"Yes."
The Scarlet King answered, then vanished in the blink of an eye.
"Please follow me, you two." Di Tian walked ahead. "I will personally show you the way."
After following Di Tian through a dense grove of ancient trees, Gao Ren saw the scenery before him abruptly change.
"To think the Great Ferocious Land would look like this," Xuan Zi said in astonishment. "The forbidden zone for humans is actually such a beautiful place."
The most striking feature of this earthly paradise was the lake at its very center.
"This is a place that nurtures life. The lake you see is the most sacred water of life in our Star Dou Great Forest.
"This lake already existed several hundred thousand years ago. Every living creature in the Star Dou Great Forest was nurtured by it..."
As he listened to Di Tian's guided tour, Xuan Zi became utterly engrossed. Gao Ren, a transmigrator, knew perfectly well what Di Tian was actually talking about.
[The Silver Dragon King created soul beasts]
The fundamental reason the Star Dou Great Forest was the largest gathering place for soul beasts was the Silver Dragon King's presence.
Under the influence of the plane, the Silver Dragon King had been forced to disperse her divine power, allowing it to merge naturally into the Star Dou Great Forest and foster the growth and reproduction of life here. Other soul beast habitats had no such advantage.
The Lake of Life at the center of the Star Dou Great Forest was an exceptional place to cultivate.
The vitality here was readily perceptible, at least several times greater than outside.
Natural elements of various attributes danced through the air, their concentration so extraordinary that it was scarcely found anywhere else in the world-not a bit inferior to the split hot pot on the must-eat list.
After following Di Tian on a leisurely stroll for a short while-with little Gao Ren moving at full speed-they finally reached the shores of the Lake of Life.
The jubilant Auspicious Beast and Xiong Jun, wearing a face like thunder, had already been waiting here for quite some time.
"Gao Ren! You're here!"
Having returned to its original form, the Auspicious Beast rushed over and circled Gao Ren twice, delight written all over its face.
Seeing the Auspicious Beast display such affection toward a human, Xiong Jun felt as though the Star Dou Great Forest was doomed. He could not help muttering, "He's just a human. Do you really need to be that happy...?"
Di Tian remained expressionless. "Xiong Jun, is your hide itching again?"
"No!" Xiong Jun shuddered in fright.
Di Tian: "It had better not be."
Before long, the Scarlet King arrived with Bi Ji.
At the sight of Bi Ji, Gao Ren could not help glancing back at the Auspicious Beast, which had assumed human form.
He realized that the face the Auspicious Beast had fashioned really did bear a slight resemblance to Bi Ji's.
In human form, Bi Ji was a stunning beauty with long green hair cascading down her back.
An aqua-green dress perfectly outlined her slender figure, and a pair of emerald wings that looked as though they had been carved from gemstones grew from her back.
Every feather was dazzling to behold. Their vivid, almost dripping green brimmed with vitality, making her all the more breathtaking, like a goddess of nature.
After Bi Ji briefly greeted everyone present, Di Tian sent the Scarlet King to fetch the food prepared for their guests that day.
Xiong Jun, who had been playing dead off to the side, fixed his eyes on the Scarlet King the moment he heard the word "food."
He had originally been heading out to find something to eat before running into that whole mess, and his stomach was still empty.
Xiong Jun: (●￣(ｴ)￣●)
Wonder what the Scarlet King will bring back. This old bear's so hungry he's about to go feral!
As he thought about it, Xiong Jun involuntarily began to drool.
The Scarlet King soon returned. The place where Di Tian had stored the food was not far away.
At the sight of one dark-gold soul beast after another, Xiong Jun instantly lost his appetite.
"Di Tian! The food you were talking about is my bear offspring?!"
"Watch your tone." Di Tian's face remained expressionless. "I don't want to say it twice."
"Di Tian, can you spare them?" Xiong Jun said through gritted teeth. "I have more meat than they do. One piece cut from me would be enough to replace all of them."
Normally, Xiong Jun would never have done this. After all, he rarely concerned himself with whether his bear offspring lived or died.
But Di Tian was already planning to use his bear paw to entertain Gao Ren and Xuan Zi today... Xiong Jun's kinder side asserted itself, deciding that having one more piece of meat cut off was no big deal.
"You said it yourself." Di Tian slowly walked up to Xiong Jun. "Hold out one hand."
Xiong Jun gritted his teeth and did as instructed.
The next second, Di Tian swung his arm over his head, and an enormous sword materialized in his hand.
This was Di Tian's Black Dragon Sword!
A flash of dark-purple sword light swept past. One of Xiong Jun's paws was severed cleanly at the wrist, along with a chunk of flesh from his forearm.
Despite suffering such an injury, Xiong Jun did not shed a drop of blood. He had clearly used soul power to forcibly suppress the bleeding.
Xiong Jun let out a muffled grunt, choking the scream back in his throat.
Bi Ji stepped forward. Emerald light poured from her palm and covered Xiong Jun's bare wrist as she began healing him.
Because Xiong Jun was so large, even Bi Ji needed considerable effort to regenerate it.
(Bi Ji was nearly six hundred thousand years old. Surely her healing output couldn't be worse than that of a hundred-thousand-year blue silver emperor, right?)
Xiong Jun flexed his newly grown paw. It was still a little stiff, but it had indeed grown back.
He glanced at his new paw, then at the meat Di Tian had stripped intact from his severed paw, which the Scarlet King was now roasting over a fire. The corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Next, Xiong Jun saw Di Tian produce a large jar of honey from somewhere.
As a honey-eating expert, he recognized at a glance that this was the finest honey in the Star Dou Great Forest.
And now Di Tian was spreading that honey evenly over his severed paw.
Xiong Jun: Is this hell?!
The honey sizzled over the flames. Its rich sweetness mingled with the savory aroma of the bear paw, spreading throughout the Lake of Life.
Although the Auspicious Beast's tastes now leaned toward the Overlord Drumstick, it still could not help drooling when it caught that scent.
Just as everyone was lost in the aroma of honey-roasted bear paw, a thunderous noise suddenly rang out nearby.
"Grrrrrrr-!"
Everyone turned to look and discovered that the sound had come from Xiong Jun.
"What are you looking at? Never heard this old bear's stomach growl?!" The smell of his own roasted paw had left Xiong Jun ravenous. If Di Tian had not been there, he would already have rushed over to snatch it.
No sooner had he spoken than a fragrance different from that of the honey-roasted bear paw swiftly drifted into his nose.
"Wh-what is that smell?! It's even more fragrant than my paw!"
Xiong Jun turned and saw Gao Ren holding a drumstick, disbelief written all over his face.
"A drumstick?! How could it be a drumstick?! How could a drumstick possibly smell better than a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's paw?!"
Before you continue