"Where are you planning to go this time, my lady Auspicious Beast?"
At the deep voice coming from behind her, the young Auspicious Beast stiffened and slowly turned her head.
As she turned, a canine Soul Beast came into view. It resembled a lion, with a body over five meters long and three enormous heads, each more than a meter across, its entire body covered in fiery fur.
This was the Scarlet King, ranked eighth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, with over three hundred thousand years of cultivation. He was also the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's current bodyguard.
The young Auspicious Beast stammered slightly. "Uh, hahaha, n-nowhere! I was just going to take my new underling to the Core Area to play."
"Oh, right, take a look at my underling! Isn't he impressive? He may only have around three thousand years of cultivation, but plenty of Soul Beasts with forty or fifty thousand years of cultivation are no match for him."
The young Auspicious Beast was clearly quite pleased with herself as she said this. After all, such a formidable underling made her look good.
There were plenty of things she no longer needed to handle herself.
Even if she wanted to sneak out to play again in the future, having a powerful underling to help would make it much easier.
The Scarlet King snorted, sending a blast of hot air from his six nostrils. "I'll settle accounts with you later."
Yet as soon as he said it, helplessness welled up inside him.
He could say that, but what could he actually do? He could not subject this little ancestor to even a slightly harsh lesson. At most, he could scold her.
But over the past ten thousand years, she had already heard such scoldings countless times. They were utterly useless, going in one ear and out the other.
Next, the Scarlet King turned his gaze to Zeng Tian beside her and began looking this newly emerged rising star among Soul Beasts up and down.
Zeng Tian was likewise sizing up the newly arrived Scarlet King.
Zeng Tian was not surprised by his appearance. Since the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was here, the Scarlet King, as her bodyguard, should naturally have been following close behind.
Though this bodyguard seemed somewhat unfit for the job. In the original story, he had allowed Xuan Zi to capture the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, ultimately leading to the Auspicious Beast's death.
"How strange. Even I can't quite see through this mutated Soul Beast. What kind of Soul Beast did he mutate from?"
After examining him closely, the Scarlet King clicked his tongue in wonder.
Generally speaking, even mutated Soul Beasts retained some traces of their original species' appearance.
Even mutations that inherited the strengths of both parents still bore traces of their parents.
Yet the Scarlet King searched through hundreds of thousands of years of memories and could not find a single Soul Beast that matched the mutated Soul Beast before him.
"Perhaps I should take him back and let Di Tian and the others have a look."
The Scarlet King thought this to himself.
As the captain of the Dragon God's personal guard, Di Tian was widely knowledgeable and would surely recognize Zeng Tian's origins.
Moreover, judging by Zeng Tian's earlier performance, as long as he survived, he would surely overcome a Heavenly Tribulation in the future, become a ferocious beast, and join their ranks.
Since they had discovered him, they needed to nurture him properly.
Even setting all that aside, now that Zeng Tian was the Auspicious Beast's playmate, he needed to be taken back for Di Tian's appraisal. Only with Di Tian's approval could he truly spend time with her.
Otherwise, if anything happened, the Scarlet King could not bear that responsibility.
The Scarlet King nodded and said, "I watched your fight just now. You really were impressive. What's your name, boy?"
At this, the young Auspicious Beast also looked curiously at Zeng Tian. Come to think of it, she still did not know what her underling was called.
"You can call me Charmeleon. That's the name of my current species. Of course, if possible, I'd prefer you to call me Zeng Tian," Zeng Tian replied.
"Zeng Tian? You have 'Tian' in your name, just like Di Tian!"
The young Auspicious Beast thought little of it, merely finding it surprising that Zeng Tian's name resembled Di Tian's.
But upon hearing the name, the Scarlet King looked at Zeng Tian with some hesitation. "That name sounds rather like a human name. Have you had contact with humans?"
Zeng Tian nodded. "I have. I learned a little about their culture and gave myself this name."
"Wow, Zeng Tian, you know about humans too? Hurry up and tell me what things are like over there! Is it fun?"
Upon hearing that Zeng Tian actually knew about human society, the young Auspicious Beast's curiosity immediately flared, filling her eyes.
Oh, no!
The Scarlet King inwardly sensed trouble. If the Auspicious Beast became attracted to human life and ran off to their territory, things would be disastrous.
He immediately interrupted. "All right, my lady Auspicious Beast, you can ask those questions later. It's time we went back. Di Tian and the others will also be very curious about this new playmate of yours. You wouldn't want to be unable to play with Zeng Tian in the future, would you?"
"Oh."
At these words, the young Auspicious Beast immediately fell silent, though she sounded somewhat aggrieved.
Seeing this, the Scarlet King breathed a sigh of relief, then said to Zeng Tian, "Come with us."
The Scarlet King immediately became a streak of dark red light and headed toward the Core Area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion glanced at Zeng Tian, then likewise became a streak of golden light and followed him.
Are they testing my speed?
Previously, Zeng Tian would indeed have fallen short in this regard, but after mastering Flame Charge, speed was no longer his weakness.
The next instant, blue-white flames rose from his feet and enveloped his entire body. Then, bathed in flames, Zeng Tian flashed away, vanishing from the spot as a streak of blue-white light.
Only the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Hound remained, utterly bewildered. Wait, so now I'm the outsider?
Deep in the forest, three streaks of differently colored light raced past in succession. The dark red and golden streaks were slightly faster, but the blue-white streak was gradually catching up.
"Oh? A mere thousand-year Soul Beast actually possesses such speed?"
As he ran, the Scarlet King glanced back at Zeng Tian, who was gradually catching up, and showed a hint of surprise.
Even a Sharp-Tailed Swift, renowned among Soul Beasts for its speed, would probably struggle to reach such speeds at Zeng Tian's level of cultivation.
Then let me see where your limit lies.
The Scarlet King then began gradually increasing his speed again.
The young Auspicious Beast immediately noticed the change and looked back with some concern.
But she soon realized that her worries were unnecessary.
Not only had Zeng Tian not fallen behind, he was moving faster and faster, showing signs of overtaking her.
So, to avoid being overtaken by her own underling, the young Auspicious Beast also began picking up speed.
A quarter of an hour later.
Flame Charge's effect has already reached its limit.
Looking at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion and the Scarlet King ahead, Zeng Tian sighed inwardly.
Flame Charge essentially absorbed the power of flames to increase his speed. Each successful use of Stockpile increased his speed by fifty percent.
Although reality imposed no limit of six stat boosts, his body's endurance and his ability to control it still had their limits.
His speed was now four times what it had been when running flat out. If he used Stockpile again, his body would be highly likely to break down under the strain, and he was already finding his current speed somewhat difficult to control.