"Grandmaster, the aroma is coming from this direction." Tang Wutong sniffed the air a few times, her delicate nose twitching.
Without waiting for a response, she immediately grabbed Lin Mu's hand and eagerly followed the rich scent drifting through the dense foliage of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Seeing the two hurrying ahead, Gu Yuena shook her head helplessly. A rare, faint smile graced her stunning features as she quickened her elegant pace to catch up with them.
Soon, the three emerged from the thickets and arrived at the banks of a clear, bubbling stream.
Before them stood a ragged boy of about eleven or twelve years old. Near the water's edge, he had set up several simple wooden grills with freshly caught bluefish skewered on them. The crackling fire licked the fish, and the rich, tantalizing aroma was wafting directly from his makeshift campsite.
"It smells so good!"
Looking at the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside roasted fish, Tang Wutong's large pinkish-blue eyes lit up brilliantly, her mouth practically watering.
Lin Mu was already well aware of Tang Wutong's foodie nature. Back in the God Realm, she had frequently sneaked over to his divine residence just for meals. After all, his cooking skills had been refined over decades and were almost on par with the God of Emotions himself.
"I didn't expect that even under my immense influence on this timeline, Huo Yuhao would still be born," Lin Mu thought to himself, observing the skinny boy.
With just a single, sweeping glance, Lin Mu had completely seen through Huo Yuhao's current state.
Just like in the original trajectory of destiny, the boy possessed the mutated Spirit Eye martial soul and a pitiful innate soul power of level one.
From a normal perspective, a soul master with such a weak starting point had basically no chance of turning their life around.
However, destiny had arranged two super cheat codes for him: the million-year soul beast, the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, and the slumbering remnant of the Necromancer Saint God, Electrolux.
With these two heaven-defying encounters, Huo Yuhao possessed the capital to rise above his miserable beginnings in the Duke's mansion.
Otherwise, even if he were fed the most precious heavenly elixirs, it would be incredibly difficult for him to achieve significant success.
There was a major catch now, however. The Snow Empress and the Ice Empress from the Extreme North had long since become Lin Mu's soul spirits and ascended to the God Realm with him.
Furthermore, the Evil Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire had also been destroyed by his hands years ago. Because of these massive historical changes, it was entirely impossible for Huo Yuhao to follow his original destined path of gathering those specific soul beasts.
Even so, with his remaining two super cheat codes, cultivating to the point of becoming a god wouldn't be too difficult a task for the boy.
"Who are you?"
Facing the three strangers who had suddenly appeared from the woods, Huo Yuhao's eyes filled with deep wariness. He instinctively took a step back and tightly gripped the White Tiger Dagger in his hand, pointing the blade forward defensively.
He was highly alert. Both Tang Wutong and Gu Yuena possessed flawless faces and tall, graceful figures that belonged to the absolute rarest beauties of the mortal world.
Although Huo Yuhao had grown up in the prestigious White Tiger Duke's mansion, he had never in his life seen such breathtakingly beautiful women.
However, Huo Yuhao didn't dare to let his mind wander. For people of such extraordinary temperament to appear deep within a soul beast forest, they couldn't possibly be ordinary, especially the calm young man standing leisurely beside them.
Even though Lin Mu didn't release a single trace of soul power or divine aura, just meeting his profound gaze made Huo Yuhao feel as if all his deepest secrets had been completely laid bare.
This person was definitely a terrifying existence!
"Young brother, we are just passing by and have no ill intentions towards you," Lin Mu said calmly, his voice soothing the tense atmosphere.
Hearing this, Huo Yuhao breathed a slight sigh of relief, the tension in his shoulders dropping a fraction, but he still didn't lower the White Tiger Dagger. In this dangerous forest, trust was a luxury he couldn't afford.
Seeing the boy's stubborn vigilance, Lin Mu's figure flashed. Without disturbing the air, he instantly appeared directly behind Huo Yuhao, gently patting the boy's thin shoulder.
"Don't be nervous. If I wanted to attack you, you wouldn't even have the chance to realize you were dead, let alone resist."
Sensing the unfathomable disparity in strength between them, Huo Yuhao smiled bitterly. Realizing resistance was futile, he slowly lowered the White Tiger Dagger and sheathed it.
A moment later, Lin Mu walked over, casually picked up a perfectly grilled fish from the rack, and said, "Little brother, how about we make a fair deal? You treat us to your grilled fish, and in return, I will give you a life-changing opportunity."
"Huh?!"
Huo Yuhao was immediately dumbfounded. These wild grilled fish weren't worth any money; they were just simple wilderness food.
After a moment of shock, Huo Yuhao shook his head and said seriously, "These grilled fish are nothing valuable. I will just treat you. You don't owe me anything."
"Hey, are you out of your mind? You are turning down a massive opportunity that is practically being handed to you? This could change your entire destiny!" Tang Wutong said irritably, crossing her arms.
Having spent so much time under Lin Mu's straightforward influence, Tang Wutong's personality was much more direct and less restrained than it would have been otherwise.
It was also worth noting that as a goddess, Tang Wutong was already eighteen years old in physical appearance, making her a few years older and much more mature than the young Huo Yuhao.
Hearing her scolding, Huo Yuhao rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to the beautiful, demanding girl.
"I will take that as a yes. After we finish the grilled fish, I will help you acquire your first soul ring."
With that decided, Lin Mu tossed the first grilled fish to an eager Tang Wutong. Immediately after, he picked up two more grilled fish, turned around, and walked over to Gu Yuena's side, handing one gently to the Silver Dragon King.
"It is delicious, but compared to Grandmaster's cooking, it is still a bit lacking," Tang Wutong commented to herself after taking a large bite.
The usually taciturn Gu Yuena nodded slightly in agreement as she took a small, elegant bite. She also preferred Lin Mu's cooking. It wasn't just about the superior taste of his food, but more about the warmth and emotional feeling his meals evoked after thousands of years together.
Lin Mu smiled faintly at their reactions. However, a second later, his gaze suddenly shifted, looking deep towards the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Huo Yuhao's first major cheat code had finally arrived.
Through his divine sense, Lin Mu saw that besides the fleeing million-year soul beast, the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, there was another familiar face in hot pursuit: the Beast God Di Tian.
Leaving the girls to eat, Lin Mu's figure flashed, instantly crossing vast spatial distances to appear directly in the sky before Di Tian.
Seeing the extremely familiar, imposing figure suddenly block his path, Di Tian's massive dragon heart skipped a beat. He immediately halted his enormous momentum in mid-air and completely abandoned his pursuit of the fleeing Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm.
"Greetings, Your Majesty," Di Tian said respectfully, bowing his massive head.
Ever since Lin Mu had helped Gu Yuena fully recover her origin energy ten thousand years ago, Di Tian had considered his long duty of protection fulfilled.
Although Gu Yuena hadn't chosen to lead the soul beasts to war against the gods to reclaim their peak glory, instead remaining peacefully by Lin Mu's side, she had still done her part.
Through Lin Mu's influence, she had ensured the soul beast race wouldn't face total extinction and had secured a stable future for them.
Gu Yuena's choice wasn't about abandoning the assumed responsibility of the ruler of soul beasts, but more about reciprocating Lin Mu's endless efforts to save her.
After all, the original Dragon God had never truly favored the lower soul beasts, having even established the harsh cosmic rule that soul beasts could never become gods.
As only half of the Dragon God, Gu Yuena naturally felt no binding obligation to uphold a ruined legacy.
"Let that little bug go. Anyway, you and the others have already drained its energy practically dry over the millennia," Lin Mu said firmly.
Lin Mu had absolutely no interest in claiming the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm for himself.
Now, all nine of his soul spirits had safely transformed into powerful gods, and several of them, like the Snow Empress and Ice Empress, had even reached the strength of first-class gods. He had no need for a massive energy battery like this somewhat useless, combat-inept million-year soul beast.
As for Tang Wutong's future soul rings, Lin Mu could simply use his own creation and destruction divine power to condense them perfectly for her, which was far more suitable and powerful than anything the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm could provide.
Faced with a peak God King, Di Tian naturally dared not voice any objections to Lin Mu's suggestion.
At this moment, looking at the loyal Black Dragon King, Lin Mu suddenly thought of something and said meaningfully, "Di Tian, after guarding this forest for all these years, do you want to enter the God Realm?"
Upon hearing this unexpected offer, a look of profound shock and immense interest appeared on Di Tian's draconic face.
His former colleagues and his ultimate boss had all ascended or left, so how could he not have any desires to progress?
Those ferocious beasts from the Extreme North, whose base strength was once far inferior to his own, had all followed Lin Mu and successfully become gods or divine beasts. Their current strength far surpassed his limits in the mortal realm.
"Your Majesty, please allow me some time to carefully consider this immense honor," Di Tian said in a deep, trembling voice.
Lin Mu shrugged casually in response, granting him the time. Utilizing his teleportation once more, he vanished from the sky and returned to the quiet stream.
By the time he returned, the invisible spiritual fluctuations in the area indicated that Huo Yuhao had just finished miraculously merging with the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm.
"Little guy, this person's cultivation is completely unfathomable, even more terrifying than those soul beasts in the core zone! Quickly stay away from him!" the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm shouted frantically from within Huo Yuhao's newly expanded spiritual sea.
However, Huo Yuhao didn't obey the frantic worm. He knew very well that the young man meant no harm. In fact, he suspected the strange talking worm now living in his mind might actually be the very opportunity the man had casually mentioned earlier.
"Wait a minute... why does this terrifying person have Bingbing's aura on him?" the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm suddenly muttered to itself, sensing a familiar extreme cold radiating faintly from Lin Mu's soul.
Hearing the whisper in the boy's mind through his divine sense, Lin Mu smirked. He lightly snapped his fingers.
In a flash of pure, breathtaking emerald-green light, the Ice Emperor, taking the flawless form of an ethereal young girl with twin ponytails, immediately manifested beside him, her divine aura freezing the surrounding grass.
"It really is Bingbing!"
Seeing his beloved crush whom he hadn't seen for tens of thousands of years, the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm's spiritual projection immediately tried to jump out of Huo Yuhao's body in sheer excitement.
However, the Ice Emperor maintained an extremely cold, dismissive attitude. Standing proudly beside her master, she didn't even bother to cast a single glance at the frantic Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm.