Chapter 148: Meanwhile, Wang Rui is Working Overtime (1)

Above the sleeping girl, two indistinct figures hovered—one a golden light and the other a blurry emerald green glow.

"When will she wake up?" the golden figure asked anxiously.

"It seems like this child has fallen into some kind of… enlightenment related to ice," the emerald green figure replied. "In fact, even my own ice attribute has improved because of it. Auspicious Beast, does this have anything to do with you?"

"This wasn't part of my plan," the three-eyed Golden Lion replied succinctly, not even bothering to look at the Ice Emperor's phantom. "I have some vague suspicions but can't say for sure until I confirm them. However, I am certain this is a positive change."

A golden lion-dragon lay sprawled in the center of the room. Its lion-like face visibly weary, and on the floor in front of it was an official document—"Request for the Expansion of the Northern Medicine Garden." Two storage soul tools, filled with official papers, hung from the tips of its twin horns.

Yes, that's right—taking time off felt great, but coming back to work was like a funeral.

The so-called "Emperor Rui Beast" had taken an eleven-month "vacation" at Shrek Academy under the pretense of personally nurturing a future deity who would stand on the side of soul beasts. But now that he was back, he had to deal with the mountain of paperwork that had piled up.

Short? Of course, it was short! Wang Rui was practically in tears.

Even if his true body was in seclusion at Star Dou, he still had to split his mind to operate under his alternate identity, Di Feng, for work!

And don't ask why a wild animal had to handle government affairs—if soul beasts lived freely in the forests, of course, there wouldn't be such a thing. But now, thanks to a foolish idealist determined to prevent the species' extinction, countless mindless, short-sighted soul beast races had been forcibly united into a loose alliance. With humans introduced into the forest, things had become even more complicated.

Resource allocation, racial conflicts, forest development, defense against external threats…

Even a blind fool could see how many matters required Wang Rui's personal intervention.

It wasn't that the three-eyed Golden Lion was unwilling to delegate authority, but the painful lessons of thousands of years repeatedly reminded him—until soul beasts, as a whole, advanced in intelligence and awareness, he could never afford to become a hands-off leader.

The ten-thousand-year-old and fierce beasts all had their flaws. Some were incredibly biased and protective, some were too naïve and simple-minded, and others treated lower-level soul beasts as expendable pawns. Their ability to assist was extremely limited.

Even though Long Xiaoyao could manage some of the Beast Sect's affairs, the moment a human tried to intervene in purely soul beast matters, they would face countless obstacles—even if that human was an Ultimate Douluo and Di Tian's disciple.

And the final authority over soul beast affairs could never, under any circumstances, rest in a human's hands.

Some humans were trustworthy—Wang Rui wasn't about to suppress anyone unfairly—but every human had ambitions, and they all had far superior intelligence compared to most soul beasts.

After all, a twenty-year-old human brain was already smarter than a newly-ascended hundred-thousand-year-old soul beast.

Wang Rui brooded darkly. His past experiences had clearly left deep scars, but his formidable spiritual power allowed him to multitask, simultaneously recalling the powerful soul beasts near the Northern Medicine Garden. Before long, he identified a suitable candidate to cede some territory.

An eighty-thousand-year-old Golden-Horned White Deer King—protecting its family… well, just its young ones. Wang Rui particularly appreciated strong soul beasts that took responsibility for their tribes. With the right education, such soul beasts, once they reached the hundred-thousand-year level, could become valuable subordinates. As long as they were properly recruited…

His feline face suddenly went blank.

To clarify, behind the three-eyed Golden Ni was a bed crafted from Ice Marrow, upon which Huo Yuqing lay in peaceful slumber.

After absorbing the Ice Emperor's soul ring, she had noticeably grown taller compared to before her "vacation," and her features had lost some of their youthful immaturity. The Rui Beast furball attached to the golden dagger was nestled beside her face, its soft fluff rising and falling with her breath. One of her arms hung off the bed, clutching tightly—even in her dreams—onto a tuft of fiery golden… uh, the Emperor Rui Beast's tail tip.

As if dreaming of something pleasant, Huo Yuqing pulled the golden tail closer, hugging it tightly before rolling over and pressing most of her body onto it.

Wang Rui's feline face showed no expression, but internally, he felt like his tail was about to be yanked off.

The Ice Emperor's blurred visage showed clear astonishment. Even when Tianmeng teased her with a mischievous grin, she didn't react.

The Emperor Rui Beast was actually letting its human host pull on its tail?

Weren't cats supposed to hate that?

The Ice Emperor reflected—if a little scorpion in her tribe dared to pinch her tail, she would bury them upside-down in the snow without hesitation.

Just the thought of her sudden departure made Ice Emperor recall the powerful descendants left behind in the Ice Jade Scorpion clan, as well as the unusual disturbances that had recently occurred in the Extreme North…

"Let her sleep. She's too exhausted." Wang Rui resisted the urge to twitch his tail while once again sorting through the plans for expanding the northern section of the medicine garden. This included taking the opportunity to test the Golden-Horned Deer and cultivating new 'tool beasts.' A paper document materialized directly on the desk within his spiritual sea. He then pressed a paw against the official document, leaving a luminous soul power imprint on it—signifying his approval.

"Indeed, this child actually remained conscious throughout the fusion, and she endured far more power than I initially expected," Ice Emperor said with admiration. Wang Rui didn't reply, merely twitching his ears in agreement.

The approved document floated back into one of the storage soul tools hanging from his horns. Almost immediately, another document dropped onto the floor before him.

This stack of papers was crumpled, the cover stained with dried but still pungent mud—"Star Dou Waterway System and Soul Beast Survey."

Wang Rui glanced at the signature. As expected, it was from the Blue Catfish King.

Of course, the Star Dou Forest had more water sources than just the Lake of Life and the reservoir where Da Ming and Er Ming resided.

Water sources were among the most dangerous places in the forest. Countless soul beasts fought and tore each other apart just for a single sip.

For a long time, Wang Rui had wanted to make use of Star Dou's waterways.

Although the original works never described them in detail, it was only natural that a vast forest located in a warm region would have numerous rivers running through it—and naturally, water-dwelling soul beasts as well.

However, the strength of freshwater soul beasts was generally subpar, nowhere near the level of sea soul beasts.

After ten thousand years of deliberate cultivation, only three had barely reached the hundred-thousand-year level—Blue-Tailed Catfish, Red-Moon River Dolphin, and Silver-Light Dragonfish (which had no relation to the Silver Dragon King, just a type of giant arapaima with silver scales). As for ninety-thousand-year soul beasts, there were barely more than a dozen.

The complexity of aquatic soul beast species was just as vast as those on land. But to the fearsome beasts ruling the forest, this particular group of creatures might as well be invisible. Managing them from the ground up could only fall to Wang Rui himself…

"Rui Beast, I still have questions," Ice Emperor's phantom hovered over the sleeping Huo Yuqing. Her voice revealed no particular emotion.

"Go ahead," Wang Rui replied, his eyes never leaving the document in front of him.

The Blue Catfish King's report had clearly been written with assistance, yet it was still disorganized and lacked focus. Still… for a fish, having determination, an opinion, and some level of capability was already quite commendable.

One step at a time. You eat meals bite by bite… No need to make things too difficult for the fish.

On the other side, Ice Emperor took a deep breath, as if making a difficult decision.

"After you and Di Tian left, I also noticed the black dragon shadow in the skies above the Extreme North," she said stiffly. "I want to know why."

Apart from Snow Emperor, no other soul beast in the Extreme North should have been able to make Di Tian take action. And Ice Emperor was well aware of how Snow Emperor viewed Star Dou.

Moreover, Snow Emperor's catastrophe was imminent.

The fusion was irreversible, yet a sense of unease lingered in Ice Emperor's heart.