The Skydream Ice Silkworm quickly grasped the true wonder of the soul spirit contract. Its short forelimbs were tucked cockily against its waist: "To think it could work like this! Haha, behold my greatness!"
The spiritual origin previously accumulated by the Skydream Ice Silkworm was compressed and released once more. Ten golden spheres of spiritual origin transformed into a golden torrent, infused into Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eye martial soul in a gentle manner.
In the later generations—especially in the eras of Tang Wulin and Lan Xuanyu—Great Beast soul spirits could provide more than just one soul ring. Although the million-year soul beast Skydream Ice Silkworm lacked the combat power of a hundred-thousand-year beast, it was an absolute titan in terms of spirit and soul. Even with its lack of offensive means, providing two million-year soul rings was well within its capability.
After a brief moment, two massive golden soul rings, over three meters in diameter, manifested around Huo Yuhao. The brilliant golden light was as dazzling as a rising sun, illuminating the woods in a resplendent glow. Soon after, the light dimmed, and the color shifted, transforming into two purple thousand-year soul rings.
Little Yuhao's soul power, which had been stuck at Rank 20, began to skyrocket: Rank 21, 22, 23... it surged all the way to Rank 28 before stopping.
Over the past two years, little Yuhao had been practicing the [Spirit Ice Technique] without pause. It included methods for compressing soul power, and as his soul power constantly nourished his blood essence, the blood essence in turn fed back into his soul power. On the surface, it appeared his soul power had only risen by 8 ranks, but in terms of total volume, little Huo Yuhao was in no way inferior to a Rank 39 Soul Elder of the Agility or Power Attack system.
Baili Du had told him that in this messed-up place called the Douluo Continent, rank was just for show. You had the Rank 98 Xuan Zi being outplayed by a Rank 50 Death God Envoy, and later, the Rank 69 Lan Xuanyu tying with a Rank 99 Limit Douluo...
What was truly useful would always be one's own hard strength.
"Hehe... as expected of the host I chose!"
Skydream rubbed its nose proudly. It seemed its luck was just as good as it was back in the day!
...
Looking at little Huo Yuhao, who had finished the fusion with Skydream and was currently in a state of advanced meditation, Baili Du thought for a moment. He casually placed a defensive barrier around the boy, then turned and walked toward the depths of the Star Constellation Great Forest.
Since he had made the trip, it would be a shame not to go see...
To see her.
He muttered to himself as he walked: "Just one look. I'll just take one look. One look is enough."
To him, a distance of several hundred miles was just a few steps. Soon, he arrived at the Core Zone of the Star Constellation Great Forest.
The [Emotion God King], who was once afraid of almost nothing in heaven or earth, now moved with the stiff steps of a bashful boy going on a date with a beloved girl. He didn't dare face her...
He touched his forehead, where the nearly shattered ultra-divine artifact [Eye of Eternity] was slowly emitting a soft golden light of destiny. It seemed to be resonating with excitement at the prospect of meeting its true master.
Dragging his stiff footsteps, no matter how much he dreaded the meeting, he eventually saw it.
It was a very singular soul beast, over three meters long and eight feet tall at the shoulder, covered entirely in a layer of brilliant golden fur.
Its entire body looked like translucent crystal, filled with a strange texture. Its overall form resembled a lion, but its four claws were like a dragon's, with a ball of golden flame beneath each one. Its snout was longer than that of most lion-type soul beasts, and beneath the fur, there seemed to be fine golden scales. Besides its two normal eyes, it possessed a third eye—a vertical pupil.
Its two eyes were a somewhat eerie red, while its vertical pupil radiated a golden light, nearly identical to the [Eye of Eternity] on his own forehead.
It seemed to be hunting; after pausing briefly, it looked toward the northwest with burning eyes.
This was the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-eyed Golden Lion—the one who should have been the "Beast of Destiny," joining hands with the "Son of the Plane" to change the enmity between humans and soul beasts.
"!!!"
Baili Du felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. He swayed as if unable to stand steadily, his vision blurring into a mist of tears...
Though it might be improper to say, after marrying Tang Wutong, he found himself missing the days of sharing hardships with Wang Qiu'er more and more.
"Qiu'er... Qiu'er..."
He bit his lip hard, his hands clenching instinctively until his nails dug deep into his palms. Regret and fury battered his sanity, making him want to charge into the God Realm right now to fight Tang San to the death.
If for nothing else, then simply to avenge Qiu'er!
The lies Tang San had told him uncontrollably flooded back into his mind:
[That Wang Qiu'er was actually a sliver of Wutong's Divine Consciousness that I separated and attached to that Three-eyed Golden Lion. Otherwise, even as a beast of destiny, it couldn't have possessed such high intelligence. Therefore, you don't need to feel sad about Wang Qiu'er anymore. She was always a part of Wutong. Only after Wang Qiu'er sacrificed herself to you did that part of the Divine Consciousness return to Wutong, allowing Wang Dong'er to truly become Wutong.]
Bullshit! Tang San was fucking talking out of his ass!!!
A ten-thousand-year soul beast could already understand human speech, and a hundred-thousand-year one possessed wisdom no less than a human's. An Emperor Auspicious Beast with 15,000 years of cultivation was naturally enlightened; how could its wisdom have been unlocked by a sliver of Divine Consciousness from a little girl born in the God Realm?!
Even if he took ten thousand steps back—no matter how gifted the Tang Princess was—what kind of wisdom could a child of a few years old possibly have?
Furthermore, based on her performance in the original timeline and Baili Du's personal observations over decades, to speak plainly, the Tang Princess and the word "intelligent" really didn't belong in the same sentence.
Well... she hadn't inherited her father Tang San's "world-shattering wisdom" either. At least that was something to be praised.
Taking several heavy breaths, and with the persuasion of the Snow Emperor and Liya within his sea of Divine Consciousness, Baili Du finally calmed down. He slowly unclenched his hands.
Then, very nervously but one step at a time, he walked toward the Emperor Auspicious Beast.
For some reason, the Emperor Auspicious Beast, which had intended to pursue a fleeing Radiant Demon Tiger, suddenly trembled. She turned her head to look toward Baili Du's position.
From her perspective, it was an empty clearing. Yet, for some reason, her gaze was uncontrollably drawn there.
Inexplicably, she felt as though her neck were being gently embraced. It felt as if something like water droplets were falling onto her nape.
Warmth... pain... self-reproach... and a deep, thick love...
These complex emotions gently enveloped her, leaving her somewhat at a loss.
A trail of clear tears fell from her red eyes.
Crying? Why was she crying?
A voice echoed in her ears—it seemed like a hallucination, like a dream-talk, yet it was so gentle it made her want to weep.
"It's my fault... I'm sorry to the soul beasts... Right now, I don't even have the power to seek justice for you. All I can do is give you this small compensation..."
"Qiu'er... Qiu'er..."
A slight sting touched her forehead, and then a warm current flowed from her Eye of Destiny through her entire body.
It was a surge of energy so pure it reached the absolute limit. It was infused into every corner of her body without reservation, making her close her eyes in comfort.
Her body's receptivity to this power was incredibly high. Her cultivation level began to skyrocket like a rising rocket, without the slightest hint of instability.
15,000 years... 20,000 years... 30,000 years... 50,000 years... 100,000 years!
In the blink of an eye, she had abruptly become a hundred-thousand-year soul beast!
The Three-eyed Golden Lion truly was an auspicious beast favored by destiny. Generally, when a soul beast ascended to the hundred-thousand-year level, a Heavenly Tribulation would arrive to block the advancement. But for her, no tribulation occurred. There was only the increasingly dense heaven-and-earth primordial energy and the nine-colored clouds in the sky.
After ten minutes, her cultivation surged another 50,000 years!
A full 150,000 years of cultivation! Her current age was ten times what it had been before!
A 15,000-year-old Three-eyed Golden Lion could already rival a hundred-thousand-year soul beast. No one knew just how formidable she would be with 150,000 years of cultivation.
After an unknown amount of time, the soaring cultivation finally stopped.
But the Three-eyed Golden Lion felt no joy. Instead, her heart felt empty, a feeling she couldn't let go of for a long time.
Just who... was that?