No surprise it was a shape-transformation art pulled straight from a cave estate.

It took Shen Yi nearly two hundred years of dedicated cultivation before he'd brought it to Perfection.

Thinking back on what that pill recipe had said — that anyone past their first hundred years who still failed to reach Spirit-Transformation would need a pill's help — Shen Yi felt an odd twinge of something sour in his chest.

Then again, it was just a scrap of torn paper; some exaggeration was only natural, and not to be taken too seriously.

As it happened, the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor's remnant soul had also finished condensing right around then.

【Demon Emperor (Remnant): Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor】

Shen Yi waited for it to come to its senses.

Then, modeling himself after its appearance, his form began to shift.

Almost instantly, a towering, eight-zhang lion-demon stood where he'd been — its body, shaped from the Heaven-Devouring demon-infant flesh itself, even giving off genuine demon qi.

"Golden eyes."

Shen Yi drew on the Golden Eagle divine ability, channeling his breath through the golden-thunder white jade root, coating his eyes in a layer of golden light.

He glanced to the side.

Golden light burst from his eyes and shattered a chunk of green stone.

Setting aside the actual force behind it, it looked close enough, at least.

Finally he turned back to look at the Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor once more, adjusting the finer details of his body, striving to match it down to every last hair.

Shen Yi closed his eyes.

A number of ghastly gashes slowly surfaced across his body.

His bearing, too, took on a weary, worn-down quality.

Gone was some of the demon emperor's imperial majesty, replaced instead by the vicious desperation of a cornered beast.

"From now on, whenever anyone speaks with me, you're to inform me first, in your usual manner."

With every preparation made, Shen Yi gave the order.

"Yes!"

The Gold-Eyed Lion Emperor finally came back to itself and bowed low in deep reverence.

Shen Yi drew the golden bead and the divine spirit back into his qi…