Early the next morning.
At the border between the Outer Zone and the Mixed Zone.
Zhang Lexuan was the first to wake. Feeling the familiar warmth in her palm, she smiled faintly.
She looked at the handsome youth beside her. Zhang Yang's fingers were interlaced with hers, his head pillowed on her ample bosom as he slept soundly.
"What a naughty fellow..."
"Even if he is a fickle-hearted radish, he's quite cute."
Zhang Lexuan wasn't angry. Her eyes filled with maternal tenderness as she gently shifted her body.
Careful not to wake Zhang Yang, she prepared to clear away the campfire. Just then, however, something strange caught the corner of her eye.
A few figures had appeared on the grass not far away, though she had no idea when. Looking closely, she saw that they were all Soul Beasts around a thousand years old.
They were battered black and blue, and badly injured.
They were also bound with vines, looking like helpless prey at anyone's mercy.
Zhang Lexuan was dumbfounded. What was going on? Had the prey come to their door to commit suicide?
In her twenty-five or twenty-six years of life, she had killed plenty of Soul Beasts, but this was truly the first time she had seen anything like this.
She hurriedly shook Zhang Yang's shoulder, forcing him to open his eyes, and without another word pointed at the strange Soul Beasts.
"Huh? Did you catch them this morning, Eldest Senior Sister?" Zhang Yang was just as slow to catch on, mistakenly assuming Zhang Lexuan had gotten up early and already begun hunting.
"I just woke up, and they were lying there. It had nothing to do with me." Zhang Lexuan shook her head, her expression strange and grave. She couldn't figure out what had happened the night before.
By rights, with her Eight-Ring Soul Douluo cultivation,
whether a human or a Soul Beast approached, she should have woken up.
Yet these bound creatures had been left right at the edge of the safe range, where she was sure to see them.
The "person" who had done this had keen perception and mental power. Just who could they be? Zhang Lexuan couldn't imagine.
Zhang Yang was puzzled after hearing her out too...
It made no sense. Who would be bored enough to do something like this?
Seeing the Soul Beasts half-dead and barely breathing, he could guess what the other party intended.
Besides Eldest Senior Sister, was there someone else kind enough to secretly help him find a Soul Ring, concealing both their merit and their name?
"Whatever the case, at least it's not a bad thing. Go take a look and see if any are suitable." Unable to make sense of it, Zhang Lexuan could only remain on guard.
"What a shame. Their ages are fine, but their attributes are too poor. There's not even a Mental Attribute one, let alone a charm type." Zhang Yang didn't hesitate either, stepping forward to inspect them.
Soon, he spread his hands helplessly and passed over all the Soul Beasts.
A Soul Ring delivered to his door for free was all well and good, but it had to be useful!
Zhang Lexuan came over and examined them. Only after confirming there was no danger did she turn back.
"Then let's release them. Soul Beasts have been slaughtered excessively and are growing scarcer. There's no need to add to the casualties."
Zhang Yang naturally had no objection.
As they spoke, he untied the unlucky creatures.
The Soul Beasts were so weak they couldn't attack at all. Once freed, they turned and fled in fright.
In the blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace. Nothing happened from beginning to end, and the hand behind the scenes never appeared.
"How strange!"
That was what both of them thought.
For the moment, neither noticed the Three-Eyed Golden Lion hidden far away.
She had reined in her presence and hidden among the trees, suppressing the glow of her golden fur as she watched from afar.
Confusion appeared on her cute, furry face. The Emperor Auspicious Beast tilted her head, wondering, Does that nice-smelling human not like my gifts?
Mental Attribute? Charm type?
So that's it. I understand now!
After waiting a while, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had managed to make out what they had just said, and her eyes brightened noticeably.
She liked the scent Zhang Yang gave off, and she also liked the melodious music from the night before. For some reason, her favorable impression of him had risen.
Soul Beasts were fairly straightforward. If someone felt close to them, then that was that. Humans came to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Soul Rings, of course.
So she had taken it upon herself to give him gifts. Relying on her invincible status as the Emperor Auspicious Beast, she had caught a few unlucky creatures overnight.
But she hadn't known what Zhang Yang needed, so their attributes and everything else had been chosen at random, leading to the scene just now. Fortunately, she knew now!
If he plays music again tonight, I'll help him out.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion smiled silently, but she didn't leave.
Instead, she kept a safe distance and continued to watch their every move, twitching the tip of her nose from time to time.
Even after he had merely passed by, Zhang Yang's lingering scent still smelled good to her. It was a kind of physical attraction.
"Strange things happen every year, but there are especially many this year!"
"Why are there barely any Soul Beasts around here either?"
Zhang Lexuan led Zhang Yang along the edge of the Mixed Zone, not daring to venture too deep.
They wandered around and searched several places over the course of the day, yet barely encountered any Soul Beasts, let alone suitable ones.
She couldn't help grumbling. Although she was happy to be alone with the one she loved, this was so unusual that she didn't dare relax her guard in the slightest.
"Senior Sister, let's call it a day."
"Let's head back to the border of the Outer Zone and rest for the night."
Fortunately, Zhang Yang wasn't in a hurry either. If they found one, he would cultivate; if they didn't, he would raise her favorability. Either way, he had something to do.
That night, in the warmth of the campfire, he activated his Charm God's Body as he had the day before and played music imbued with laws.
Zhang Lexuan listened quietly, her eyes full of affection, utterly entranced.
Feedback reached Zhang Yang's ears, and a system prompt appeared before his eyes.
[Zhang Lexuan's favorability +5, current: 85, (cannot sign in a second time)]
The increase had diminished with repetition, but it was still within Zhang Yang's expectations.
What he truly hadn't expected was the action the Three-Eyed Golden Lion took after they had flirted and retired to rest.
The Star Dou Great Forest had a hidden rule: a Soul Beast chosen by the Emperor Auspicious Beast could not fight back and could only flee.
If it escaped, it was lucky. If it couldn't, it still wasn't allowed to resist. Thus, even though her cultivation wasn't high, the little one was still like a fish in water.
Having smelled Zhang Yang's pleasant scent and heard music that made her ears pregnant, the simplehearted creature held nothing back and caught him some more Soul Beasts overnight.
Just as before, she beat them half to death and tied them up.
She tossed them at the edge of the safe area and left, concealing both her merit and her name.
The next day, she watched for Zhang Yang's reaction when he saw them, her lively eyes full of anticipation.
"Zhang Yang, this Illusory Charm Spider is a good one! It has both the Mental Attribute and a charm skill."
"Its age is just right, and it also fits your role in the Control System. I think you can absorb it."
"The only concern isn't the Soul Beast itself, but who is kind enough to bring us freebies two days in a row?"
Zhang Lexuan carefully inspected them one by one.
In the end, she settled on a spider Soul Beast.
Unlike the Pope Bibi Dong's Death Spider Emperor and Soul Devouring Spider Emperor from ten thousand years ago, this one had stronger mental power.
Zhang Yang gave it a cursory look and immediately nodded in agreement. There were already few with compatible attributes, and his own search hadn't gone smoothly.
He might as well use this one.
As for the hand behind the scenes? He had spent all day yesterday thinking about it.
He had vaguely worked out a clue, but he still didn't dare be one hundred percent certain.
If it really is Wang Qiu'er, or rather, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, everything makes sense!
In the original story, she first met Huo Yuhao near the Mixed Zone, and the timing was about the same too.
Besides, that little one has a "love brain." It's perfectly reasonable that she'd be drawn to my max-level charm...