"Light... dragons... destiny... I can be certain that these words are inextricably bound to me."
The gray figure hovered before Huo Yuhao, muttering to himself as though desperately searching his memories.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion paced in front of him, yet never dared approach.
"Alas-sadly, I am only a wisp of a remnant soul. I can no longer recall my past." After a long while, the gray figure let out a deep sigh.
"Who exactly are you?" the Three-Eyed Golden Lion asked, feeling the terrifying pressure emanating from the gray figure.
"Who am I, indeed?" the gray figure sighed. "I have forgotten that as well. I remember only two lines."
"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; beneath the heavens, none compares to me!"
He recited them calmly, yet the pressure emanating from him grew even stronger.
The pressure left the Three-Eyed Golden Lion struggling to breathe, forcing her to lower her noble head.
But that pressure did not linger. It soon dissipated.
"Go back, little dragon bound to destiny!" The gray figure gradually blurred. "You are no match!"
As soon as he finished speaking, his already indistinct form grew even fainter, finally turning into a wisp of gray mist that slipped into the back of Huo Yuhao's head.
"Where did he go?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked around nervously.
Who knew what tricks a mysterious figure capable of releasing such terrifying pressure might possess?
No.
His presence really had vanished completely.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion burst out laughing. "Hahaha! So he was just another fraud putting on a supernatural act."
"What are you laughing at, Lion Dog?"
That familiar voice rang out again, and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's laughter abruptly stopped.
Born noble and worshipped by soul beasts, when had she ever been insulted over and over again as she had today?
And by a weak little human, no less!
"Human, you still..."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion gritted her teeth and glared furiously toward Huo Yuhao, only to freeze as her gaze swept over him.
What had she seen?
A pair of utterly clear golden eyes.
Their owner was a little girl, behind whom stood a gigantic white-jade silkworm patterned with gold.
Golden and white clusters of light flickered over the giant silkworm, constantly converging on the little girl.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion knew him. He was that huge worm the other ferocious beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest had captured, constantly draining his natural energy to advance their cultivation.
She had coveted the brain matter of this huge mental-attribute worm for a long time.
But this was her first time meeting the eyes of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's human form. Those clear golden eyes seemed like golden abysses, threatening to suck away her consciousness.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion felt as though time had frozen at that instant. In her eyes, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had not moved, yet the distance between them kept shrinking, those golden eyes growing ever larger.
Those clear eyes were like a polished mirror. In them, she saw another soul beast.
It was a terrified, lion-shaped soul beast, the third eye on its forehead contracting in fear.
It was her own reflection.
The gray figure's words echoed in her ears.
"You are no match!"
At that moment, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Spiritual Power erupted. His vast Spiritual Power condensed into an intangible golden arrow that shot toward the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion did not dodge-or rather, she forgot to dodge, staring blankly as the arrow shot toward her forehead.
Spiritual Shock, condensed from a million years of Spiritual Power!
No matter how inept the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was at combat, he was still a genuine million-year soul beast on this continent!
This was a million-year soul beast's all-out strike!
"Aah-!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion let out an agonized howl that resounded through the forest.
It hurt!
It hurt so much!
She seemed to hear something shatter, and vicious blood vessels webbed the third eye on her forehead.
"Aah-aah-!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion rampaged through the forest in agony, smashing countless trees that came crashing down.
Soon, as her screams grew increasingly distant, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's figure disappeared into the depths of the Star Dou Great Forest.
"I did it... I actually did it..."
The surrounding wall of fire went out, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm collapsed to the ground again. His voice trembled not with fear anymore, but with sheer excitement.
He could feel the human heart inside his conjured body pounding at the very limit of what it could bear.
"Well done. We're not finished yet," Huo Yuhao praised him. "Now it's our turn to run for our lives."
"If that Emperor Auspicious Beast really has such powerful backing, that is."
Hearing this, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gave a bitter smile. "Now it really is a fight to the death between me and those fellows in the Star Dou Great Forest."
"No." Huo Yuhao shook his head. "It should have been a fight to the death from the moment they imprisoned you."
"Are you really a human...?" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could not understand how Huo Yuhao's mind worked, but his words held an irresistible allure.
I've... boarded a pirate ship...
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm smiled bitterly, but his smile suddenly froze.
He clutched his head with both hands, curled up on the ground, and began screaming.
"Aaaaaah-!"
Behind him, his true silkworm body also began rolling in agony.
"What's wrong?" A sense of dread rose in Huo Yuhao's heart, and he hurriedly asked.
"I... I'm suffering a backlash..." The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm fought through the searing pain in his sea of consciousness, gasping for breath. "The Emperor Auspicious Beast bears the fortune of all soul beasts. E-even with a million years of cultivation, I can't possibly withstand it..."
"Quick... boy... come here..."
She felt her vision and Spiritual Power detection beginning to blur. She had to complete that step immediately.
Huo Yuhao walked over and crouched beside him. Using every last ounce of strength, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm embraced him and pressed his forehead against Huo Yuhao's.
An icy chill spread from his forehead, and immense Spiritual Power poured into Huo Yuhao's mind once more.
He had experienced this once already, but this time he did not resist. Instead, he accepted all of that mysterious power.
Both the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's human form and his true body dissolved into specks of white-gold light, merging with Huo Yuhao.
After receiving all of that power, Huo Yuhao lost consciousness as well.
"Aaaaaah-!"
Meanwhile, somewhere within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Ever since the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had pierced her sea of consciousness, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had been running like mad.
She knew neither exhaustion nor hunger nor thirst. Every other sensation was drowned out by the agony in her mind. She had smashed through every rock and tree in her path, leaving her covered in wounds.
In this frenzied state, she had run for hundreds of miles without stopping.
No soul beast dared stand in her way.
At last, her strength failed, and she collapsed somewhere in the forest.
At the same time, in the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
This was the Star Dou Great Forest's true forbidden ground, home to more hundred-thousand-year soul beasts than humans could imagine.
At that moment, two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts of the same attribute were about to fight to the death over a natural treasure.
The victor would claim it and advance their cultivation another step.
Just as the two beasts stood with swords drawn and bows bent, a furious roar came from deeper within the forest.
"Who was it?!"
"Who on earth was it?!"
"Who twisted the fortune of my Soul Beast Clan?!"
Terrifying pressure accompanied the roar. Even those two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts stopped fighting, trembling as they bowed in submission toward its source.
A low dragon's roar echoed over the Star Dou Great Forest for a long time.
"Search!"
"All of you, go and search!"
"Bring the Auspicious Beast back to me-in! One! Piece!"
The two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts no longer dared fight and headed out of the core region together.