The corner of Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.
That much!
What a bottomless pit!
Just then, however, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion keenly noticed his unhappy expression. Turning her head aside, she said with a hint of grievance, "I wasn't willing to help you weather this calamity in the first place. You've been plagued by bad luck, and you've even come into conflict with certain people blessed with fortune. Unless your luck changes, you probably only have a few years left to live."
"I'm saving your life, yet you can't even satisfy this tiny request. Forget it, then."
With that, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion resumed enjoying her late-night meal.
Jiang Chen hurriedly said, "I was just shocked that you could eat so much. I agree to the deal."
That's more like it... The Three-Eyed Golden Lion raised her chin in satisfaction and lifted a paw. "Come over here, then. I'll change your luck."
Jiang Chen immediately stepped forward.
The Ice Empress stood nearby, curiously studying the human and beast. She was deeply intrigued by the Auspicious Beast's abilities.
Legend had it that an Auspicious Beast could bestow blessings and alter fate, but she had never seen it herself.
Today, she would take a good look at how the Auspicious Beast did it.
Under the Ice Empress's gaze, the Eye of Destiny on the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's forehead lit up, radiating endless multicolored brilliance. It held a mysterious power that defied comprehension and discouraged anyone from prying into it.
This was the power of destiny.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion chanted an incantation and cried, "In the name of the Auspicious Beast, I invoke the Blessing Art!"
In an instant, the power within her vertical golden pupil swept over Jiang Chen, dispelling all his ill fortune.
The process lasted only a dozen or so seconds. Jiang Chen felt neither discomfort nor any increase in soul power. It seemed he had merely been bathed in light before the Blessing Art ended.
Jiang Chen was quite surprised. He had never expected the legendary power of destiny to be so mystifying.
Wait a minute?
Had the Three-Eyed Golden Lion been playing him for a fool?
Jiang Chen turned and asked, "Did you really change my luck?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lay quietly on the ground and said somewhat weakly, "Of course. It took a great deal of effort to dispel your ill fortune. Your luck will improve from now on."
"Those who receive my Star Dou fortune may attain the Ultimate."
Jiang Chen silently gave her a thumbs-up.
This Auspicious Beast really delivered. As expected of an SSR-card-level existence, she kept her word.
For the rest of the night, Jiang Chen lost his freedom entirely, becoming the Auspicious Beast's personal cook and endlessly feeding this gluttonous creature with her enormous appetite.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lay waiting the whole time, eating until grease coated her mouth.
Only at daybreak did Jiang Chen, with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's arrangements, evade the Scarlet King's search and leave the cave to look for Shrek's soul-hunting team.
Meanwhile, in the area near the core region, Shrek's soul-hunting team was frantically searching for Jiang Chen.
All of them had suffered injuries of varying severity, but fortunately, Xuan Zi had returned in time, and no one had died.
Yet something more terrifying than death had happened.
Jiang Chen was missing.
At that moment, Xuan Zi had activated his Martial Soul Avatar and was relentlessly pounding the dying hundred-thousand-year Silver Moon Wolf King. He roared, "Where is my student? Hand him over, or I'll slaughter every last one of your descendants and wipe out your entire clan!"
The hundred-thousand-year Silver Moon Wolf King howled incessantly, consumed by anguish.
It was about to die.
But it had no idea where that human was, either.
It had come for Zhang Lexuan. Why would it have cared whether some human brat lived or died? Wasn't this asking the impossible of a soul beast?
Xuan Zi, however, paid no heed to anything else. He seized the Wolf King's head and kept hammering it, venting the fury in his heart.
All he wanted now was to grind this Wolf King's bones to dust and scatter its ashes, calming himself a little.
If Jiang Chen died, Mu En would surely go mad.
When that happened, even resigning would not solve the problem. Mu En would surely grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes.
That boy was Shrek Academy's hope.
As the other members of the soul-hunting team witnessed Xuan Zi's brutality, none dared step forward to stop him.
They all understood that Xuan Zi was venting his emotions.
Jiang Chen had disappeared in the mixed region near the core region. The odds were that disaster had already overtaken him.
Alas!
Shrek was about to lose another pillar of talent. What a terrible pity.
"Lexuan, go talk some sense into Xuan Zi!"
Han Ruoruo truly did not want to watch Xuan Zi continue this rampage, and worry was quietly mounting in her heart.
From night until day, Xuan Zi had remained in this state without once regaining his senses.
They were still in a dangerous part of the Star Dou Great Forest. They could easily attract another ferocious beast, or even draw the attention of Beast God Di Tian.
At a time like this, only Zhang Lexuan could persuade him. Xuan Zi would only listen to Lexuan.
"I'll try." Zhang Lexuan took a deep breath and walked up to Xuan Zi. With some self-reproach, she said, "Xuan Zi, Junior Jiang Chen has most likely been killed. We should accept our loss. I bear the main responsibility for what happened."
Xuan Zi's raised hand froze. His eyes gradually cleared, and he sank to the ground as though all his strength had drained away.
Yes!
Jiang Chen had most likely met with disaster and would never return.
The dead could not come back to life, after all. Carrying on like this was no solution.
The other students also came forward to console him.
Xuan Zi sighed and slowly rose. "I caused this incident single-handedly, and I will never shirk responsibility. It's just such a pity about that boy, Jiang Chen."
"Please accept the loss," Zhang Lexuan said.
The other students lowered their heads as well, their spirits utterly crushed.
Dai Yueheng also lowered his head, but he could not conceal the wild delight in his eyes.
That man who insulted his father had better die out here.
Yet just as everyone was about to head back, Jiang Chen's somewhat bedraggled figure darted out. Spotting them, he waved and said, "Everyone, I'm still alive."
At his words, those who had been so dejected abruptly raised their heads and stared at Jiang Chen in disbelief.
Apart from looking a little disheveled, he was uninjured.
Even Zhang Lexuan was stunned.
Jiang Chen was actually fine. He had survived. What incredible fortune and resilience!
Under those circumstances, Jiang Chen, the weakest among them, should have had little chance of survival. Yet he had survived all the same.
Xuan Zi rushed over at once, weeping with joy. He hugged Jiang Chen and shouted, "Child, you're still alive!"
As he spoke, the old man actually began to cry.
Jiang Chen said, "I'm still alive."
Then Jiang Chen explained to everyone how he had survived and spent the night in a certain soul beast's cave.
After hearing his account, Xuan Zi repeatedly marveled at Jiang Chen's extraordinary luck in surviving such circumstances.
Now Mu En wouldn't give him a beating when he returned.
Dai Yueheng narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself, "Jiang Chen really is hard to kill. Even that didn't finish him off."
After exchanging a few pleasantries with his teammates, Jiang Chen and the others once again set off to hunt for his fourth soul ring.
This time, Xuan Zi did not slack off. It took him only an hour to hunt down a ten-thousand-year Ice Falcon.
Once Jiang Chen finished absorbing it, his soul power rose straight to rank forty-three. He advanced to a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor and gained his fourth soul skill, Phoenix's Binding.
It was an area control soul skill that immobilized opponents for a full three seconds. During that time, they could use neither soul skills nor spiritual soul skills, making it a top-tier control skill.
With the soul hunt complete, the team returned to Shrek Academy.
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