Zhang Tian gestured towards the main pavilion, a beautiful, open-air building overlooking the garden. "Please, come inside. You have traveled a very long way."
He led the way, and Jin Xi followed, her movements still a little clumsy on her new, human legs, her gaze darting everywhere. The estate was… beautiful. Not in the wild, chaotic way of the forest, but in a calm, orderly, and incredibly, strangely peaceful way. The air was thick with the scent of his power, the faint, metallic tang of the crimson grass that grew in perfect, manicured patches.
Ah Yin, her grass-form dissolving and her true, physical self-stepping out from the shadows of the pavilion, poured a cup of fragrant, steaming tea. She offered it to Jin Xi with a quiet, polite smile.
Jin Xi sat down on a soft, plush cushion, her hands clasped nervously in her lap. She looked at Zhang Tian, who sat opposite her, his expression one of calm, patient curiosity.
"So," he began, his voice a gentle, probing sound. "You came all this way. You left your home. You must have had a very good reason. Why were you looking for me?"
Jin Xi took a deep breath. This was it. The moment. "I… I saw you," she said, her voice a little stronger now. "In a… a dream. A vision. I used my power… my destiny power… to look. And I saw you."
Zhang Tian's eyebrows rose slightly. He leaned forward, his interest clearly piqued. "You saw me? And what, exactly, did you see?"
"I saw… your future," she said, her crimson eyes shining with a remembered awe. "I saw you… you were standing on a throne of red vines. And the sky… it was all red. And you… you became a god."
A heavy, profound silence settled over the pavilion. Ah Yin, who had been standing silently by, froze, her teacup halfway to her lips.
Zhang Tian stared at her, his own, usually unreadable, expression now a mask of pure, unadulterated shock. He had expected her to say many things. That she was lost. That she was curious. That she was seeking an ally. He had not expected this.
"A god," he repeated, his voice a low, careful sound. He recovered his composure, his mind racing. "That is… a very bold claim. What kind of god did you see? The God of Slaughter? The God of Plants? The God of Life? The God of Destruction? There are… many different kinds."
Jin Xi just looked at him, her beautiful face a mask of pure, innocent confusion. "Gods?" she asked, tilting her head. "Are there… different kinds? I... I don't know."
She frowned, trying to remember the ancient, half-forgotten lessons that Lord Di Tian and the others had taught her. "I just know… that the Asura God is bad. He is the God of Slaughter, and he is our enemy. And… and the Dragon God was the greatest of all. He was the king of the gods, and the origin of all spirit beasts. But… I don't know about… 'Life' or 'Destruction' gods."
She looked at him, her expression earnest. "I just saw… you. And your spirit. It was… it was like a sun of blood and gold. It was… the Blood Silver God Emperor. That's what the vision felt like. It felt like… you."
Zhang Tian just stared at her, his mind reeling. 'Blood Silver God Emperor… she… she's not just seeing the future. She's naming it.'
He realized, with a jolt, that trying to explain the intricate, complex, and deeply, profoundly, and ridiculously convoluted politics of the Divine Realm to this… this child… would be a waste of time. She was a creature of pure, primal instinct. She had seen his destiny, and she had followed it.
He changed tactics. His expression turned serious. "Jin Xi," he said, his voice a low, sobering sound. "You are the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Your presence… it is the anchor for the fate of all spirit beasts. For you to be here… in a human city… it is a danger of unimaginable magnitude."
He leaned forward. "Those Fierce Spirit Beasts, the ones in the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest… Lord Di Tian… they must not be aware that you are here."
At the mention of her guardian, a look of pure, mischievous, and almost comically profound pride lit up Jin Xi's face. She puffed out her magnificent chest, a gesture that was so unconsciously, wonderfully arrogant, it almost made him laugh.
"Hmph!" she said, her voice a triumphant chime. "Lord Di Tian? He has no idea! None of them do!"
She then, with a great deal of childish glee, recounted her brilliant, masterful plan. She told him how she had waited, how she had watched Yao Ling, Chi Wang, and Zi Ji prepare for their own, secret mission. How she had put on a perfect, innocent performance for her grumpy guardian, Chi Wang.
"I told him I would be a good girl!" she giggled, her crimson eyes sparkling. "I told him I would just sleep by the lake! And he believed me! He patted my head!"
She beamed, as if this were the greatest, most cunning deception in the history of the world. "And then, after they were gone, I just… left! They have no idea where I am! They're off in the city, probably still trying to figure out what 'shiny stones' are for, and I'm… I'm here! With you! Hehehe… I am so, so smart."
Zhang Tian's smile, which had been one of amusement, slowly, almost imperceptibly, faded. A cold, hard knot of a new, and very, very serious, kind of dread began to form in his stomach.
'She… she thinks they don't know,' he thought, his mind a racing, chaotic engine. 'She thinks she's here, safe. Well, she is but because she is here but I might not be. After all… they're here. In this city. Three Fierce Beasts, one of them over half a million years old. And their entire mission… is to find me.'
He looked at the beautiful, naive, and utterly, completely, and soul-shatteringly dangerous creature who was now happily sipping her tea.
'And she,' he thought, the cold dread intensifying, 'is a walking, talking, and almost comically obvious beacon of divine, auspicious energy. A beacon that, if they get close enough, they will not be able to miss, no matter how well she hides herself.'
His mind flashed to a vision of his own. A vision of his beautiful, tranquil estate being consumed by a storm of abyssal purple energy, of three-headed, blood-red dogs tearing through his gardens, of a thousand-eyed, ancient tree uprooting his entire world.
And then, a worse thought. 'If they find her here… with me… they will not just attack recklessly. They will call for their king. They will summon Di Tian.'
He had no illusions about his own power. He was a Spirit King. A very, very powerful Spirit King. But Di Tian… Di Tian was a god in all but name. A being who had lived for almost a million years. A being whose power was a true, unassailable mountain.
'If Di Tian comes…' he thought, his blood running cold, '…I have no way to stop him. None. My vines, my spirit bones… they would be useless.'
He thought of his allies. 'Father In Law? Grandpa Sword? They are powerful, yes. But they are not gods. They cannot fight a creature of that magnitude.'
He had one, single, and incredibly, terrifyingly desperate trump card.
'Renxue…' he thought. 'Only her grandfather. Qian Daoliu. A Level 99 Limit Douluo. The Divine Envoy of the Angel God. A man who can, perhaps, channel a sliver of true, divine power. He is the only human on this continent who could even stand against Di Tian.'
But to call on him would be to expose everything. His relationship with Renxue. His true, hidden strength. His entire plan. It would be a final, desperate gamble, one that would change the very nature of his game forever.
He looked at Jin Xi, who was now nervously watching him, her earlier, triumphant smile gone, replaced by a look of worried, childlike concern. She had sensed his shift in mood.
"What… what's wrong?" she asked, her voice a small, hesitant whisper. "Are you… are you angry with me? Do you… do you not want me to stay?" She looked like a kicked puppy, her crimson eyes filling with a sudden, devastating moisture.
Zhang Tian's mind snapped back to the present. He ruthlessly suppressed his fear, his panic. He was a god in the making. He would not be undone by a simple, ancient lizard. He would control this. He would use this.
He forced a slow, reassuring smile onto his face. He reached out and, very gently, placed his hand over hers.
"No, Jin Xi," he said, his voice a low, warm sound. "I am not angry. I am just… thinking. Of the risks."
He looked at her, his gaze direct and serious. "I can take the risk of keeping you with me," he said. "In fact, I want you to stay. But… there are conditions. Three of them. And they are not negotiable."
Jin Xi's face lit up, a brilliant, beautiful sunrise of pure, unadulterated joy. "You'll let me stay?!" she squealed. "Truly?! Yes! I'll do anything! What are the conditions? I'll do them! All of them!"
"The first," he said, his voice a calm, steady sound that instantly sobered her, "is that you must follow my commands. All of them. Without question. Even if they go against your pride. Even if you do not understand them. Your life in the forest is over. You are in my world now. And in my world, I make the rules. Do you understand?"
Jin Xi's expression faltered. Her pride as an Auspicious Beast, a creature who was, in her own way, a ruler, bristled at the thought of "obeying."
"But…" she began, her voice a low, uncertain sound. "What if… what if you command me to do something bad? What if you… what if you plan to harm the spirit beasts? I… I cannot do that. I am their… their protector. If you are going to harm them, then… then I must go back."
Zhang Tian just smiled, a gentle, disarming expression. "I have no intention of harming the spirit beasts, Jin Xi," he said. "A pointless, chaotic slaughter? It is… inefficient. It is not my way."
He paused, a flicker of something, a hint of his true, cold nature, in his eyes. "The ones who attack me, however… they are a different category. If a beast, or a human, for that matter, tries to harm me, or my family… I will not hold back. I will eradicate them. Do you understand that?"
Jin Xi thought about this. It seemed… logical. It was the law of the forest, after all. You do not hunt without reason. But you defend your territory, your pack, with your life.
She nodded, a slow, serious gesture. "I understand. And… I can accept that." She looked at him, a small, calculating glint in her crimson eyes. "And… if I do not want to follow one of your orders… I can just… leave, right? You will not… trap me?"
He chuckled. "Of course. You are my guest, Jin Xi. Not my prisoner. If you ever wish to leave, the gate is always open."
'She is right,' he thought. 'She is free. But I know she will not leave. Her destiny, her own, powerful, and now very useful, sense of fate… it will not let her.'
"I accept your first condition," she said, her voice firm.
"Good," he replied. "The second condition is this: you must help me. I am… a researcher. An inventor. I am working on a project. A project to create… artificial spirit rings. And artificial spirit bones."
He saw the look of pure, unadulterated shock on her face, and he pressed his advantage. "Imagine it, Jin Xi. A world where humans no longer need to hunt your kind to become strong. A world where they can create their own rings, their own bones. A world where the slaughter… stops. Forever. You are the Emperor Auspicious Beast. The guardian of your race's fate. Can you not see the value in such a world?"
He had her. He saw the dawning, brilliant light of hope in her eyes.
"You… you can do that?" she whispered, her voice filled with a profound, almost religious awe.
"I can try," he said simply. "But I need your help. Your knowledge. Your… perspective as a spirit beast."
"Yes!" she said, her voice a passionate, unwavering cry. "Yes! I will help you! I will do anything to help you!"
He smiled. "Then the second condition is met."
"And the third," he said, his voice softening, a genuine warmth entering his eyes as he looked at her, at this strange, beautiful, and impossibly naive creature who had just walked into his life, "is simple. You must be comfortable here. You must be… a part of this family. And you must never, ever, harm any of them."
He gestured to Ah Yin, who was watching them with a quiet, knowing smile. "Ah Yin, my fiancées, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. They are my pack. And now… so are you."
Jin Xi looked at him, at his warm, genuine smile. And she felt a new, strange, and incredibly wonderful feeling bloom in her chest. A feeling of… belonging. Of… home.
She nodded, a single, decisive gesture. "I accept."
"Excellent," he said, standing up. "Then let me show you to your new room. We have much to discuss. And… you should probably tell me about the guests you have brought with you to my city."
As they walked through the elegant, sun-drenched hallways of the estate, Jin Xi, now feeling more comfortable, more… safe… began to talk.
"You knew?" she asked, her voice a mixture of awe and surprise. "You knew they were here?"
"I did," he said simply.
"They are very, very strong," she said, her voice a low, worried sound. "You must be careful. The one, the old man, Yao Ling… he is the Myriad Demon King. He is a Demon Eye Tree. And he… he is very old. Over 500,000 years old. His mental power… it is like a great, endless ocean."
"And the others?" Zhang Tian asked, his voice a calm, casual sound, as if they were discussing the weather.
"The big, grumpy one, Chi Wang… he is my guardian," she said. "He is a Three-Headed Scarlet Devil Mastiff. He is over 300,000 years old. He is very, very strong. And very, very angry."
"And the woman?" he asked, his voice still a low, casual sound.
"That is Zi Ji," Jin Xi replied, a flicker of something, a hint of a deep, primal respect, in her voice. "She is the Abyss Demon Dragon. Her cultivation is only just over 200,000 years old, so she is the weakest of the three. But her bloodline… it is the strongest. It can… it can pressure other dragon bloodlines. Even Lord Di Tian's."
They reached a large, beautifully appointed room, its windows opening up onto a quiet, private garden.
Zhang Tian stopped and looked at her, his expression unreadable. "Thank you for the information, Jin Xi," he said, his voice a quiet, serious sound. "Now, you must rest. And you must not, under any circumstances, leave this estate without my permission. Do you understand?"
She nodded, her earlier, rebellious pride completely gone, replaced by a new, dawning understanding of the true, deadly nature of the game they were now all a part of.
"I understand," she said. "I will be good."
He smiled, a genuine, warm expression. "I know you will," he said. And he left her, a golden-maned lion in a new, strange, and very, very dangerous den.
~~
A/N: Check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon.
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04