Transmigrated into a tortoise, the Empress and the Goddess became my sisters.

The monkey nodded.

"Alright, you lead the way, and we'll follow behind you!"

Lin Tian said.

"Squeak!"

The monkey let out an excited cry, then limped ahead to lead the way, with Lin Tian and the others following closely behind.

"This monkey is quite clever."

The Asura Goddess looked at the monkey leading the way and couldn't help but sigh.

"That's right, don't you even know whose 'little brother' you are?"

Lin Tian smiled smugly, though he didn't know when the monkey had become his "little brother".

"You're so vain!"

The Empress rolled her eyes at Lin Tian. She was getting more and more speechless at him. This guy always took every opportunity to brag.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a deafening roar came from the side, startling the small animals.

"What the hell?"

Lin Tian was startled and almost jumped up from the ground. He quickly stopped and looked around warily.

"Boom!"

The ground trembled as some creature smashed a large tree, as thick as two people could hug, into the middle and snapped it in two with a crack, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Immediately afterwards, a lion engulfed in flames swaggered out of the woods. It was enormous, even larger than the one Lin Tian had killed earlier, and its fiery red fur shimmered in the sunlight, making it look majestic.

"My goodness, another fire lion has arrived!"

The Asura Goddess turned green with fright and quickly shrank her head back into her shell, her voice trembling with tears.

"What...what should we do?"

The Empress was also terrified. She hugged the little black bear tightly, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Although the little black bear was scared, it still bravely stood in front of the Empress, baring its teeth at the fire lion in an attempt to scare it away.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here!"

Lin Tianqiang remained calm, knowing that he absolutely could not panic at this moment.

He shielded the Empress and the Goddess of Asura behind him, then stared intently at the fire lion, ready to fight at any moment.

The fire lion walked up to Lin Tian and stopped. It looked down at Lin Tian and his small animals, a hint of doubt flashing in its blood-red eyes.

It tilted its head, as if it were thinking about something.

"What is that beast thinking?"

Looking at the fire lion, Lin Tian felt a chill run down his spine. He didn't believe the fire lion was contemplating life.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, the fire lion roared to the sky, and then... then it actually lay down on the ground, looking like it was submitting.

"What... what's going on?"

Lin Tian was completely dumbfounded. Why did this fire lion suddenly surrender?

"Could it be that they were intimidated by my domineering aura?"

Lin Tian stroked his chin and muttered to himself.

The Empress and the Goddess of Asura also looked on in disbelief. They looked at each other and saw shock in each other's eyes.

"Ouch..."

The fire lion roared, lowered its forelegs to the ground, and lowered its furry head, moving closer to Lin Tian.

"What...what does this mean?"

The Empress asked cautiously, still somewhat unable to believe her eyes.

"Could it be... that it wants us to ride on it?"

The Asura Goddess poked her head out of the tortoise shell and guessed.

"Are you stupid?! This is a fire lion! Aren't you afraid of getting burned to a roasted turtle if you sit on it?!"

The Empress said irritably.

"Hehe, you guys just don't understand, do you?"

Lin Tian suddenly smiled, walked up to the fire lion, and reached out to touch its fiery red fur.

"Ouch, that's really hot!"

Lin Tian quickly withdrew his hand. The fire lion's fur was incredibly hot, like a small furnace.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

The Empress asked, puzzled.

"Have you forgotten that there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests?" Lin Tian said with a profound and inscrutable expression.

"What does this have to do with the fire lion?"

Even the goddess of asura was stunned.

“Of course it’s related!” Lin Tian explained, “Those people from the Heavenly Crippled Sect captured a lot of animals in this forest before, which might include this fire lion’s family or friends.”

"And then?" The Empress blinked, still not understanding Lin Tian's meaning.

"You're so stupid! This fire lion is all alone now, it definitely wants to find a backer!" Lin Tian said with a "you're hopeless" expression. "Think about it, this forest is now being eyed by those bastards from the Heavenly Crippled Sect, it's definitely not going to have a good time in the future. No matter how powerful this fire lion is, it can't withstand their numbers and strength!"

"So, it now wants to join forces with us to deal with the Heavenly Crippled Sect?" The Goddess of Asura finally realized.

“That’s right!” Lin Tian nodded. “I reckon this fire lion is probably here to ask us for cooperation. I just don’t know what it’s up to.”

"Then... what should we do? Agree to it?" The Empress hesitated. After all, this was a fire lion. What if it suddenly changed its mind? Wouldn't they be doomed?

“Agree, why wouldn’t we agree?” Lin Tian said. “Having more friends means having more paths, having more enemies means having more walls to block our way. This Fire Lion is so strong. If we can join forces with it, it will be much easier to deal with the Heavenly Crippled Sect.”

"But..." The Empress was still somewhat worried.

"No buts," Lin Tian interrupted her, "It's settled! We'll form an alliance with this fire lion right now!"

As he spoke, he walked up to the Fire Lion and said, "Hey, big guy, you want to cooperate with us to deal with the Heavenly Crippled Sect, right?"

The fire lion nodded; it couldn't speak human language, so it could only express itself through actions.

"Alright, since that's the case, then we'll be partners from now on!" Lin Tian stretched out his claws.

The fire lion hesitated for a moment, then stretched out its huge paw and clasped it with Lin Tian's paw.

"Haha, it's a pleasure to cooperate with you!" Lin Tian laughed.

"Roar!"

The fire lion also let out a low roar, seemingly in response to Lin Tian.

"Brother, you...you really want to cooperate with this fire lion?" The Empress was still a little worried.

"Don't worry, it's alright," Lin Tian reassured him. "This fire lion is all alone now, it won't dare to do anything to us."

As he spoke, he looked at the Fire Lion and asked, "By the way, what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'Big Guy,' can I?"

The fire lion shook its head, indicating that it had no name.

"Oh, okay... then I'll give you a name!" Lin Tian thought for a moment and said, "From now on, you'll be called... Hotpot!"

"Hot pot?" The Empress and the Goddess of Asura were both stunned. What kind of weird name is that?

"What? Don't you like it?" Lin Tian asked.

"It's not that it sounds bad, it's just... it's just a little strange," the Empress said.

"What's so strange about it? Hot pot, hot pot, it's fiery and exciting, isn't it great!" Lin Tian said. "It's settled then, from now on you'll be called Hot Pot!"

The Fire Lion—or rather, Hotpot—seemed quite pleased with the name. It nodded and let out a roar, as if responding to Lin Tian.

"Hehe, one done!" Lin Tian smiled smugly. He hadn't expected that he could so easily subdue a fire lion as his underling.

But before he could even rejoice, a loud eagle cry rang out from the sky.

"Wow!"

"Hmm? That voice..."

Lin Tian looked up and saw a huge, fiery red bird descending from the sky and flying towards them.