At the boundary, the campfire burned fiercely.
Exhausted, Zhang Lexuan fell asleep satisfied once again.
At first glance, tonight was no different from any other, but Zhang Yang was quite excited.
His diligent cultivation and persistent efforts had finally paid off!
Not only had he devoured a vast amount of Soul Power from his senior sister, but more importantly, a system notification had appeared in his mind.
The little one had peeked at them every night and come over to snuggle and rub against him. Bit by bit, her affection had risen enough to reach the second check-in level.
"System, check in with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion!"
Zhang Yang took a deep breath and responded on the spot.
He turned his gaze inward, deep into his sea of consciousness, and focused on the new reward.
After all, in the Peerless Tang Sect era, she was the most formidable child of fortune aside from Huo Yuhao.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be too bad, could it? Zhang Yang had prepared himself, but he was still stunned when he saw it.
[Check-in complete. Reward obtained: Auspicious Aura] [Ignores cultivation bottlenecks, increases the chance of advancing... With auspiciousness entering the body, your fortune defies the heavens!]
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion possessed multiple attributes, the strongest being spiritual, light, and fire, all of which had reached the ultimate level.
Based on past experience, Zhang Yang had thought the system would grant him a related law, but unexpectedly, it had given him something huge.
Auspicious Aura! Fortune that defied the heavens!
The description practically spelled out how overpowered it was.
Ignore cultivation bottlenecks? Increase the chance of advancing? That meant that as long as he had enough Soul Power, he could cross realms.
And that was only its most basic application. There was much more that had gone unexplained, and the upper limit of the fortune brought by auspiciousness was impossible to estimate.
"As expected of an Auspicious Beast."
Zhang Yang gave her a thumbs-up in his heart.
As he was thinking, his spiritual senses picked up movement.
Seeing that Zhang Lexuan was asleep and that he too appeared to be dozing, the little one made her move again.
As usual, she crept quietly up to him, intoxicated by the special "scent" of his max-level charm.
A lovestruck look appeared on her fluffy, adorable face. Like a cat that had sniffed catnip, her eyes were practically turning into hearts.
"Mmm, he smells better and better..."
"No, no, I can't do this!"
"Why not? If I like him, I like him. Why tie myself in knots over it?"
"Last time, I heard another Soul Beast say that what these two humans do is called mating. Can I mate with him too?"
In her mind, where Zhang Yang couldn't sense her thoughts, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion hesitated and agonized, the two sides of her brain elbowing each other, but gradually one side began to win.
In the end, her affection level of 100 gained the upper hand, making her abandon reason and misgivings. She felt she should try a life different from the one she had now.
"Uncle Scarlet King has already been sent away by me."
"First, let's see what kind of person this guy is."
"Why does he smell so good? Why does he make my heart flutter? There has to be a reason!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion grumbled inwardly as she stood in front of Zhang Yang.
But to his surprise, she didn't snuggle or rub against him today.
Instead, she stretched out her head and brought it beside Zhang Yang's handsome face, studying him from an extremely close distance.
Her bright, piercing eyes glimmered faintly, as if she meant to see through the human before her. She was anything but quiet about it.
Zhang Yang couldn't resist grumbling inwardly. Come on, little one, pay some attention... I'm only pretending to sleep. If I were really asleep, you'd have woken me up long ago.
As he thought about it, he had actually already realized what was happening.
The action before him was indeed familiar from what he remembered.
It was called Attribute Guidance, the Emperor Auspicious Beast's greatest secret, and it could form a connection between both parties.
They could share a portion of their innate powers, and it could even strip away a trace of fortune. Although Zhang Yang had no use for that, it meant he had successfully won her over!
"Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Why... why does this guy have Auspicious Aura in his body too? And it even has the same root and origin as mine?"
"Could that pleasant smell on him actually be the attraction between auspicious beings? This is the first time I've met one of my own kind. This is wonderful!"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion probed him with her spiritual power.
Soon, she was completely dumbfounded.
There was a dense Auspicious Aura inside Zhang Yang, not the slightest bit weaker than her own.
It was a corresponding system reward he had obtained by checking in with her in the first place, so of course they had the same root and origin.
That familiar feeling, that intimate sensation, made the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, whose affection had already reached 100 and was at a critical point, so happy she was about to burst.
That's right! This is the one of my kind I've been looking for all along!
He's different from any human Soul Master, or even any Soul Beast!
Her elation was written all over her face, and her body trembled with excitement.
This time, without the slightest hesitation, she immediately pressed the third eye between her brows to Zhang Yang's forehead of her own accord.
At once, a strange power was unleashed. The two successfully connected, their spiritual seas of consciousness merging into one, and each saw some of the other's memories.
These naturally included Wang Qiu'er's appearance in the original story. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was surprised to discover that the look suited her very well, and that the human before her had "especially recommended" it?
"Why was I already in his memories?"
"Could there really be some kind of connection between auspicious beings?"
"If... if I take human form and become the way he likes, will he... do that with me?"
A blush crept onto the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's face.
It had nothing to do with shyness; it came from excitement and agitation.
But at this moment, she didn't act rashly. Instead, once she was done, she quietly withdrew.
That was partly because the commotion from Attribute Guidance had nearly awakened Zhang Lexuan, and partly because she didn't have enough time.
Sending Uncle Scarlet King away with an excuse wasn't easy. It wouldn't keep him away for long, and he was probably about to return.
If he discovered that she had formed a connection with a human, he might do something harmful to Zhang Yang. That wasn't what she wanted to see.
That was right, although the two of them had yet to communicate properly,
the memories they had shared had already let her learn his name.
And the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was quite certain that when Zhang Yang woke up, he would remember her existence too.
For now, that was enough. As for anything more? It could wait until she slipped out of the Star Dou Great Forest!
With that thought, the little one rushed to a hidden cave, where several unlucky Soul Beasts lay sprawled in all directions.
She had recently captured and gathered them on purpose, intending to find a suitable time to deliver them to Zhang Yang as Soul Rings. Now seemed about right.
She immediately turned back, following the route with practiced ease.
She placed the few of them at the edge of a safe distance.
Then she fled as fast as she could, so as not to cause Zhang Yang trouble.
After she had run some distance, the Three-Headed Scarlet Demon Mastiff returned and confirmed that the Emperor Auspicious Beast was unharmed.
As long as she was all right, nothing else mattered. As for the two humans, Zhang Yang and Zhang Lexuan? He didn't even remember them.
The night had seemed calm and uneventful, but in truth it had been thrilling and perilous. Perhaps the Auspicious Aura deserved some credit for how easily they had gotten through it.
In the morning, Zhang Yang rose with a complicated look in his eyes.
He noticed the gifts the Auspicious Beast had left in the distance.
He woke Zhang Lexuan, a rare seriousness on his face.
In an almost domineering tone, he urged her to pack their things quickly and flee at once!
"Senior sister, we shouldn't stay here long. Let's take those Soul Beasts and get out of the Star Dou Great Forest first..."