The Three-Eyed Golden Lion, His New Underling

"For me?" the Three-Eyed Golden Lion asked.

"Mm." Jiang Lan nodded.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked down at the Pill, then looked up at Jiang Lan's face. After hesitating for a moment, it opened its mouth and swallowed the Pill.

The moment the Pill entered its stomach, it felt a warm sensation all over its body.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked down at its own body, then sensed the changes within it, and remained silent for a long while.

"Anything else?" It raised its head, its golden vertical pupils fixed on Jiang Lan, its tone much softer than before.

"Yes," Jiang Lan said.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's eyes lit up.

"But I can't give it to you for free anymore." Jiang Lan took out the Pill from his Storage Soul Tool, tossed it in his hand, and then put it back. "If you consider me your little brother, I'll give you one every day."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was stunned.

"Little brother?"

"Yes, little brother." Jiang Lan put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest. "Doro is my little brother, and you'll be under my command from now on. We'll share the good times and the bad. I'll Ju Zi, you Ju Zi peel; I'll drink the milk tea, you drink the lid."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked down at the human cub, which was not even as tall as its own chest, its golden vertical pupils churning with extremely complex emotions.

Be Jiang Lan's underling?

It's Emperor Auspicious Beast, the ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest, the only one of its kind on the entire continent. Even those Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would avoid it. Become its underling?

"Impossible." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion turned around.

"Never mind then." Jiang Lan put away the Pill, turned around and walked towards Doro and Xiao Wu. "Doro, let's go back for dinner."

Doro ran over from the doorway of the Wooden House, his short legs pattering on the grass. He reached Jiang Lan's feet, looked up at him, and barked.

The gist of it is: Fine, if it won't agree, I'll be your underling in exchange for Ju Zi.

Jiang Lan took Doro's hand and walked towards the Wooden House.

After walking seven or eight steps, I heard hurried footsteps behind me.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion caught up, its golden vertical pupils fixed on the Storage Soul Tool in his hand, its tail twitching uneasily.

"One a day?" it asked.

"One a day." Jiang Lan said without turning her head.

"How long will it last?"

"Until I am satisfied."

What do you mean by "you're satisfied"?

"I think you did a good job, so I'm satisfied."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion remained silent for a few moments.

"Fine." It squeezed the word out of its nose, its voice heavy with a sense of resignation.

Jiang Lan stopped, turned around, looked up at the golden Soul Beast that was almost twice his height, and grinned.

"Call me 'Big Brother'."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion stared at him.

"No."

"There are no Pill."

"..."

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion flicked its tail twice, its golden vertical pupils almost spitting fire. In all its years of life, it had never suffered such humiliation.

But the aroma of the Pill still lingered in its mouth, and it had never experienced the feeling of its entire body's meridians cheering after it entered its stomach.

"Big brother," it squeezed out the two words through gritted teeth.

Jiang Lan nodded in satisfaction, took out another Pill from her Storage Soul Tool, and tossed it over.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion opened its mouth, caught it, and swallowed it whole, a satisfied expression on its face.

"Doro," Doro called out.

The gist of it is: It ate my Ju Zi and your Pill too; that's not fair.

"Don't worry." Jiang Lan patted its head. "You're my first little brother, it comes after you."

Doro thought about it and decided it was acceptable, so he stopped barking.

Xiao Wu stood at the door of the Wooden House, watching this scene with her arms crossed and an extremely subtle expression on her face.

She originally thought Jiang Lan and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion would fight, but as the fight progressed, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion became her underling.

"Sister Xiao Wu." Jiang Lan pulled Doro back to the front of the Wooden House, with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion following behind, its eyes still fixed on the Storage Soul Tool. "Cook an extra portion tonight, it wants some too."

"It needs to eat too?" Xiao Wu looked at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, then at Jiang Lan. "What does it eat?"

"Take the Pill," Jiang Lan said.

"Pill as food?"

"No, eat normally. The Pill are just snacks."

Xiao Wu nodded, somewhat helplessly, and went to make dinner.

Jiang Lan patted the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's head and said, "Three-Eyed Golden Lion, do you have a name?"

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion shook its head, indicating that it had no name.

Seeing this, Jiang Lan thought for a moment and said, "Then you'll be called Big Golden Retriever."

Three-Eyed Golden Lion: "?"

No, you gave her the name you'd give a pet, she's too proud to accept it.

Thinking of Jiang Lan's Pill, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion held back.

Somewhat puzzled, she remembered having a beast protecting her, so where was that beast?

In the distance, a Soul Beast lay on the ground in a patch of grass.

The Soul Beast is over five meters long, resembles a lion, and has three heads with a diameter of over one meter, with canine teeth that have a reddish-gold luster.

It is the Scarlet King, secretly protecting the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

When the Scarlet King saw the Three-Eyed Golden Lion fighting with Jiang Lan, it prepared to intervene and finish off Jiang Lan, but for some reason, it suddenly felt a sharp pain in its head and then fainted.

After arguing with Jiang Lan for a while, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion Three-Eyed Golden Lion finally regained its right to name itself and named itself Di Yue.

Jiang Lan squatted on the stone steps in front of the Wooden House, drawing on the ground with a small stick, muttering, "Big Golden Retriever sounds so nice, it's easy to say and affectionate. Why does she have to be called Di Yue? It sounds like some kind of official..."

Di Yue lay beside him, her golden vertical pupils half-closed, her tail patting the ground idly, pretending not to hear.

Doro squatted on the other side, holding a freshly peeled Ju Zi in her short hands. Her big purple eyes scanned back and forth between Jiang Lan Di Yue twice before she silently put the Ju Zi into her mouth.

Xiao Wu carried the cooked mushroom soup over from the stove and served a bowl to everyone. She added a few more pieces of dried meat to Jiang Lan's bowl, two more wild dates to Doro's bowl, and placed a large bowl in front of Di Yue, which also contained mushroom soup, but three times the amount of the others.

Di Yue looked down at the bowl of soup, then looked up at Xiao Wu.

I don't eat vegetarian food.

"There's dried meat in this soup," Xiao Wu said.

"Dried meat isn't considered meat."

Xiao Wu paused for a moment, then turned back to the stove, took two strips of dried meat from the hanging racks, and put them into Di Yue's large bowl.

Di Yue then lowered her head, rolled the contents of the bowl into her mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed it expressionlessly.

"It doesn't taste good," Di Yue commented.

Xiao Wu clenched her fist on her apron.

"It's far inferior to Pill," Di Yue added.

Xiao Wu took a deep breath and, out of respect for its status as Emperor Auspicious Beast, endured it.

Jiang Lan finished her soup, put down the bowl, patted her stomach, and looked up at Di Yue, who was lying next to her.

"Di Yue, take me to have a good time in the Star Dou Great Forest tomorrow."

"Don't want."

Di Yue refused without hesitation.