Chapter 117: Advancing to Spirit KingAt this critical moment."Chi Wang, stop!" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's crisp and urgent voice rang out. She quickly blocked the space between Dai Youheng and Chi Wang. "They are not enemies, they are my—friends! This person is a human recognized by the Snow Empress of the Extreme North Land. He just completed a fair trade with me and did not harm me in the slightest!""Friends? A trade?" Chi Wang's three heads tilted simultaneously, its six eyes filled with immense confusion and disbelief.It had guarded the Auspicious Beast for a long time and had never heard of the Auspicious Beast making friends with humans, let alone conducting any kind of trade.This was even more absurd than the sun rising from the west! It sniffed with its massive nose and indeed detected no scent of blood or malicious spirit power left over from a battle. Instead, there was a strange, fragrant scent of a Medicinal Pill and a trace of a noble aura that even made it feel a palpitation.Dai Youheng's thoughts raced; he knew he could not linger here. He immediately stepped forward, his tone urgent and clear, and dropped a bombshell. "Senior Chi Wang! Now is not the time for explanations! Please take the Auspicious Beast and leave this place immediately, returning to the Lake of Life! At this moment, at least three human Titled Douluo have gathered in this area, including the Gluttonous Douluo Xuan Zi from Shrek Academy!"He deliberately emphasized the words 'Xuan Zi' and 'Shrek Academy'. Seeing Chi Wang's pupils contract sharply, he continued quickly, "The records of the Sea Gods Pavilion at Shrek clearly state a prophecy regarding the Auspicious Beast: Where the Auspicious Beast resides, all beasts are protected. Its rank is supreme, and humans may attempt to guide it. With the blessing of good fortune, the future is boundless!""Once Xuan Zi discovers the tracks of the Auspicious Beast, given his strength and the importance he places on his Disciples, he will inevitably spare no cost to seize the power of the Auspicious Beast and graft its Luck onto the Disciple he favors! At that point, the consequences would be unimaginable!"Dai Youheng was quite petty; he was the only one who needed to obtain the power of destiny from the Auspicious Beast; there was no need to give it to Huo Yuhao.He also did not want the Auspicious Beast's Golden Dragon Bloodline to be stolen by that Tang Wutong in the future.Even without obtaining the power of destiny, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were still his potential future opponents. Even if their relationship was good now, once a conflict of interest arose in the future, they would inevitably become enemies. He certainly did not want to aid the enemy.These words were half-true and half-false, but they accurately struck Chi Wang's greatest weakness: the absolute safety of the Auspicious Beast!It might not fear Xuan Zi, but it also knew it was no match for him. If a fight broke out and the Auspicious Beast suffered any mishap, it could absolutely not withstand Di Tian's fury!Chi Wang's three heads simultaneously revealed an expression of extreme gravity, and it could no longer be bothered to interrogate Dai Youheng. It let out a low roar, "Auspicious Beast, get on!"The Three-Eyed Golden Lion also knew the gravity of the situation. She leapt lightly onto Chi Wang's broad back. She looked back at Dai Youheng with complex eyes and left behind a crisp voice, "Dai Youheng, Snow Empress, farewell. I hope we have a chance to meet again.""Roar!" Chi Wang no longer hesitated in the slightest. Its four claws trod on fire as it transformed into a crimson streak of light. With speed even greater than when it arrived, it carried the Auspicious Beast and vanished instantly into the depths of the forest, galloping towards the Lake of Life in the core area.Dai Youheng let out a long sigh of relief, cold sweat breaking out on his back. Dealing with a Vicious Beast was no different from dancing on the edge of a blade. He immediately said to Ling Ya, "Hide quickly!"Ling Ya, as if granted amnesty, flickered and merged back into the shadows, as if he had never appeared.Dai Youheng immediately adjusted his breathing and quickly returned in the direction where he had separated from Princess Vina and the others. He hadn't walked far before he ran into Nebula Douluo Man Yi, who was searching with an anxious look on her face."Youheng, where did you run off to?" Seeing him, Man Yi first let out a sigh of relief, then her tone turned stern with reproach. "Is the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest a place you can just wander into? If you had encountered a high-level Spirit Beast, even this old woman might not have been able to protect you in time!"Dai Youheng immediately displayed a perfectly timed look of apology and a hint of a youth's impulsiveness on his face, explaining, "Your Excellency, please forgive me. Just now, I suddenly sensed the aura of a Spirit Beast that was extremely compatible with my Spirit. Seeing that the two of you were locked in a fierce battle with the Demonic Ape, I didn't want to disturb you, but I also feared missing a great Opportunity, so I acted on my own and chased after it to investigate. Who would have thought that the Spirit Beast was extremely cunning and incredibly fast? I followed it for a distance but lost it. This time, it was this Junior who was reckless."Looking at his sincere admission of fault, Man Yi couldn't bring herself to continue scolding him and could only sigh helplessly. "You child! Forget it, as long as you are fine. However, you really went the long way around. There was clearly a great Opportunity right in front of you that was most suitable for you, yet you insisted on running off to look for something else?""Oh? What are you referring to, Your Excellency?" Dai Youheng asked, puzzled."Follow me!" Man Yi said nothing more and quickly took him back to the previous battlefield.The battlefield was a mess, with giant trees toppled and the ground cracked. Princess Princess Vina was sitting quietly on the ground, surrounded by five spirit rings. The fifth black ten-thousand-year spirit ring was flickering with light; clearly, she was in the final stages of absorbing the spirit ring of the Azure Spirit Vine.To the side, Star Shattering Douluo stood with his hands behind his back, calm and composed. At his feet, that thirty-thousand-year-old Heaven Shaking Demonic Ape lay in a pool of blood, on the verge of death. Its massive body was covered in wounds that looked as if they had been torn by stars; it was clearly not going to survive.As for the sixty-thousand-year-old Demonic Ape, it was nowhere to be seen. It must have seen its companion being quickly and heavily injured, realized it was no match, and fled in a panic. The two Douluo's goal was to assist the Juniors in obtaining spirit rings, not to hunt, so naturally, they would not pursue it relentlessly.Seeing Dai Youheng return, Star Shattering Douluo swept his gaze over him and said calmly, "You're back? Just in time. This thirty-thousand-year Heaven Shaking Demonic Ape has infinite strength, and its physique can be called the crown of Spirit Beasts of the same rank, with extremely majestic blood and Qi. Its spirit ring can greatly amplify the absorber's basic physical qualities; strength, speed, defense, and recovery will all achieve a comprehensive leap. This is a perfect match for your Evil Shadow Demonic Tiger Spirit's comprehensive enhancement path! What are you waiting for? Why not act now?"So, the Opportunity that Nebula Douluo mentioned earlier was this thirty-thousand-year Heaven Shaking Demonic Ape.Upon hearing this, a flash of light shone in Dai Youheng's eyes, and he no longer hesitated in the slightest. He strode forward and arrived in front of the dying Demonic Ape. The Demonic Ape seemed to sense that the end was coming and let out a weak and unwilling whine.Dai Youheng's expression was calm. He pressed his fingers together like a blade, condensed shadow spirit power at his fingertips, and cleanly delivered the final blow.A deep black spirit ring slowly rose from the Demonic Ape's corpse. Within that dense blackness, there was even a faint, visible trace of resentment, indicating that this spirit ring would not be easy to absorb.Dai Youheng immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his mind, calmed his Qi, and circulated his spirit power, slowly drawing that black spirit ring, which contained no weak power, toward himself.Fifth spirit ring, absorption begins!
