CHAPTER 43: THE ADULTS' DEAL

Bai Ze looked at the still-hesitant Lu Chen and directly voiced Lu Chen's concern, "My king, I understand what you are worried about. You fear that once we leave the small world, our strength will be too great and you won't be able to control us."

Lu Chen's heart wavered even more after hearing Bai Ze's words and thinking about his abilities. Even under the suppression of the small world, Bai Ze could still see through his thoughts at a glance.

Just then, Bai Ze raised his head and formed a hand seal.

A mark appeared at the center of his forehead, pulsing with soul power as it drifted toward Lu Chen.

"My king, this is my soul imprint. I willingly give up the blessings and leave only this mark. With this, you can rest assured. As long as it exists, my life and death are in your hands. Please, I beg you to accept us. This is the last chance for the beast race."

The group behind Bai Ze kept their eyes fixed on the soul imprint, their expressions flickering with emotion. In their eyes was the painful struggle between freedom and survival. To them, Lu Chen's decision was their final chance to turn their fate around.

Ten minutes later, the Heaven-Devouring Mouse also made his choice. He formed a hand seal and offered up his soul imprint to Lu Chen. "Forget it. We’re going to die anyway. Might as well go all in and bet on following a rising dragon."

His words echoed in the ears of the others like a warning. No matter what choices they thought they had, from the very beginning, they'd always been passive. The real decision had never been in their hands; it had always belonged to Lu Chen.

The rest of the hesitant beasts sighed heavily. One after another, they formed hand seals and offered up their soul imprints as well.

Eighteen soul imprints hovered in the air, each one radiating light of a different color.

Bathed in the soft glow, Lu Chen found himself thinking of the villagers in Greenheaven Village. From the moment they were born, those villagers had struggled simply to survive. And yet, half a year ago, they were slaughtered by cultivators... all because he had opened a secret realm.

As he looked at the group before him now, a strange feeling welled up inside him. Perhaps... when the villagers faced their death, it looked just like this. They desperately desired to live, hoping someone would come to save them. If someone had shown up to help back then, those villagers might still be alive.

At that thought, Lu Chen sighed. "Sigh... forget it. I'm already in the same boat as you anyway. I might as well help."

Bai Ze quickly lifted his head, hardly able to believe what he’d just heard. "My king, do you truly mean that?"

"I do. Stand up, all of you. I promise you that if the day comes when I have the power to save you, I won’t abandon you."

Hearing Lu Chen’s promise, Bai Ze and the others dropped to their knees in gratitude, bowing deeply.

The eighteen soul imprints floating in the air surged forward, merging into Lu Chen’s forehead as the group bowed.

The multi-colored imprints settled on the wings of the Fire Phoenix mark, casting a shimmering radiance.

The symbol on Lu Chen’s forehead now looked even more vivid and lifelike.

Bai Ze said softly as he watched the soul imprints branding themselves on Lu Chen's forehead, "My king, now you truly have no reason to fear us anymore."

Lu Chen shook his head. "Sigh... was this necessary?"

What Bai Ze had said earlier had indeed been the very thing that had weighed on his mind.

Now, with the soul imprints within him, he finally felt some measure of peace.

"This was our choice. Thank you, my king."

Bai Ze glanced at Wind Dragon and clasped his hands over his chest to express his sincere gratitude. "And thank you, Lord Wind Dragon."

Wind Dragon murmured, "Sigh... life is full of uncertainties."

To him, everything that had just unfolded was nothing more than a silent transaction. He hadn’t exposed Bai Ze and the others’ true intentions.

Right now, what Lu Chen needed most was their strength. And in this unspoken exchange, everyone had gotten what they needed.

It was just that Wind Dragon had quietly accepted the truth on Lu Chen’s behalf.

***

As the brief interlude came to an end, Lu Chen’s gaze returned to the spatial rift.

Wind Dragon asked, "Little Lu, what’s the good news you mentioned earlier? The Heavenly Pool and the small world have already started merging. Isn’t that something we figured out long ago?"

"That was just a one-sided fusion. Now, the spirit qi between the two is fully connected. The Twin-Fish Medallion, as the spirit qi pillar of the current world, absorbs spirit qi far faster than the small world can deplete it."

Lu Chen raised his hands, gathering streams of red and blue spirit qi in his palms. He looked toward the Tower of Time and continued, "This means I now have a constant supply of primordial spirit qi. I no longer need to worry about running out."

With a flick of his arms, the twin-colored qi spiraled into the air.

"It also means I can now activate the Tower of Time on my own. My goal of becoming the King of Time is finally within reach."

Hearing Lu Chen's words, everyone around him felt even more strongly that surrendering their soul imprints had been the right choice.

At this point, Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool had already grown far larger than theirs. The only thing he lacked was experience, something that only time could provide. Given enough time, it was only a matter of when, not if, he would rise to stand among the world’s most powerful beings.

Wind Dragon watched the spirit qi continually rising from Lu Chen’s body and slowly asked, "Little Lu... are you saying you’re ready to enter the Tower of Time now?"

"I want to give it a try. If I can activate the Tower, I’ll become the King of Time, won’t I?

"Let’s go. We should check what conditions are required to unlock the Tower. I think by now my body is strong enough to endure hundreds of years in one of its inner worlds."

With that, Lu Chen firmly gripped the Hunyuan Greatsword and waved his hand, signaling everyone to step back. He brought only Wind Dragon with him as he headed toward the area where the Tower of Time had already begun to awaken.

***

The others watched Lu Chen leave, then quickly brought Bai Ze back to the Beast King Manor.

They immediately channeled their spirit qi into his body, cleansing his meridians.

Meanwhile, Red Fox created an illusion around them, masking their gathering with a scene of casual conversation.

An hour later, Bai Ze suddenly coughed up a small clay figurine. It was carved with the faces of all eighteen beast clan leaders.

Seeing the clay doll, each of the eighteen beast leaders stepped forward and spat a mouthful of blood essence onto it.

Bai Ze quickly formed a series of hand seals. The faces on the figurine began to glow, and eighteen rays of light shot out, each linking to the forehead of its respective clan leader.

"Did it work?"

"Yes, it worked."

"Our fates are now tied to the King’s. If he survives, we survive. If he falls... we all fall."

The beast leaders looked at the glowing marks between their brows, and one by one, faint smiles began to spread across their faces.

An old man holding a massive brush raised it proudly. "Ha! I pulled that image straight from Bai Ze’s memory. Not bad, right?"

The Heaven-Devouring Mouse recalled the image and burst into hearty laughter. "Haha, it looks just like me! I nearly mistook that for myself!"

Bai Ze looked at them, his face lined with worry. "Sigh... You're all celebrating too early. That image has already become reality."

The Heaven-Devouring Mouse was still lost in the earlier illusion. "What do you mean? That was just a fake scene we acted out, right? We weren’t actually in there."

Bai Ze let out a sigh. "That scene was real. Everything we saw has already happened."

His expression grew darker as he continued, "The image the Brush Immortal painted was identical to what's currently going on. The Dark Rebellion has already begun."

The Heaven-Devouring Mouse's cheerful mood instantly vanished with Bai Ze's words. "Damn it, Brush Immortal, what kind of cursed talent do you have? Your drawings truly bring disaster."

"So if nothing changes, will I, the Nine Cycles Heaven-Devouring Mouse, really die like that?"

Bai Ze glanced at the Heaven-Devouring Mouse. "Yes. If things keep going this way, the King won’t be strong enough. The small world won’t fully form..."

He trailed off, glancing at the mouse, which had the most miserable death in that vision.

The Heaven-Devouring Mouse sprang up from the ground and shouted, "If that's the case, we'll all die in the Dark Rebellion. What are we waiting for? Let's start planning! We can't let that happen!"

Usually the laziest one, the Heaven-Devouring Mouse became especially agitated once he realized he'd be the first to die. "Hurry, move!"

He anxiously pushed everyone to start discussing a counter-strategy.

***

In the area around the Tower of Time.

Lu Chen stood amidst a patch of overgrown weeds, staring at the tower in front of him, feeling more than a little disillusioned.

This entire area was only a few zhang wide, just barely enough to hold the tower.

From afar, the Tower of Time had seemed grand and imposing. But up close, it looked like nothing more than a crumbling, abandoned ruin.

"Why is it so small? Is this really how lightly they treat the Tower of Time?"

Frustrated, Lu Chen raised the Hunyuan Greatsword with both hands and swept it across the ground. With a single slash, every weed around the tower was cut clean.

As he got closer, Lu Chen noticed that despite the tower itself being nearly a hundred zhang tall, its base was severely damaged, and it didn't even have a proper foundation. "Huh? Could the Tower of Time be just a fragment of the original tower?"

Seeing the Tower of Time up close for the first time, Wind Dragon was equally surprised. "Sigh... Well, it is what it is. Let's see how the Tower of Time works."

Now thoroughly unimpressed with the tower’s appearance, Lu Chen began examining its surface for any mechanism or clue.

Wind Dragon pointed to a handprint carved into a stone tablet near the base of the tower. "Little Lu, what about that? Could it be the key?"

"Hm? Let me try."

Lu Chen examined the handprint and was just about to place his hand over it when a powerful pulling force burst forth, seizing his left hand.

Lu Chen's spirit qi began surging uncontrollably out of his Heavenly Pool and flooding into the tablet.

Just then, Nantian Wan’er’s voice rang in his mind. "Lu-gege, what's happening? Your spirit qi is vanishing so fast!"

Lu Chen replied calmly through their telepathic link, "I'm fine. I'm testing the Tower of Time. It’s just... using up a lot more qi than I expected."