Midway through the journey, Di Tian finally remembered the inexplicable sense of familiarity when the Fire Dragon King spoke about the successor of the Sun and Moon God.
He had seen the man in the golden mask on the battlefield.
A human who repelled evil spirits and had a two-hundred-thousand-year soul ring on his body dressed like that. He wielded the power of the sun, silver moon, and stars.
If he hadn't feared Bi Ji getting hurt, he would have surely killed the man who hunted soul beasts with two-hundred-thousand-year cultivation after dealing with the offering of the two gods.
"Heh, humans—so long as they need to obtain soul rings, the enmity with my soul beast clan will never be resolved."
Di Tian quickly moved toward the southern forest. Amid the beast tide, he had mobilized most of the forces of the Great Star Dou Forest, but was still blocked by humans. He didn't believe that humans had deployed their full power.
Humans had only become a group of Titled Douluos in the past few decades, and who knew how many hundred-thousand-year soul beasts they would hunt in that time?
Yet it took soul beasts far too long to grow. He needed to rescue the two dragon kings as soon as possible to strengthen the soul beast clan.
When he awoke this time, he saw that the territory of the Great Star Dou Forest had continuously shrunk. Many soul beast species were on the brink of extinction. Even many soul beasts with a cultivation of 100,000 years had quietly perished.
All these sights made Di Tian deeply worry about the future of the soul beast clan. Could they really wait until the Silver Dragon King recovered?
Shaking off those thoughts, Di Tian drastically increased his speed, though he couldn't help but glance back. After rescuing the Fire Dragon King, he might need to head to the Far North.
What he didn't know was that the moment he left the Great Star Dou Forest, the entire forest boiled with life. Thousands of beasts ran wildly and hundreds of birds chirped.
Even the Silver Dragon King awoke from her deep slumber. She could sense that the fortune of the Great Star Dou Forest was surging, and even her own recovery speed had slightly increased.
The Great Star Dou Forest had birthed a Beast Emperor!
The Silver Dragon King rose from the core of the Lake of Life. According to her prophecy, it was not yet time for the fortunate beast to be born. How could this be? What had happened?
It wasn't just her—the other soul beasts in the forest also sensed this. They grew excited and frenzied, searching everywhere for the Fortune Beast Emperor.
In the end, Bi Ji was the one who found the little one. He had fallen from the sky, cradling a three-eyed golden lion that had just consumed its eggshell, gently stroking it.
She could feel the immense power of fate contained within the small body. This was a gift from the heavens to the Great Star Dou Forest and the soul beast clan.
Other soul beasts arrived one by one to protect the three-eyed golden lion and brought it to the depths of the Lake of Life, allowing it to absorb the energy of the Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and grow quickly.
Meanwhile, Di Tian—who had just arrived at the southern grasslands and easily destroyed the Sacred Soul Grass King—suddenly turned his gaze toward the Great Star Dou Forest.
As the leader of the slayers in the forest, he was even more closely connected to its fortune. Just now, he had clearly sensed that his cultivation had increased by thousands of years.
Di Tian clutched the Sacred Soul Grass in his hand and quickly rushed toward the Sunset Forest. There were many soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest, and the Silver Dragon King was there as well, so there was nothing to worry about.
His most important task now was to welcome back the Fire Dragon King, who was critical to the soul beast clan.
At this moment, all the soul beasts over 100,000 years old across the Douluo Continent—outside the Great Star Dou Forest—seemed to have become aware, all turning their gaze toward the continent's center.
The Ice and Snow Maiden stood atop a snowy mountain in the Far North, gently stroking a 90,000-year-old snow lotus, staring toward the Great Star Dou Forest, lost in thought.
In the rear mountain of the Star Crown Sect, the Star-Seeking Vines and Star Tree suddenly awoke from their slumber, and the sound was so loud it woke Xu Mingxi, who was meditating under the tree.
Sensing the movement of the two elders, he knew something must have happened. He asked the disciples training nearby to leave, then walked to the Star Tree.
"Elders, what's going on?"
"Child Xu, a new Fortune Beast Emperor has been born in the Great Star Dou Forest."
Fortune Beast Emperor? Could it be the three-eyed golden lion? Xu Mingxi wanted to ask more, but the two elders had already fallen into a deep sleep again.
They had only delivered this news to the Star Crown Sect because of Xu Mingxi.
After all, they were still soul beasts, and the importance of the Fortune Beast Emperor to the entire soul beast race was self-evident. Xu Mingxi didn't blame them. In fact, he knew more about the Fortune Beast than the elders did—but the problem was that it wasn't supposed to appear yet.
He remembered that when the Fortune Beast first appeared in the original book, it had already cultivated for more than 10,000 years. At the growth rate of such a beast, it shouldn't be born now.
The changes on the Douluo Continent were becoming increasingly extreme, and Xu Mingxi could no longer recognize the course of events.
It might be acceptable if a soul beast like Tian Emperor appeared, but now the destined existence of the Fortune Beast Emperor had been born early. There was no way the Silver Dragon King would perish in the future now.
Xu Mingxi paced beneath the Star Tree for a long time, unable to think of any solution.
Currently, on the Dou Continent, Spirit Hall, Sea God Island, and the Great Star Dou Forest all had invincible beings—either Level 99 Douluos or comparable existences.
The strength of the Star Crown Sect was still too weak compared to those long-standing giants backed by the gods. All they could do now was gather disciples, train diligently, and grow stronger as much as possible to prepare for any changes that might occur at any time.
Xu Mingxi sighed, returned to the Star Tree, and began meditating again.
After absorbing Xiao Wu's soul bone, his soul power had risen to level 96. Now all Xu Mingxi had to do was cultivate to the peak as quickly as possible.
At that time, he would hunt a soul beast of the highest possible age and see if he could explode a torso soul bone, using its energy to break through to level 98.
---
"Sister, do you think it's okay for us to do this? Shura won't find out, right?"
"He doesn't deserve it. Even if we can't defeat him, when it comes to understanding soul beasts, he can't match us.
Our mark sensed that the Fire Dragon King still had a remnant soul left in the world last time. So why not push things along from behind the scenes?
Peace on this continent doesn't help our successor's growth. If he wants to use that pseudo-divinity to forge a new divinity, it won't be that easy."
"Alright, sister. I'll support you no matter what you do."
"Of course."
After all, how much worse could things get? The blonde goddess thought about how Shura's faction was increasingly targeting her and her sister—and her heart turned ruthless.
Killing the Angel God wasn't enough. Now he wanted the power of the sun too. She didn't fear his greedy heart exploding.