Golden soul power surged around Qian Daoliu once more, carrying him slowly into the air. The clouds were cold and damp, but scattered the instant they touched his soul power, revealing the scene above:
Di Tian's true form circled high overhead. Hard scales covered his enormous black draconic body, and his horns pointed toward the sky like golden swords. His golden dragon eyes shone brighter than the sun, and even a gentle sweep of his tail sent a shriek tearing through the air.
"Lord Di Tian, I have long heard of your great name."
Qian Daoliu stopped before Di Tian's true form, his tone calm yet respectful.
"I am Qian Daoliu, the Great Enshrined of Spirit Hall. I did not come today to deliberately disturb your long slumber, but to discuss a mutually beneficial partnership with Star Dou's soul beasts."
"A partnership?"
Di Tian's voice came from his enormous dragon head, laced with undisguised mockery. Cold fury churned in his golden vertical pupils.
"Humans and soul beasts have only ever shared a life-and-death relationship of hunter and hunted. What partnership could there possibly be? You slaughter our young, seize our soul rings and soul bones, and treat our lives as stepping stones to greater strength. Now you come in the name of 'partnership.' Don't you find that laughable?"
His words concealed pain etched into his bloodline. As the ruler of the Star Dou Great Forest, he had witnessed far too many tragedies: human soul masters exterminating every low-ranking soul beast in an area to obtain a suitable soul ring; soul masters laying deadly poison traps to surround and kill defenseless young soul beasts that had only just assumed human form; and factions mobilizing vast numbers of soul masters to raze entire soul beast habitats for suitable soul bones.
Those scenes