Di Tian: Don't Leave Such Long Pauses When You Talk, I Thought I Was Dead!

Hearing this, Snow Empress froze.

She stood atop the glacier, with a blizzard howling around her, yet she seemed completely unable to hear it.

After she had left—the Far North had become a nest for Evil Soul Masters?

The snowfield she had protected for hundreds of thousands of years had actually become the Holy Spirit Cult's den after she became a human's Soul Ring.

And the soul beasts of the Far North were nearly extinct.

The endless wind and snow reflected in Snow Empress's eyes, but they were filled with hatred.

The entire world fell into deathly silence.

Ice Empress stood behind her, opened her mouth, then swallowed her words. In Snow Empress's current state, anyone who spoke to her was looking for death.

On the heavenly screen, Qian Renxue brought the topic back. She closed the history book filled with too much love, hatred, and entanglement, then looked up and asked, "How was that final beast tide quelled?"

Yin Hongye withdrew his gaze from the window and replied calmly, "Because of Huo Yuhao."

"Him?" Qian Renxue frowned slightly.

"He reached a deal with Di Tian and temporarily calmed the Beast God's fury." Yin Hongye turned around and leaned against the window frame. "He created the Soul Spirit."

"Soul beasts could exist in spiritual form within a Soul Master's Soul Ring, retaining their consciousness and no longer disappearing completely. That was a Soul Spirit. In the short term, it eased the deadlock between soul beasts and Soul Masters that had persisted for countless years."

Qian Renxue fell silent for a moment before saying softly, "No wonder. To make the Beast God stop... was that giving them a way out?"

"But it was not a long-term solution after all." Yin Hongye's tone remained calm. "A Soul Spirit's continued existence depended on the Soul Master. The initiative was always in humanity's hands. Soul beasts had merely gone from a death sentence to a suspended sentence. Mainly because the system was incomplete."

"According to the original plan, Soul Spirits could be continuously inherited."

"Unfortunately, even now, the Spirit Pagoda is still in the experimental stage, and the success rate is not high."

He paused, as if recalling something, then added, "If I remember correctly, when the Spirit Pagoda was first established, the Ferocious Beasts led by the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King founded it together with the human powerhouses of that era. Those Ferocious Beasts themselves were the Spirit Pagoda's first generation of upper management, researching Soul Spirits together."

Qian Renxue was stunned. "What about now?"

"Now? No such person can be found in the Spirit Pagoda—no, no such beast."

"So that was..."

Before she could finish, Di Tian outside the heavenly screen suddenly felt the burden on his shoulders lighten by more than half. So he was gone. That was fine, then. That beast tide and all that had nothing to do with him—

Wait.

He was gone?

Di Tian's body stiffened abruptly, his golden vertical pupils filled with disbelief. What did she mean, he was gone?

He was the king of Ferocious Beasts, the Dragon God's personal guard. How could he just be gone?

"What are you thinking!" Yin Hongye's voice came from the heavenly screen. "He was driven out of the Spirit Pagoda! Then a war broke out, and Di Tian finally compromised. That was how Star Dou Fortress came to be."

Yin Hongye was speechless. What was Qian Renxue thinking? Could that old actor Di Tian just die whenever someone said he did?

How powerful was the Dragon God's Claw?

Was that something an ordinary person could withstand?

Deep within the Star Dou Forest, the air suddenly became terrifyingly quiet.

Xiong Jun slowly turned his head to look at Di Tian.

Bi Ji covered her mouth, while Scarlet King tried his best not to look at Di Tian.

Yet every Ferocious Beast's gaze landed squarely on Di Tian.

Driven out of the Spirit Pagoda, starting a war, then compromising.

Di Tian looked tense, feeling embarrassed enough to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes. Why did this man talk like that? I thought I was dead!

He had absolutely no idea that his future self had done something so humiliating.

The mighty Beast God had gone into business with humans, only to be kicked out of the boardroom.

But what came next made Di Tian even more embarrassed.

"How long do humans live? Power changes hands. But soul beasts? As long as they successfully survive their tribulations, they can keep living. They can hold power in their hands forever."

Yin Hongye's unhurried voice stated an undeniable fact.

"I really don't know how he managed to get kicked out."

Those words were like a sharp blade stabbing straight into Di Tian's heart.

Outside the heavenly screen, deep in the Star Dou Forest, Di Tian's dignity shattered all over the ground, replaced by unprecedented embarrassment. He wanted to refute it, wanted to roar in anger, but it felt as though something had clogged his throat. He could not utter a single word.

None of the surrounding Ferocious Beasts dared to make a sound.

The Silver Dragon King also stared at Di Tian like that, her eyes full of scrutiny as she wondered what Di Tian was thinking.

Di Tian said nothing. Right now, he only wanted to find an ice cave to crawl into and calm down.

Yin Hongye continued, "The Spirit Pagoda isn't doing much better now either. After kicking the soul beasts out, its internal struggles never stopped."

There was a trace of mockery in his tone. "It used to be a council system, with all sides balancing one another. But now—Qian Gu family dominates alone, and the position of Pagoda Master is practically becoming hereditary in their family."

Qian Renxue frowned. "Qian Gu family? The family of that Qian Gu Dongfeng from the Yuanen Family?"

"That was them." Yin Hongye sneered. "When the Spirit Pagoda was founded, soul beasts provided dying soul beasts, while humans sent Spiritual-type Soul Masters to handle Soul Spirit contracts. The Star Luo Empire, Heaven Dou Empire, Dou Ling Empire, Shrek Academy, and various other powers, along with the soul beasts, each held half the power. Now that the soul beasts have been purged, all that remains is infighting among the various factions."

"The first to be driven out was... let me think..."

He did not know history particularly well. At that moment, Mu Hongchen spoke up. "It was Shrek Academy."

"Right, I think it was Shrek Academy. Still, even after it became independent, the relationship between the two sides was not too bad." Yin Hongye picked up the thread.

"Then the Qian Gu family swallowed all the shares, turning it directly from a council system into a family business."

Mu Hongchen interjected from the side, "To put it bluntly, after driving away the external enemy, their own people started fighting over the cake. In the end, whoever had the bigger fist got the final say."

Yin Hongye nodded. "Humans are like that. They are either infighting or on their way to infighting. Under his control, the Spirit Pagoda had long ceased to be the place that once mediated the conflict between humans and soul beasts."

Qian Renxue nodded. "So human infighting is instinctive?"

"Hasn't it always been?" Yin Hongye said helplessly. "The fastest way to wipe out humanity is not anything else. It's to make humans fight among themselves."

"For example, the Holy Spirit Cult has been constantly stirring up the relations between the three continents, preparing to start a war."

Mu Hongchen shrugged. "So what? You can just go straight to the battlefield. I don't know what the Holy Spirit Cult wants, but anyone you kill won't even leave scraps behind."

"Exactly. Letting me slaughter the other two continents is obviously the best way to resolve conflicts. People die when they are killed. That is an eternal law."

Yin Hongye felt that this made sense. A conflict that could clearly be resolved quickly would at most earn him a little infamy.

Could my reputation possibly be worse than the Ghost Emperor's?

Killing one made you a criminal; slaughtering ten thousand made you a hero. Slaughter nine million, and you would be a hero among heroes.

He spread his hands. "What were we talking about? We were originally discussing Heaven-Earth Valley of Love. Is there anything else you want to know?"

"No." Qian Renxue shook her head, feeling that she had already learned almost everything she wanted to know.

After saying that, she turned and returned to her room.

Yin Hongye looked at Mu Hongchen. "Help me send a file to the Dazzling Tang Sect and the Spirit Pagoda in Shrek Academy's name. It is time to test the humanity of those two groups, and human nature cannot withstand testing."

"This Federation really has no idea how to play this. The desires in people's hearts are like boulders rolling down a mountain. Once they start, they can never stop."

"They have been landlords for twenty thousand years. How could they possibly turn over a new leaf?"