Under Zi Ji's guidance, Xu Ran and Xiaowu delved deeper, swiftly making their way to the core of the Aquipeia Forest.
The surrounding soul beasts, sensing the presence of Zi Ji and the Auspicious Beast aura from Xu Ran, all kept their distance, allowing Xu Ran and his companions to hardly see any soul beasts along the way.
The core area of the Aquipeia Forest is called the Lake of Life.
It is a boundless pale blue lake, its waters extremely clear yet so deep that the bottom could not be seen. The air around it was also exceedingly fresh, uplifting the spirits.
The Lake of Life was imbued with an extremely rich Life essence, and Xu Ran and his company felt exceptionally comfortable as soon as they arrived, with the faint natural scent reinvigorating Xu Ran and Xiaowu.
"Truly worthy of the name Lake of Life," Xu Ran murmured.
The Lake of Life, being at the center of the vast Aquipeia Forest and the source of life for all the gathering soul beasts there, owed its rich heaven earth origin energy and vitality presumably to the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena's influence.
After all, the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena was a Divine King Level being, who came to the Lake of Life wounded after the battle in the Divine Realm. It was her blood that nurtured the lake, slowly transforming it into a Holy Land for cultivation.
All the ferocious beasts slumbered here for cultivation while simultaneously safeguarding Gu Yuena.
Xu Ran redirected his gaze forward, and as they set foot into the Lake of Life, five figures appeared before Xu Ran. They had all Transformed into human forms, representing the many ferocious beasts of the Aquipeia Forest.
Di Tian, Bi Ji, Bear Lord, Thousand Demon King, Red King.
Just as Xu Ran was about to take a closer look at these five notoriously powerful ferocious beasts within The Soul Beast Realm, a golden soul beast that looked nearly identical to Xu Ran pounced toward him.
This golden soul beast was slightly larger than Xu Ran, but the Luck Power it radiated was considerably weaker than Xu Ran's. They both had golden fur and stood upon auspicious clouds. However, this soul beast had an extra crimson vertical eye in the center of its brow.
This was the Auspicious Beast of the Aquipeia Forest, the Three-eyed Golden Lion. During the time of Dou Er, the Three-eyed Golden Lion's "Cultivation Level" had reached fifteen thousand years. According to the timeline, it now possessed a "Cultivation Level" of five thousand years.
Its "Cultivation Level" was five times Xu Ran's but when it came to the richness of Luck Power, it was much less compared to Xu Ran, which also showed how strong the Kirin Bloodline bestowed by the System truly was.
Auspicious Beasts are born in response to the Luck Power of soul beasts. The more prosperous the Luck Power of the Soul Beast Clan, the stronger the Luck Power the Auspicious Beast possesses. In this era, where the soul beasts were steadily heading towards ruin, it was normal for the Three-eyed Golden Lion to have weakened Luck Power.
But Xu Ran's Kirin Bloodline was a gift from the System, endowed with the richest and most prosperous Luck Power. It could be said that even Gu Yuena would be astounded if she saw Xu Ran.
Because during the heyday of the Soul Beast Clan, when they dominated the Continent and their Luck Power was at its peak, the richness of Luck Power in the Auspicious Beasts born was only similar to that within Xu Ran.
The Three-eyed Golden Lion knocked Xu Ran over with a howl, its large paws resting on Xu Ran's body, expressing its joy. Typically, only one Auspicious Beast is born in each generation of soul beasts; a second will not appear. Naturally, the appearance of Xu Ran excited the Three-eyed Golden Lion immensely.
With affectionate growls, the Three-eyed Golden Lion licked the fur on Xu Ran's neck, instinctively grooming him.
This scene left Xu Ran completely dumbfounded.
The Three-eyed Golden Lion was Wang Qiu'er from Dou Er, arguably the most beautiful being in Dou Er, bar none.
However, the Three-eyed Golden Lion had not yet Transformed and was not called Wang Qiu'er; it was still just a soul beast.
Even though Xu Ran was aware of her existence and knew that after her Transformation, she would be a being on par with Qian Renxue, Xu Ran couldn't muster the slightest interest.
After all, damn it, how could one have any feelings for a soul beast? That'd be truly ingenious!
Sure, here is the translated text:
And right now, Xu Ran was firmly pinned down by the Three-eyed Golden Lion, unable to move at all. As a man, he certainly didn't enjoy this feeling. A man must always take the initiative, otherwise, he would be miserably stifled.
At least for someone with Xu Ran's irritable and assertive nature, he must have control over everything.
Xu Ran attempted to flip over from beneath the Three-eyed Golden Lion.
But the beast's two paws were incredibly strong, pressing down on Xu Ran with such force that it left him completely without temper.
No matter how strong Xu Ran was, he had crossed over not too long ago and could not compare to these soul beasts that had lived for so many years in the Lake of Life.
"Um, little guy, can you get off me first?" Xu Ran blinked his golden eyes, somewhat awkwardly.
Precious Xiao Wu and the others were still nearby.
How embarrassing was it to be seen in this position by them?
Even if he wanted to curry favor, could they at least Transform first? In that case, for someone with Wang Qiu'er's lilac tongue, it wouldn't be impossible...
But that thought seemed shamelessly vulgar.
Once they Transform, they wouldn't be in their beast form; what fur would there be to stroke?
Hearing Xu Ran's words, the Three-eyed Golden Lion that was pinning him down paused, stretching its four paws, but still clinging to Xu Ran's body. She stared blankly at Xu Ran for a good while before finally speaking in a daze.
"Hey, I think I'm older than you."
Wang Qiu'er was somewhat dissatisfied; she could clearly see that Xu Ran's "Cultivation Level" was only a thousand years, while she possessed a full five thousand years of "Cultivation Level."
Wang Qiu'er blinked her big eyes while still pressing down on Xu Ran.
Her posture was eerily similar to how Xu Ran would typically flirt with Xiao Wu and the others by pressing his hands on their fragrant shoulders, making Xu Ran exclaim in admiration.
At the same time, he realized a problem.
In the Xingdou forest core area's Lake of Life, the Auspicious Beast Wang Qiu'er might be the weakest, but she was still casually tormenting him?!!!
The most important thing was that soul beasts like Di Tian, due to the unique attributes of the Auspicious Beast, dared not disrespect them. But the Three-eyed Golden Lion, another Auspicious Beast, did not seem to have this concern!
Suddenly, Xu Ran realized the seriousness of the issue.
It seemed that he needed to properly train Wang Qiu'er's temperament in the future, otherwise, how could he let her always take the lead?
"Cough cough, let's get up first and then talk. I still have serious matters to attend to. I'll play with you later," Xu Ran said, trying to push the beastly body off him that was much stronger than himself—damn it, he couldn't move it, not even a match for the Three-eyed Golden Lion.
"Oh," the Three-eyed Golden Lion nodded, also realizing that she might have been too excited. After all, she had seen one of her own kind.
In this world, there was only this one male Auspicious Beast in front of her, and herself, the one female Auspicious Beast. Naturally, she was excited.
Auspicious Beasts could only really... um, have a common language with each other!