Three-Eyed Golden Lion

"My god! What kind of martial soul do you even have? Why are your soul skill effects so absurd? Am I really that ignorant? Or is there something special about the Sealed Nether Wraith soul beast?"

"Who knows? Maybe I'm just lucky. Oh, right—Tian Meng, hurry and raise the age of my other soul rings while we have the chance. Raise them directly to the limit I can withstand."

"Fine, leave everything to me. I guarantee I'll handle it perfectly."

Because of the Sealed Nether Wraith, soul beasts rarely appeared here. Even though it was dead now, no soul beasts would come near for a while. Rather than wait for another opportunity, they might as well settle everything now. There was enough time for Jiang Yue to increase the age of his soul rings.

Otherwise, once they left the Star Dou Forest, it would not be easy to find another place as quiet and deserted as this. No one knew whether some powerful Soul Master might be lurking in some obscure corner. Before he became strong enough, Jiang Yue had no intention of exposing his absurd soul ring configuration.

As the saying went, being half a step ahead made one a genius; being a full step ahead made one a monster. If he acted too far beyond common sense, it would be no different from running around with a loudspeaker and announcing, "I have a huge secret!"

The best disguise was to disguise himself as someone within the realm of what ordinary people could understand.

Closing his eyes once more, Jiang Yue immersed his consciousness fully into his sea of spirit. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wriggled its body as it continuously mobilized the power it had sealed within Jiang Yue. Threads of origin power drifted out from one of the many golden spheres floating above the sea of spirit.

Having released part of its sealed power, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm felt its body lighten considerably. Its entire silkworm body radiated a joy so obvious that it needed no words.

Outside, the Silkworm Shedding's simulation skill temporarily failed, revealing the true appearance of the soul rings on Jiang Yue's Passionate Sword martial soul.

Four soul rings—purple, purple, purple, black—floated quietly behind Jiang Yue. The first two purple rings were similar in shade, making it obvious that their ages were nearly the same. The third purple ring, however, was far deeper in color than the first two, though it had not yet reached the threshold of ten thousand years.

Since the fourth ring was already twenty thousand years old, only slightly below the sixth soul rings of most Soul Emperors, it was not the primary target of this enhancement.

Strands of special platinum radiance emerged across Jiang Yue's body, gradually enveloping the entire Passionate Sword. Then, among the soul rings behind him, the third purple ring was the first to react. Its color grew deeper and deeper, becoming a true deep purple.

Looking closely, an inconspicuous black dot within the soul ring was gradually expanding. Once it had swollen to a certain extent, it abruptly spread outward, dyeing the entire soul ring black.

Third soul ring, ten thousand years!

The first two soul rings rose in age quickly as well, finishing in barely a few minutes. Since they were still quite far from ten thousand years, Jiang Yue did not manage to advance them to ten-thousand-year soul rings this time. They merely turned deep purple.

It was obvious at a glance that those two soul rings were not far from ten thousand years either. Next time, Jiang Yue would have nothing but black ten-thousand-year soul rings.

Purple, purple, black, black—two thousand-year soul rings and two ten-thousand-year soul rings. This was Jiang Yue's current soul ring configuration.

For anyone else to achieve such a configuration, they would need Twin Martial Souls and would have to wait until their level was high enough to cultivate their second martial soul. Yet Jiang Yue had achieved it with his first martial soul. For all of this, he had to thank the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

It had to be said that while the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm might not have been much in a fight, it truly was covered in treasures!

Before Jiang Yue could even take another look at the soul ring configuration of his Passionate Sword, the Silkworm Shedding took effect again, simulating it as yellow, purple, purple, black—a configuration of over-aged soul rings that people could still accept.

"What a pity. If you had obtained the Living Gold earlier, your physical constitution could definitely withstand four ten-thousand-year soul rings now."

"But this is fine too. Your soul ring configuration already crushes everyone else's. Two purple and two black rings aren't bad. Sooner or later, you'll have nothing but ten-thousand-year soul rings—or even nothing but hundred-thousand-year soul rings."

"When we get back this time, we have to let that whatever-president of Shrek Academy take a good look. Even without relying on anyone else, we can kill ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Who cares about that tiny reward he withheld?"

"Hehe, I didn't expect you to hold such a grudge, Tian Meng."

"Of course! You're the host I chose. We only want to keep our heads down and make a fortune; that doesn't mean that lousy president can push us around!"

"Once the chance comes, once I fuse with you, we'll show the world what a million-year soul ring is!"

"Mm, there'll definitely be a chance!"

"All right, this is the Star Dou Forest. Although there aren't many soul beasts nearby because of the Sealed Nether Wraith, it's already dead, and its aura has faded considerably. This place isn't safe anymore. We should leave quickly."

"Once I get you out, I can go back to sleep. I've been busy for days, and I'm getting tired. I need to rest properly for a while."

As soon as the words fell, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm immediately used its spiritual power to envelop Jiang Yue completely, blending him perfectly into the surrounding environment.

With a slight exertion of his legs, Jiang Yue leaped onto the treetops, putting distance between himself and that silent place.

The moment he left that area, the auras of soul beasts around him gradually increased. Only then did Jiang Yue feel slightly relieved. The absence of soul beasts might have been safe, but that area had been far too creepy. A little life around him was better for his mental health.

However, after advancing for only around fifteen minutes, the number of soul beasts nearby began to decrease again. Jiang Yue thought he had gotten lucky and run into another Sealed Nether Wraith.

But that was clearly impossible. The Sealed Nether Wraith had special conditions for its birth. How could two of them appear so close to each other?

Yet even the Star Dou Forest at night should not have been this quiet. After all, many soul beasts preferred to move about after dark.

"Tian Meng, what's going on? Is there some danger nearby?"

"Tian Meng? Tian Meng?!"

After waiting a while without receiving an answer from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, Jiang Yue immediately called out loudly.

That jolted the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's thoughts back to reality.

"What?! Why has this ancestor come to the mixed zone?! And she's heading straight this way!"

"Jiang Yue! Find somewhere to hide, now! Don't make a sound no matter what!"

Jiang Yue did not understand what had happened, but he could hear the terror in Tian Meng's voice. After the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm simulated his aura and blended him into the environment, he barely dared to breathe, afraid of making even the slightest sound.

In the pitch-black forest, a point of light appeared in the distance. It gradually grew larger, and the surroundings became brighter and brighter. In the end, it became like a sun, illuminating the entire area as brightly as day.

When the light dimmed slightly and revealed the soul beast within, Jiang Yue, hidden from sight, widened his eyes.

Because the one who had come was the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, the Emperor Auspicious Beast!

All right, Tian Meng had been right. She truly was a living ancestor, the sort of living ancestor with whom absolutely nothing could go wrong.

Jiang Yue finally understood why the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had been so shocked. After all, his own reaction had not been much better.

If there was one being in the Star Dou Forest who absolutely could not be provoked, it was undoubtedly the Three-Eyed Golden Lion before him. She bore the fortune of the soul beast race and had been cared for by Di Tian since childhood. Calling her Di Tian's daughter would not be an exaggeration. She was practically the beloved darling of the entire Star Dou Forest.

It was nighttime, and this was the mixed zone. By all rights, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion should not have appeared here at this hour.

Light-attributed soul beasts generally did not go out at night.

What terrified Jiang Yue most was not merely the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's sudden appearance. Given her noble and extraordinary status, a ferocious beast usually accompanied her!

Most of the time, Scarlet King followed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Though Scarlet King only had three hundred thousand years of cultivation and ranked merely eighth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, in Scarlet King's eyes, Jiang Yue was still an ant that could be slapped to death at any moment.

Not to mention that the Three-Eyed Golden Lion herself possessed combat strength equivalent to that of an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Looking at it this way, Jiang Yue felt that his situation was incredibly dangerous. Yet there was nothing he could do except silently pray to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

"Hm? The sensation from fate is somewhere around here. Why is there nothing?"

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion sniffed the air, her gaze sweeping across her surroundings without overlooking any place that might contain a clue.

Unwilling to accept it, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion gathered her power into her third eye, hoping that the Eye of Destiny would give her an answer.

But her cultivation was far too low to let her freely control the power of destiny. She could only vaguely sense an approximate direction and range. She truly could not determine anything more specific.

She looked east and west, but found absolutely nothing. There was not even a moving thing here, let alone a plant-type soul beast. This irritated the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. She had not run all the way from the core zone just to look at some rotten trees.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's million-year-level spiritual power was unimaginably formidable. No matter what the Three-Eyed Golden Lion did, she could not find Jiang Yue's location, much less force him to reveal himself.

Unless the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm voluntarily withdrew its spiritual power. But given the current situation, it clearly would not do that.

The two sides remained in the same area as time passed second by second. In the end, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion could not contain her impatience and left.

After the Three-Eyed Golden Lion departed, Jiang Yue did not immediately leave the area. He quietly remained there for around half an hour before cautiously taking a step under the cover of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual power.

Seeing that nothing was wrong, Jiang Yue immediately fled at the fastest speed possible while the simulation remained effective. Without pausing for even an instant, he headed toward the edge of the Star Dou Forest.

Circulating his Soul Power, he sprinted at full speed for more than an hour before slowing down slightly. Just as he let out a breath of relief, Jiang Yue sensed something approaching from behind without needing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to warn him.

Turning around, he saw a familiar scene and a familiar figure. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was following far behind him, advancing at an unhurried pace. Her eyes seemed to be confirming whether there was something ahead that she could not see.

Having failed to find what she sought in the previous area, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion naturally could not simply leave. She had wandered around nearby for a while, and when she moved a little farther away, the range sensed by the Eye of Destiny changed.

Following that shifting range, she trailed at a distance. From the Eye of Destiny's perspective, the factor connected to one branch of her fate line lay in the area ahead, and its position was constantly moving out of the Star Dou Forest.

Yet strangely, no matter how she looked, the space ahead was entirely empty. There was nothing there. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion even suspected that some special soul beast might be present.

Though extremely curious about the other end of the fate line, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion did not dare act recklessly. First, from her perspective, there truly was nothing ahead. If not for the fact that the Eye of Destiny could not be wrong, she would have long since returned to the Lake of Life to sleep.

Second, she was afraid that if there truly was something ahead, she might accidentally kill it in one blow. She still did not know whether the power of destiny was guiding her toward her life tribulation, or whether overcoming it simply meant killing it.

This concerned her life. No amount of caution was excessive, which was why the Three-Eyed Golden Lion continued following quietly, intending to decide what to do once the other party revealed itself.

From the looks of it, judging by the other party's speed, it was definitely not very strong. It could not possibly be at the level of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and perhaps had not even reached eighty thousand years.

"Seriously?! How long is this ancestor going to keep following us?"

"Jiang Yue, tell me honestly. Did you establish some kind of connection with that ancestor behind my back?"

"How could I have? I want to know what's going on too! You've been in my sea of spirit for years. If I could have established some connection with her, would you not know? We've been to the Star Dou Forest before. Who knew she would chase us this time?"

"That's true. I practically watched you grow up. Aside from that one time, you haven't caused any dangerous trouble. So what exactly is going on?"

"We can think about the cause later. The most urgent matter now is how to get away. Her sudden appearance was not part of our original plan."

"Right, we have to think of a way out quickly. If she approaches the outer zone and shows signs of leaving the Star Dou Forest, the strongest one in the forest might react. I don't have a physical body right now, and most of my power is still sealed."

"My current power might fool the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, but fooling Di Tian is nearly impossible. This can't continue. Sooner or later, we'll be finished. No choice—we can only use our trump card!"

"Listen, Jiang Yue. I have one true trump card left. That power can instantly transfer you hundreds of li away. If I use it at full strength, even several hundred kilometers won't be a problem. Even if the other party is the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, it can completely guarantee your safety."

"It's just that I need to concentrate my spiritual power for a moment to use it, and the simulation will have to fail temporarily. Can you hold on?"

"Tell me first—how long will it take?"

"A few seconds is enough for me to use it, but be careful. Don't let her swallow you in one bite. With her strength, swallowing you wouldn't even take two seconds."

Hearing the confidence in the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice, Jiang Yue looked at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion relentlessly pursuing him from behind. In the end, he chose to trust the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

That skill was probably the ultimate move that had allowed the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm to escape beneath the eyes of those ferocious beasts back then.

That did not matter. What mattered was that Jiang Yue needed a skill like Tian Meng's to help him leave the Star Dou Forest. The ancestor behind him truly could not be provoked carelessly.

Of course, Jiang Yue did not intend to simply wait helplessly. He adopted a combat stance, his hands loosely clenched as though ready to grasp something at any moment.