The sun was beginning to dip toward the west as Princess Xu Jiujiu's entourage finally arrived at the imperial hunting forest. The fresh air mingled with the mystical aura of soul beasts hiding behind the dense trees.
Master Li stepped forward, his voice echoing with authority: "The location of the soul beast Her Highness needs is about two kilometers from here. We will rest here for a few hours." His sharp eyes swept across the soldiers. "Secure the perimeter! Her Highness's safety is our top priority!"
The soldiers immediately sprang into action. In an instant, the tents were set up neatly, forming a perfect defensive formation.
Inside the warm main tent, Tianyu rolled around on the soft bed, letting out a groan. "Sister Jiujiuuuu… I'm bored here," he whined, deliberately putting on a pitifully cute face.
Tianyu felt incredibly embarrassed acting like this, but he needed to get away from Xu Jiujiu to complete the transformation of his body and condense his second spirit ring.
Xu Jiujiu, calmly reading a book, raised an eyebrow. "I already told you, you must stay inside the tent. It's for your own safety."
But Tianyu wouldn't give up. He crawled over to Xu Jiujiu and tugged on her sleeve. "I just want to look around a little! I promise I won't be long," he pleaded sweetly, blinking his big, shimmering eyes.
"No," Xu Jiujiu replied firmly, though her tone began to soften when she saw Tianyu's adorable antics. "Father warned me—this forest isn't a playground. Even the weakest soul beasts here could kill you."
"But…" Tianyu pouted, clearly trying to think of a way to persuade her. Then, an idea struck him. "How about I go with one of the guards? They're all around level 30, right? I'm sure they're strong enough to protect me."
His words made Xu Jiujiu hesitate for a moment. Deep down, she knew Tianyu was a Spirit Grandmaster at level 20, but she had never seen him fight seriously—aside from the placement test, where he only faced children far weaker than him.
In this forest, while the outer areas were mostly populated by decade-old soul beasts, century-old ones could occasionally wander in. The danger was real.
After a brief internal struggle, Xu Jiujiu finally relented. She stood up and gently straightened Tianyu's rumpled robe.
"Fine," she said softly. "You can go, but only with one guard. And!" She raised her finger and pointed at Tianyu's nose. "No more than half an hour. Don't wander too far from the camp, understand?"
Tianyu lit up with joy, feeling that all the embarrassment had been worth it. "I promise I'll be careful."
Before Xu Jiujiu could add more conditions, Tianyu had already darted out of the tent like an arrow loosed from a bow, his cheerful laughter echoing in the late afternoon air.
Casually, Tianyu pointed at one of the knights with level 30 cultivation to accompany him.
As they moved away from the camp, Tianyu communicated with Qian Renxue through his thoughts, "Sister Xue, one of the knights is following me. How can we trick him so I can leave?"
Qian Renxue answered calmly and confidently, "Don't worry, I've got a plan. You just need to disappear from his sight for a moment, and I'll take care of the rest."
Suddenly, Tianyu sprinted toward some distant bushes, startling the knight who hurried to chase after him.
When he finally caught up, the knight found Tianyu standing still. "Why did you suddenly run off, Young Master?" he asked anxiously.
The figure he thought was Tianyu turned and smiled sweetly. "Oh, nothing. I saw a rabbit and wanted to catch it for dinner—but it got away," the boy replied.
What the knight didn't realize was that the figure before him wasn't Tianyu at all—it was Qian Renxue, flawlessly disguised.
Meanwhile, behind a large tree some distance away, the real Tianyu watched the scene in awe. "Wow, that's amazing, Sister Xue! You look exactly like me, down to the tiniest detail. How do you do that?" he thought, full of admiration.
Qian Renxue's voice echoed in his mind, "Don't talk too much. Use this time to go. I'll distract him." Tianyu nodded slightly, then carefully slipped away from the area without anyone noticing.
Qian Renxue then said to the knight, "Let's head back. I'm bored here already."
The knight sighed in relief. Even though he had a cultivation level of 36, he still felt uneasy every time he was in this forest. Not because he feared being killed by soul beasts, but for a far scarier reason: if anything happened to Tianyu, his entire family back in the Empire could face the consequences.
Even though Xu Jiujiu never abused her status as a princess to act unjustly, who could guarantee what would happen if Tianyu were harmed? It was better to prevent problems before they began.
The two of them departed the area. Meanwhile, Tianyu had already reached a spot he deemed far enough from the camp.
"This should be far enough. I'll train here," Tianyu whispered.
He then began physical training. Feeling that the intensity was still lacking, he increased the weight on his body. The load, originally 1700 kg, was now raised to 1800 kg after the addition.
Tianyu wanted to relive the sensation of his entire bloodstream turning gold. His body had already been refined by the Golden Dragon King. In order to break through to the next level and condense his second soul ring, Tianyu needed to transform a part of his body—either internally or externally.
If someone could see his bones, they would realize they were unlike those of a normal human. His bones were golden, engraved with intricate patterns on their surfaces. However, there were still parts of his skeleton that hadn't completely transformed.
Tianyu continued training for an hour until that same sensation—when his blood had turned to gold—returned, this time radiating throughout his body. But now, it was his bones undergoing a drastic change.
He felt an unbearable heat spreading from his bone marrow. Every bone in his body seemed to be soaked in molten lava—yet strangely, it didn't damage the surrounding tissues. At first, he felt joy, but as the intense pain set in, he could no longer smile. Sweat poured from his pores, soaking the ground beneath him.
"Arrghhh!"
His scream shattered the silence of the forest. Tianyu collapsed to his knees, his hands gripping the hardened earth. His tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open—his pupils now radiated a brilliant golden light.
Crack! Crack!
The sound of bones shifting and metamorphosing echoed clearly. The mystical patterns on his golden bones began to glow, forming a complex network of energy. All of his bones, even the ones that had already undergone transformation, were slowly shattered and reformed by a mysterious force.
The pain intensified to the point that Tianyu could no longer stay on his knees and fell onto his back. The agony from the complete reconstruction of his bones nearly caused him to lose consciousness, but he held on. If he lost consciousness now, the transformation of his body would fail.
The Golden Dragon King's Divine Core within his spiritual sea awakened and began emitting waves of energy—the same as when Tianyu had undergone his previous body transformation.
Energy from the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core spread throughout Tianyu's body, merging with the bones that were being destroyed and reformed. Subtle but intense vibrations rippled through his muscles and internal organs, spreading heat and pressure that made it feel as if his entire body were about to explode from within.
Yet beneath the unbearable pain, Tianyu could feel something emerging—a new power, deeper and purer than ever before. Under this pressure, not only were his bones changing, but the very structure of his body—his flesh, tissues, and deepest marrow—were being refined by the divine power contained in the Golden Dragon King's Core.