In the dim cavern, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion nervously pawed at the dry leaves on the ground, her golden vertical eye fixed unblinkingly on the human before her—eyes closed, body still, radiating an odd, subtle fluctuation.
"Human," she finally could not bear it any longer, her voice trembling faintly with growing fear, "what do you want with me?"
Gu La did not answer immediately.
His focus was largely occupied—through Celebi's domain over forests—he was communicating with and misleading countless plants across the Great Star Dou Forest.
The command from the Myriad Demon King rippled through the forest like invisible waves. Gu La precisely disrupted the low-intelligence plants' responses, crafting illusions: the Auspicious Beast's aura still lingered elsewhere… or had already vanished.
Such delicate control demanded absolute concentration. He could not spare a single thought.
Seeing Gu La ignore her, the Lion cautiously rose, attempting to slip silently toward the cave entrance.
But the moment she took a step, a hand clad in dark-gold armor closed around the nape of her neck—a force too absolute to resist. She froze.
"Don't move," came Gu La's voice through his helmet—calm, yet carrying an edge that sent shivers down her spine.
The Lion let out a pitiful whimper and slumped back onto the ground.
She could feel—this human was unlike Di Tian or the Scarlet King. He was utterly unmoved by her status as an Auspicious Beast. His indifference made her dare not act.
Especially when her gaze fell upon the Titan Giant Bear spirit soul perched on his shoulder—miniaturized, yet still radiating a suffocating spirit power that made her tremble. This was the first time a "spirit beast" had shown her no reverence—indeed, seemed to subtly threaten her.
She idly played with the dry grass, sniffing the faint, nearly imperceptible scent of feline spirit beasts left behind by their former owner, wondering what had become of them.
Eventually, her gaze returned to Gu La.
Just then, he seemed to have stabilized the forest's feedback. His eyes opened, locking onto hers.
"We can talk now," he said.
The Lion sprang to her feet, forcing composure as she met his gaze. "What do you want? If you harm the Great Star Dou Forest, Di Tian will not let you live!"
"Relax," Gu La replied, tone unchanged. "I have no interest in the Great Star Dou Forest's auspicious energy."
The Lion's three eyes widened in surprise. He knew that Auspicious Beasts embodied the forest's fate?
The more he knew, the less likely he was to harm her. Her confidence slightly returned.
"Then what do you want from me? With your strength—even the Scarlet King can't stand against you—what good is adding me?"
Gu La did not answer directly. Instead, he raised a hand.
A miniature, yet vividly radiant, spectral image of the Golden Ancient Tree appeared beside him—its branches golden as forged sunlight, radiating profound Life and Light energy.
It shimmered, its brilliance undeniable. Though it had absorbed vast quantities of rare plant seeds gathered from Xingluo, its essence remained stuck at a bottleneck—unable to truly revert to its ancestral form: the Legendary Tree of Life.
"Golden Ancient Tree!" The Lion gasped, even more astonished. "Where did you find it? Isn't it said there's only one in the world? How is this possible? Why can you control it? Why can you store it inside your body? Wait—aren't they… in soul form?!"
Her questions tumbled out, leaving Gu La with a pounding headache.
"Close enough," he answered briefly, his gaze locked on her. "I want to make the Golden Ancient Tree revert to its ancestral state—the Primordial Plant. To do that, I need your fate energy."
The Lion was stunned by his ambition. She shrank back instinctively.
"I… I can't do that. I can't actively control fate energy. I can only passively influence the luck around me—helping spirit beasts grow faster."
Gu La reached out, gently stroking her smooth, radiant fur. His voice, however, was absolute.
"It doesn't matter. I will show you how to do it."
He brought his fingers together like a blade and carefully sliced off a small tuft of her golden hair, dropping it onto the cavern floor.
It would serve as a decoy to mislead Di Tian's pursuit.
Then he produced a piece of hide and, with spiritual power, inscribed a message:
"Borrowing the Auspicious Beast for a time. Will return her unharmed in three days. No harm intended."
He left it prominently displayed in the cave. He still did not wish to trigger a catastrophe against humanity.
The Lion could not read, but watched his actions with curiosity. "Are we leaving the Great Star Dou Forest?"
"Yes." Gu La gripped her nape. Silver light flared in his eyes. Spatial power surged violently.
Through his perception of parallel universes' similarities, he instantly pinpointed a location of extraordinary, unique energy: the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
In the next instant, powerful spatial energy enveloped them—and they vanished.
Simultaneously, a subtle thread of temporal power twisted the teleportation's trajectory, disrupting any possible spatial traces.
The Lion saw only a blur. When her vision cleared, she stood at the entrance of an unfamiliar valley.
Before her, vast fields of lurid, emerald-green flowers bloomed wildly, exuding lethal toxins that wove a natural barrier of death—the Jade Phosphor Seven Absolute Flower Array!
At that moment, Gu La's form blurred. His armor dissolved, revealing a young man with flowing green hair—his aura thick with pure, overwhelming Life energy: his avatar, Mu Yi.
The aura of Ultimate Wood descended like a sovereign's command. The Jade Phosphor Seven Absolute Flowers, sensing the supreme plant origin, recoiled in terror—parting instinctively like a curtain, revealing a path forward.
"Go," Gu La said.
The Lion stared, amazed at his transformation. "Your appearance changed! Even your scent is completely different! Is this a soul skill?"
Gu La, needing her cooperation, offered rare patience: "You can think of it that way."
The Lion inhaled deeply the valley's thick, almost liquid Heavenly Energy, then gazed into the depths where powerful plant auras pulsed—but felt strangely weak. "Where are we? There are so many powerful auras here… but they feel… hollow?"
"You're right," Gu La nodded. "There are seven or eight hundred-thousand-year Plant spirit beasts here. But they rely entirely on this environment to survive. Their combat power is pitiful. Outside this valley, they couldn't even defeat a ten-thousand-year spirit beast."
"Then why are we here?" The Lion seemed to have ten thousand questions.
Gu La, for her sake, answered patiently: "To absorb energy."
At that moment, the Immortal Herbs within the valley finally sensed the intruders.
One by one, they flared with the aura of hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts, attempting to scare them off.
"Human! You've trespassed on our territory! Leave now, or your life will be forfeit!" crooned the Aromatic Silk Beauty, petals swaying in warning.
"Annoying," Gu La scoffed. He unleashed his full aura of Ultimate Wood.
It descended like an invisible mountain. The radiant glow of every Immortal Herb dimmed instantly. Their branches bowed, their leaves drooped. They could not speak—only trembled in primal fear.
The lead, Aromatic Silk Beauty, desperate, activated the hidden divine sense of the Sea God sealed within her.
A brilliant golden light erupted skyward—a divine, sacred pressure descended upon them.
"Ooo…" The Lion collapsed under the pressure, limbs trembling, her pride as an Auspicious Beast shattered. She could barely breathe.
From the light emerged a blurred, majestic figure—its presence radiating godlike authority.
"Mortal," it intoned, voice echoing with divine detachment, "are you a disciple of the Tang Sect?"
It was Tang San's safeguard—designed to ensure the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well never fell into evil hands.
Gu La looked up calmly. "No."
The divine sense shook its head, tone cold as a god's: "You disturbed my slumber. Leave now. Swear never to reveal this place's location—or suffer divine punishment!"
Gu La slowly shook his head.
And before the divine sense could react, he lifted his hand and pressed downward.
This time, he subtly borrowed a trace of Earth's primordial essence from his Groudon clone in another world.
A force of annihilation—capable of reducing all things to dust—crushed down upon the divine sense.
Plop!
Like a soap bubble bursting, the seemingly mighty Sea God mind shattered without a sound, dissolving into nothingness.
Whether Tang San in the God Realm would sense this and grow suspicious—Gu La did not care.
His cold gaze swept over the trembling Immortal Herbs below.
"Still resisting?"
The herbs shook violently, petals and leaves trembling in terror—begging silently, no longer daring to speak.
The Lion jumped up, eyes shining with awe. "You're amazing! You even destroyed a god's divine sense!"
Gu La gave a slight nod. "So you'll cooperate. I won't let you lose."
The Lion nodded eagerly. She was clever enough to know this man could kill her without fear of Di Tian. Cooperation was her only option.
"What do I need to do?"
Gu La's gaze turned to the two plants radiating the most concentrated energy within the valley—the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass.
"Give me your essence."
Neither dared defy him. With heart-wrenching reluctance, they condensed their most pure, ten-thousand-year-accumulated essence—one a molten, crimson-red gel, the other a glacial, icy-blue droplet—and floated them toward Gu La.
He didn't even glance at them. He simply tossed both priceless essences into the Lion's face.
"Swallow them. Then jump into the center of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well spring. Absorb the energy. Use your third eye—help me guide the Golden Ancient Tree to gather this power. Understood?"
The Lion caught the essences. The sheer power within made her eyes gleam with excitement. She nodded without hesitation.
She swallowed the two opposing essences—fire and ice—into her mouth. Her formidable spirit beast body endured the violent clash without breaking.
She leapt—plunging into the heart of the spring, where red and blue waters churned in violent, chaotic convergence—and began absorbing with frantic hunger.
Gu La summoned the Golden Ancient Tree spirit soul. He did not expect it to achieve ultimate evolution in one go—but he must seize this opportunity to lay a firm foundation, storing vast reserves of energy.
"Prepare," Gu La murmured. His fifth soul ring flared—"Ancient Memories!"
The Golden Ancient Tree's roots exploded outward, plunging deep into the spring's core like a ravenous beast, greedily devouring the purest Heavenly Energy born from the death of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings.
Under the valley's unique, treasure-rich geology, the Golden Ancient Tree grew visibly—its form solidified, its Life and Light aura expanding with each passing second.
The surrounding Immortal Herbs, crushed under its overwhelming pressure, could not lift their leaves. Some even felt an instinctive urge to merge, to submit.
The Lion floated at the spring's center, her third eye fully open. Invisible threads of fate energy—golden, intangible yet real—wove around the Golden Ancient Tree, silently nourishing it, granting it the favor of this world, and a sliver of evolutionary opportunity.
Gu La's future-vision eyes flickered wildly. He could not directly perceive fate energy—but by observing countless fragments of possible futures, he could indirectly deduce its subtle influence on the Golden Ancient Tree's evolution, adjusting his guidance accordingly.
The process lasted for a long, long time. The water level of the Yin Yang Well spring lowered, ever so slightly.
When absorption reached a critical threshold, the Golden Ancient Tree spirit soul shuddered violently—its size surged, its radiance intensified. The energy level within it broke through—reaching the threshold of two hundred thousand years!
It now held unimaginable reserves of power—like a seed brimming with potential.
Yet, it still showed no sign of true ancestral evolution.
Gu La was not disappointed. He had expected this.
He recalled the Golden Ancient Tree spirit soul into his body.
The Lion opened her eyes. She had absorbed vast energy—her cultivation level surged past twenty thousand years.
Had she not been a dual-ultimate spirit beast, requiring exponentially more energy, she might have already shattered the hundred-thousand-year barrier.
"Is it over?" she asked, thrilled by the power surging within her.
Gu La slowly shook his head, his gaze fixed on her forehead.
"No. There is one final step."
His eyes settled on the vertical eye upon her brow—the eye that held the mystery of fate.
The true objective had only just begun.
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