Seeing Bi Ji become Ye Lingling's soul spirit, Di Tian felt incredibly conflicted. A hint of barely noticeable loneliness flashed in his golden eyes.
As the Dragon God's former chief guard, Di Tian was incredibly proud.
He rarely took ordinary 100,000-year-old soul beasts seriously, only bothering to converse with ferocious beasts of Bi Ji's caliber.
That was until Lin Mu suddenly appeared, bringing earth-shattering changes to the Star Dou Great Forest in just a few short years.
First, the Scarlet King and the Bear Lord were hunted down by Lin Mu.
Then, Zi Ji and the Myriad Thousand Demon King became the soul spirits for Lin Mu and Tang San, respectively.
Finally, even Bi Ji became a soul spirit of his partner.
As a result, the vast Star Dou Great Forest was left with only Di Tian as its sole Ferocious Beast.
Although he could cultivate new ferocious beasts using the million-year energy of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm, it would take at least ten thousand years, if not longer.
Meanwhile, Lin Mu had just received the reward for passing his test.
[The first test of the God of Destruction is completed. Reward: 10% affinity with the God of Destruction.]
"Fortunately, there were no unexpected hiccups," Lin Mu murmured.
Confirming he had passed the trial, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
If Ye Lingling hadn't been able to transform her Nine Heart Begonia martial soul into its ultimate life attribute, even after taking Bi Ji as her soul spirit, completing the first trial would have been virtually impossible.
Only by elevating her martial soul to the ultimate life attribute could she qualify to inherit the mantle of the God of Life.
Therefore, even though this was only the first trial, it was a crucial test. Failure would have meant relying entirely on the God of Life for special treatment.
[God of Destruction's Second Trial: Help Ye Lingling complete the second trial, time limit: one year.]
"Good heavens, he isn't even trying to hide it anymore."
Lin Mu was left speechless after reviewing the God of Destruction's second trial.
He had thought the first trial was an exception, but the second was exactly the same. It was obvious that the God of Destruction was going to great lengths just so he could retire with his wife.
However, just as Lin Mu was about to ask Ye Lingling about the Goddess of Life's second trial, Di Tian suddenly interrupted his thoughts.
"Lin Mu, are you satisfied now?"
Di Tian's golden eyes stared directly at Lin Mu, his tone laced with obvious resentment.
Going from the Beast God to a commander without an army was inextricably linked to Lin Mu. By all accounts, Lin Mu had drastically weakened the overall strength of the soul beasts.
Unfortunately, Di Tian had neither the power to stop it nor a valid reason to try.
After all, Bi Ji, Zi Ji, and the Myriad Demon King had all volunteered to become soul spirits.
Faced with the temptation of ascending to godhood, almost no soul beast could refuse.
Especially the prospect of becoming the sole soul spirit for the future Goddess of Life. Even Di Tian himself was somewhat tempted by that.
Faced with Di Tian's sudden hostility, Lin Mu was momentarily stunned before replying irritably, "Di Tian, what do you mean by that? Don't forget, you still owe me a favor."
Hearing this, Di Tian was struck speechless.
Thinking back on it carefully, all of this had been his own choice.
He had willingly put his faith in that mysterious person wearing silver armor. He had even personally handed Xiong Jun over to Lin Mu back then.
Finally resigning himself to reality, Di Tian softened his attitude and pleaded, "Lin Mu, I only ask that after you all become gods, you treat them well."
Now that things had reached this point, he could only hope that once Bi Ji and the others achieved godhood, they could use the influence of the two great God-Kings to protect the soul beast race.
"That's none of your concern," Lin Mu replied calmly.
He was perfectly aware of Di Tian's ulterior motives; the dragon simply wanted to secure some future benefits for the soul beasts.
The problem was that most soul beasts only cared about their own survival and were easily tamed.
Aside from Bi Ji, who genuinely hoped for world peace, Zi Ji and the Myriad Demon King were unlikely to care much about the future of the soul beasts.
As for the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and his family, there was even less to expect.
Only Di Tian was willing to sacrifice everything for the future of the soul beasts, yet his canonical end was tragic.
Not only was he betrayed by his master, but his body was even turned into a super battleship called Beast God Warship.
Although the fate of the soul beasts was undeniably tragic, Lin Mu had no intention of helping them return to their former glory.
After all, he was a human, not a soul beast. Even if the soul beasts suffered oppression, it had nothing to do with him.
However, soul beasts and soul masters were fundamentally bound together. He couldn't do something like betray his own kind.
For the long-term development of soul masters, the soul beast race had to be preserved.
Therefore, Lin Mu had deliberately chosen not to spread the soul spirit secret technique to the world.
In the short term, the soul spirit secret technique was beneficial to both soul masters and soul beasts, potentially easing the conflict between them.
But in the long run, it would only accelerate the extinction of the soul beast race.
A moment later, Lin Mu revealed his second reason for coming here.
"Di Tian, my disciple's second martial soul needs additional soul rings. They primarily need to be power-type, and the age must be over 100,000 years."
Upon hearing this, Di Tian was completely dumbfounded. What did this guy think 100,000-year soul beasts were? Cabbages? He was ruthlessly fleecing him dry!
He had already provided three 100,000-year soul beasts for Lin Mu, and now the man wanted nine more!
Even with the vast resources of the Star Dou Great Forest, it couldn't withstand this kind of exploitation.
"The number of 100,000-year soul beasts is already incredibly small, and powerful ones are even rarer," Di Tian said, his face darkening.
He pondered for a moment, then looked up at Tang San. His gaze fell on the Sea God Trident mark on the boy's forehead. "I have one condition: these soul beasts must become his soul spirits."
"Agreed," Lin Mu said simply.
Lin Mu had originally planned to help Tang San subdue soul spirits anyway, as it was part of his eighth trial.
However, finding nine suitable 100,000-year soul beasts in a short amount of time was unrealistic, especially since Tang San couldn't absorb so many 100,000-year soul rings all at once.
Regardless, they had plenty of time. Even if the Star Dou Great Forest lacked enough 100,000-year-old soul beasts, they could always search in the Sun Moon Continent.
"I'll take you to a few places first. Perhaps we can find 100,000-year-old soul beasts that meet your requirements," Di Tian offered.
As soon as he finished speaking, Di Tian immediately flew off in a specific direction, with Lin Mu and the other two following closely behind.
Under Di Tian's guidance, they traversed the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest. Before long, they found a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.
Its cultivation was close to 100,000 years, and its sheer strength surpassed even that of a Titan Giant Ape.
Di Tian released a mere wisp of his aura, and the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear was instantly terrified, prostrating itself on the ground.
"Although this Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear hasn't quite reached the 100,000-year mark, its raw strength and attack power are definitely greater than ordinary 100,000-year-old soul beasts," Di Tian explained.
Seeing the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear below, Tang San's eyes lit up. This soul beast was the perfect match for his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul.
However, Lin Mu seemed somewhat dissatisfied. He looked at Di Tian and asked, "Besides Xiong Jun, aren't there any other Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears that are over 100,000 years old?"
"Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears are exceptionally rare, and those that can cultivate past 10,000 years are even rarer. Besides Xiong Jun, this one already has the highest cultivation level," Di Tian shook his head, speaking with absolute seriousness.
Since he had tricked Xiong Jun previously, giving one of its clansmen a soul spirit slot this time could be considered a form of compensation.