Those Who Possessed Diary Copies Met

At the bottom of Lake of Life, Star Dou Forest.

This place was shrouded year-round in life aura so dense it was nearly liquid.

A colossal dragon covered in silver scales lay there, her massive body graceful rather than cumbersome. Faint violet-gold radiance flowed across every scale.

Her vertical pupils were a deep violet. Even while she merely lay dormant, the aura emanating from her was enough to make every Soul Beast in Star Dou Forest prostrate themselves in trembling submission.

She was the sovereign of the Soul Beast Clan, the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena.

Di Tian stood bowed below the throne, his head lowered, not daring the slightest impropriety. Beside him, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had curled itself up, scarcely daring to breathe.

Just moments ago, he had entered the palace with the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Before he could report anything, his master had already opened her eyes.

"Di Tian, leave first."

The cold female voice rang through the empty palace. Though it was not loud, it carried unquestionable authority, every word seeming to strike directly against the Divine Soul.

Di Tian abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with unconcealed shock and confusion.

He truly could not understand why his master, having broken precedent to awaken and meet the Emperor Auspicious Beast, would order him to leave as her very first sentence.

After all, he was her most loyal subordinate. For hundreds of thousands of years, none of her orders had ever been concealed from him, much less matters concerning the Emperor Auspicious Beast.

Yet despite the questions filling his mind, he did not dare disobey in the slightest.

His master's will was the supreme iron law of the Soul Beast Clan.

He immediately bowed, placed his left hand over his chest, and performed the most formal Soul Beast salute. "Yes, my master."

With that, he turned and slowly withdrew. As Di Tian departed, the already tense atmosphere seemed to grow even heavier.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion crouched on the ground, its soft pink paws clenched tightly. Its golden eyes timidly lifted toward the enormous yet beautiful silver dragon before it, and its golden fur trembled uncontrollably.

It was the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the embodiment of the continent's fortune, the beloved darling held in the palms of every Soul Beast in Star Dou Forest.

Ordinarily, even Di Tian, the Beast God, spoiled it endlessly. Bi Ji treated it like her own child, while Scarlet King, Zi Ji, and the others let it run wild. Even if it turned the core region upside down, no one would utter a harsh word.

But only when facing this master before it could it truly understand what a genuine superior was, what absolute suppression from the depths of one's bloodline and Divine Soul meant.

What fortune? What Emperor Auspicious Beast? Before this Silver Dragon King, it was as insignificant as an ant. The dragon's might engraved into its soul forced it to take even the most careful breaths.

Its mind was a complete mess.

It had come to see its master because of that strange Diary, because of the tragedies written within it that were destined to happen.

But it had no idea how to begin, nor what excuse it could use to make its master believe what it was about to say.

A Diary that had appeared in its mind out of nowhere, recording the future destruction of the Soul Beast Clan, recording how it would one day be sacrificed by a human Soul Master, recording countless secrets that overturned everything it knew?

Not to mention that whenever it faced someone without a Diary Copy, even merely having the slightest thought of revealing the Diary's existence—

That icy, bone-piercing warning from some unseen force would instantly sweep through its Divine Soul, as if thinking even one fraction further would immediately annihilate its soul.

It was so conflicted that its claws were nearly gouging holes into the ground. Its ears drooped, the vertical eye on its forehead squeezed shut, and its entire body was consumed by extreme tension and helplessness.

Just as it was waging an inner battle and could not even piece together a complete opening line, the cold female voice sounded beside it again. One seemingly casual sentence exploded in its mind like thunder.

"You came because of the Diary?"

It was not a question, but a statement.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion snapped its head up. Its golden eyes widened into perfect circles, its fur instantly standing on end. Even the vertical eye on its forehead flew open, filled with utter shock and disbelief.

It had never expected its master to expose the Diary's existence in a single sentence!

That meant its master also had an identical Diary Copy in her mind!

But what shocked it even more was that its master had spoken the word "Diary," and it had heard it as well—yet that ever-present warning from the unseen force watching it did not appear!

It instinctively opened its mouth, its voice carrying an almost imperceptible tremble as it blurted out, "Yes, my master. I truly came because of the Diary!"

After speaking, it froze.

It had said it! It had actually spoken about the Diary!

Earlier, before Di Tian, it had merely formed the slightest intention to mention the Diary and had been locked onto by that supreme power. It had not dared let even half a word escape.

But now, not only had it heard its master mention the Diary, it had spoken the matter aloud in full. The warning that had made its Divine Soul tremble had completely vanished!

Gu Yuena looked at the puffed-up Three-Eyed Golden Lion below her, and a flash of understanding passed through her violet eyes.

She had naturally sensed the disappearance of that gaze as well.

The two of them understood the key point almost simultaneously.

The Diary's rule was not that its existence could never be mentioned. Rather, no information about the Diary could be revealed to someone without a Diary Copy.

Only those who possessed Diary Copies at the same time could discuss this matter with one another without obstruction.

Di Tian had been present just now. Without a copy, he fell within the rule's forbidden scope. Therefore, whether it was Gu Yuena or the Auspicious Beast, the moment either entertained the thought of mentioning the Diary, they would receive that warning from the supreme power.

Now, however, only the two of them remained in the hall, both possessing copies. Naturally, that taboo had disappeared.

"I know why you came."

Gu Yuena's voice sounded once more, carrying a trace of imperceptible reassurance and absolute confidence. "With me here, that Sea God will not be able to lay a hand on you."

That single sentence struck directly at the deepest of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's fears.

The Diary had written it clearly: in the future, it would encounter a human boy named Huo Yuhao. He would take it away, and in the end, it would be sacrificed, becoming a stepping stone on his path to godhood. Behind all of it was the shadow of the Sea God Tang San, far away in the God Realm.

The greatest reason it had rushed to see its master was its fear of meeting the fate recorded in the Diary.

Upon hearing Gu Yuena's words, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's eyes instantly reddened. Its tightly tensed body slackened at once, and it deeply lowered its head toward Gu Yuena. All its unease and panic found a place to settle at that moment.

"From now on, you will stay by my side. You may not go anywhere."

Gu Yuena spoke again, her tone leaving no room for discussion.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion nodded immediately without the slightest hesitation.

Though it loved to play by nature and yearned for unfettered freedom, it knew what mattered. Compared to the miserable fate of being sacrificed in the future, remaining by its master's side was undoubtedly the safest choice.

After sending off the Auspicious Beast, Gu Yuena slowly turned her gaze beyond the palace. It passed through the heavy lake water and dense forest, toward the distant Haotian Sect. Emotions churned unpredictably in her violet eyes.

Having lived for hundreds of thousands of years, she had endured the Dragon God War's crushing defeat, witnessed the Soul Beast Clan decline step by step from its peak, and watched human Soul Masters rise through slaughtering Soul Beasts.

She had watched her clansmen die one after another, watched the Soul Beasts' living space be compressed bit by bit.

She had slumbered for so long and struggled with everything she had to recover, all to revive the Soul Beast Clan and seek justice for her people.

Yet the contents of the Diary made her feel a trace of pessimism for the first time.

Was the Soul Beast Clan truly destined to be unable to rise again?

Even if she awakened, even if she gave everything she had, would she still be unable to escape the fate of destruction in the end?

The moment that thought surfaced, she forcibly suppressed it. Her gaze became resolute once more as the Diary that had appeared in her Divine Soul flashed through her mind.

Things were different now. There was now an unknown variable.

The authority of this Diary absolutely stood above every rule in the world, above the God Kings, and perhaps even above the Dragon God.

The owner of this Diary, the youth named Lin Ye, was currently outside Haotian Sect's outer city.

If she could obtain this Diary—or rather, gain the help of its owner—then the Soul Beast Clan might not be without hope of revival.

A thought rose uncontrollably from the depths of her heart.

Should she send someone to capture him?

With her current abilities, even though she was still in the dormant phase of recovery and could not act personally, a single command from her would allow Di Tian to set out at once, cross thousands of miles, and bring that teenage boy from Haotian Sect to Star Dou Forest.

As long as she controlled him in her own hands, the Diary's secrets would be entirely hers to command.

The instant that thought formed.

A supreme gaze from some unseen place abruptly locked onto her!

That gaze held no emotion, yet it carried power enough to crush everything, as if the weight of the entire universe had descended upon her Divine Soul.

Her massive dragon body froze instantly. Her scales stood upright beyond her control, and horror filled her violet eyes.

An extreme suffocating sensation swept over her, as though an invisible hand had seized her throat in a death grip, nearly crushing even her Divine Soul.

This was a fear she had never experienced before.

Not even during the Dragon God War, when she faced the encirclement of all the gods of the God Realm, had she felt such helplessness. Before this gaze, she was not even qualified to resist.

She reacted at once and used every ounce of her strength to forcibly erase every thought in her mind that might harm Lin Ye, every intention to control or hurt him. She did not dare leave behind even the slightest trace.

Only when her Divine Soul contained nothing but thoughts entirely free of malice toward Lin Ye did that supreme gaze slowly disperse.

Gu Yuena's rigid dragon body suddenly relaxed. She exhaled deeply, releasing a breath infused with dragon's might. Cold sweat had already soaked her back.

That had been close. Far too close.

For that brief moment, she had truly felt that if she had thought even a fraction more, her Divine Soul would have been obliterated at once, leaving her without even a chance at reincarnation.

She finally understood the Diary's second rule completely: under no circumstances could she harm the Diary's owner, Lin Ye.

Even the slightest malicious thought would invite the backlash of that supreme power.