At those words, Lin Mo's mouth twitched. He might as well not have asked those three questions.
Take the first two questions.
The answers from this soul beast calling itself the Three-Eyed Golden Lion were like him asking someone, "What are you having for lunch?"
And them answering, "Food."
Truly, listening to those words was like listening to those words.
Besides, he had just quickly gone through his knowledge. The outer court library had no record whatsoever of a soul beast called the "Three-Eyed Golden Lion."
And the only good news right now was that this Three-Eyed Golden Lion liked him. He would not have to start a new run just yet.
Seeing Lin Mo zoning out again, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion nudged him once more, then patted the thing it had brought over in its mouth with a paw.
"Little bird, eat this. It's yummy!"
Lin Mo followed the direction its paw was patting, reached down to pick up the blue-green fruit by his feet, and examined it closely.
It was a fist-sized fruit, its skin a lush, almost dripping green, its surface covered in fine, pale golden markings like leaf veins. A faint, soft, jade-like glow flowed over the entire fruit. One look made it clear this was no ordinary thing.
As he looked, the knowledge in Lin Mo's head gradually matched up with the thing in his hand.
He gently broke the fruit open.
In an instant, an incredibly fresh, sweet scent of vegetation gushed from the opening and flooded his nose. Just a whiff settled the mind and soothed the entire body.
The flesh inside was a translucent jade green, glistening like jelly and oozing refreshing, pale green juice. At its center was just one tiny, milky-white seed the size of a grain of rice, with a strand of emerald light wound around it.
That shape, those markings, that scent...
It really was a Vitality Fruit!
Then Lin Mo's gaze fell on the skin again, and he began counting the golden markings on it.
"One, two, three... nine, ten!"
" Hiss... a ten-thousand-year Vitality Fruit?!"
Lin Mo sucked in a sharp breath.
This blue-green fruit was called a Vitality Fruit, an exceedingly rare life-attribute fruit whose main effects were repairing hidden injuries in the meridians and nourishing the body.
Its starting price was two thousand gold soul coins, and that was only for a hundred-year Vitality Fruit.
A Vitality Fruit developed one golden marking every thousand years.
And the one in his hand had a full ten golden markings!
Meaning it was a ten-thousand-year Vitality Fruit!!
Besides nourishing the body and repairing the meridians, a ten-thousand-year Vitality Fruit could also directly restore and nurture one's life origin.
It was a rare treasure with a price but no supply. Put it out there, and countless soul masters would crack their heads fighting over it!
Holding that little fruit, Lin Mo's hands trembled slightly.
After a long while, he forcibly suppressed the urge to swallow the Vitality Fruit in one bite and turned toward the Three-Eyed Golden Lion beside him. "Um, well, Three-Eyed Golden Lion... where did you fetch this from?"
"You mean this sweet fruit? Little bird, come with me!" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion set off, walking briskly ahead.
Lin Mo hurried after it.
After taking a couple of steps, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion did not forget to look back.
Only when it saw the little bird obediently following behind did it continue forward without worry.
The human and beast passed through several clumps of bushes and around a few rocks. Soon, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion brought Lin Mo to a spot concealed by two overlapping, enormous leaves.
The leaves were taller than a person and lush green, completely hiding what lay behind them.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion walked up and gently nudged them with its head-
Rustle...
The overlapping leaves actually opened to either side on their own, as though they recognized it, clearing a path.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion went in first, then turned and caught the hem of Lin Mo's clothes in its mouth, tugging him inside.
"Don't pull, don't pull. I can walk myself."
Lin Mo stumbled a couple of steps and followed it inside.
Only after stepping inside did Lin Mo discover that this was actually another cave. But compared with that small, crude cave from before, this place was as different as heaven and earth!
The cave was spacious and bright. Sunlight streamed through several natural cracks in the stone, filling the interior with radiance.
All sorts of strange flowers and plants dotted the surroundings, their subtle fragrances drifting through the air. A layer of padding made from something unknown also covered the ground, soft beneath his feet.
And when he followed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion to the very back of the cave, the pile of things there nearly blinded his dog eyes.
Fruits and ores of every color were piled into one little mountain after another.
Red, green, glittering gold.
The fruits glistened translucently, and the ores shimmered with flowing colors.
Everywhere he looked were heavenly treasures and rare ores. Any single one taken outside would be enough to feed an ordinary family for a lifetime.
Gulp.
Lin Mo heard himself swallow.
And at the very back of those mountains of treasure was a space that had been deliberately left clear.
There sat a nest carefully built from hay, plants, and the feathers of unknown animals, soft and thick, with sunlight falling squarely upon it.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion nudged Lin Mo, guiding him to the nest.
Then it turned, ran to the pile of fruits, and dug around before carrying several more Vitality Fruits over in its mouth and setting them at Lin Mo's feet.
"Little bird, this is where I live!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion lifted its head, its ruby-like beast eyes sparkling.
"From now on, it's your home too! I have lots more of these sweet fruits. You can eat them all!"
Standing before those glittering little mountains, holding several ten-thousand-year Vitality Fruits in his arms and listening to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion say, "You can have them all," Lin Mo felt somewhat dazed.
Was he...
Living off a soul beast suspected to be a hundred-thousand-year-old??
Meanwhile, in the shadows, six pairs of eyes were fixed intently on the cave entrance behind those two large leaves.
One of them was none other than the Beast God Di Tian from earlier.
And the other five were-
The Emerald Swan, Bi Ji.
The Demon Eye Demon Tree, Myriad Demon King.
The Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, Xiong Jun.
The Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff, Chi Wang.
The Hell Demon Dragon King, Zi Ji.
Six of the Great Star Dou Forest's ten great fierce beasts were gathered here. Any one of them could make the entire continent tremble three times with a stamp of their foot.
Even the weakest, Zi Ji, had a full three hundred thousand years of cultivation.
Scared to tears, kids.
Yet at this very moment.
These six notoriously fearsome fierce beasts were all skulking in the bushes, bodies hunched and heads lowered, revealing only several pairs of differently colored eyes as they watched the cave, their faces full of tension.
The six beasts waited a long time, but there was still no sign of activity from the cave.
Xiong Jun was the first to lose patience. He poked Di Tian beside him with a claw and lowered his voice. "Di Tian, is this plan of yours actually going to work?"
"If you ask me, why don't we just use force to make the Mystic Bird stay?"
"Why go to all this trouble?"
Di Tian glanced at him expressionlessly.
"You saw what happened in the sky earlier, didn't you? As long as you're not afraid of being struck dead by that lightning tribulation, go right ahead."
Remembering that mighty, heaven-destroying, earth-annihilating lightning tribulation, Xiong Jun abruptly shuddered. He immediately drew in his neck, shut his mouth sheepishly, and buried himself a little deeper in the bushes.
What a joke. That was the Heavenly Dao's wrath.
No matter how thick his hide was, he could not withstand being struck by that thing!
In truth, how could Di Tian not have been tempted?
If he had not feared frightening the Mystic Bird and earning its dislike, he would have acted the moment it appeared in the Great Star Dou Forest and snatched the bird away.
Those favored by the Mystic Bird would also be favored by the Heavenly Dao.
Likewise, those disliked by the Mystic Bird would also be disliked by the Heavenly Dao.
And he had taken this great, roundabout route precisely to boil the frog in warm water, hoping to make the Mystic Bird stay in the Great Star Dou Forest of its own accord.
Di Tian's desire to lure the Mystic Bird away was stirring so fiercely that he could not suppress it!