Guiding the Auspicious Beast, Gathering Life Gold

As the Three-Eyed Golden Lion approached, an imperceptible glint of deeper meaning flashed through Lei Chen's eyes.

He reached out and gently stroked the Auspicious Beast's warm, brilliant golden fur. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion seemed to enjoy the closeness as well, emitting a contented purr from her throat as she slightly narrowed all three eyes.

"Little one," Lei Chen said with casual warmth, "are you interested in taking human form?"

Caught off guard by Lei Chen's question, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion froze mid-enjoyment. She lifted her head, clear surprise filling all three of her eyes.

Tilting her head, she spoke in a crisp, pleasant voice like that of a young girl. "Taking human form? You mean becoming like Bi Ji and the others?"

Hearing the Auspicious Beast mention her, Bi Ji's gentle face also bloomed with a faint smile. Yet she did not interrupt, merely listening quietly to the exchange between the Lord of the Plane and the Auspicious Beast.

"More or less, but the essence is somewhat different." Lei Chen explained, his finger brushing over the vertical eye on the Golden Lion's forehead that contained the power of destiny. "The transformation I mean is for you to truly become human, like a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and possess a martial soul like a human soul master."

"Is that so?" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion pondered it, scratching her chin with a paw. "Then... what benefits would I get from transforming?"

Although she possessed exceptionally high intelligence, her mind was relatively simple. She directly asked the question that concerned her most.

Lei Chen smiled faintly and gave the most tempting answer without beating around the bush. "The greatest benefit is that your cultivation speed will become extremely fast."

"Extremely fast?" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's ears instantly perked up, and interest gleamed in her golden eyes. "How fast?"

Rather than answering directly, Lei Chen asked, "At your current cultivation speed, how long do you think it would take for you to surpass Di Tian and become the strongest being in the Star Dou Great Forest?"

Hearing this, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion began to think seriously.

She had personally experienced Di Tian's strength. He was an existence she could only look up to. After estimating for a moment, she answered with little confidence, "Maybe... maybe tens of thousands of years? Or a hundred thousand years or so?"

Such a span of time was unimaginably long to humans, but for the long-lived Auspicious Beast, though it seemed distant, it was not entirely unacceptable.

Lei Chen immediately smiled upon hearing her answer and continued, "If you take human form, I can guarantee that within ten years, you will have a perfect chance of surpassing Di Tian. By then, hanging him up and beating him would be no difficult task."

"Ten years?! It really only takes ten years?!" All three of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's eyes widened into perfect circles, and her brilliant golden fur puffed up slightly with excitement.

Ten years was not long in her life. To exchange such a brief period for power beyond Di Tian's was simply too tempting for her!

Moreover, she possessed the pride innate to an Auspicious Beast. Her yearning for great strength was no weaker than that of any other soul beast. Thus, without much further hesitation, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion happily swished her dragon-like golden tail and excitedly told Lei Chen:

"I'll transform! I'll go prepare to transform right now!"

The moment she finished speaking, she became a streak of golden light and hurried toward the depths of the forest, clearly unable to wait to begin this transformation.

Seeing this, worry inevitably appeared on Bi Ji's face. The Auspicious Beast was of vital importance to the Star Dou Great Forest, and her mind was simple. Bi Ji truly could not rest easy about her undergoing such a major transformation alone, so she hurriedly bowed respectfully to Lei Chen.

"My lord, the Auspicious Beast may encounter difficulties transforming alone. Bi Ji requests permission to go and watch over her."

Lei Chen naturally understood Bi Ji's concerns and nodded. "Go. It will indeed be safer with you guarding her. When she reaches the critical point of her transformation, I will keep watch myself."

"Thank you, my lord!" Bi Ji bowed once more, then transformed into a streak of emerald light and chased after the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

Once Bi Ji and the Auspicious Beast's auras had faded into the distance, tranquility returned to the shores of the Lake of Life. Lei Chen was left alone. The gentle smile on his face gradually faded, and his gaze became deep and focused.

Having the Auspicious Beast take human form was both part of his plan to accelerate the nurturing of the Golden Dragon King's origin and one link in his overall scheme. Now, he needed to begin handling his own affairs—refining a Divine Artifact bound to the status of this Plane.

He slowly raised his right hand and lightly clenched it toward the void, as though grasping the lifeline of the entire Plane.

"Come." The understated shout carried supreme authority over heaven and earth.

In an instant, every location across the Douluo Plane that contained Life Gold—whether it lay beneath ten thousand fathoms of deep sea, within the core of ancient mountain ranges, or buried beneath endless deserts—produced a faint resonance at the same moment.

The next instant, dozens of emerald streaks of light, as though answering a supreme summons, tore through space and shot forth from every corner of the Plane. They gathered above the Lake of Life and quietly floated before Lei Chen.

These emerald, crystal-like metal chunks varied in shape and size.

The smallest were no larger than fingernails, emitting faint green glimmers. The largest were as big as fists, completely translucent, with what seemed to be green liquid slowly flowing within them and radiating vast vitality like the sea.

The instant they appeared, the life aura throughout the Lake of Life region surged sharply. Even the plants along the shore began growing and flowering at a visible pace.

Among these dozens of pieces of Life Gold, the most striking was a massive crystal floating at the center, far larger than the rest. It was as large as a human head, entirely a profoundly deep dark green, crystal-clear and without the slightest impurity.

The life energy contained within it was as vast as an abyss. The mere ripples it naturally emitted caused faint green ripples to spread through the surrounding space.

This largest piece of Life Gold came from directly beneath Lei Chen's feet, from the deepest depths of the Lake of Life. It was the essence the Star Dou Great Forest had condensed over countless years.

Lei Chen's gaze swept over the dozens of pieces of Life Gold before him, gathered from the life essence of the entire Plane, and a trace of satisfaction flashed through his eyes.

Life Gold was no ordinary mineral. It was the ultimate condensed form of the purest and most immense life force between heaven and earth.

It was a treasure of heaven and earth formed when immeasurable life energy was continuously compressed and purified in an exceptionally special environment, nurtured over tens of millions of years or even longer, and finally solidified from gaseous and liquid states.

The formation of every piece of Life Gold could be called a miracle, an embodiment of a Plane's life force settling to its utmost extreme. And this was precisely the main material Lei Chen would use to refine his Divine Artifact.