At that moment, Yueyang stood at the center of every gaze in the room.

The four faction leaders — the Lion King, Eagle King, Human-Faced Tiger, and Poison Wasp King — along with a crowd of beast-people residents that included the sickle weasel, Longma, a raven, and a pair of cheetah brothers, all had their eyes fixed on him. Those gazes carried gravity and envy, shock and suppressed resentment, and in more than a few cases, something approaching outright reverence. Whatever they felt privately, all four leaders had arrived at the same conclusion: cooperate with this freakish newcomer. At the very minimum, coexist peacefully. Picking a fight with someone who already had a Sacred Beast — and would almost certainly have a Divine Beast before long — was simply not a wise use of one’s continued existence.

The Toad King’s decision to jump out early and attack had left him in exactly the humiliating position one might have predicted.

The stark contrast Yueyang had created served as a pointed warning to the Lion King and Eagle King, both of whom had previously considered allying with the Toad King.

For the Human-Faced Tiger — quietly accumulating strength from a position of calculated neutrality — the whole affair prompted a private sigh of relief. It had never been able to work with the Toad King, neither on principle nor on a personal level, and had been watching the Toad King’s fortunes more closely than anyone. A Toad King who succeeded would mean a Toad King with growing power. A Toad King who failed might mean the number-two slot among the Five Beast Kings opening up — and the Human-Faced Tiger, currently ranked third, standing ready to fill it.

As for the Poison Wasp King, which had already quietly sealed its own arrangement with Yueyang — the stronger Yueyang proved himself, the harder he pushed back against the Toad King, the better it reflected on her own judgment. It meant her chances of escaping Beast Valley were real, and freedom was inching closer. Of all of them, she was unquestionably the most pleased. Naturally, not a trace of it showed on her face. On the surface, the Poison Wasp King looked exactly like the Human-Faced Tiger: coolly neutral, carefully uninvested.

“How did you clear the Difficult test?” the sickle weasel asked, still unable to fully believe what it had seen — even as the Death Reaper Mantis sat right there in front of it, happily munching on the Sacred Wisdom Fruit. “How is that even possible?“

The Difficult-rank test. Never cleared by anyone in all of history.

Just like that, he had walked straight through it.

This was beyond comprehension. Even having watched with its own eyes, it struggled to trust what they had told it.

“It wasn’t that bad, honestly. I’ve faced harder.” Yueyang smiled, and there was nothing performed about his confidence.

In truth, the challenges in those tests bore a certain structural resemblance — in some respects, at least — to games Yueyang had played back before his crossing. The main difference was that failing a game let you try again, whereas failing here meant your war beast died, and each round gave you exactly one chance.

His confidence came from somewhere real. The synthesis of inherited knowledge, the vast wisdom absorbed through immersion beneath the World Tree across countless merged states of being — he was simply not the same person he had once been. Add to that the Heavenly Eye of Wisdom and its ability to see through to the truth of things, and Yueyang at his current level of transcendent perfection could sense precisely where each round’s lethal pivot point lay.

As for the first six rounds — those he had effectively cleared with Vivienne’s guidance. The Empress’s wisdom lived in him, a merged and integrated understanding, and even without the Heavenly Eye, without the inherited knowledge, without the grand enlightenment gained beneath the World Tree, her experience alone would have been enough to walk him through. Her six prior successful completions of those rounds had been, for all practical purposes, a cheat sheet. The final four rounds had been the product of perfect, wordless coordination between his own mind and the Death Reaper Mantis’s — and the first six, informed by Vivienne’s experience, had been completed more cleanly than she ever had, exceeding every benchmark.

And throughout, without anyone else being the wiser, he and the Death Reaper Mantis had quietly laid three deliberate traps.

He had noticed a hawk-headed creature in the crowd using some kind of special ability, copying his movements. He hadn’t known who had sent it. But that hadn’t stopped him from doing something useful with the information.

Right now, Yueyang — along with the Lion King, Eagle King, Human-Faced Tiger, and the rest — still had no idea just how thoroughly the self-congratulating Toad King had already destroyed himself.

Hubbub.

When the four faction leaders and the assembled beasts heard Yueyang’s casual response, a wave of noise rolled through the crowd.

The kid really was insufferably smug. But then again — he’d earned it. The Difficult test was not something just anyone could clear. His arrogance, in this case, had receipts.

“I can promise you one thing: from this day forward, neither I nor any of my people will ever interfere with a challenger’s trial run.” The Lion King spoke with genuine warmth, every inch the gracious elder statesman. “Young man — I may no longer have any hope of leaving Beast Valley myself, but I have always admired true excellence in those who come after me. I wish you every success. Keep moving forward.”

… The Poison Wasp King thought privately that if Yueyang and the little one hadn’t completely reversed the situation, those words would never have been spoken.

“My feelings are the same as the Lion King’s. We bear you only goodwill.” The Eagle King didn’t mention a word about past grievances with Yueyang’s side. Having watched the entire trial from start to finish, it had developed a particular kind of respect for this young man — the feeling that challenging him directly would have been pure folly.

“Young man, neither of us doubts that you and your war beast will complete the third task — the Boulder Field — without trouble. But you should be aware of the Toad King. That foul creature loves nothing more than sabotaging challengers in the Boulder Field. It’s a place of calculation, reasoning, puzzle-solving, and patience. As the owner, you can only wait outside — you cannot enter to assist your war beast directly. The Poison Wasp King and I are both willing to go to the Boulder Field and intercept the Toad King personally, though we regret that there’s only so much we can do to help your war beast inside. Many sections will depend entirely on her own judgment. That said — with the intelligence of a Sacred Beast, passing should only be a matter of time.” The Human-Faced Tiger handed a sheepskin scroll to the sickle weasel, who passed it on to Yueyang. It contained everything the Human-Faced Tiger had managed to gather about the Boulder Field over the years.

For most challengers, this document would have been extraordinarily valuable.

The sickle weasel knew, though, that the Poison Wasp King — the one with a true alliance sealed — would have provided far more, and far more accurate, information on its own.

The Human-Faced Tiger had moved too late. As it turned out, the sharpest eyes and the strongest resolve in all of Beast Valley belonged not to the well-regarded Human-Faced Tiger but to the cold, perpetually untrusting Poison Wasp King.

Yueyang offered his thanks, and the group exchanged pleasantries and made loose verbal arrangements for cooperation. The four faction leaders needed Yueyang to deal with the challengers ahead of him who had yet to leave the valley — the demon physician Wei Jinglue and the Ghost-Eye King in particular, but more pressingly, the Central Temple’s Fire Hall Master Ranfeng, Dark Hall Master Wanmo, Vice Hall Master Weishu, and three Temple Elders, who had become a threatening force that none of the faction leaders dared cross. Against those two groups combined, the Lion King and its allies had given up any idea of causing trouble, and they lived in constant fear that those invaders would begin massacring Beast Valley’s population wholesale to power up their own war beasts.

At least Ji Wuri and Zhonghua had gone chasing after Captain Cook.

Otherwise, Beast Valley would have been reduced to ash.

“Wei Jinglue and the Ghost-Eye King I know personally. The Six Plate King, Tianshui King, and Sea-Swallowing King — I’ve heard the names, nothing more. As for the Central Temple people — I’d rather not elaborate. They’re all targets of mine.” When Yueyang said this, the Lion King and the others let out a collective breath.

They had genuinely worried, for a time, that Yueyang might be Central Temple himself.

But he had been in the valley for more than half a month without once seeking out Ranfeng or Wanmo — who were close to completing their own trials and leaving — and that had been enough to quietly suggest he wasn’t one of theirs.

The Lion King exchanged a glance with the other three.

If he wasn’t Central Temple, he was possibly aligned with Captain Cook’s side. Or perhaps with the demon physician. Either way, cooperation posed no problem. If he had been Central Temple, the real fear would have been him turning around and sweeping up all the old powers of Beast Valley in one clean motion.

“It grows late — why not complete the Boulder Field task tomorrow? Our Tiger and Wasp friends can get some rest, and tomorrow accompany the Sacred Beast inside. The Eagle King and I will wait outside, and together we’ll keep that wretched toad from causing mischief.” The Lion King gently suggested Yueyang call it a night, while simultaneously gesturing to the Eagle King, Human-Faced Tiger, and Poison Wasp King — a silent signal to meet separately afterward and discuss strengthening their cooperation. The finer details needed to be agreed on sooner rather than later.

“Fine by me. See everyone tomorrow.” Yueyang didn’t summon his Grimoire. He simply let the Death Reaper Mantis guide him back into the Grimoire World.

Within Beast Valley, the ancient Laws imposed constraints — the Grimoire could not be called out directly. But if a war beast had sufficient power, it could guide its master back inside. Conversely, if a war beast lacked the ability or intelligence to lead the way home, then even a challenger with a Grimoire was effectively without one. Quite a few residents had Grimoires they could never use precisely because of this limitation.

Watching Yueyang vanish back into his Grimoire World in an instant, the faction leaders all felt a quiet jolt of surprise.

That was far beyond what a Sacred Beast’s guidance alone could explain.

The Lion King looked at the Human-Faced Tiger.

The Human-Faced Tiger affected an expression of seeing nothing unusual, shook its head, and murmured: “Gold Grimoire at minimum. Possibly Platinum. Not for nothing is he the most freakish newcomer anyone’s ever seen.”

The Eagle King was blunter, as was its habit. “I’ll stake my eagle’s eyes on it — that’s a Diamond Grimoire. And it’s close to Holy Grimoire level. Even that faint trace of energy and will it radiates is enough to shake the soul.”

Someone that young, already possessing a Diamond Grimoire brushing the threshold of a Holy Grimoire… The Lion King turned the thought over in its mind and found itself quietly revising every assumption it had made about Yueyang.

After Yueyang returned to his Grimoire World, the four leaders reconvened. Each nursed their private concerns, but all of them agreed — deepen the alliance with Yueyang, without question.

Half an hour later, Old Baboon Longwhisker, the Bobtail Cat, and a crowd of beasts who had witnessed the Toad King’s scheme detonate in his own face came streaming in, practically glowing with excitement, to deliver what they clearly considered the best news anyone had heard in centuries.

The four leaders heard them out in silence.

Then stunned silence.

Then extended stunned silence.

“Could it be…?” The Human-Faced Tiger looked at the Eagle King with barely-contained disbelief.

“I can’t say for certain — but it’s very possible.” The Eagle King was quiet for a long moment. “There was a hawk-headed traitor there, yes. I hadn’t paid it any attention — it had defected to the Toad King long ago and was nothing but a source of irritation to me. It never occurred to me it would use the Eagle Eye to copy. But if the Toad King’s failure was genuinely designed and set up in advance by that young man… then he is truly terrifying.”

Hsssss. As they followed that thought to its conclusion, every one of them felt the breath leave their lungs.

Terrifying wasn’t the word for it.

This was something else entirely. An absolute monster.

The Toad King was no fool — and yet he had been played like a child, humiliated in front of everyone, and sent home with nothing. What else could you call that?

The Poison Wasp King, behind a wall of private shock and surging elation, managed a cool snort. “There’s nothing so surprising about it. True success demands perfect coordination between master and beast. The Toad King concealed his true nature as a resident for all these years, but the moment he’s separated from his war beast, that toad is worthless — a dim-witted creature utterly incapable of real cooperation. His failure was inevitable the moment he tried. And besides — I suspect the young man wasn’t specifically targeting the Toad King at all. He simply noticed someone nearby using a special ability to copy him, set the trap, and buried the pitfall where it would catch whoever sprang it. The Toad King just happened to be the eager fool who jumped in. If it hadn’t been him, it might have been some other resident. It might even have been one of the three great resident commanders.”

The Lion King was visibly pleased. “Regardless of the details — the Toad King’s true nature is finally out in the open, and his power has taken a serious blow. Our opportunity has arrived. Eagle, Tiger, Wasp — don’t you think five Beast Kings is perhaps one too many? You all know me — I’m conservative by nature. If that foul toad goes down, his territory and his followers are yours to divide however you like. All I want is his sword, as a trophy to mark the occasion.”

The Poison Wasp King thought privately: you want the sword because you’re afraid someone else takes it and uses the power boost to threaten your position. But freedom was the only goal that mattered. The political scrambling within Beast Valley could carry on without her.

In her heart, she was already halfway out the door.

She offered no objection.

The Eagle King and the Human-Faced Tiger both nodded, agreeing to the terms.

Back in his Grimoire World, Yueyang was soaking contentedly in a steaming bath, enjoying the small half-elf Xiao Nu’s practiced hands working at his shoulders. In his mind, a gentle current of thought arrived — Pandora’s consciousness reaching across to make contact, stirring briefly from her slumber, and seeking him out the moment she was aware enough to do so.

“There is no longer a Goddess of Misfortune in this world — only Pandora, who loves you. Call me Pandora from now on.” She was happy, in a way she hadn’t been in longer than memory could hold.

The Frost Bloom Sword Spirit’s purification had done its work. The ancient resentment she had carried for so long was gone, completely and cleanly, like morning frost burned off by the sun.

To be a powerful but wretched goddess — that had never been her wish.

To be a beloved woman who was simply happy.

That was the dream she had spent a hundred thousand years searching for without ever knowing she was searching — the dream she hadn’t even known she needed until, at last, she had found Yueyang.