"Accident"

"Cough." The mouthful of fish Mu Feng had just swallowed instantly got stuck in his throat. He said irritably, "You say there is, so there is?"

Mu Feng recalled the first time Three-Eyed Golden Lion had met Huo Yuhao and casually retorted, "I could also say that an old man will capture you while you're eating someday. Make up a better excuse next time."

Mu Feng casually tossed the finished skewer in front of her and turned to pick up another grilled fish from the ground.

Three-Eyed Golden Lion snapped, "Believe it or not! Anyway, you feel very different to me."

"How am I different?" Mu Feng waved the grilled fish before her. "Come up with a better excuse this time, and I'll give it to you."

"It feels like you're an outsider," she said seriously. "Do you really look like this?"

Long Xiaoyao could not help but laugh. No one knew Mu Feng's origins better than he did. Never mind an outsider—going by her words, Mu Feng did not even seem human.

The firelight flickered several times in Mu Feng's eyes. His body suddenly tensed, and he stared solemnly at Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Yet the instant he heard Long Xiaoyao's laughter, his expression returned to normal.

After laughing along with Long Xiaoyao twice, Mu Feng said, "That excuse is way too outrageous, though you made it sound pretty convincing." Then he stuffed the grilled fish into her mouth.

Just now, Mu Feng had truly thought she was trying to swindle a grilled fish out of his hand. He had not expected her to actually have some ability, blurting out his greatest secret in a single sentence.

Mu Feng broke out in a cold sweat. Right now, he only wanted to keep her mouth firmly shut so she could never say another word.

But everyone else took her words as a joke. Of all things to suspect, suspecting that Mu Feng was not human was simply absurd.

Pretending nothing had happened, Mu Feng continued, "Do you have any other stories?"

Having finally gotten her grilled fish, Three-Eyed Golden Lion rolled her eyes at him. "Believe it or not."

Mu Feng lay down on the grass with his hands behind his head, looking entirely unconcerned, as though he did not want to hear it if she did not want to speak.

But in truth, he was secretly considering what to do with this auspicious beast. If Tang San later implanted Tang Wutong's divine consciousness into her and learned of this matter... The more Mu Feng thought about it, the colder his heart became.

He knew that while others might treat this secret as a joke, it would be entirely different to Tang San. It would mean that his greatest trump card would be exposed before him.

Mu Feng closed his eyes, his mind racing as he tried to determine when Tang San had switched her out.

"At the beginning? No, impossible. Tang San's divine power wasn't yet strong enough to directly interfere with the lower realm, so he couldn't possibly control an auspicious beast bearing the power of destiny."

"The only opportunity would have been the instant Huo Yuhao's forehead touched hers. Tang San, who had been watching Huo Yuhao all along, most likely acted then, completing it at the moment a spiritual channel was established between them."

Mu Feng gradually made up his mind. He stood and stretched lazily. "I'm so full."

His entire body arched like a bow. Then, he suddenly shifted one foot, stepping right onto the discarded skewer.

"Ah!" He staggered and fell toward Three-Eyed Golden Lion, who was trapped on the ground. She was bound so tightly that she naturally could not dodge.

By pure coincidence, Mu Feng's forehead "accidentally" struck her vertical eye.

This was the decision Mu Feng had reached after much consideration. He could not kill this Three-Eyed Golden Lion right now. Yet because of the agreement he had just made with Scarlet King, he also had no suitable reason to persuade Long Xiaoyao to act.

Then he remembered that after her forehead had touched Huo Yuhao's in the original story, the two had become linked by fate, like grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

Although there had been conflicts between them, Wang Qiuer had never done anything to harm Huo Yuhao. On the contrary, she had ultimately sacrificed herself to become Huo Yuhao's soul ring.

Especially compared to the possibility of Tang San learning his secret through Three-Eyed Golden Lion in the future, Mu Feng decided to strike first and cut off Tang San's chance to act.

Later, he could make up a suitable excuse and ask Long Xiaoyao to seal this portion of her memories. That would resolve the crisis.

Of the two options, he chose the lesser evil. This was already the best solution Mu Feng could think of.

The instant they touched, both their bodies shuddered violently. Then, a ring of strange light enveloped them. Even Long Xiaoyao, seated nearby, could feel the powerful repulsive force of that halo.

Long Xiaoyao stared at the scene in shock. He had not expected Mu Feng's "accidental" fall to produce such an inconceivable result.

A beam of light then shot out from between them. Three-Eyed Golden Lion remained bound in place, but Mu Feng was directly flung into the air. Fortunately, Xiao Hei reacted quickly and caught him, laying him down on the grass.

Mu Feng's eyes were unfocused. In those brief few minutes, it felt as though he had watched an entire Adventures of the Golden Lion King. From a first-person perspective, he had rapidly lived through Three-Eyed Golden Lion's upbringing. Most of it consisted of running wild through the Star Dou Great Forest, without much worth noting.

The dazed feeling lasted only a short while. Mu Feng shook his head, and his gaze gradually refocused.

His mind was clear, and it seemed as though his spiritual power had increased enormously. Even his vision had become much sharper.

Unlike what he had imagined, he could not sense her thoughts. Instead, like a first-person role-playing game, he had gone through every one of her experiences.

Three-Eyed Golden Lion had also regained consciousness by then. Her eyes were somewhat blank, as she had not expected her attribute guidance to be "coincidentally" triggered by a human Soul Master in this manner.

At the same time, her gaze was extremely complicated. Unlike what Mu Feng had feared, she had not experienced all the memories of his past and present lives.

Perhaps due to the restrictions of the laws, the memories she experienced began only from the day Mu Feng arrived at Stone Village.

The frenzied slaughter by evil Soul Masters, the despair of near death, his desperate efforts in cultivation... Compared with her lifespan of ten thousand years, the small human before her was as fleeting as a mayfly. Yet she had never expected such a tiny body to contain emotions as fierce as raging waves.

If her life had been trapped within the Star Dou Great Forest, was Mu Feng not likewise trapped within that Stone Village?

However, she had still caught one sharp detail in his memories: the mission Ye Xishui had given Mu Feng— infiltrate Shrek. She keenly sensed that Mu Feng seemed to harbor an unusual feeling toward Shrek.

Seeing Mu Feng stand up as though nothing had happened, Long Xiaoyao hurriedly asked, "What exactly just happened?"

Mu Feng rubbed his head. His mind was still somewhat dizzy from the impact of those immense memories. "I accidentally stepped on a skewer just now, and when I fell, I accidentally touched her forehead. I didn't expect this change to happen."

He added, "When I woke up, it felt like there were many more memories in my mind, and my spiritual power seems to have increased quite a bit too."

Long Xiaoyao asked, "What kind of memories?"

"They seemed to be memories of her growth," Mu Feng said in an "uncertain" tone. Then he casually added, "I imagine she can also learn about my past memories."

Mu Feng watched Long Xiaoyao's expression. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Long Xiaoyao's face instantly turned solemn. After all, Mu Feng's memories involved the secret of the Holy Spirit Cult's underground headquarters.

Long Xiaoyao stared at Three-Eyed Golden Lion. "If the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters' location is exposed, Ye Xishui's safety will undoubtedly be affected." At that thought, Long Xiaoyao's gaze immediately turned dangerous. But he soon fell into the same dilemma Mu Feng had faced at first: killing this auspicious beast would bring immense trouble.

Just as Long Xiaoyao was feeling troubled, Three-Eyed Golden Lion naturally sensed the change in his attitude before and after Mu Feng spoke.

Before he could say anything, Three-Eyed Golden Lion spoke first. "Don't worry. I won't reveal your secrets. If you don't believe me, I can swear upon my bloodline origin, but you must agree to one condition."

The more powerful a Soul Master was, the more they could sense the power of the laws between heaven and earth. A soul beast's bloodline origin was much the same. Thus, the closer one was to the laws, the less willing one was to swear lightly.

Once an oath was broken, one would suffer backlash from the laws. Not only would one's cultivation speed be affected, even the chances of successfully passing tribulations would decrease greatly.

Long Xiaoyao asked, "What condition?"