500 years later...
Near the central area of the Starry Forest's outskirts.
As far as the eye could see, the forest was lush and verdant. The grassy meadows were adorned with blooming flowers, creating a scene of great beauty. The trees swayed gently in the wind, like the strands of a girl's hair, softly fluttering.
The flawless sun, like a warm hand, bestowed its sunlight upon the earth. Coupled with the backdrop of clear breeze and green trees, everything appeared so simple and beautiful.
Among a cluster of flowers on the grassy field, a beautiful figure emerged. This figure possessed transparent wings and displayed yellow and purple patterns on its body. It shimmered under the sunlight, but unfortunately, no one could see this figure.
The figure opened its eyes and exhaled a breath. It was none other than Ye Die Die.
"Phew, keep going! Just a few more days until I become a thousand-year spirit beast."
This was the third home she had found in the outskirts. When she first arrived, she peacefully cultivated for a hundred years.
Suddenly, a great battle broke out on the left side of her home, in an ordinary-looking forest. The aftermath of the battle reached her home.
Drawing upon her knowledge of "curiosity killed the cat," she refrained from investigating. Although she had considered whether she could take advantage of the situation, she lightly sensed the aura of the battle. Both auras far surpassed her own.
Ye Die Die didn't dare to stay for even a moment. She grabbed her belongings and ran, leaving behind her home where she had lived for many years, without any sentimental attachment.
Of course, it wasn't just Ye Die Die who was affected by the battle. Other spirit beasts were also caught in its wake. At this moment, all the spirit beasts abandoned the fight and fled towards a place far from the battle.
However, there were also some spirit beasts who ran towards the battlefield, presumably intending to profit from the situation. But who would truly benefit remained unknown to her, and she had no interest in finding out.
Ye Die Die flew towards the depths of the Starry Forest. At that time, she had already reached a cultivation level of 300 years by secretly consuming the grass that enhanced her progress.
In the central area of the outskirts, she could not only move freely but also remain undetected by other creatures. It was a skill she had mastered.
With her cultivation advancing, the grass that once boosted her progress became less effective, slowing down her rate of improvement. However, through a stroke of luck, Ye Die Die amplified the grass that had already been enhanced once before. It was not as simple as one plus one equals two.
"Honghonghong~"
After that amplification, almost all the spirit beasts in the outskirts were attracted. Ye Die Die quickly grabbed her belongings and ran towards another place.
Afterward, even if she cultivated at a slower pace, she didn't dare to use amplification on the same item a second time.
This led to the destruction of her second home.
"But fortunately, at that time, I had already reached the level of a five-hundred-year spirit beast. The original place is no longer suitable for me."
Ye Die Die secretly made her way deeper into the forest. She settled in the central area of the outskirts, where the most powerful beings were five-hundred-year spirit beasts, similar to her. They couldn't detect her presence.
Now she had reached the level of a nine-hundred-ninety-nine-year spirit beast, just one step away from becoming a thousand-year spirit beast.
"But this crucial step is not easy to overcome."
Ye Die Die halted her cultivation. In her inherited memories, only one member of the Illusion Butterfly race had become a thousand-year spirit beast—their ancestor.
Reaching a thousand years of cultivation was a milestone for the Illusion Butterfly race. Throughout history, Illusion Butterflies had been hunted in large numbers by human soul masters, nearly leading to their extinction.
Ye Die Die had survived in the Starry Forest for almost a thousand years and had never encountered a second Illusion Butterfly.
The Illusion Butterfly's soul skill of camouflage was related to its own spiritual power. Generally, Illusion Butterflies could only deceive spirit beasts of the same level of cultivation.
For example, the camouflage of a five-hundred-year Illusion Butterfly was effective against spirit beasts of five hundred years or below, but it was useless against higher-level spirit beasts.
As for why Ye Die Die could transcend cultivation levels, it was because she was human. Naturally, her spiritual power was stronger than that of ordinary spirit beasts. After years of cultivation, her spiritual power had grown stronger.
In the eyes of human soul masters, the low spiritual power of the Illusion Butterflies was evident. Due to their rarity as spiritual-type spirit beasts, they were extensively hunted.
This led to their population constantly being bred and hunted, and throughout history, only their ancestors had reached a thousand years of cultivation. However, Ye Die Die's inherited memories did not contain the methods of cultivation beyond a thousand years.
"It seems that if I want to become a thousand-year spirit beast, I'll have to deduce the subsequent cultivation methods of my own race."
Setting aside everything else, Ye Die Die began to absorb the spiritual power from the air to make a breakthrough. However, the process didn't go smoothly.
After absorbing all the spiritual power into her body, it suddenly disappeared. The distance to break through to a thousand years seemed close but was actually far away.
She tried several times, but the result was the same—the absorbed power vanished.
"It seems that the spiritual power here is too scarce. I need to go deeper to absorb concentrated spiritual power for a breakthrough."
"Or there might be another way, using my amplification ability, amplifying it twice, and consuming that grass with double amplification. It contains a large amount of spiritual power that can help me make a breakthrough."
Ye Die Die pondered these two methods of breaking through in her mind, both of which carried a certain level of danger for her.
The first method required venturing deeper into the Starry Forest, which meant she would encounter powerful spirit beasts.
Although Ye Die Die had confidence in her spiritual power and could avoid most of the spirit beasts, there were still some that she couldn't evade.
If she happened to encounter those spirit beasts, she would be in trouble. Her only advantage was her strong spiritual power, which made her invisible to other spirit beasts.
But compared to speed or strength, she couldn't match even a five-hundred-year speed-type spirit beast.
Her only strength lay in her spiritual power, relying solely on her advantage to survive.
The second method required being cautious of other spirit beasts. If she attracted powerful spirit beasts while amplifying, it would be troublesome.
In her opinion, the success rate of the first method was only 70%, while the second method had an even lower success rate of 50%.
However, if she was willing to spend some time and fly to a location far from the center, where there were fewer spirit beasts, the success rate would increase to 90%.
There was still a 10% chance of an unforeseen accident occurring.
After considering for a moment, Ye Die Die made her decision. She would take some time to fly to the outer perimeter. The spirit beasts there were weaker, and even if she attracted some, they wouldn't be too powerful. It would take considerable time for stronger spirit beasts to arrive.
With her mind made up, she immediately flew towards the outer perimeter.
(End of this chapter)