with the scent of grave soil and death.
Behind Luo Yang, a three-meter-tall White Bone Phantom slowly appeared. It wore savage bone armor and held a dark red longsword, its hollow blood-red eyes gazing down upon the world.
Leng Yaozhu's pupils contracted.
Blood Eight's red lips parted slightly.
And the instant the phantom appeared, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's roar...
Cut off abruptly.
For the first time, a deeper emotion replaced the savagery in its golden eyes.
Fear.
The fear born of the instinct to survive.
Like a herbivore spotting a predator, like a mortal looking down into the Abyss.
Th-this... what is this...
The Lion Mastiff's consciousness trembled.
But its pride would not let it retreat.
In the final moment, the savagery honed by a thousand years of slaughter overcame its fear. It gathered every last shred of its spiritual power and launched one final, frenzied counterattack!
I am the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, descendant of an ancient Ferocious Beast!
I once tore apart ten-thousand-year-old Ice Bears in the Extreme North Ice Plains!
I once fought the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear for three days and three nights in Sunset Canyon without either of us gaining the upper hand!
I—
"So what?"
Luo Yang's voice calmly cut off all its snarling.
"Have you ever seen the true sky?" Luo Yang asked softly, calmly meeting the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's gaze.
The Lion Mastiff froze.
"Not a sky split apart by cages, nor one blocked by mountains," Luo Yang continued. "A whole and boundless sky, where stars are born and then perish."
He raised his right hand, palm facing upward.
"Your enemies were never the other Soul Beasts, nor the humans who wanted to make a contract with you."
His five fingers slowly curled.
"Your enemy is this world itself."
"Boom—!!!"
An indescribable will erupted from Luo Yang's slender body!
It wasn't killing intent or pressure, but a far grander, more domineering declaration of existence.
I am here, and here is my domain.
All things shall bow. All laws shall be rewritten. Heaven and earth shall yield to me!
Before that will, the ferocity the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff had accumulated over a thousand years was as fragile as a dewdrop in the sun.
N-no... impossible...
The Lion Mastiff's consciousness began to crumble.
It seemed to see itself standing atop an endless mountain peak, with beasts prostrate below. Yet when it raised its head, the sky remained so vast and distant that it drove it to despair.
And higher still, it saw Luo Yang standing above it, his back turned, gazing up at a firmament it could never reach.
The gap.
A gap in their very nature.
Run!
It had to run!
Otherwise... it would be erased completely!
But the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff couldn't move. The array had sealed its body, while that will had sealed its soul.
I... I refuse to yield...
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff roared inwardly, making its final struggle.
I am the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff... descendant of an ancient Ferocious Beast... how could I submit to a human child...
Its last shred of pride still held it up, but its collapse was imminent.
At last—
Golden light poured out of the Lion Mastiff's body, flowing into Luo Yang like a hundred rivers returning to the sea. In the end, it condensed into a deep purple Soul Ring.
At the same time, a palm-sized golden Lion Mastiff phantom appeared on Luo Yang's shoulder.
The Spirit Transmission was complete.
The Testing Chamber fell utterly silent.
"It... succeeded," Leng Yaozhu murmured.
She had witnessed countless Spirit Transmission ceremonies, but never one like this. The other party hadn't been forcibly restrained by an array or brutally subdued with Soul Power. Instead, it had been won over through sheer will.
"This kid..." Blood Eight's lips curved into a smile. "He always manages to surprise people."
Meanwhile, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff, newly become a Soul Spirit, was still dazed.
It looked at Luo Yang, then lowered its head to stare at its own translucent paws, and finally turned to look where its body had been.
Its body was still there?!
But in this form, was it dead or alive?
"You're not dead." Luo Yang's voice sounded directly in its consciousness. "You've just changed into another form and carried on living."
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff fell silent.
So, it had become a human's Soul Spirit...
To its proud self, this was a disgrace.
"You should know about the Soul Spirits who followed Spirit Ice Douluo ten thousand years ago, right?" Luo Yang's voice continued. "Without a doubt, every one of them became a god."
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff's body jolted.
Became gods?!
For both Soul Masters and Soul Beasts, becoming a god was an eternal pursuit.
"And I," Luo Yang said calmly, yet with absolute confidence, "am destined to become a god. Are you willing... to walk this path with me?"
The Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff fell silent.
There was resentment.
There was humiliation.
But deep inside was also a faint, yet genuine... yearning.
A yearning for something higher.
At last, the Golden-Haired Lion Mastiff let out a low growl, no longer filled with hostility.
It chose to trust her.
Watching this unfold, flames burned deep in Leng Yaozhu's crimson eyes.
The Leng Family lacked someone capable of bearing the burden, a genius who could awe the heroes of the realm.
And now, that genius was right before her.
She was about to speak—
"Which reckless fool's tired of living, daring to snatch the Soul Spirit I had my eye on?!"
An enraged roar exploded from the end of the corridor.
Qiangu Zhangting had arrived.