In Douluo Continent, there is a proper way to die.

Chapter 148 Dream of Autumn

"Why are you here?" Yinlan looked at her with some surprise, then glanced around. "Who accompanied you today? Was it the Prison Emperor?"

The black-haired woman's lips twitched. Although they had known each other for many years and she understood Yin Lan's unpredictable personality, she still couldn't help but feel a little flustered when she heard the other woman address her adoptive father.

"...It's me." A solemn and dignified voice rang out, and a wisp of black light flashed, attracting everyone's attention.

The black aura gradually dissipated, and a man dressed in black appeared beside the black-haired girl who resembled Yinlan. He had a dignified aura, his handsome face was calm, his long black hair was draped down his back, and his eyes were also incredibly dazzling gold.

"Just taking a stroll to digest my food. And you still haven't answered my question," the black-haired girl rubbed her smooth belly, then realized what she'd done and glared at Yin Lan with a pout, "Why did you cause such a commotion in the outer circle?"

She frowned and glanced at the Titan Giant Ape and Azure Bull Python lying on the ground beside her. Everything in the Star Dou Great Forest was closely related to her. She relied on her proud power of destiny to ensure the cultivation and strength of some exceptionally talented soul beasts, so as to maintain the prosperity and reproduction of the soul beast race.

Because of her sensitivity to the power of fate, she realized earlier than Di Tian and other ferocious beasts that if the status quo was maintained, no matter how fortunate she was, the soul beast race would not be enough for humans to kill—the proportion of human soul masters was increasing at a visible rate, especially with the existence of the Spirit Hall, an organization that awakens martial souls for children of school age for free, giving many commoner soul masters with innate soul power a chance to rise.

The increase in the number of Soul Masters will lead to an increase in the number of Soul Beasts dying. A talented Soul Master can break through to the Soul King level, which is able to absorb a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring, in just a few decades. Even with her help, a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast still needs to go through thousands of years of cultivation.

This doesn't even mention the Soul Masters who maliciously slaughter Soul Beast clans in order to obtain Soul Bones. Although the people of the Spirit Hall and the ferocious beasts have been dealing with these Soul Masters over the years, they can only realize which of these Soul Hunters are the ones who maliciously slaughter Soul Beasts when Soul Beasts begin to suffer casualties. Before they take action, they are ultimately no different from ordinary Soul Masters and it is difficult to distinguish them. It is impossible to attach a fabricated crime to every Soul Hunter group.

Fortunately, after Yinlan appeared, she noticed that the path of fate seemed to have taken a sharp turn, and the originally uncertain future of the Soul Beast Clan suddenly became bright—fate told her that she only needed to wait a few more years, and she would no longer have to worry about the Soul Beast Clan.

Just like Gu Yuena and Di Tian thought, she was over 5,500 years old this year. She had waited for over 5,500 years, and these two had waited even longer than her. Why would they need to wait a few more years?

Therefore, looking at the Titan Giant Ape and Azure Bull Python, who were on the verge of death in the deep pit next to her, she couldn't help but feel puzzled. In her memory, these two soul beasts lived near the small Lake of Life, which was connected to the spring and the Lake of Life in the Great Famine Area in the core area.

She was certain that her memory was absolutely correct—she remembered every single soul beast living in the core area. There weren't many to begin with, but they were all soul beasts with nearly 100,000 years of cultivation. This was something that the ferocious beasts had always tacitly accepted, and Di Tian jokingly referred to them as "gatekeepers."

Because the core area, like the Great Perilous Land, is also the place where her power of fortune is most concentrated. With her power, she can help these soul beasts break through the 100,000-year barrier. Only after some of them break through to 200,000 years of cultivation will they be qualified to enter the Great Perilous Land, which has been hidden by Gu Yuena's mental suggestion, and become one of the ferocious beasts.

So even though most of the soul beasts are on her diet, she still has a pretty good idea of ​​what to do with them. Even if she gets a craving, she won't attack the few soul beasts around the core circle. Every soul beast that has the potential to break through 100,000 years of cultivation is an important and precious fighting force in the Star Dou Great Forest.

What she didn't understand was why these two 100,000-year-old soul beasts, the only two in the core circle, weren't staying in the core circle properly, but instead ran to this outer circle and started fighting with Yin Lan. Could it be that Yin Lan had taken a fancy to these two guys' soul rings and soul bones, and used the master's reverse scale to lure them out?

Di Tian also frowned as he looked at Yin Lan... Was this girl about to start attacking 100,000-year-old soul beasts? Wasn't she supposed to have a more effective divinely bestowed soul ring? Surely these two soul beasts weren't prepared for someone else? Every 100,000-year-old soul beast in the Star Dou Great Forest was hard-won; he couldn't afford to prepare a 100,000-year-old soul beast for every human friend around her!

"What are you two thinking? You're both so confused," Yin Lan said, a look of exasperation on her face. She turned to the black-haired girl and said, "Why don't you just use your power of destiny to take a look yourself?"

"Hey, in your words, it's so impolite to check the history in front of you." The black-haired girl winked playfully, but still obediently found a good spot. Then, under the surprised gazes of the four girls, her forehead suddenly split open, revealing a unique vertical eye.

Strands of ethereal, pale golden light coalesced into shadows, swirling around the vertical eye in the air. Incomprehensible, invisible fluctuations emanated from the vertical eye, rapidly spreading across the scene.

For some reason, everyone suddenly had the illusion that they had been seen naked.

"Her name is Di Mengqiu, and she's also my half-sister. You can think of her as the young lady of the force behind me that cooperates with the Spirit Hall," Yin Lan said casually, not paying any attention to the strange fluctuations. She naturally introduced the black-haired girl to the four women. Even Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling, who had submitted to her, were unaware of her and Yin Luo's true identities. She shrugged, "So no matter where I am, I'm always the second young lady."

"But the Lord treats you like an ancestor," Di Tian said abruptly.

"Look, I still call your daughter 'sister' and you 'Lao Di,' but you all call my mom 'Little Grass' and Tianmeng 'Fatty'? Let's all stick to our own names; everyone's generational hierarchy is a mess." After all, Yinlan treated Laogu like his wife, so it was a muddled mess that couldn't be straightened out. He waved his hand casually, "Don't worry about these details."

She continued introducing everyone, "This is Di Tian, ​​Sister Na'er's bodyguard. Well... there are many complicated things to explain. Let Sister Xue'er tell you about it when we get back."

Dugu Yan nodded slightly, her face showing understanding. She had met Gu Yuena before, and Ye Lingling had also heard her talk about some things related to Gu Yuena. Only the newcomers Bai Chenxiang and Zhu Zhuqing looked completely clueless. However, the two were very perceptive and did not ask rashly. Instead, they obediently kept their doubts to themselves. Yin Lan told them to ask Qian Renxue, so they would wait until they returned to ask the Holy Maiden. They should not speak rashly.

...Although everyone was curious, they knew that Yinlan was the daughter of Yinluo and Tang Hao, so why did this "young lady" have a similar appearance to Yinlan? Judging from the name, she also seemed to be the daughter of the powerful person named "Ditian"?

The name of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was given by Yin Lan, "Meng Qiu," as if "Wang Qiu'er's" life was a dream, a fleeting illusion, yet to be experienced.

The surname was requested by the Three-Eyed Golden Lion himself. Although Yin Lan didn't actually know whether the Prison Emperor was really surnamed Di, since he had tacitly agreed, they would just assume that he was surnamed Di.

In fact, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had also considered whether to take the surname "Gu" with Gu Yuena. After all, Lao Gu had really taken care of her for the past 5,500 years. You know, even the Golden Dragon King bloodline in her body was obtained by Lao Gu from who knows where. In addition, given the stereotypes of Lao Gu's strange personality, she was not sure if her decision to change the surname without considering the other party's feelings would anger him.

Finally, Yinlan took the time to ask Laogu, who was still studying on the Sun and Moon Continent, for advice through the Silver Dragon King's reverse scale. Laogu replied, "Whatever."

Since Lao Gu had said so, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion naturally chose to take the surname Di. After all, although Lao Gu had indeed taken care of him, he spent most of his time sleeping. It wasn't until Yin Lan came over in the past six years that he started to do serious things. Di Mengqiu was indeed not very familiar with Lao Gu.

The human appearance was sculpted by Di Mengqiu based on Yin Lan's appearance. She had only seen a few humans and did not want to use the human appearance of the ferocious beasts as a reference, so she could only use Yin Lan's appearance as a template. Di Tian admitted that when he first saw Di Mengqiu's face, he felt his heart stop for a moment.

Not long after, Di Mengqiu's vertical eye on her forehead closed again, revealing a subtle expression on her beautiful face. Her eye twitched, and Yin Lan could tell at a glance that she was also unable to hold back, so she burst out laughing.

Di Tian acted as if he hadn't seen anything at all—over the years, Yin Lan had become increasingly familiar with the Star Dou beasts, and sometimes he would even come over to arm wrestle with Xiong Jun when he had nothing to do. He had gotten used to Yin Lan's increasingly boundless behavior, and he believed that his heart had been tempered strong enough by the other party, no matter what the situation was...

The next second, Xiao Di raised her hand and pointed at Lao Di. A golden light shot out from her fingertip, and in an instant, a spiritual power mixed with a memory was sent into Di Tian's spiritual sea.

—【She is indeed a rabbit, but she's no ordinary rabbit!】

—How dare you lay a hand on the princess of the Star Dou Great Forest!

—【Erming, let's team up! Let's make a sandwich of cheese between two loaves of bread!】

"..." The history that took place on this land, reproduced by the power of fate, appeared in the sea of ​​spirit. For a moment, Di Tian was so shocked that his face turned blank and his golden eyes widened in astonishment.

Is that right?

...They are the "two emperors" of the Star Dou Great Forest, so who am I?

"Pfft, hahahaha..." Finally seeing the expression she wanted on his face, Yin Lan laughed even more unrestrainedly, one hand clutching her aching stomach, the other slapping his shoulder wildly, laughing until tears almost streamed down her face. "Lord Prison, look! There are still soul beasts that don't recognize the Great Fat Dragon's reverse scale, like these two 'Emperors of the Star Dou Great Forest,' and that 'Princess'... Hahahaha..."

A crossroads appeared on Di Tian's forehead, and his veins were clearly bulging. These two mere "gatekeeper" 100,000-year-old soul beasts and one transformed soul beast were so ignorant of their own limitations that they called themselves "Lord of Stars." Most importantly, as soul beasts, they showed no respect for Gu Yuena, which had crossed his bottom line.

Suddenly, the world seemed to fall silent again. Dark air currents surged from the side of the black-haired, golden-eyed man. Directly above the Titan Ape and the Azure Bull Python, a massive spatial rift suddenly burst open, revealing a huge black dragon claw within, seemingly about to smash into them.

In the deep pit, the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python, already half-dead, had eyes that were about to burst. Humans of this era did not know the concept of ferocious beasts, so Dugu Yan, Ye Lingling, Bai Chenxiang and Zhu Zhuqing could only sense that Di Tian was very strong, but they knew nothing else. However, the two brothers were different. They could clearly sense that the black-haired, golden-eyed man was also a soul beast!

Daming sensed it even more clearly. It already possessed a trace of Azure Dragon bloodline that it was proud of, so it could clearly realize that Di Tian was a pure-blooded true dragon!

But how is this possible?! How could such a powerful being exist within the Star Dou Great Forest... No, perhaps it truly does!

The long-buried memories were awakened again. Da Ming and Er Ming suddenly remembered that Xiao Wu's parents lost their lives because they went deep into the legendary "forbidden land" of the Star Dou Great Forest... How could they forget something so important?!

What they couldn't understand was why a powerful being from that "forbidden land" would ruthlessly kill its own kind, given that they were also soul beasts. First, there were Xiao Wu's parents, and now they wanted to exterminate them and their brothers?!

But none of that mattered anymore. Da Ming and Er Ming knew that the moment of life and death for the two brothers had arrived. The two 100,000-year-old soul beasts showed hatred on their faces and began to struggle in the deep pit. At the very least, they would self-destruct and make these guys pay some price!

"Qiu'er," Di Tian said, his hand forming a claw shape as he gently squeezed. The space around the Titan Giant Ape and the Azure Bull Python instantly froze, as if time had been stopped for both of them. All their movements suddenly stopped, and no matter how hard they tried, they could not move an inch. He said calmly, "I'll give you an extra meal tonight."

"No way," Di Mengqiu's eye twitched. Although she was also curious about what the brains of 100,000-year-old soul beasts tasted like, these two didn't look appetizing at all. "I came out to digest, not to gain weight."

"Then let's feed Xiong Jun and Chi Wang." Di Tian said indifferently, and the dragon claw above was about to strike down.

"Damn it, calm down, Emperor!" Upon seeing this, Yinlan immediately switched to "Creative Mode," and pure white energy surged from her hands, blocking the giant dragon claw that Emperor Tian had not yet descended.

"?" Di Tian turned his head in confusion. Over the years, he had also come to know Yin Lan's character well. Anyone who dared to provoke her would be retaliated against. These two had already gone too far, so what was the point of keeping them around? Were they just waiting for the New Year?

"Didn't you see I only severely injured them?" Yin Lan shrugged. Seeing Di Tian stop, the white hair on his head faded again. "At least they can provide two 100,000-year soul rings. Just like with the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger last time, let them live and help me raise them for a few years."

The spirit rings of these two beasts are very suitable for Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing. After all, they are two 100,000-year spirit beasts, which will save her the trouble of finding a way to collect spirit rings for them in the future. As for how to allocate them, we can talk about it when they have the ability to absorb 100,000-year spirit rings.

(End of this chapter)