The interior of Jin Xi's private den, usually a sanctuary of soft, glowing moss and radiant crystals, was currently filled with an overwhelming, ancient presence. The space felt infinitely small beneath the heavy, scrutinizing auras of the Fierce Spirit Beasts. They had gathered immediately upon sensing the activation of Zhang Tian's Blood Silver Mirage Clone, their massive spiritual projections compressing into the cavern to confront the human anomaly.
Standing before them, the clone of Zhang Tian maintained a perfect, unruffled calm. He possessed the full, Limit Douluo-level mental acuity of his main body, allowing him to easily withstand the combined, scrutinizing pressure of the forest's apex predators without breaking a sweat.
The Fierce Spirit Beasts were clearly unsure of how to properly interact with this human. They couldn't simply crush him with their auras or act overly domineering, because the terrifying information Jin Xi had shared with them regarding her visions of destiny clearly indicated that this youth would inevitably ascend to true Godhood. They knew they couldn't afford to make an enemy of a future sovereign who held the power to eradicate their race. Conversely, they were ancient, proud rulers of the Great Forest; they absolutely couldn't just bow their heads and act subservient to a human who was, currently, still vastly inferior to them in raw, brute strength.
The tense silence was expertly broken by the most compassionate presence in the room.
Bi Ji, the Emerald Swan, stepped forward. Her human form was breathtakingly elegant, dressed in flowing green silk, and her aura radiated a profound, soothing maternal warmth that instantly softened the heavy atmosphere.
"Greetings, little one," Bi Ji smiled kindly, her emerald eyes looking at Zhang Tian with genuine, curious warmth. "You have caused quite a stir in our quiet woods. Since Xi'er has spoken so highly of you, it is only proper we meet properly."
She gestured gracefully to the towering, imposing figures surrounding her. "I am Bi Ji. Beside me is our liege, Lord Di Tian. This aggressive fellow is Xiong Jun, the Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear. The one with three distinct glares is Chi Wang, the Three-Headed Hell Mastiff. The shadow is Yao Ling, the Demon Spirit. And this striking lady is Zi Ji, the Hell Dragon."
Zhang Tian offered a deep, highly respectful nod to the gathered assembly, recognizing the ancient hierarchy of the forest.
"I greet you all," Zhang Tian responded, his tone polite and even. "Please be at ease. I assure you that since you all care for my dear Jin Xi and can be considered her respected elders, I will absolutely not do anything to harm you or your home."
He looked directly at Di Tian, his icy blue eyes conveying an earnest sincerity. "Besides, despite the bloody history between our two sides, I have never held any great, sweeping hatred towards the Spirit Beast race as a whole. I have long recognized the fundamental, fatal flaw in the current system of human Spirit Master cultivation. I have been actively working to change this system for the better, striving to create a reality where humans can achieve higher realms of power without the absolute, unyielding requirement to slaughter Spirit Beasts to extinction. A world where our two races can at least coexist without fearing the inevitable annihilation of the other."
The Fierce Spirit Beasts nodded slowly, exchanging thoughtful glances. They knew that if what Jin Xi had previously told them was right, and her Eye of Destiny had indeed foreseen his success, then this human was truly working to make that impossible dream happen. It was a staggering truth. For this, they were all quietly, deeply grateful to him. To find a human in this bloody era who was actively trying to rewrite the brutal laws of cultivation to spare their kind was nothing short of a miracle.
"We acknowledge your efforts, human," Di Tian spoke, his resonant voice echoing off the crystal walls. "If you can truly deliver this alternative, you will earn the eternal friendship of the Star Dou Great Forest. Now, regarding the matter of Xi'er's evolution."
Zhang Tian nodded, getting straight to the core of his visit. He addressed Di Tian and the others about the legendary Ice Silkworm trapped beneath their lake.
"Lord Di Tian," Zhang Tian began respectfully. "As Jin Xi has undoubtedly informed you, the specific, nearly million-year-old pure origin of heaven and earth contained within that Ice Silkworm is absolutely required as the catalyst to forcefully evolve her Golden Dragon spirit directly into the supreme Golden Dragon King spirit."
He emphasized the monumental stakes. "This transformation would effectively elevate her potential from merely possessing a True Dragon bloodline directly to the absolute, supreme tier of becoming a Divine Dragon. Lord Di Tian, as a Divine Dragon yourself, and as the original Dragon God's most loyal Guard Captain, you must understand exactly how overwhelmingly great her potential would become. Combined with her inherent, reality-bending ability as the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the overall gains for the entire Spirit Beast race could be greater than you can possibly imagine. Even continuously absorbing that Ice Silkworm's leaking energy for tens of thousands of years won't even begin to compare to the sheer, cosmic authority of reviving the physical half of the Dragon God."
Di Tian's golden eyes narrowed slightly. He, and even the other spirit beasts, were undeniably tempted at Zhang Tian's ambitious words. The prospect of restoring the Golden Dragon King was a dream that resonated deep within their ancient bones.
But they still didn't immediately agree.
Yao Ling drifted forward, his spectral form swaying. "It is a beautiful theory, human. But we live in a harsh reality."
Xiong Jun grunted in heavy agreement, crossing his massive, muscular arms. "That worm is our primary fuel source. Why should we give up our guaranteed, steady growth for a human's gamble?"
The others silently agreed with the bear's blunt assessment. They didn't want to let go of such a phenomenally great cultivation resource. After all, although they adored and spoiled Jin Xi to no end as their Emperor Auspicious Beast, they were still fiercely competitive apex predators. They wanted to aggressively grow stronger themselves at a more rapid, reliable pace. The passive, Auspicious Aura of the Emperor Auspicious Beast, while incredible, could not artificially push their massive cultivations through the ultimate bottlenecks in a short period; it required a very long, accumulated period to show its true, destiny-altering power. The Ice Silkworm was immediate, tangible power.
However, Zhang Tian stared closely at Di Tian's imposing face. With his profound intellect, he instantly understood the subtle micro-expressions of the Beast God. He realized that Di Tian seemed reluctant to attempt this possibility not because of simple greed. It was absolutely not that Di Tian was greedy towards hoarding that million-year-old origin of the Ice Silkworm for himself, but rather because Di Tian seemed deeply, genuinely worried about something far more dangerous.
"You hesitate, Lord Di Tian," Zhang Tian observed softly, his tone completely lacking any aggression. "I can see that it is not out of avarice. What is your true concern regarding her evolution?"
Di Tian let out a slow, heavy sigh that sounded like grinding tectonic plates. He looked at Zhang Tian, recognizing the human's sharp perception.
"You are perceptive, Zhang Tian," Di Tian rumbled, his golden eyes filled with an ancient, heavy burden. "My concern is rooted in the very laws that govern our existence. The fundamental laws of this Douluo Star simply cannot support the unhindered existence of a pure Divine Dragon bloodline."
Di Tian raised a hand, dark energy swirling around his fingers. "I myself am a Divine Dragon, possessing the pure Black Dragon King bloodline, which can absolutely be considered a Godking-level lineage. In the ancient past, I was a God who walked the heavens. But after the great war, after having fled and fallen to this Douluo Star, my absolute strength and even the fundamental purity of my bloodline had forcefully regressed from a Divine Dragon down into a True Dragon. The oppressive laws of this world completely suppressed my true strength and my cultivation down to the absolute peak of this mortal Limit Douluo stage. No matter how much my cultivation forcefully advances through absorbing energy, my actual, raw strength increase doesn't change much anymore. I am capped by the ceiling of this world."
He looked toward the ceiling of the den, as if staring at an invisible guillotine. "Perhaps there would be a marginal chance to break this shackle once I finally cross the ultimate barrier of the million-year-old threshold and officially become a Million Year Old Spirit Beast. But... I have a deep, terrifying premonition etched into my very soul. If I do cross that specific threshold, the heavens will immediately send down a tribulation meant not to test me, but to absolutely, violently strike me down and erase me from existence. The rules of the upper realm forbid our ascension. So, I have always, painstakingly tried to keep my cultivation carefully suppressed, deliberately preventing it from increasing to that fatal level."
Di Tian turned his gaze back to Jin Xi, his eyes filled with profound, protective concern.
"So, if Xi'er's bloodline does miraculously, successfully evolve from a True Dragon into the ultimate Divine Dragon through your proposed method..." Di Tian warned, his voice grave. "It might not just cause immediate, crushing suppression from the hostile laws of this Douluo Star. It will inevitably cause her brilliant, golden aura to be immediately noticed by the governing Gods of the God Realm. They will target her, and her fate will end in tragedy. After all, the Golden Dragon King is absolutely not a simple, minor bloodline. It is the literal, physical half of the great Dragon God. The God Realm would absolutely, violently not be able to ignore its bloodline emerging and roaring in this lower world. They would descend to slaughter her before she could grow."
Zhang Tian thought for a bit, absorbing the staggering political reality of the ancient divine war. He nodded slowly, admitting that Di Tian's fears made perfect, logical sense. In fact, Zhang Tian was somewhat entirely sure that not even the benevolent Goddess of Life or the chaotic God of Destruction—who could technically be considered his allied faction in the God Realm—would support him artificially recreating the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, given the catastrophic history associated with the Dragon God.
"Your concerns are entirely valid, Lord Di Tian," Zhang Tian agreed, his mind rapidly shifting to alternative solutions.
He stared at Di Tian, his icy blue eyes calculating a daring proposition. "However, helping Jin Xi perfectly conceal her evolving aura from the crushing laws of the world, or shielding her entirely from the prying, arrogant investigations of the God Realm during her vulnerable transition, can probably be accomplished... by that Common Lord of the Spirit Beasts slumbering beneath your lake, right?"
Zhang Tian deliberately didn't explicitly mention the name 'Silver Dragon King', keeping the supreme secret shrouded in respectful ambiguity, but his implication was crystal clear.
Seeing Zhang Tian mention his ultimate master in this highly knowledgeable, respectful manner, Di Tian understood instantly. The Beast God wasn't surprised by this revelation, because Zhang Tian had already boldly mentioned the Silver Dragon King back during their tense standoff in Spirit City years ago. Zhang Tian had even brazenly promised to heal the Silver Dragon King's deep injuries once he grew strong enough—a promise confirmed by Jin Xi's Eye of Destiny when Zhang Tian had come to negotiate and successfully requested Di Tian to stop fighting against Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu and take his leave.
Di Tian nodded, a flash of deep reverence crossing his face. "Yes. My Lord possesses the supreme, reality-warping mastery over the elements and space to perfectly conceal such an evolution from the heavens."
"But," Di Tian added, his voice turning heavy with sorrow, "her grievous injuries, inflicted directly by the Asura God's cursed blade during the great war, are still far too severe. The dark, necrotic energy lingers. She desperately needs another tens of thousands of years to continue quietly, slowly healing with the massive chunk of Life Gold she rests upon before she can even safely awaken from her deep slumber to assist us."
This timeline stumped Zhang Tian a bit. He could not wait tens of thousands of years. But he did not let his disappointment show.
"I understand," Zhang Tian told Di Tian confidently. "I will come up with a profound, permanent solution for her injuries far quicker than that. We will put this ambitious idea of evolving the Golden Dragon King on hold for now, until I am strong enough to either heal your Lord, or strong enough to personally conceal Jin Xi from the investigations of the God Realm during her bloodline evolution."
Di Tian nodded, visibly relieved that the human was pragmatic enough not to force a catastrophic risk upon their Auspicious Beast.
With the heavy political matters settled, Zhang Tian shifted the conversation to his secondary, highly personal objectives for this visit.
"Lord Di Tian," Zhang Tian began, turning to look at the elegant Emerald Swan. "While my clone remains here, I wish to learn the absolute, finest intricacies of controlling Life Energy directly from Senior Bi Ji. Additionally, I ask for your assistance in helping me meticulously analyze the fundamental, genetic bloodlines of various different, high-tier spirit beasts."
He explained his reasoning. "I need this data so that I can try to perfectly replicate and create the specific abilities of spirit beasts for the Self-Condensing Spirit Rings. The more I understand your biology, the better I can synthesize your abilities without needing to harvest your rings."
He didn't stop there. "Also, I am currently planning to research a viable, sustainable way to artificially create Artificial Spirit Bones. If you have some surplus, discarded Spirit Bones within your treasuries that I can research, I would deeply appreciate it. The specific age of the Spirit Bone absolutely won't matter much for my purposes... I just want to see the underlying, microscopic process of how Spirit Bones are naturally formed, and I wish to thoroughly analyze some Spirit Bones of different ages a few times to understand the dense energy crystallization."
Di Tian accepted that request readily and without a hint of hesitation. Supplying a few discarded bones and allowing Bi Ji to teach him was a remarkably small, insignificant price to pay in return for Zhang Tian dedicating his limitless intellect to creating a flawless alternative to human Spirit Master's cultivation.
"You shall have access to our vaults, human," Di Tian agreed, gesturing to Bi Ji. "And Bi Ji will instruct you."
Naturally, Zhang Tian understood the transaction required a monumental promise. "In return, Lord Di Tian, I promise you this: I will eventually create a supreme, binding method to completely prevent Spirit Beasts from leaving behind a Spirit Ring or a Spirit Bone after their death. This will completely remove the incentive for humans to hunt you, serving as the final, absolute step to the solution."
He offered a realistic caveat. "But for that monumental change to occur, I would need to reach a level of power where I am a god vastly stronger than the foundational laws of this entire Douluo Star, so I can forcibly rewrite the laws of this world. Moreover, I would absolutely need to reach the rank of a Godking at least, just to keep the other interfering Godkings of the God Realm at bay from descending to make things worse in this world when I alter the rules."
"We will eagerly await that day, Zhang Tian," Di Tian rumbled, a rare, genuine smile touching his lips.
For the next few weeks, the atmosphere in the Core Region shifted into a profound, tranquil period of intense academic and martial exchange.
Zhang Tian's clone spent countless hours sitting with Bi Ji in serene, glowing glades near the lake, learning how to more finely, masterfully control his vast Life Energy. In this entire world, there could be absolutely no entity superior to Bi Ji in the delicate art of controlling Life Energy. She taught him how to manipulate it to heal complex internal ruptures, or use it in a myriad of gentle, supportive ways. She even taught him the profound, esoteric methods of healing deep, metaphysical injuries to the soul itself—a delicate art that Zhang Tian hadn't known at all.
Under her patient guidance, Zhang Tian refined his control to the point of effortlessly manipulating even incredibly thin, hair-like strands of life energy, weaving them like surgical thread. He gained a far deeper, philosophical insight into the nature of Life Energy through Bi Ji's ancient insights and by thoroughly analyzing the flawless execution of her healing abilities.
But it was not a one-sided exchange.
Zhang Tian, possessing a brilliant, tactical mind forged in brutal combat, also taught Bi Ji a few of his own, highly aggressive tricks that immediately, greatly enhanced her previously lacking combat power. He taught her the inverse application of her power—how to actively, forcefully seize the life energy directly from the meridians of her opponent to weaken them, or even how to use her own dense energy to violently burn the life energy of an enemy. He taught her specialized, highly efficient circulation methods to drastically strengthen her own physical body with Life Energy in a way that left absolutely no lingering side effects. He also taught her how to seamlessly combine and condense her Mental Energy, Life Energy, and Spirit Power into razor-sharp, tangible physical weapons.
Bi Ji learned these aggressive applications rather quickly. As she mastered the offensive strikes, Zhang Tian realized a profound truth. The only reason Bi Ji had never managed to create such devastating, lethal techniques herself over hundreds of thousands of years, despite her absolute, peerless control over her energy, was truly because of her incredibly kind, pacifist personality. She simply didn't have the great, malicious intention or the inherent desire of wanting to create techniques specifically designed to harm others. Her mind simply didn't work or innovate things in a destructive manner, and she had mainly only used or created things strictly related to her defensive, healing bloodline abilities as an Emerald Swan.
Now, armed with Zhang Tian's lethal theories, Bi Ji—whose staggering cultivation was already at 570,000 years, but who usually couldn't even defeat the much younger Chi Wang in a direct fight due to her lack of offense—was suddenly a terrifying force.
During their friendly spars by the lake, Bi Ji was now able to even casually, effortlessly defeat the brutish Xiong Jun. Well, the massive bear was naturally not being overly serious against the beloved healer, but effortlessly throwing the Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear across the clearing with a condensed whip of burning life energy was still a massive, staggering achievement for her, and it greatly boosted her overall combat power and confidence.
Moreover, triggered by the intense combat training and Zhang Tian's specific energy circulation methods, Bi Ji also managed to unlock a deeply buried, ancient bloodline ability. It was derived from a very faint, distant trace of a Phoenix Bloodline hidden within her origin as an Emerald Swan. This latent bloodline mutated and blossomed into the terrifying 'Emerald Life Flame'. Bi Ji could now unleash these brilliant green flames at will, making the flames highly, incineratingly harmful to her enemies, or incredibly, miraculously soothing for healing her allies, entirely depending on her specific intent.
Zhang Tian was deeply grateful for everything she had patiently taught him, heavily utilizing her wisdom to train his own control over his Life Spirit Core to such a great, microscopic level that he couldn't have previously imagined. He treated Bi Ji very respectfully, referring to her as an esteemed elder throughout their training.
While this intense, highly productive training montage occupied his days, Zhang Tian's clone also made absolutely sure to spend ample, highly romantic time with his dear Jin Xi regularly.
They would walk together through the ancient, glowing forests, holding hands and sharing quiet, intimate conversations beneath the massive canopies. Jin Xi was incredibly happy to have him there, showing him her favorite, hidden groves and introducing him to the various, bizarre flora of her home.
During these peaceful weeks, Jin Xi also diligently fulfilled her duties. She traveled across the vast expanses of the Star Dou Great Forest, utilizing her recently elevated strength. Since her overall power was much more profound now, as she was currently a true Spirit Emperor—which was equivalent in raw, atmospheric impact to more than thirty thousand years of age as an ordinary Spirit Beast for her, due to her supreme status as the Emperor Auspicious Beast—she visited many distant, struggling regions of spirit beasts and various different, isolated spirit beast clans.
She walked among them, her golden aura shining brightly, and actively, generously blessed them specifically with her profound fate and luck. Her presence ensured that the younger generations of beasts would grow healthier, mutations would be more favorable, and the overall destiny of the Star Dou Great Forest would slowly, steadily shift toward a brighter, far more prosperous future under the blessings.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels [Villain: Manipulating The Heroines Into Hating The Protagonist] and [Harem Master: Seduction System].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon. [Check Out Art Of Characters On My Patreon. It's Free To View btw.]
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04