Atone Through Meritorious Service-Have Xiao Wu Breed and Improve the Quality and Taste of Soft Bone Rabbits?!

They were even cheering in their hearts.

If Di Tian hadn't captured the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm before, everyone—including the Scarlet King, who was only a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast at the time—would have entered the pocket dimension beneath Life Lake to cultivate in seclusion.

After that, the Sky Azure Bull Python, the Titan Giant Ape, Xiao Wu, and her parents had all reached the hundred-thousand-year mark in turn, claiming the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest as their territory.

They were used to throwing their weight around in the forest, and until now, they hadn't adjusted their mindsets.

Now, in the face of an absolute sovereign, they had finally recognized their own lowly status.

From beginning to end, Gu Yuena and Gu Yuan stood calmly, hand in hand.

Their expressions hadn't changed in the slightest, as if the conflict before them—one powerful enough to shake the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest—were nothing more than a trivial farce.

Di Tian slowly withdrew his hand, not even sparing the two craters a glance.

Di Tian strode over, step by step, to the edge of the craters and looked down at the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape, who lay gravely wounded and on the verge of death, their eyes filled with nothing but shock and bewilderment.

"Are you clear-headed now?"

Di Tian's voice was cold as a blade.

"Before you start questioning me, figure out who you are.

Who do you think you're roaring at?"

The Sky Azure Bull Python struggled to raise his bull's head, panting with difficulty. His voice was hoarse:

"W-why... Di Tian... We respect you as the Beast God... Why did you try to kill Xiao Wu...?"

"Beast God?"

Di Tian seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world.

Gu Yuan and Gu Yuena exchanged a smile.

For the past six years, the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape had thought Gu Yuena was merely a powerful Soul Beast.

They had never dreamed that Gu Yuena was, in fact, the only true Beast God in the world.

The reason was simple.

The Ferocious Beasts looked down on the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.

More precisely, the two of them hadn't adjusted their mindsets, which made the Ferocious Beasts uncomfortable.

There was another reason, too: Xiong Jun.

Back then, when Xiao Wu's father had entered Life Lake and discovered something amiss, he tried to force his way in. Xiong Jun caught him and swallowed him in one bite—crunchy as could be.

The Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape had held a grudge ever since, even looking at Xiong Jun with hostility and hatred.

Xiong Jun had kept quiet only because the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape worked like oxen and horses for Gu Yuan.

Di Tian slowly turned around and respectfully bowed toward Gu Yuena and Gu Yuan. Then he turned back, his golden dragon eyes filled with fervor and loyalty.

"The true deity is here!

I am merely the most loyal servant at my Lord's side!"

Di Tian paused, his voice turning even more frigid as he began to explain:

"As for the 'Xiao Wu' you speak of... Hmph. She's a traitor through and through!"

Di Tian retold what Gu Yuena had said earlier in his own way, speaking with boundless authority and fury.

"..."

"That's how it is. The Sky Screen has already revealed that the human Tang Hao and his son approached her for the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring and Soul Bone she possesses!

This is a scheme targeting our Soul Beast Clan!"

"You were watching at the time, too. Have you forgotten already?!"

"And even after learning all this, she didn't cut ties with the humans.

Instead, for the sake of that human named Tang San, she chose to make an enemy of us!

She even dared to stand before my Lord, trying to stop her!"

"She forgot she was a Soul Beast, forgot the Star Dou Great Forest that raised her, and forgot the dignity she should have as one of our kind!

And you call someone who recognizes a thief as her father and betrays her own kind your 'little sister'?"

Every word from Di Tian fell like a heavy hammer upon the hearts of the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape.

The anger and anxiety in their eyes gradually gave way to shock, confusion, and disbelief.

While watching, they hadn't thought much of it.

Only now had Di Tian's scolding brought them to their senses.

They couldn't imagine that Xiao Wu—the innocent, lively girl they had treasured like a gem—would make such an utterly foolish choice.

Seeing them look utterly devastated, Di Tian delivered a cold conclusion:

"Since her heart is set on the humans, then let her make one final contribution to the Soul Beast Clan.

I've already proposed to my Lord that she be executed here and now, and that her Soul Ring and Soul Bone be taken to increase the Young Lord's strength.

That's the only value this traitor has left."

"Now," Di Tian looked down at them, killing intent glinting in his golden eyes, "do you still think she's innocent?"

The Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape exchanged a glance, both their eyes filled with endless bitterness and despair.

The stronger side held all the cards. If they stubbornly kept resisting, not only would they lose their own lives, Xiao Wu would have no chance of surviving either.

"We... We were wrong..."

The Sky Azure Bull Python struggled to raise half his body from the crater. His massive bull's head drooped heavily, striking the scorched earth with a dull thud.

His voice was hoarse and weak, full of humiliation and defeat:

"We were blind, and offended our Lord's divine might. We deserve a thousand deaths!

We beg our Lord... for Xiao Wu's sake, as she's young and ignorant, spare her life!"

"Pfft—hahahaha! That's hilarious! How many tens of thousands of years has she lived, and you're still calling her young and ignorant?"

Xiong Jun couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

The Titan Giant Ape beside him also struggled to let out a rumbling roar. There was no anger in it now, only pure submission and pleading.

Gu Yuena's cold purple eyes swept over them. At last, she spoke, her voice clear as moonlight yet carrying unquestionable authority. "Enough."

With just those two words, the murderous aura around Di Tian, which had almost solidified, quietly subsided.

Gu Yuena glided one step forward and looked down at the two great Soul Beasts in the craters, her tone indifferent:

"Considering that you've guarded the Star Dou Great Forest for many years and still hold me in awe, I can spare her life."

A flash of relief at having survived a calamity crossed Daming and Erming's eyes. They were just about to bow and offer their thanks when Gu Yuena changed tack.

"But the death penalty can be waived; the living punishment cannot."

"Since she betrayed her kind and turned her heart to the humans, she must atone for her foolishness and betrayal by rendering meritorious service to the Soul Beast Clan."

Render meritorious service to atone?

Daming and Erming were both stunned. They couldn't understand how Xiao Wu could still render any service in a situation like this.

Gu Yuena paid no heed to their confusion. In the tone of someone stating a simple fact, she announced her decision:

"I require her to remain in the Star Dou Great Forest for all eternity.

Her task is to help the Soft Bone Rabbit Clan multiply and produce offspring, improving the overall bloodline quality of the Soft Bone Rabbit population in the Star Dou Great Forest."

At these words, Daming and Erming were utterly dumbfounded, their enormous heads blank.

Multiply... and produce offspring?

What kind of punishment was that?

But before they could make sense of it, Xiong Jun, Ten Thousand Demon King, and the other Ferocious Beasts standing nearby immediately understood their Lord's deeper meaning.

A huge, bizarre grin spread across Xiong Jun's rugged face, revealing a mouthful of gleaming white fangs.

He looked toward the place where Xiao Wu was bound, his eyes filled with... anticipation?