In the forbidden heart of the Star Dou Great Forest lay the Lake of Life.
The lake was still as a mirror, wreathed in a life aura so dense it had almost taken physical form. Yet in the deepest reaches of this vibrant sanctuary, a being who had endured a million years of pain lay slumbering.
Carrying the Three-Eyed Golden Beast, the Scarlet King streaked across the lake like a line of fire, startling several ten-thousand-year soul beasts drinking along the shore. Without pausing, he charged straight toward the enormous tree at the center of the lake.
"Di Tian, Bi Ji, I have something important to report!" Before the Scarlet King even landed, his deep voice rang out from all three heads at once.
Darkness surged, and Di Tian appeared silently before him, clad in black robes. His expression was stern, his authority palpable even without anger. Immediately afterward, a gentle, graceful woman in a jade-green dress quietly appeared as well. She was Bi Ji, the Emerald Swan, ranked fourth among the top ten ferocious beasts.
"Why are you so alarmed? Auspicious Beast, where have you been?" Di Tian swept his golden gaze over them, immediately detecting an exceedingly subtle change in the Three-Eyed Golden Beast's aura, though nothing seemed seriously amiss.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion leaped from the Scarlet King's back and approached Di Tian and Bi Ji. Concealing nothing, she recounted everything exactly as it had happened: how an unusual aura had drawn her over, how she had met Dai Youheng and the Snow Empress, and how they had made their exchange.
When he heard that the Auspicious Beast had willingly separated a strand of her power of destiny and given it to a human, Di Tian's expression instantly darkened. The space around him began to distort faintly,