"A treasure map on a skull?"
Ye Tian felt his scalp tingle.
To carve a treasure map onto a soul beast's skull—
Even an Ultimate Douluo couldn't achieve that.
If there was anyone who could, it had to be a god.
"Am I being targeted by gods again?" Ye Tian couldn't help but rub his forehead.
He still hadn't used the Sea God's inheritance mark within him.
If another inheritance was forcibly stuffed into him, he might just explode in frustration.
He didn't want to see the system task he'd been executing for three years end in failure.
After all, there were just over two years left before the mission ended.
That mission was supposed to make him surpass the God-King level—wasn't that far superior to some trash-tier godhood?
As Ye Tian was drowning in despair, a large shadow suddenly emerged in the darkness of the night.
"Xiao Wu-jie, what's wrong?"
The voice belonged to the Titan Giant Ape.
In the pitch-black night, when he saw Xiao Wu collapsed on the ground—
His anger instantly erupted.
"Ye Tian! Give me your life!"
The furious Titan Giant Ape pounded its chest violently, its body rapidly expanding.
In an instant—
It transformed into a colossal beast over thirty meters tall.
Its blood-red eyes glowed in the night like two crimson moons.
All of its killing intent was focused entirely on Ye Tian.
"How dare you harm my Xiao Wu-jie! Today, I'll turn you into nourishment for the Ancient Golden Tree!"
Thick smoke puffed from the Titan Giant Ape's nostrils.
Waves of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet energy rippled outward from its body.
It locked onto Ye Tian, who stood like an ant near its right toe.
Then, its massive palm slowly lifted and came crashing down toward Ye Tian.
If the palm landed, it would unleash a force like a raging thunderstorm.
Anyone below the Title Douluo level would have no chance of survival.
But Ye Tian's expression remained completely unfazed.
He showed no intention of dodging or fighting back.
Standing with his hands behind his back, he sneered at the Titan Giant Ape:
"If I die, your Xiao Wu-jie will never wake up again."
The moment those words fell—
The Titan Giant Ape's descending palm abruptly froze in mid-air.
It roared angrily at Ye Tian.
Instead of smashing down, its palm swept sideways—
Golden-purple soul power gathering rapidly within it.
With an ice-cold voice, the Titan Giant Ape declared:
"Titan Cage!"
Instantly—
The ground beneath Ye Tian trembled.
A cage of earth rose up, trapping both him and Xiao Wu inside.
The Titan Giant Ape returned to its normal size, using both hands and feet to approach Ye Tian. It pressed forward aggressively:
"Heal her immediately! Either you and Xiao Wu-jie walk out of this cage together—
"Or you die as her burial sacrifice!"
"And what if I refuse to heal her?"
Ye Tian gazed at the Titan Giant Ape with a half-smile.
"Then you die in there!" the Titan Giant Ape replied coldly.
With that, it moved aside and sat cross-legged.
Its spiritual power spread outward, keeping Ye Tian locked in its sights.
If Ye Tian made even the slightest suspicious move, it would launch a psychic attack immediately.
Feeling the Titan Giant Ape's spiritual lock-on, Ye Tian sighed internally.
If he hadn't used Xiao Wu as leverage just now, he'd probably already be a corpse.
Once again, Ye Tian realized that absolute power could override everything—truth, reason, none of it mattered.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, he saw that the Titan Giant Ape had calmed down and curiously asked:
"Didn't Da Ming order you to patrol the Lake of Life? Why are you on Heartlake Island?"
The Titan Giant Ape snorted coldly:
"The golden energy shockwave just now was massive. You think I'm blind?"
"If I hadn't come, you would've succeeded in harming Xiao Wu-jie!"
Hearing this, Ye Tian was momentarily speechless.
Earlier, his focus had been entirely on Xiao Wu's scream—he'd completely forgotten about the energy shockwave.
Seeing the Titan Giant Ape's hostility, Ye Tian shrugged:
"Believe it or not, Xiao Wu didn't faint because of me."
"And for the record, I have no interest in her at all. So don't use words like 'harm'—it's way too serious."
As soon as he said that, although the Titan Giant Ape's expression didn't change—
Its attitude subtly softened.
Ye Tian was just an ordinary human, after all. How could he possibly threaten Xiao Wu, who was a Spirit Emperor?
"Hmph! You think I'll believe your nonsense?"
The Titan Giant Ape's tone reXiao Wuned rigid, its cold gaze locked onto Ye Tian:
"Xiao Wu-jie will speak for herself when she wakes up!"
"Until then, you're staying in that cage!"
Faced with the Titan Giant Ape's rudeness, Ye Tian shut his mouth.
Without strength, words were meaningless.
He simply picked up a fat-headed fish that had fallen into the grass—
Then walked over to the fire where Xiao Wu had been earlier and began roasting it.
As he grilled, he occasionally took out some secret seasonings from his storage space and sprinkled them on.
The fragrant aroma of roasted fish gradually filled the air.
The Titan Giant Ape, who had never tasted cooked food before, stared at it from outside the cage, drooling uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Ye Tian smirked:
"Want some?"
"Hmph! For all I know, you poisoned Xiao Wu-jie with that stuff!"
The Titan Giant Ape crossed its arms, swallowed hard, and turned its head away, trying not to look at the grilled fish.
However—
Ten minutes later, it couldn't hold back anymore.
It walked up to the cage, snatched the fish from Ye Tian's hand, licked its lips, and warned him:
"I've trained for 190,000 years—there's no poison in this world that can kill me!"
With that—
It could no longer resist and began devouring the fish in huge bites.
Watching this, Ye Tian frowned slightly.
But he said nothing and simply started roasting a second fish.
…
The night passed without sleep.
By early morning, dewdrops from the mist dripped onto Xiao Wu's face from the golden leaves above.
In the distance, a thunderous snore echoed through the air.
"Er Ming, sleep farther from my room next time,"
Xiao Wu mumbled groggily, rubbing her eyes.
She slowly sat up—only to find a thick, warm fur coat sliding off her chest.
Blinking in confusion, she looked up and saw Ye Tian studying the skull in deep thought.
As she touched the soft fur coat, warmth spread through her heart.
Ye Tian must have covered her with it last night.
She gently folded the coat and walked over to him, handing it back with both hands.
Tilting her head and perking up her rabbit ears, she beamed sweetly at him:
"Ye Tian, what are you thinking about?"
"I called you just now, but you didn't react at all."
"Thanks for the fur coat."
"Hmm?" Ye Tian snapped out of his thoughts, looked up briefly—
Then silently took the coat and waved his hand lightly: "No need to thank me."
Then, he pointed at the skull in his hands:
"Take a look at the cracks on this. Don't they seem familiar to you?"
Hearing Ye Tian's words, Xiao Wu carefully examined the skull.
But despite living in Star Dou Forest, she had no knowledge of reading maps.
So after staring at it for a long time, she saw nothing unusual.
Shaking her head doubtfully, she asked, "Is there something special about it? By the way, why did I fall asleep yesterday? I don't remember anything at all."
"You must be joking," Ye Tian said helplessly.
If Xiao Wu had no memory of what happened—
Wouldn't that make it look like he had taken advantage of her?!
(End of Chapter)
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