Chapter 37: Descending to the Lake of Life, The Auspicious Beast Nurturing the Golden Dragon King's Origin
Within the Plane Origin Sea, Lei Chen withdrew the wisp of consciousness he had cast beneath the Icy Sea.
The Demon Empress's atrocities and the Sea Princess's kindness had already set the stage for this grand play of retracing the path of the First Generation Sea God; the seeds of conflict had long been sown, and now they only needed to wait for them to take root and sprout.
Thus, after finalizing the script, Lei Chen did not descend in person as he had before; he only needed to provide a little guidance at a critical moment in the future, and everything would fall into place naturally.
"Now, it's time to handle my own affairs."
With a thought from Lei Chen, a seven-colored light flickered around him, and his figure vanished from the Sea of Origin.
The next moment, at the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest, by the shore of the Lake of Life.
Subtle ripples appeared in space, and Lei Chen's figure quietly emerged. His majesty as the Plane Master, perfectly integrated with heaven and earth, along with the Purple-gold Lightning Mark on his brow that carried an aura of judgment, made him appear like a deity descending to the mortal realm.
The Lake of Life at this moment had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to the past.
The already extremely dense life energy had experienced a qualitative leap after the Golden Ancient Tree took root here, and a layer of thick, milky-white mist even swirled above the lake's surface.
This was no ordinary water vapor, but a Spiritual Mist formed from highly liquefied life energy. The vegetation by the lakeside grew wildly, with spirit herbs everywhere emitting a refreshing fragrance; the entire area seemed to have transformed into an earthly paradise, peaceful and brimming with vitality.
Because he didn't intentionally restrain his aura, Lei Chen's sudden arrival naturally caught the attention of those present.
By the lakeside, a slender green figure sat cross-legged, absorbing the dense life energy around her.
She had long, dark green hair, skin as white as jade, an exquisite countenance, and a gentle, soft temperament. She was none other than the Emerald Swan ranked fourth among the Ten Great Savage Beasts—Bi Ji.
Feeling that vast and familiar pressure, Bi Ji immediately woke from her cultivation state and opened her emerald-green eyes. When she saw Lei Chen standing by the lakeside with his hands behind his back, she hurriedly rose, stepped forward, and bowed respectfully, her voice ethereal and pleasant: "Bi Ji pays her respects to the Plane Master."
Not far from Bi Ji, a strange-looking Soul Beast had been lazily lying on a smooth bluestone, sunbathing. It had the body of a lion and the claws of a dragon, covered entirely in brilliant golden fur, appearing incomparably noble.
Most peculiar of all was that it actually had three eyes; besides its two normal eyes, there was a vertical pupil on its forehead that flickered with an eerie red light.
This was the Imperial Auspicious Beast—the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. It was also startled by Lei Chen's arrival, raising its head to look at him with all three eyes, its golden gaze filled with intense curiosity and inquiry.
It could sense Bi Ji's respect for this suddenly appearing stranger, as well as the vast aura emanating from him that made it instinctively feel both close and reverent.
Lei Chen nodded slightly to the bowing Bi Ji, his gaze lingering on her for a moment. Sensing that the life energy within her was even more abundant and pure than during their last meeting, a satisfied smile played across his lips.
"Not bad." Lei Chen's voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable insight. "It hasn't been long since our last meeting, yet your cultivation has improved significantly, already approaching the peak of five hundred and eighty thousand years. At this rate, breaking through the six hundred thousand-year bottleneck is just around the corner."
Facing the praise of the Plane Master, not a hint of pride appeared on Bi Ji's beautiful face; instead, she lowered her head even more humbly and responded softly, "Your Excellency overpraises me."
"Any progress Bi Ji has made is entirely thanks to Your Excellency's grace. If you hadn't moved the Golden Ancient Tree here, making the life energy far superior to before, it would have been impossible for Bi Ji to advance so rapidly. This is not due to Bi Ji's ability, but rather Your Excellency's miraculous work."
Lei Chen naturally knew the reason. Bi Ji's true form was an Emerald Swan, naturally possessing an extremely strong life attribute, and her cultivation method was inherently tied to the density of life energy.
Among the Ten Great Savage Beasts, her combat ability might not be the highest, but her cultivation speed was the fastest due to her affinity for and efficiency in absorbing life energy.
Now that the environment of the Lake of Life had received an epic enhancement, it would be difficult for her cultivation not to grow rapidly.
"While the environment is an external factor, being able to make good use of it is also your destiny," Lei Chen said indifferently, his gaze then turning to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, which was tilting its head and observing him.
Feeling Lei Chen's gaze, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion showed no fear; instead, it stood up, took a few elegant steps forward, and the Eye of Destiny on its forehead flickered slightly, as if trying to see through Lei Chen's true nature.
Seeing this, Bi Ji feared the Imperial Auspicious Beast might offend the Plane Master and quickly explained softly, "Your Excellency, this is the Imperial Auspicious Beast Three-Eyed Golden Lion. It possesses high intelligence but has had very little contact with the outside world. If it is disrespectful, I hope you will be patient with it."
Lei Chen waved his hand to indicate it was fine. He looked at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, his gaze piercing directly through its body to see the slowly circulating dark-gold origin within it, causing a hint of emotion to rise in his heart.
This origin was, in essence, the remnant of the Golden Dragon King—the incarnation of half of the Dragon God's power and tyrannical will. It symbolized a God-King level status, a supreme existence that stood above ordinary deities, governed the laws of the universe, and looked down upon the birth and death of myriad worlds.
However, this God-King level origin was currently incredibly weak; to restore it to its peak state with the power of a true God-King would likely take tens of thousands of years or even longer.
The reason lay with the bearer, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion itself. Although the Imperial Auspicious Beast was noble and naturally gathered the providence of the Star Dou Great Forest, its own cultivation and strength were simply too minuscule compared to an existence like the Golden Dragon King.
For it to nurture this God-King origin was like trying to fill a vast ocean with the water of a stream; the efficiency was extremely low, and at the current rate, it would take forever.
If the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's strength could be greater, perhaps even breaking through mortal limits to reach the God-level, then with its unique talent for gathering providence combined with a God-level life essence, the speed of nurturing the Golden Dragon King's origin would surely achieve a qualitative leap, with efficiency far exceeding the current rate by a thousandfold.
However, while the idea was good, reality was quite harsh.
The cultivation speed of Soul Beasts was inherently slow, and the accumulation required to break through to the God-level was as vast as the sea.
Given the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's current cultivation and growth speed, even with a sacred land like the Lake of Life, the time required to cross that chasm would likely not be short.
Unless... she transformed into a human and cultivated with a human body; then her cultivation speed would certainly increase to an astonishing degree.