Xu Zhengyang headed north along the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest when something suddenly occurred to him.
"I almost forgot about this. What am I supposed to do with this cub?"
Soul Power flickered in Xu Zhengyang's hand, and a Netherflame Demon Tiger cub appeared. It was the very cub that had sparked the fight to the death between the Netherflame Demon Tiger and the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear.
The cub looked badly injured, its eyes tightly shut, though its wounds had already stopped bleeding. Even as a cub, its vitality was extraordinarily tenacious, worthy of a top-tier Soul Beast.
This newborn Netherflame Demon Tiger cub was of little use to Xu Zhengyang. Even if he took it home, it would be difficult to raise. After all, it was a top-tier Soul Beast, and an injured one at that. Yet he could not quite bring himself to kill it.
Over all these years, Xu Zhengyang had constantly ventured out to temper himself. Whether killing Soul Beasts or doing anything else, he had never been softhearted or merciful. But faced with a newborn cub, especially one whose mother had died because of him, he still found it difficult to strike.
Just then, the Netherflame Demon Tiger opened its innocent eyes. They were full of bewilderment, along with a longing to live. A faint whimper even escaped its mouth, something like a tiger's roar, yet also like the most instinctive cry for survival.
Despite all the bloody battles Xu Zhengyang had experienced, faced with this adorably clueless cub, this newborn life, he lost his usual iron-blooded, murderous bearing.
"Fine. I'll stay in the Star Dou Great Forest for another day or two and find you a suitable mother. Otherwise, you'll die for certain. After all, your mother died because of me. Humans and Soul Beasts may be different, but I'm not about to kill a little cub."
With that thought, Xu Zhengyang took out some medicinal herbs for treating injuries and applied them to the Netherflame Demon Tiger cub's wounds. He also put a few drops of the nutrient solution he consumed into its mouth.
The Netherflame Demon Tiger cub was simply too young. From the looks of it, it had probably only been a few days since its birth. Before long, it closed its eyes and continued resting, still looking utterly innocent.
Xu Zhengyang could not help sighing before he began carefully searching the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. To care for a tiger cub like this, his best option was to find a tigress that had also just given birth. Otherwise, in its current condition, the cub would not survive more than a few days.
Unfortunately, no matter how vast the Star Dou Great Forest was or how many kinds of Soul Beasts it contained, how could he happen to run into a nursing tigress so conveniently?
After searching for two days straight, Xu Zhengyang was starting to want to give up. He even considered simply taking the Netherflame Demon Tiger cub home to raise. Even if his parents could not raise it, handing it over to the Xu Clan should pose no problem, though its eventual fate probably would not be good.
A top-tier Soul Beast like the Netherflame Demon Tiger was a Soul Ring everyone dreamed of obtaining. Once it grew a little bigger, it would surely be unable to escape death.
Xu Zhengyang was no saint, nor did he have any special affection for Soul Beasts. When one needed killing, he would kill it without the slightest hesitation. But he still found it difficult to strike a newborn cub, especially one whose mother he had caused to die.
Just as Xu Zhengyang hesitated, he suddenly heard a faint roar, somewhere between a lion's and a tiger's. There was even a hint of inexplicable attraction in the sound. It seemed to come from some top-tier Soul Beast, yet lacked the savagery of other Soul Beasts.
Looking thoughtful, Xu Zhengyang slowly approached the source of the sound.
When he was about two hundred meters from the Soul Beast, Xu Zhengyang's eyes lit up. He immediately felt that the problem troubling him could be solved.
Golden light flowed all over the Soul Beast, making it look like a little sun. It was over three meters long and eight feet tall at the shoulder, its entire body covered in brilliant golden fur. Its whole body was like transparent crystal, giving it a wondrous appearance.
Its overall shape resembled a lion, but its four claws were like a dragon's, each treading on a ball of flame. Beneath its fur were fine, closely packed golden scales. Besides its two ordinary eyes, it had a third, vertical eye between its brows. Its two ordinary eyes shone with golden light, while the vertical one was red, with a somewhat uncanny quality.
The sight of this Soul Beast gave Xu Zhengyang a start.
It's actually the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. What are the odds? But the Three-Eyed Golden Lion has a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast guarding it. With my strength, I wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion seemed extraordinarily perceptive. Even from several hundred meters away, it seemed to notice something amiss and let out an angry roar toward Xu Zhengyang's position. Its previously gentle presence turned terrifying. Small as the Three-Eyed Golden Lion might look, it was a top-tier fire-attribute Soul Beast at the fifteen-thousand-year level.
As the Three-Eyed Golden Lion roared, a deep, furious roar rang out nearby. Everything within several hundred meters seemed to tremble. At the same time, a boundless presence spread outward, and killing intent filled the sky, surging toward the heavens.
Xu Zhengyang's expression changed drastically. The presence carried in that low roar seemed poised to tear his entire body apart. It was definitely one of the most formidable, powerful Soul Beasts in the world.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was still several hundred meters from Xu Zhengyang, but its vertical eye suddenly released a beam of golden light straight at his head.
Xu Zhengyang did not hesitate either. The Devil Tiger's Eye instantly lit up, and the eye between his brows snapped open. A strange ray shot out of the Devil Tiger's Eye. Under this Soul Bone skill, Devil Tiger Illusion Breaking, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's attack was actually disrupted, and only then did Xu Zhengyang seize the chance to dodge the mental attack.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion now seemed puzzled. It had not expected someone to disrupt its mental attack and actually dodge it, especially when the person before it looked so weak.
Without hesitation, Xu Zhengyang rapidly circulated his Soul Power. The Netherflame Demon Tiger cub, about half a meter long, instantly appeared in his hands. He immediately set it on the ground, then raced away without a moment's hesitation.
As he ran, he drove the flying Soul Tool on his back at full power, vanishing from the spot like a streak of light.
Neither the Three-Eyed Golden Lion nor the hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast was anything he could afford to provoke. If he hesitated even briefly, he might leave his life here. This was a Fierce Beast-level existence, comparable to an Ultimate Douluo.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion grew increasingly puzzled by this fleeing person. Though weak, he had managed to block one of its mental attacks, and he ran like a rabbit.
When the Three-Eyed Golden Lion reached Xu Zhengyang's former position and saw the newborn Netherflame Demon Tiger, its eyes filled with even greater confusion.
Weren't humans normally enemies of Soul Beasts? A top-tier Soul Beast cub like the Netherflame Demon Tiger would certainly be extremely valuable in human hands. Why had this person treated the cub and even abandoned it?
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's eyes were now full of confusion. The human who had run away seemed a little abnormal, especially since he actually had a vertical eye similar to its own.
Xu Zhengyang had no attention to spare for the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. No longer caring that he was in the Star Dou Great Forest, he pushed his flying Soul Tool to its limit and shot out of the forest like a streak of light.
Never mind the Fierce Beast guarding the Three-Eyed Golden Lion from behind-even the Three-Eyed Golden Lion itself was absolutely not something he could afford to provoke.
I only wanted to deal with the Netherflame Demon Tiger cub. How did I end up running into this baleful star? Still, handing the Netherflame Demon Tiger over to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion really was a good choice. Not only can this fellow heal injuries, it can also accelerate the growth of Soul Beasts.
Xu Zhengyang fled at full speed with his flying Soul Tool, flying dozens of kilometers in one go before he could finally breathe a little easier. These truly powerful Soul Beasts were far beyond what a mere Soul Elder like him could afford to provoke.