The quiet morning at Zhang Tian's estate unfolded like a well-practiced scroll painting. Sunlight streamed into his private study, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. He sat at his large desk, a cup of fragrant tea steaming beside him, his attention focused not on ancient texts, but on the silent, living map spread across his mind.
His Blood Silver Domain was his empire, and the countless blades of grass spread across the continent were his eyes and ears. He spent an hour each morning reviewing the "reports"—a flood of sensory data, snippets of conversations, the ebb and flow of life in the cities and forests under his silent watch. It was usually a routine affair, tracking troop movements, monitoring market prices, listening to the gossip of nobles.
Then, an anomaly surfaced. A ripple in the vast ocean of information, originating from a remote corner of the Star Luo Empire, a place usually devoid of anything interesting.
It was a garbled, terrified report, relayed through a chain of common Blue Silver Grass near a dusty roadside tavern. It spoke of bandits. Not unusual. But it spoke of how they were defeated. Annihilated. By a single woman.
Zhang Tian's interest, usually reserved for grand political schemes or the curves of his lovers, was piqued. He focused his mental connection, drawing more details from the grass near the incident.
The report solidified. A dozen hardened bandits, Spirit Elders mostly, broken like twigs. By a golden-haired woman. A woman with crimson eyes.
And her spirit… the terrified bandit's fragmented memory painted a picture of blinding, sun-like power. A Golden Dragon. Wielding a spear that seemed forged from light itself.
Zhang Tian froze. The teacup in his hand paused halfway to his lips.
Golden Dragon. Golden Dragon Spear.
The names echoed in his mind, not from the ancient texts of this world, but from the memories of another. A world he had left behind, a story he had once read as simple fiction. Douluo Dalu 2.
'Wang Qiu'er,' the name flashed in his mind, sharp and clear. 'The Three-Eyed Golden Lion. The Emperor Auspicious Beast.'
His mind raced, a flashing abacus of possibilities and paradoxes. 'The Three-Eyed Golden Lion… she holds the fate, the very luck, of all spirit beasts. She shouldn't exist for another ten thousand years. And she shouldn't be… human.'
He focused on the description again. Golden hair. Crimson eyes.
'No,' he corrected himself. 'Not Wang Qiu'er. In the story, Qiu'er had that strange blue and pink hair. Blue-pink eyes. This is different.'
A new theory sparked, hot and exciting, like flint striking steel. 'The original Wang Qiu'er… her transformation wasn't pure. It was Tang San's meddling. Merging his daughter's consciousness with the beast's soul to steal its fate. But this… this appearance… it feels more… natural. Could this be her true human form? The form she would have taken without interference?'
He let out a long, slow breath, the implications hitting him like a physical blow. This changed everything. The single most important, most powerful, and most fated spirit beast in the world was not a legend sleeping in the Star Dou Forest. She was a woman. A beautiful, apparently naive, and incredibly powerful woman, wandering loose in his world. A variable of cosmic significance had just landed squarely on his chessboard.
He knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his bones, that he had to act. He couldn't let her wander aimlessly. She was too important. Too powerful. If she fell into the wrong hands… if Bibi Dong or even Tang Hao or the other great sects were to discover her true nature… the consequences would be catastrophic.
'I must find her,' he decided, his mind already formulating a dozen different plans. 'Befriend her. Guide her. Protect her.'
He looked out of his window, at the distant, hazy mountains that marked the border of the Star Dou Great Forest. A slow, cold smile touched his lips, like a predator spotting rare, exquisite prey that must be captured, not killed.
The game had just become infinitely more interesting.
Zhang Tian closed his eyes. He didn't need a Pager for this. He reached out with his own consciousness, his mind a silent river flowing through the interconnected network of their shared domain, seeking the warm, crimson sun of his Empress.
'Ah Yin,' he projected, his mental voice calm and focused.
Her reply was instantaneous, a current of warmth and love flowing back to him. 'My Emperor. I am here. What do you require?'
His mental voice turned serious. 'I have a mission for you. A task of importance.'
He sent her the image from his mind, pulled directly from the terrified bandit's memory: the beautiful, golden-haired woman with the impossible crimson eyes, standing amidst a field of broken bodies, her Golden Dragon Spear glowing like a captured sunbeam. He showed Ah Yin the reports, the woman's estimated location, her apparent destination – heading east, towards Star Luo City.
'I want you to watch her,' he commanded. 'Use our network. Be her silent, unseen guardian. If she encounters any danger that she cannot handle herself – and I suspect there will be little she cannot handle – I want you to intervene. Protect her. At all costs. Do you understand?'
Ah Yin received the image, the command. She felt the weight behind his words, the unusual intensity. The woman was beautiful, yes, radiating a power that even Ah Yin could sense was profound. But she was just a human Spirit Ancestor. Why such urgency?
'My love,' she projected back, her mental voice a soft, questioning sound laced with confusion. 'Who is this woman? Why is she so important? Is she an enemy?'
He knew he couldn't tell her the whole truth. Not yet. The concept of an Auspicious Beast, of the fate of an entire race resting on one individual… it was too much, even for her.
'I cannot explain everything now, my Empress,' he replied, his voice firm, leaving no room for argument. 'Just know this. She is… special. More special than you can possibly imagine. Her safety is linked to the very fate of this world, both human and beast. If she is harmed, if she falls into the wrong hands… the consequences will be a calamity that not even we can withstand.'
Ah Yin processed his words. The gravity in his tone was undeniable. He was not exaggerating. This woman, this stranger, held a weight she couldn't comprehend, but she trusted him without question.
'I understand, my Emperor,' her voice was a firm, unwavering promise, the vow of a loyal subordinate. 'I will watch over her. I will be her shadow. I will protect her with my life, if necessary.'
'Good,' he replied, a wave of warmth and trust flowing back to her. 'Keep me informed of her progress. And her actions.'
With that, a small but significant portion of Ah Yin's vast consciousness detached from her physical body. It wasn't a projection like the one she'd sent to the Star Dou Forest before; this was different. This was a dedicated watch, a silent, invisible thread of awareness stretching across hundreds of miles, connecting to the Blood Silver Grass network along the dusty road leading to Star Luo City. It became a guardian angel woven from shadows and grass, its gaze fixed on a single, naive, golden-haired woman walking towards an unknown destiny.
Zhang Tian opened his eyes. A slow, satisfied smile touched his face. He had just placed a new, powerful, and utterly unpredictable piece onto his grand, cosmic chessboard. He leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the armrest.
'Now,' he thought, his mind already calculating the next move. 'How do I arrange a meeting?'
Ah Yin's consciousness followed Jin Xi like a silent, invisible shadow. She watched through the senses of a million blades of grass, a patchwork quilt of perception spread across the Star Luo Empire. She saw the naive, golden-haired woman navigate the strange, chaotic, and often brutal world of men.
She saw Jin Xi's childlike wonder at the simple things – the taste of a steamed bun bought from a roadside vendor (paid for with one of the confusing "shiny stones" Luo Fan had given her), the sight of children playing a simple game with a bouncing ball, the intricate patterns woven into a farmer's straw hat.
And she saw Jin Xi's confusion, her frustration, as she tried to understand the baffling rules of human society. Why did the little metal discs hold more value than a life-giving spirit herb? Why did humans build their nests so close together, yet act like strangers to one another? Why did they lie?
Ah Yin felt a strange pang of sympathy, almost kinship. She remembered her own first tentative steps into the human world, the overwhelming strangeness of it all.
Then, she watched as danger found Jin Xi again.
It was a different group this time. Not simple roadside bandits driven by greed. These were professionals. Slavers. Men who dealt in flesh, their eyes cold and calculating as they assessed the value of the beautiful, solitary woman walking down the road. Their auras were stronger, Spirit Kings among them, their movements coordinated, practiced.
They surrounded her quickly, silently, forming a closing net. Ah Yin prepared to intervene. Her power gathered, ready to erupt from the very ground beneath their feet, to turn the earth into a cage of crimson vines.
But she held back. She remembered her Emperor's words: 'If she encounters any danger that she cannot handle herself…'
Jin Xi looked at the men surrounding her, her crimson eyes narrowing. She didn't look scared. She looked… annoyed. Like a lioness bothered by a pack of hyenas.
The slavers attacked.
And Ah Yin watched, her own crimson eyes wide with a mixture of shock and a dawning awe, as Jin Xi unleashed her true power.
She saw the Golden Dragon spirit erupt, a creature of pure, blinding light, its roar a silent pressure that made the very air tremble. She saw the Golden Dragon Spear materialize, a weapon humming with a power that felt ancient, primal, divine.
The fight was not a fight. It was a judgment. Jin Xi moved like a golden whirlwind, her spear a blur of motion. She didn't just defeat the slavers; she dismantled them. Her Golden Dragon Body made her untouchable. Her Dragon's Strength turned their attacks aside like pebbles against a mountain. Her Golden Dragon Fist shattered their spirit shields, broke their bones.
She moved with an instinctual, terrifying grace, a creature born for battle.
Ah Yin, a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast, an Empress of her own powerful clan, recognized that spirit. She recognized that power. It was the bloodline of the Dragon God. The bloodline of the true, absolute rulers of all spirit beasts, a lineage thought lost to time.
'No wonder,' Ah Yin thought, her mind reeling. 'No wonder my Emperor considers her so important. She carries the blood of kings.'
She finally, truly understood the world-shaking weight of her mission. This woman wasn't just special; she was a miracle. A living relic. A symbol of a power that could reshape the very destiny of their kind.
Her perspective shifted. The detachment of a simple guardian melted away, replaced by something deeper, more personal.
She watched as Jin Xi, after breaking the slavers' limbs and leaving them groaning in the dust, did not kill them. She saw her find a small, poor family whose simple wooden cart had broken down on the side of the road, its wheel shattered.
Jin Xi approached them, her golden spear vanishing, her terrifying battle aura replaced by a hesitant, almost shy, kindness. The family cowered, terrified by the beautiful, powerful woman who had just appeared from nowhere.
Jin Xi frowned, confused by their fear. She looked at the broken cart, then at the family. She pointed to the wheel, then made a simple, lifting motion with her hands.
The father, a thin, weary man, stammered, trying to explain that the wheel was too heavy, that it was beyond repair.
Jin Xi just tilted her head, then walked to the cart. She placed her hands under the broken axle and, with an ease that defied belief, she lifted the entire, heavy cart clear off the ground.
The family just stared, their jaws slack.
She held it there, patiently, while the stunned father fumbled to remove the shattered wheel. Then, she simply looked at the splintered wood. Her hand glowed with a soft, golden light. It wasn't a spirit ability. It was something else. A faint, almost imperceptible manipulation of life force, the innate power of an Auspicious Beast.
The wood groaned, shifted, and began to knit itself back together. The splinters fused, the cracks vanished. In a matter of seconds, the wheel was whole again, stronger than before.
She gently lowered the cart back onto the repaired wheel. She looked at the family, gave them a small, shy smile, and then, without waiting for thanks, she turned and continued her journey down the road.
Ah Yin watched her go, and a new resolve hardened in her soul. She was no longer just following her Emperor's command. This was her mission now. Her personal duty.
She would not just watch over this girl. She would not just protect her. She would guide her. She would be her shield. Her sister.
She looked towards the distant, hazy mountains of the Heaven Dou Empire. And she knew, with a certainty as absolute as the sun in the sky, that a meeting was coming. A meeting that would change everything.
And the world… the world was not ready for the storm they would unleash together.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon