Star Dou Great Forest, core area.
A streak of golden light raced through the jungle like a little sun.
Only after leaving the core area did the golden streak slow down, revealing her form.
She was a beautiful soul beast over three meters long and eight feet tall at the shoulder, her entire body covered in brilliant golden fur.
She resembled both a lion and a dragon, with golden flames beneath her feet and a vertical golden eye atop her head. Her whole body seemed like translucent crystal, with a strange, wondrous texture.
This was the Auspicious Beast the Scarlet King and the others had spoken of-the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, who would later take the form of Wang Qiu'er.
"Heeheehee, I finally shook off that old fellow! Now no beast can boss me around."
A clear, captivating female voice rang from the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's mouth, her face brimming with the smug delight of breaking free of her restraints.
"Hmm, where should I go play next?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion rolled her eyes thoughtfully for a moment, then they suddenly lit up.
She held a paw in front of her mouth, a wicked grin on her face. "That old fellow is always bossing me around. Why don't I go beat up his clansmen? Let's see if he still dares to boss me around after that."
No sooner said than done. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion flashed away, once more becoming a streak of golden light.
After she left, the enormous figure of a dark red beast emerged.
Recalling what the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had just said, the Scarlet King sighed helplessly. "That little tyrant really is getting more mischievous by the day."
This was hardly the first time the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had done something like this. When the other ferocious beasts had served as her bodyguards, their own species had all suffered no small amount of havoc at her paws.
Even soul beasts such as the dark gold terrorclaw bears, whose combat strength was not much below the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's, dared not use their full strength against her because of her status as the Auspicious Beast, and ended up taking miserable beatings.
In the end, none of those ferocious beasts wanted to serve as the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's bodyguard anymore, so the task naturally fell to the Scarlet King.
There was nothing he could do. Who told him to be weak and have so little say?
"Sorry, my clansmen. Just let the Auspicious Beast vent a little."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion ate only the brains of light-attribute soul beasts, so the Scarlet King was not worried about what she might do to the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hounds.
After all, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion almost never killed soul beasts except when feeding. Even if she set her sights on them, they would suffer nothing worse than some battered flesh.
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hounds' gathering grounds.
"Bam!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion pinned a ten-thousand-year-old Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound beneath her paw and chuckled. "Had enough? That's what you get for your ancestor bossing me around every day."
"Whimper, whimper~" (I yield, I yield! Lady Auspicious Beast is the greatest in the world!)
As he said this, tears of humiliation spilled from the ten-thousand-year-old Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound's eyes.
What sin had he committed to deserve this? A few days ago, an unfamiliar thousand-year-old soul beast had defeated him. He had finally made it back to his clan's territory, only to encounter the Auspicious Beast wreaking havoc there. His wounds, which had only just healed, were back to their former state-or even worse.
"Hmph, glad you know it."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion gave a little snort, then asked, "Tell me, has anything fun happened in Star Dou Great Forest lately? If you tell me something that interests me, I'll let you go."
"Something fun?"
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound paused, then began recalling what had happened in the forest recently.
"A year ago, a Man Faced Demon Spider failed to break through to a hundred thousand years."
"I've heard that one. Failing a breakthrough with me around? What a complete waste."
"I heard Lord Xiong Jun and Lord Di Tian had another dispute recently. It seems they disagree on how to treat humans."
"I know more about that than you do."
Next, the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound shared several more secrets about the forest, but none caught the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's interest.
Finally, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion grew impatient and urged him, "Hey, hey! Why is everything you tell me so boring?"
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound smiled bitterly at that. Most soul beasts did nothing but eat and sleep. What fun things could possibly happen? Cunning humans were much better at that sort of thing.
But did he dare say so?
If he made the Auspicious Beast curious about the human world, planting the idea of escaping Star Dou Great Forest to go there, those ferocious beasts would surely skin him and rip out his tendons.
Suddenly, inspiration flashed through the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound's mind, and he remembered something.
"Actually, a few days ago, I encountered a thousand-year-old soul beast I'd never seen before. He seemed to be a mutant. He was very powerful-even I was no match for him.
After I reported it to our ancestor, he seemed interested in subduing him, then having him mate with the females of our clan to see whether his mutated bloodline could be passed down."
"Oh? A mutant soul beast you've never seen before?"
At those words, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's expression shifted.
An ordinary mutant soul beast would naturally be unable to interest her. After all, how many soul beasts had she seen over ten thousand years? There had been no shortage of mutants among them.
But this was the first time she had heard of a thousand-year-old beast defeating a ten-thousand-year soul beast, especially a top-tier one like a Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound.
Most importantly, this was a soul beast that annoying old fellow wanted to subdue. If she snatched him up first, she would definitely make that annoying old fellow angry.
The next moment, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion lifted the paw pinning the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound's head and said in her clear female voice, "Lead the way. I want to see just what this soul beast looks like."
"Whimper, whimper~" (Yes, yes!)
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound hurriedly nodded, kicked off with both legs, and transformed into a streak of dark red light heading south.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion followed behind him. Speed was not the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound's forte, so she kept up easily.
A long while later, two streaks of light, one red and one gold, stopped before a volcano.
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound lowered his head and told the Three-Eyed Golden Lion beside him, "This is the place. That soul beast has taken over this volcano. He should still be here."
"Go call him out."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion gave the Three-Headed Dog a meaningful look.
At her words, the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound quickly stepped forward and let out a low roar.
As soon as that roar rang out, a muffled boom came from within the volcano. The next moment, a figure wreathed in flames burst out.
"Awooo!" (Hahaha, you're back!)
Zeng Tian was delighted. His punching bag had finally returned.
Over the past few days, Zeng Tian had tried searching for other soul beasts to fight. However, there were few ten-thousand-year soul beasts in the Mixed Zone to begin with, and even fewer whose strength matched his.
As for soul beasts like the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound, who were close to his strength and resistant to fire, he had not found a single one.
But the next moment, Zeng Tian frowned.
Seriously, can't you play fair? You actually brought someone... no, another beast!
After seeing Zeng Tian appear, the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound immediately puffed out his chest and said, "Roar, roar!" (Your opponent today isn't me, but this esteemed lady.)