"Let's talk this out," the Scarlet King said urgently. "We're willing to compensate—just please let the Auspicious Beast go."
Facing a life-threatening situation, especially with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion on the verge of life and death, even as a ferocious beast, the Scarlet King had no choice but to yield before Chi Yuan.
Hearing this, Chi Yuan's expression softened slightly.
Killing the Auspicious Beast was out of the question—but extorting a high price from a ferocious beast? Why not?
"Very well. We want a fire-attribute soul bone of at least 100,000 years as an exchange for the Auspicious Beast," Chi Yuan declared.
"Fine, I agree. I'll fetch it right away—just don't hurt the Auspicious Beast!" the Scarlet King said hastily.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he didn't delay for a second. His figure flashed, transforming into a streak of dark scarlet light and disappearing instantly.
Compared to the Auspicious Beast, a 100,000-year-old soul bone was like a firefly next to the moon. If Chi Yuan had asked him to fetch a 100,000-year soul beast, he wouldn't even be surprised.
After the Scarlet King left, Ji Lin exchanged a glance with Chi Yuan. She immediately understood, walked over to the Auspicious Beast, and plopped down directly on top of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
A red light radiated from her body, pinning the Three-Eyed Golden Lion so that it couldn't move a muscle.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion seemed to have recovered a bit. It glared coldly at Chi Yuan and, surprisingly, spoke in human tongue with a melodious, enchanting female voice,
"Detestable human. How dare you harm me? I curse you all—may misfortune hound your every step!"
Ji Lin chuckled and walked up to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, whose eyes seemed to be shooting flames. He patted its forehead—nice and smooth.
Taking a deep breath, Ji Lin slowly pressed his own forehead against the lion's vertical third eye.
The Power of Destiny... in every world, it represents a force of the highest order.
"No! Don't you dare!" the Three-Eyed Golden Lion roared with rage, struggling desperately.
The internal injuries it had suffered earlier caused golden-red blood to seep from the corners of its mouth.
But its power was entirely suppressed by Chi Yuan. If even a sliver of strength remained, it wouldn't hesitate to kill itself on the spot.
The moment Ji Lin's forehead touched the lion's third eye, both their bodies trembled violently.
After the initial shock, Ji Lin suddenly felt his mind go blank.
Ripples of strange, distorted light enveloped both him and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Their bodies began to turn translucent, flickering with faint, glowing patterns. With each pulse of light, their bodies shuddered subtly.
The mysterious power within the Three-Eyed Golden Lion surged into Ji Lin's mind. His spiritual energy surged steadily, progressing toward the Spirit Ocean Realm.
Even his TaiXu Sword Qi broke through into the Dustless Realm of the Frozen Heart Lake.
And it wasn't just Ji Lin who gained something—the Auspicious Beast's fire attribute, which was already near the level of ultimate fire, completely transformed into true ultimate fire due to the resonance with Ji Lin's attribute.
At that moment, a crimson feather in Ji Lin's sea of consciousness burst into radiant flame, burned slowly, and turned to ashes, vanishing.
That feather was something Ji Lin had obtained in his third year of opening treasure chests—it belonged to Featherdust.
Featherdust could manipulate brain signals, causing anyone who looked at the feather to fall into illusions crafted by its owner.
Ji Lin had anticipated that the attribute resonance with the Auspicious Beast would cause a memory exchange. But he didn't want the beast to know about his past life.
So, he used Featherdust to craft a false memory. The Auspicious Beast would gain all of his memories within the Douluo Continent—but it wouldn't learn that he was a transmigrator, wouldn't know about the treasure chest system, or the true origin of Chi Yuan.
And just for fun, he inserted the image of the girl he loved the most from his past life.
He wanted to see—would the Auspicious Beast take on that form again?
Of course, unlike the original version where Wang Dong was present, Ji Lin was not Huo Yuhao, so no fragment of Tang Wutong's divine consciousness would reside in the Auspicious Beast this time.
In Ji Lin's view, Wang Dong had always been complete—a sealed-memory Tang Wutong who only lost half her divine consciousness when Huo Yuhao resonated with the Auspicious Beast's attributes.
"Buzz—"
At that moment, a burst of golden light erupted from the spot where Ji Lin and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion were connected. Ji Lin was thrown backward by the shockwave, his body sent flying. Fortunately, Chi Yuan reached out and steadied him in midair.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion swayed, dazed, and staggered backward a few steps. Its third eye, which had always been golden, turned black for a brief moment—though it quickly reverted back to gold, both Ji Lin and Chi Yuan clearly noticed the change.
The lion now looked weak and no longer struggled. Its dazed gaze was fixed on Ji Lin, whom Chi Yuan gently placed on the ground.
Ji Lin seemed to sense something too. He looked back at the lion. Man and beast locked eyes, and in that instant, both felt a strange jolt in their hearts.
Ji Lin felt as if his spirit had traveled through time itself, his consciousness now within an ancient, dense forest.
Suddenly, everything turned golden. The dazzling gold light transformed even the surrounding plants into the same hue. The vegetation grew wildly, and from the ground emerged a brilliantly colored egg with a golden base.
A crisp cracking sound echoed—a crack formed on the egg's shell. It spread quickly.
"Crack!"
A tiny paw emerged from the egg, followed by a small head.
Its golden fur was slightly wet, and it looked like a tiny pup. It struggled to climb out of the egg, then turned around and began munching on its own shell.
"Crunch, crunch."
As the crisp chewing continued, a faint golden glow began to radiate from the small beast's body.
Suddenly, a beam of radiant golden light descended from the sky, like a pillar connecting heaven and earth. It engulfed the tiny pup entirely.
The sticky fluid on its body evaporated in the light. In a flash, the beast grew from one foot to one meter long. Its golden fur became as crystalline as water, radiating brilliant waves of light.
It let out a sharp cry. Its forehead split open, and an eye that seemed able to pierce the very heavens appeared.
As Ji Lin's vision reached this point, everything accelerated. Countless light fragments surged through his mind. In an instant, it felt as though he had lived through ten thousand years. Fragmented, innocent memories flashed by—almost all set in the depths of that ancient forest. He couldn't make sense of it all.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion looked weakened. In its mind, two sets of memories now existed. One was Ji Lin's, from the time he turned one in the Douluo Continent—aside from awakening his ultimate martial soul and becoming Chi Yuan's disciple, he seemed like just a talented youth.
The second set was more fragmented, centered around a girl with soft pink-blue hair. Though brief, receiving these memories had already caused a subtle change in the Auspicious Beast.
(End of Chapter)