Human, What Have You Done to the Auspicious Beast?!

The dark clouds continued to churn overhead, but the enormous black dragon claw had already withdrawn.

With a flash of light and shadow, the colossal black dragon that had blotted out the sky vanished.

In its place stood a middle-aged man in a black robe, golden hair draped over his shoulders. He was handsome, cold-faced, with pure golden vertical pupils. Every gesture he made exuded the imperial aura of one who commanded heaven and earth.

He floated before the internet cafe entrance, three feet above the ground, without descending.

"Hmph." Di Tian snorted coldly.

That single nasal sound made everyone in the shop except Lu Yuan feel their chests tighten and their blood surge.

Even Xu Sanshi, famed for his strongest defense, was crushed facedown onto his keyboard, unable to move.

"So strong..." Huo Yuhao's face was pale, but Elex and Tianmeng Ice Silkworm within him released their spiritual power at the same time, barely helping him withstand the pressure.

Di Tian paid no attention to those ants.

His golden eyes locked firmly onto Lu Yuan, who stood at the entrance drinking Sprite.

The recoil from that strike still made his right hand ache faintly. This human, who had no soul power fluctuations at all, must have some strange divine artifact protecting him.

"Human." Di Tian's voice was cold enough to pierce bone.

"I do not care who you are, nor do I care which god is backing you."

"Hand over the Auspicious Beast! Otherwise, even if I must sacrifice this hand, I will unleash Dragon God's Claw and wipe this wretched shop off the map!"

Facing Di Tian's threat, Lu Yuan merely calmly shook the can in his hand.

"Uncle, I already told you, don't start shouting about fighting and killing at every turn. The Auspicious Beast is perfectly fine. She's having so much fun here that she doesn't even want to go home."

"What utter nonsense! The Auspicious Beast is the foundation of Star Dou Great Forest's fortune. She is proud by nature—how could she possibly be willing to remain in a human place? You must have used some despicable method to imprison her! Perhaps you even... controlled her mind!"

As he said this, Di Tian's killing intent grew even heavier.

The thought of the Auspicious Beast having her mind controlled, being manipulated like a puppet by humans, made it impossible for him to stay calm.

Just as Di Tian was about to attack again regardless of the consequences—

The glass door of the internet cafe opened.

"Ugh! You're so noisy!" A clear, deeply displeased girl's voice rang out.

"Do you know that your little stunt just cut off the internet and made me disconnect?!"

Di Tian froze.

That voice... sounded somewhat familiar?

The next second, an extraordinarily beautiful girl in a fitted pink-and-blue outfit stormed out, clutching half a packet of spicy strips. Her blue hair hung loosely behind her.

Di Tian stared at the girl before him, and his golden pupils suddenly contracted.

Though her appearance had changed into human form and her outfit was bizarre, that immensely dense Golden Dragon bloodline aura, along with that distinctive power of destiny... it was the Auspicious Beast!

"A-Auspicious Beast?" The killing intent around Di Tian instantly dissipated.

He had imagined countless scenes of the Auspicious Beast being imprisoned—bound in chains, having her soul power drained, suffering mental torture...

But never had he imagined that she would be dressed in human clothes, eating strange snacks, and glaring at him with an impatient expression.

"Auspicious Beast! Are you all right?" Di Tian flashed forward and immediately appeared before Wang Qiuer, looking her over from head to toe.

"Why did you take human form? Did this human force you to? And what are you holding? Did he poison you?"

"Uncle Di Tian, stop shaking me!" Wang Qiuer impatiently slapped his hand away. "I took human form because it's easier to play games! These are spicy strips, and they're delicious. How are they poison?!"

"Playing games? Spicy strips?" Di Tian felt like his mind could not process this. Having lived for hundreds of thousands of years, he had never encountered anything like it.

"Where's Red King?!" Di Tian suddenly remembered the guard. "Where is that useless fool? I told him to protect you—is this how he protects you?"

"Wuff..." A faintly miserable whimper came from beneath a table inside the shop.

The Red Demon Mastiff, usually so arrogant and domineering, was now curled into a trembling ball, poking its head out from under the table.

It even wore a pair of pink cat-ear headphones.

"B-Boss..." Red King said with a miserable face. "I-I was trying my best too... I was about to carry that match, but then the internet cut out..."

Di Tian looked at Red King wearing pink cat-ear headphones and fell silent.

The ruler of Star Dou Great Forest found the sight before him both absurd and infuriating.

This was brainwashing! It had to be the highest form of mental brainwashing!

It had turned the proud Auspicious Beast into a foodie and the ferocious Red King into a shut-in!

This internet cafe was more terrifying than a nest of evil soul masters!

"Demon! What kind of bewitching potion did you feed them?!" Di Tian suddenly turned, his sharp gaze stabbing toward Lu Yuan.

"Today, I am taking them away! No one can stop me!"

As he spoke, Di Tian reached out to grab Wang Qiuer's wrist.

"I'm not leaving!" Wang Qiuer reacted quickly, darting behind Lu Yuan.

"I'm not going back to sleep beneath that freezing lake! It's boring to death! I still want to keep playing games! I've only just started getting the hang of my katana!"

"You..." Di Tian looked at the Auspicious Beast hiding behind a human, her face full of resistance, and felt his heart nearly break.

The Auspicious Beast was refusing to go home for the sake of a human?

Seeing the stalemate, Lu Yuan knew it was time to start sweet-talking... ahem, time to reason with him.

"Lord Di Tian." Lu Yuan took a sip of Sprite and burped.

"Do you think the Auspicious Beast and Red King are degenerating here?"

"Aren't they?!" Di Tian demanded. "They're wasting their lives on trifles! What kind of behavior is this?!"

"Then have you noticed..." Lu Yuan pointed at Wang Qiuer.

"That the Auspicious Beast's spiritual power has increased greatly compared to before?"

"And that her perception of danger and grasp of combat timing have far surpassed those of soul beasts that only know how to fight on instinct?"

Di Tian froze.

He had been too busy getting angry earlier, but now that he calmed down and sensed carefully—

It was true! The Auspicious Beast's aura was somewhat restless from having just finished gaming, but her spiritual power was extremely condensed, even faintly carrying a sharp edge.

And Red King... that foolish dog looked cowardly, but the originally violent and impure fire poison in his body had become much purer!

"This..." Di Tian was both shocked and uncertain. "How did this happen?"

"This is the meaning of the internet cafe." Lu Yuan smiled faintly and began casting out bait.

"Di Tian, as the Beast God, you should understand the plight of the soul beast race better than anyone, shouldn't you?"

"The heavenly tribulations are drawing near. Soul beasts cultivate with great difficulty, and their intelligence develops slowly. Hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation may not even compare to several decades of human cultivation."

"What you lack is not strength, but comprehension, practice, and civilization."

Lu Yuan walked up to Di Tian and looked directly into those golden vertical pupils.

"In this internet cafe, the Auspicious Beast can experience thousands upon thousands of battles, while Red King can learn how to control fire."

"And you... Di Tian! Don't you want to see what kinds of dragons exist in the myriad worlds, beyond Star Dou Great Forest and the Divine Realm?"

"Other... dragons?" Di Tian's pupils abruptly contracted.

As the Black Dragon King, he was most sensitive to the word "dragon."

After the Dragon God's fall, the dragon race had declined. That was an everlasting pain in his heart.

"That's right." Lu Yuan's voice carried a hint of temptation. "There is a world where giant dragons soar through the skies, and dragon-language magic destroys heaven and earth."

"There is a world where a World-Eater exists. Its name is Alduin, and it feeds on devouring worlds."

"Do you want to meet it? Do you want to hear... a true Dragon Shout?"

Di Tian's breathing quickened.

Even though he knew this might be a human trap, the longing in his bloodline left him unable to refuse.

A World-Eater? A true Dragon Shout?

Di Tian glanced at the Auspicious Beast hiding behind Lu Yuan, then at the mysterious shop entrance.

In the end, his obsession with power and the future of dragonkind overwhelmed his caution.

"Fine." Di Tian restrained his aura and said coldly, "I will give you one chance."

"If I discover that you are deceiving me... even if I must face heavenly condemnation, I will drag you down with me!"

A smile of success curled across Lu Yuan's lips.

He stepped aside and made an elegant gesture of invitation.

"Welcome to Origin Internet Cafe, esteemed Beast God."

"Please purchase a card first. Two gold soul coins per hour, no credit. Also... would you like a bottle of Sprite? I'll give you half off."