"Are you going to agree or not?"
The Golden Dragon King asked Lin Ming apprehensively.
Without Lin Ming's agreement, he could accomplish nothing.
Now, truly, Lin Ming would be the making of him or the breaking of him.
"If I refuse, you'll keep pestering me, won't you?
"Sigh, I really just wanted to be an ordinary Soul Master and live out an unremarkable life."
Lin Ming quietly showed off.
"Kid, your ability means you can never be ordinary. You're destined to be the king of this world. Even if the Divine Realm returns someday, it'll bow before your ability. Your Reincarnation Tower is just that fucking amazing.
"Honestly, it's been a long time since I flattered anyone like this. You're one of the few."
"Honestly?"
"Of course I'm being honest. So could you consider it?
"We can work together and both come out ahead!
"Sure, the Soul Beast Clan has nothing to do with you, since you're human, but the two of us are bound together. For my sake, help the Soul Beast Clan out. You stand to gain too, don't you?"
In truth, the Golden Dragon King's greatest worry was that Lin Ming held reservations about their being Soul Beasts. Those not of our kind must harbor different hearts, so he feared Lin Ming would refuse to help the Soul Beasts for that reason.
But he did not know that Lin Ming was a transmigrator. Lin Ming had none of this world's patriotic attachments.
Besides, The Legend of the Dragon King was an incredibly ironic era. The original Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire had been driven from their homelands, out to sea, and forced to find a new continent.
Meanwhile, the invading Sun Moon Empire had seized the entire Douluo Continent and become its legitimate ruler.
And Shrek Academy still stood unshaken. How was that any different from being traitors?
Actually, back when he read Peerless Tang Sect, he had already felt something was off!
Shrek was the biggest fence-sitter of all. Whichever side won, they benefited. Simply incredible.
He had never seen such a shameless power.
They had climbed to that position by sucking the native continent's blood and monopolizing all its geniuses. In the end, the entire continent fell, completely overrun by the Sun Moon Empire. Yet Shrek, the power that had enjoyed the original continent's best benefits, best resources, and best geniuses, had not fought them to the death. Instead, they had happily blended right in. Shameful.
All he could say was that Shrek Academy deserved to be blown up. It was immensely satisfying. The world had suffered under Shrek for far too long.
Fence-sitting powers like that pleased neither side. No one dared resist openly, but in their hearts, they hated them to death.
"I need to think about it."
"What's left to think about? You're killing me here! How about we go find Beast God Di Tian today?
"It's a long journey, after all."
"All right, I agree. But we need to lay down three ground rules."
"Fine. Never mind three, even thirty would be fine."
"First, I won't step forward for now. Once we contact Di Tian, he and the rest of the Soul Beast Group will handle everything. I won't expose myself."
"Of course. We need to be cautious right now. After all, when I arrived on this Douluo Continent, my divine sense detected quite a few gods still in this world. They're probably contingencies that son of a bitch Tang San left behind."
At the Golden Dragon King's words, Lin Ming's eyes immediately lit up.
This fellow was a little too clever. Still, he was clever where he ought to be, and not clever where he ought not to be. That was a good thing for Lin Ming.
"Second, I take the lead in everything.
"You're the Golden Dragon King, the lord of the Soul Beast Clan, while I'm your master. Di Tian and the others must honor me above themselves. Once we reach Star Dou Great Forest, you have to make them obey."
"No way! Why should you be my master? I'm the Golden Dragon King!"
"You used to be. Right now, you're just a fart. Without me, you're nothing.
"When you can break free of my Martial Soul someday, we can discuss the rest."
"Fine."
The Golden Dragon King immediately backed down. He knew Lin Ming's temperament; if he refused, Lin Ming probably really would not help.
"Third, I get seventy percent of all the proceeds, and you get thirty.
"That means, of the Soul Beast Clan we revive in the future, thirty percent are yours, and seventy percent are mine."
"Why? Why should a human like you get seventy percent? Fifty-fifty at most."
"Because I have the Reincarnation Tower!"
"No. I won't budge on this."
"Heh, heh~"
Lin Ming crossed one leg over the other and looked at him coldly.
"Golden Dragon King, don't think I don't know what you're thinking. It's true that you're raising these Soul Beasts to devour their blood essence, but what you need most is their power of faith, isn't it?"
"How did you know?"
At that, Lin Ming immediately smiled.
"You seem to have forgotten what I told you before. After you fused with me, all your previous memories were shared with me.
"You've forcibly severed the connection between the Martial Soul and my original body now, but I still remember those earlier memories perfectly clearly."
Severing the feedback was something Lin Ming had tacitly allowed. He did not want to share every perception with the Golden Dragon King. This was the drawback of a detached Martial Soul. He could accept feedback, but he did not want the sensations.
In short, he wanted the benefits, not the suffering.
Although he could no longer pry into the Golden Dragon King's memories afterward, he was not particularly interested in looking anyway.
After all, the Golden Dragon King was not only his detached Martial Soul; his soul also bore the Reincarnation Tower's brand. He would never be able to defy Lin Ming in this lifetime.
It was only because Lin Ming currently could not control the Reincarnation Tower or fully control the Golden Dragon King that he had agreed to waste a few more words on him.
Who would have thought the Golden Dragon King would completely break down?
"I have no secrets from you! Damn this binding! I refuse to accept it!
"Seventy percent of the faith? Your appetite is too big."
Indeed, the reason he was willing to expend so much effort resurrecting these subjects, who were nothing more than food in his eyes, was actually their faith. Only enough power of faith could heal the wounds to his soul.
"Seventy percent! You're too ruthless. Sixty at most."
"Seventy, or there's nothing to discuss."
"Don't! We're one. I'm your Martial Soul. Isn't it the same whether I absorb the power of faith or you do?"
"All right, then give me all of it. As the vessel, I'll absorb all the faith. It's all the same anyway."
"No."
"Aren't we one, with no distinction between you and me? Why isn't it all right now?"
"Fine. Seventy percent it is. You win."
The Golden Dragon King compromised. Thirty percent of the power of faith was very little, but as long as the Silver Dragon King did not take a share, it would be enough.
Previously, all the power of faith produced by these Soul Beasts had gone to the Silver Dragon King. He had not enjoyed a single bit of it, which infuriated him.
Yet by the time he could enjoy it, the Soul Beasts had already been slaughtered to extinction. He even suspected the Silver Dragon King had done it deliberately, killing the donkey once it had finished turning the mill after her wounds healed, unwilling to share the faith with him lest he devour her.
When it came to conspiracy theories, the Golden Dragon King certainly had a brain.
But in any case, these Soul Beasts he resurrected could not possibly worship the Silver Dragon King. He could rest easy on that point. He could enjoy all their power of faith.
Thirty percent of the faith would be enough. Besides, this fellow was not a Soul Beast and had no ability to use the power of faith. When the time came, wouldn't he have to obediently hand the faith over to him?
Heh, heh, heh!
Simply perfect. After being dead for six years and trapped for six years, he was finally about to be reborn.
Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.
"All right, I agree. But you have to come with me to Star Dou Great Forest today. I can't wait any longer."
"Sure."
Lin Ming nodded.
"Let's go. A perfect chance to meet these last few Soul Beasts the Silver Dragon King screwed over so badly."
Before you continue