Chapter 21: Attribute Connection

After Wang Rui left, Tang Ya whispered to Bei Bei as she held her roasted chicken, "I just thought they seemed to get along well and assumed they were together…"

"The difference in their clothing is too obvious; they don't look like they're from the same social class. They probably just met by chance, like us," Bei Bei replied with a smile, shaking his head.

Tang Ya's eyes lit up. "If that's the case, how about we recruit Brother Huo into Tang Sect? He's brave enough to venture near the Star Dou Forest alone, so he must be a soul master, right?"

"You're not just doing this because you liked his grilled fish, are you?" Bei Bei teased.

"Of course not!" Tang Ya blushed, caught in her thoughts.

"Come on, Tang Ya. Look me in the eye, put down the chicken wing, and say that again."

"Hmph… Would you really want me to never have that delicious grilled fish again?" Tang Ya asked, pouting pitifully.

"You little glutton." Bei Bei gently flicked her nose before turning serious. "I don't think we'll succeed. Though Brother Huo does have soul power, he seemed more interested in the Beast Sect just now."

"We won't know unless we try! The Beast Sect may be strong, but our Tang Sect isn't bad either. We've been around for over ten thousand years, and our first sect leader was Sea God himself!" Tang Ya said enthusiastically. "Tang Sect also has powerful techniques and hidden weapons…"

Her voice trailed off as she realized how weak her argument sounded.

"We'll go find him later and ask," Bei Bei sighed.

"Okay!" Tang Ya nodded vigorously. "Let me finish eating first! Then we'll go!"

...

To avoid drawing attention from Bei Bei and Tang Ya, Wang Rui deliberately chose a different direction from Huo Yuqing when he left.

At the moment, he was perched atop a tall tree. He pushed his headband up to reveal the blood-red Eye of Destiny on his forehead, which spun continuously as he examined his own fortune.

The luck of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion appeared as a beautiful, massive vortex, accelerating the overall flow of fortune in the Star Dou Forest.

Countless threads of varying thickness and color extended from Wang Rui, each representing a karmic connection with other beings he had encountered.

Over a decade ago, when Huo Yuqing was born, a misty ribbon of fortune had connected them. Just now, that misty ribbon had solidified into a firm karmic bond, far more substantial than the other threads.

Currently, Wang Rui had only two such sturdy karmic bonds: one linked to Huo Yuqing, and the other, astonishingly, connected to Tang Ya's karmic thread that extended into the void, leading to a crack in the sky.

The other end of that thread connected to the sealed Golden Dragon King in the Divine Realm—the very source of half of Wang Rui's bloodline.

As much as Wang Rui disliked admitting it, the Golden Dragon King was technically his father by blood.

Focusing his Eye of Destiny on the karmic bond, Wang Rui's perspective followed the thread. Huo Yuqing and her surroundings appeared vividly in his mind.

At that moment, the ground beneath Huo Yuqing had split slightly, and a round, white head was emerging from the crack.

—The legendary million-year soul beast, Tianmeng Iceworm, was making its grand entrance! However, the Wind Baboon, Huo Hang's destined nemesis in the original story, was nowhere in sight.

But that didn't matter. Things had already diverged significantly from the original storyline.

If Tang Ya and Bei Bei caught up with them, Wang Rui would need to find a way to smooth things over. For the Imperial Auspicious Beast, that wouldn't be difficult.

Now, it was his turn to appear.

Wang Rui leapt down from the tree. His figure blurred, transforming into a golden streak as he sped toward Huo Yuqing.

...

Huo Yuqing felt as if she were dreaming.

On her way deeper into the forest, a giant caterpillar that claimed to be a million-year-old soul beast had suddenly emerged from the ground.

The caterpillar introduced itself and said, "Kid, you've been chosen!" (Tianmeng wasn't sure why the Auspicious Beast insisted on using this phrase, but he trusted the beast's judgment.) "I'm here to offer myself as your million-year intelligent soul ring."

Anyone would think they were daydreaming in such a situation, right?

"But why did you choose me?" Huo Yuqing asked warily, keeping her eyes on the enormous soul beast in front of her.

"Hey, you're just a kid, yet you're so cautious," Tianmeng Iceworm remarked, shaking its head.

"Mr. Iceworm, though I'm young, my mother taught me that nothing in this world comes for free. If I want to gain something, I must pay a price," Huo Yuqing said, forcing herself to stay calm. "You're offering me such a great benefit. What do I need to give in return?"

The offer was too tempting—a million-year soul ring, far superior to the legendary hundred-thousand-year ones and exponentially better than the ten-year soul ring she had expected to obtain!

Huo Yuqing desperately wanted this power to avenge her mother. Even if it were bait hiding a deadly trap, she would leap in for the sake of vengeance.

Yet fear lingered. She needed to know what lay behind this seemingly incredible opportunity.

"You need to become a god," a new voice interrupted.

A strange soul beast entered Huo Yuqing's field of vision. It appeared to be a lion with dragon-like traits, about three meters long—much smaller than the giant caterpillar.

Its fur gleamed like golden crystal, with a fiery mane around its neck and at the tip of its tail, shifting from gold to a brilliant red, as though burning with an illusory flame.

Even more striking was the blood-red third eye on its forehead.

As the soul beast moved through the dim forest, it radiated a light so brilliant that it seemed as though a miniature sun had descended upon the woods, illuminating everything around it.

An eerie silence fell over the forest; even the wind seemed to vanish.

"Hello, I am the Emperor Auspicious Beast of the Star Dou Forest, and you may consider me the king of this realm," Wang Rui said softly, lowering his head to gaze at her.

Huo Yuqing instinctively knew she shouldn't look directly into the eyes of such a formidable creature, as it might be perceived as a challenge. Yet, strangely, the serene golden eyes calmed her, steadying her chaotic emotions.

It felt as if trusting this strange soul beast was natural.

"The Star Dou Forest will provide you with the best resources, including, but not limited to, hundred-thousand-year soul rings and soul bones. We will help you reach the pinnacle of the Douluo Continent, break through this world's limits, and become a god," Wang Rui explained in a voice that sounded ethereal and persuasive. "All we ask is that, once you are strong enough, you join the soul beast side and openly support us. Of course, we won't force you to harm humans. We simply need you as a deterrent to poachers. Additionally, after you become a god, you'll help me with one task—nothing beyond your capabilities. I can assure you of that. In this sense, I'm quite fair."

This seemed almost too lenient. Huo Yuqing's tension eased slightly but quickly returned. Such conditions felt as though they weren't conditions at all—she had been ready to offer everything.

Yet, why did this Emperor Auspicious Beast trust her so much?

She had only ever dreamed of becoming a titled Douluo to exact revenge, not something as unattainable as becoming a god. In ten thousand years, the only person said to have ascended to godhood was the legendary Sea God, Tang San!

"But… my talent is terrible. My innate soul power is barely above level one," Huo Yuqing whispered hesitantly.

"I'm betting that you can become a god," Wang Rui said calmly. "Will you let me lose?"

Huo Yuqing stared at him, a sudden belief stirring within her. As long as those golden eyes watched over her, as long as their owner trusted her, she felt she could accomplish anything.

"I won't let you lose!" she declared firmly, clenching her fists.

Wang Rui purred softly, sounding almost like a large cat, clearly pleased.

"That's the spirit." Wang Rui flicked his tail in satisfaction. This younger version of Huo Yuhao, untainted by Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect, was truly obedient and easy to persuade.

Meanwhile, Tianmeng Iceworm watched in silence, glancing between Huo Yuqing and Wang Rui. Though it was supposed to be a key player in this scene, it felt oddly sidelined.

"Why do I feel like I just ate a chunk of ice marrow?" it muttered in confusion.

"Now, extend your hand," Wang Rui instructed.

Huo Yuqing hesitated briefly before reaching out.

A two-jointed, crystalline spindle-shaped blue-gold crystal floated to her hand, where it pricked her finger slightly. Blood welled up but didn't drip down; instead, it was absorbed into the crystal.

Immediately, the beautiful azure-gold crystal floated upward once more, lightly landing on Huo Yuqing's forehead and quietly merging into her brow.

"Don't resist," Wang Rui said in a low voice. "This is a piece of Vitality Gold, a metal formed from extremely pure life energy. It can enhance your physical attributes."

A strange, gentle warmth spread from the point where the crystal merged, flowing through Huo Yuqing's meridians.

An unprecedented sensation of comfort spread throughout her entire body. Huo Yuqing felt as though every cell in her body was soaking in warm water, greedily absorbing the gentle and pure energy.

This energy was not overwhelming; instead, it flowed like a trickling stream, gradually seeping into her meridians, subtly expanding and reinforcing them, correcting the deficiencies in her innate constitution.

A dense azure light coursed through Huo Yuqing's body before finally gathering at her brow.

Under the guidance of this energy, Huo Yuqing's eyes suddenly deepened in color, and her martial soul activated instantly. In her deep-blue pupils, faint azure-gold light spots shimmered like a brilliant starry sky.

The azure-gold light slowly gathered at her brow, forming a slightly illusory vertical eye

Huo Yuqing, still somewhat confused, instinctively tried to control the somewhat illusory third eye. The vertical eye opened, and the azure-gold pupil moved up and down in its socket briefly before closing again, as though fatigued.

Wang Rui bent down, his large head in the form of the three-eyed golden beast lowering right in front of Huo Yuqing.

In a daze, Huo Yuqing placed her hand on Wang Rui's head, her slender fingers sinking into the dense fur that gleamed like golden crystal.

Under some unseen guidance, she pressed the newly-formed azure-gold vertical eye on her forehead against Wang Rui's third eye.

At that moment, a twisting surge of light exploded outward from where their bodies met, rippling across the space around them. It felt as though the world's destiny itself had been stirred into a restless commotion.

In the unseen world, with the Star Dou Forest as its center, a vast and terrifying vortex of destiny began to form.

High above the human empires, countless grand, illusory bands of light shattered, dispersing into radiant mists that were quickly drawn toward the vortex above the Star Dou Forest.

In mere moments, the vortex in the sky above Star Dou expanded by nearly a third.

The overall fate of the Douluo Continent remained unchanged, but in that instant, the distribution of destiny had undergone a subtle, yet monumental shift.

—The child of destiny had made her choice, and the world's fate had now taken a drastically different path.

This was not the same forced attribute connection carried out under the pressure of Gluttony Douluo in the original story. This was a fair exchange, willingly made by both parties under the pull of fate, yielding results that were vastly different.

The fluctuation on the level of fate ended in an instant, so quickly that it was almost imperceptible.

Wang Rui clearly felt a part of his power of destiny separate and merge into the small human body in front of him. In return, the powerful destiny surrounding her immediately flowed back, intertwining with his own.

The unique power of fate belonging to the Sacred Beast began to dissipate, leaving Wang Rui feeling slightly weakened. However, the destiny of humans and soul beasts was gradually merging, forming an entirely new force.

This new force was more profound and weighty than the power of destiny Wang Rui originally possessed.

…It felt like the origin of all things, the very foundation of the world.

At this moment, Wang Rui sensed his mind connecting with the heavens and the earth. He no longer felt confined to being either human or soul beast. It was as though, with a single thought, he could command the winds to stir the clouds or cause magma to erupt from the earth. He could rewrite the fates of all living beings across the land in an instant.

This was the true essence of "destiny." Wang Rui had successfully touched the threshold of the next stage of the power of fate—

The threshold of advancing to godhood.

At that precise moment, he once again felt the presence of the enormous entity deep within the earth's core—a pulsating, colorless, powerful heart.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuqing, still in a trance, sensed a mysterious, brand-new power flowing into her body. She didn't understand what the power of destiny was, nor did she know what this new force meant. All she knew was that she felt a profound transformation within herself, elevating her both physically and spiritually.

However, this sensation only lasted for a few seconds. Both Wang Rui and Huo Yuqing soon felt an immense gravitational force at the point where their third eyes were connected, as though their very souls were being drawn into each other's bodies.

After a dizzying moment, the scenes before their eyes completely changed.