The sun-dappled clearing deep within the Star Dou Great Forest was a place of quiet, ancient peace. But for the small, golden lion curled up in a patch of soft moss, the world was a raging inferno of crimson and gold. She was not sleeping. She was dreaming.
The vision played behind her eyes, a recurring dream that felt more real than the forest around her. She saw him. The man from the future. The one whose spirit was a sun of blood, whose power could make the very heavens weep crimson tears.
She let out a small, frustrated sigh, the sound a soft puff of air in the quiet clearing. The forest, which had once been her entire world, now felt like a cage. The games she used to play with the ten-thousand-year-old spirit apes, the silly chases through the ancient trees… they all seemed so childish now. And the ancient, slow conversations of the Fierce Beasts, the endless, rumbling discussions of territory and balance… they were like the droning of distant, uninteresting thunder.
'It's so boring here,' she thought, her mental voice a soft, childish chime that was at odds with the immense power she represented. 'He is out there. In the human world. The world in the vision… it was so full of color. Of power. Being with him... it feels like the path to growing up. To becoming strong, like Lord Di Tian!'
She felt the weight of her identity, a gentle but constant pressure on her soul. She was the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the source of the spirit beasts' luck. Her duty was to stay here, in the heart of the forest, her very presence a shield that protected the fate of her kind. But a new, conflicting desire had taken root in her heart, a desire as bright and powerful as the crimson god in her dreams.
'But if I get stronger with him,' she reasoned with herself, her tail giving a small, excited thump against the mossy ground, 'then I can help the spirit beasts even more when I come back! It's not selfish. It's… a training journey! Yes, that's it! A secret, special training journey that only I can go on!'
The logic was flawless. In her own, five-thousand-year-old mind.
She thought of the transformation. An ancient, irreversible ritual, a path that was open only to a beast of her lineage. She could take a human form. But it was a one-way path. Her lion form, her life in this quiet, peaceful forest, would be lost forever.
She looked down at her golden paws, at the soft, downy fur that she had spent so many centuries grooming. 'I will miss running through the grass,' she thought, a flicker of genuine, childish sadness in her heart. 'And I will miss napping in the sun on Lord Di Tian's island.'
But then, she thought of the human world. 'But… the human world has… what did Yao Ling call them? Cities? Packs of humans living together in giant, stone nests. And there are… so many new things to see. And he is there.'
"What could be in a city?" she mumbled aloud to a passing butterfly. "Are there tastier fruits than the ones here? Are the rivers clearer? He lives there. It must be a special place." The butterfly, naturally, did not answer.
The vision of the crimson god flashed in her mind again, a lodestone pulling at her very soul. The decision was made. The fear was a small, fluttering butterfly in her chest, but the excitement was a roaring fire.
She knew she could not tell the others. Lord Di Tian, with his deep, rumbling voice and his serious, golden eyes, would forbid it. He would tell her it was too dangerous, that her duty was here. And her guardian, the grumpy, three-headed Chi Wang… he would never let her go. He would probably just sit on her until she promised not to leave.
"No," she whispered to a listening flower. "They wouldn't understand. They think the forest is everything. But I've seen something more."
She had to be clever. She had to be patient.
The little golden lion stood, a new resolve in her golden eyes. Her life in the forest was over. Her new life, her true adventure, was about to begin.
The days that followed were a long, boring waiting game. The little golden lion watched from the shadows as the three chosen envoys prepared for their journey into the human world. She saw them in their new, human forms, a sight that was both strange and fascinating.
Yao Ling, the ancient tree, had become a tall, scholarly old man, his thousands of eyes condensed into a piercing pair that seemed to hold all the wisdom of the forest. He was in charge. And he was having a difficult time.
He was trying, with the patience of a mountain, to explain the concept of "money" to Chi Wang. The colossal mastiff, in his human form, was a mountain of a man, his skin the color of burnished bronze, his face a mask of brutal, silent strength. He just stared at the shiny, gold coins in Yao Ling's hand, a look of confusion on his face.
"So… I cannot eat them?" Chi Wang's mental voice was a low, rumbling growl of disappointment.
"No, you cannot eat them," Yao Ling's own voice was a sigh of exasperation. "For the last time, you trade them. For things. For food. For a place to sleep."
"Why not just take the food?" Chi Wang grumbled. "If a human has food and I am stronger, the food is mine. This is the law of the forest."
"It is not the law of their world," Yao Ling said, pinching the bridge of his new, human nose. "If you do that, more humans, stronger humans, will come. They call them 'guards.' It causes unnecessary trouble. These shiny stones prevent that."
Chi Wang just grunted, a sound of skepticism. He still looked like he wanted to eat the coins.
Zi Ji, the Abyss Dragon Demon Empress, was having a much better time. In her human form, she was a woman whose beauty seemed to bend the very light around her. She was fascinated by her new clothes. Yao Ling, having studied humans, had brought back several outfits for her to choose from.
"Yao Ling, look at this!" Zi Ji's voice was a melodic chime of delight. She held up a gown of the sheerest, purple silk. "It feels like water! How do the humans make these clothes thing from that silk threads of those little spider beasts and worms?"
"It is a complex process, Zi Ji," Yao Ling explained. "Humans have cultivated these methods for thousands of years to produce these clothes."
"Fascinating!" She kept twirling, watching the fabric shimmer and flow around her, a look of childish delight on her face. "Chi Wang, doesn't it look pretty?"
"It looks flimsy," Chi Wang grunted, still eyeing the gold coins. "A single swipe of a claw would tear it to shreds."
While Zi Ji was distracted, trying on another dress of vibrant green silk, the little golden lion saw her chance. One of the dresses, a simple but elegant gown of soft, white cotton, lay discarded on a patch of moss. It was perfect. With a stealth that would have made a civet proud, she darted from the bushes, snatched the dress in her mouth, and disappeared back into the shadows.
Yao Ling saw the flash of gold out of the corner of his eye. He turned just in time to see her vanish. He let out another long sigh. "The little one has taken one of your garments, Lady Zi Ji."
Zi Ji, now admiring herself in a reflection on the lake's surface, just laughed. "Let her have it. She is probably just curious. What would a lion do with a dress anyway? Use it as her bedding?" They dismissed it, their minds focused on their impending, and very serious, mission.
For three more days, the little lion watched them practice. She watched them stumble, their powerful beast bodies clumsy and awkward in their new, bipedal forms. She watched them spar, learning to channel their immense power through human limbs.
Her tail twitched with impatience. 'Are they gone yet?' she thought, her childish frustration growing. 'They are so slow! If they were still in their beast forms, they would have been halfway to the human world by now! What is there to talk about? You just go!'
Her waiting was finally interrupted by a familiar, and very grumpy, presence. Chi Wang, in his human form, found her hiding in a thicket of ferns.
"Little one," his mental voice was a low, rumbling growl, but it held a new, gentle affection. "Lord Di Tian has given us a mission. We will be gone for some time. You will stay here, by the Lake of Life. Bi Ji will watch over you."
The little lion put on her most innocent face. She looked up at him, her large, golden eyes wide and guileless. 'Of course, Lord Chi Wang,' she projected back, her mental voice a sweet chime. 'I will be a good girl. I will not cause any trouble. I will just sleep, and wait for you to come back.'
Chi Wang, a creature of simple, brutal logic, was completely fooled by her performance. He gave her a final, gruff pat on the head, a gesture that was so uncharacteristically gentle it almost made her laugh. He then rejoined the other two.
The three of them, a strange, powerful trio of gods in the guise of mortals, finally departed. Their forms were a shimmering ripple in the air, and then, they were gone.
The little lion waited. She waited for a full day, then another, just to be sure. She could feel their auras, their powerful presences, growing more and more distant, until they were finally gone from her senses. The coast was clear.
"Finally!" she chirped aloud, her voice a soft, melodic sound. "My turn!"
She walked to the edge of the Lake of Life, the heart of her world. She looked at the tranquil water, at the island where the great Di Tian slept, his presence a silent, comforting mountain in the center of her universe. A small, sad pang of nostalgia hit her.
'Goodbye, old home,' she thought, her voice a quiet whisper in her mind. 'I will be back. One day. And I will be strong.'
She turned and ran, a golden blur of motion, her destination the most ancient, most sacred part of the forest. The time for waiting was over. The time for her transformation had come.
She arrived at a place where the life force of the forest was at its most potent. An ancient, thousand-year-old tree, its branches a gnarled canopy that seemed to touch the sky. This was where she would be reborn.
She closed her eyes and began the ritual. It was not a process of her own will, but an instinct, an ancient memory sleeping in her bloodline. A brilliant, golden light began to emanate from her body, a light as warm and powerful as the sun itself.
Her lion form dissolved, not into dust, but into pure, golden light. The light then began to coalesce, to reshape itself, guided by the ancient will of her Auspicious Beast soul. It was a slow, beautiful process.
The light faded, and a new figure stood in the center of the clearing. A woman. A woman whose beauty was not just a simple, physical thing, but a force of nature. Her hair was a river of molten gold, cascading down her back. Her eyes were not the golden color of a lion, but a deep crimson, the color of a setting sun.
Her body was a masterpiece of creation, a vessel of feminine power. Her breasts were like two perfect, snow-capped mountains. Her waist was a slender curve that flowed into hips as wide and promising as a fertile valley. And her buttocks were like two ripe peaches, a plump promise of pleasure. She was not a girl. She was a woman, in the full, glorious bloom of her power.
She took a step, and immediately stumbled, her new, two-legged form a strange, imbalanced thing. "Whoa!" she yelped, flailing her arms. Walking was harder than it looked.
She looked down at her new, naked body. She saw her reflection in a small, clear pond nearby. She stared, her crimson eyes wide with a mixture of awe and a new, strange uncertainty.
"Is this... me?" she whispered. She touched her face, her long, slender fingers tracing the line of her jaw. "Is this what humans look like? Am I… ugly?"
She felt the new power within her. It was different. It was no longer the raw power of a beast. It was the focused power of a human Spirit Master. She could feel the spirit rings pulsing within her, a perfect configuration of two yellow and two purple. She was a Level 42 Spirit Ancestor.
She raised her hand, and her new spirit materialized. It was not a lion. It was a dragon. A magnificent creature of pure, golden light. And in her other hand, a weapon took shape. A long, elegant, and powerful Golden Dragon Spear.
She looked at her new hands. She felt the new, exciting power humming within her. She was no longer just the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. She needed a name. A human name.
"Jin Xi," she whispered, the name a soft, new sound on her tongue. It felt right.
She closed her eyes. Her third eye, the physical manifestation of her destiny-seeing power, was gone. But the power itself… it remained. It was now a part of her soul, a silent, inner compass that pointed her towards her future.
She focused her will, her new, innate power of fate. And she felt it. A single, bright, powerful thread of destiny, a golden road that led north. To him.
She then remembered the dress. She pulled the stolen white cotton gown from its hiding place. Getting it on was another clumsy, difficult struggle. But finally, she was dressed. A beautiful, awkward, and incredibly powerful newborn in a brand-new world.
With a final, determined smile, Jin Xi began her journey.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon