Chapter 215: Fierce Battle! Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle! (2-in-1)
To be honest, Hu Bai had never seen so many starry, space-attributed Spiritual Plants before.
Although he had learned a lot about Spiritual Plants from Yue Guan and read many ancient Spirit Hall texts, he didn't recognize more than half of the plants here. He only sensed that they should be extremely helpful in increasing spatial power.
However, Hu Bai looked around and did not see any sign of the so-called Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
He then carefully observed the area around the lake where the Spiritual Plants grew, noticing the footprints of a Soul Beast. The footprints looked somewhat like those of a turtle-type Soul Beast, and they were enormous.
This Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was eating these Spiritual Plants?
Hu Bai thought this was outrageous—such extravagance!
Tianmeng Iceworm: "Xiao Bai, my mental sense detects a giant turtle Soul Beast, over fifty meters in size, living at the bottom of this lake. It looks quite powerful; it might be a bit difficult for your dad to fight it alone."
Snow Empress snorted: "Are you out of your mind? Since it's a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, it will definitely drop a Soul Bone. Do we still need to fight it one-on-one?"
"Let's team up and give it a good beating. When it begs for mercy, we can be merciful and give it an escape route—see if it's willing to offer itself as a sacrifice. Then we can proceed as before."
The Tianmeng Iceworm suddenly brightened: "Oh, right!"
Hu Bai explained the situation at the bottom of the lake to Xie Tian and Hu Leyao, then asked them to wait while he recovered his soul power and mental power before acting together.
To speed up recovery, Hu Bai took out leaves from his Soul Guidance Device that could accelerate the recovery of soul power and mental power, and began absorbing them. Immediately, a cool sensation spread throughout his body.
Half an hour later...
Hu Bai stood up and signaled to Xie Tian and Hu Leyao that they could proceed.
Since the giant turtle at the bottom of the lake fed on Spiritual Plants, Hu Bai reasoned that if they disturbed the Spiritual Plants and made some noise, the turtle would likely come ashore on its own.
There was no other way; aside from Hu Bai, everyone's underwater combat ability was very weak.
Moreover, although Hu Bai had water-element affinity and a water-attribute Divine Artifact, his Martial Soul itself was not a water-attribute Soul Beast, so he had little advantage underwater.
It was better to lure the opponent onto land.
"Human! Don't touch my Spiritual Plants!"
Suddenly, an angry roar erupted from the lake.
Ripples appeared in the center of the lake, but no water flowed out as expected. Instead, a silver-white spatial rift opened, and a gigantic turtle instantly emerged from the center. Its massive body glared at Hu Bai and the others, radiating oppressive power!
When Hu Bai saw the full appearance of this turtle, his pupils contracted slightly.
This turtle's appearance seemed to be recorded in an ancient Spirit Hall text—the Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle.
Its carapace was round, as deep as the night sky, covered with golden star-track patterns. The edges of the shell were smooth but hard, like forged metal.
Its head was relatively small and triangular, with a pair of bright eyes on top—resembling the depths of the universe. Small antennae dotted with star-like spots extended from both sides of its head.
Its four limbs were thick and muscular, covered with hard scales. The scales matched the carapace, appearing dark gold.
Each foot had five toes with webbing between them, allowing it to swim easily. Its tail was short but muscular, ending with a small spike.
All over its body, a faint silver glow shimmered as it glared at Hu Bai and the others.
Hu Bai recalled that ancient Spirit Hall texts recorded that this type of Soul Beast grew extremely slowly. Most only lived for a few hundred to a thousand years, with very few reaching ten thousand years, let alone a hundred thousand years.
The reason for their slow growth was significant: they needed to constantly devour items with spatial attributes, including Spiritual Plants, Soul Beast meat, spatial energy crystals, and so on.
Among these, regardless of type, such items were exceedingly rare, naturally limiting their growth.
Most of these Soul Beasts chose the second path—absorbing moon essence—but this cultivation method was also very slow.
This Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle in front of Hu Bai had likely lived for a very long time, lucky enough to find this treasure land filled with spatial Spiritual Plants and settle here.
No wonder it was so angry—taking its Spiritual Plants was equivalent to stealing its cultivation.
Hu Bai secretly thought that his Divine Artifact of Fate was truly powerful for bringing him such a formidable opponent.
He looked at the gigantic turtle and got straight to the point: "We are here for your soul ring."
The atmosphere fell silent.
Then, the Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle roared in extreme anger: "Hahaha! Interesting, too interesting!"
"This area has been sealed by a spatial barrier I set up; ordinary people cannot find this place. But today, not only have you come, but you also say you want my soul ring. It's been a long time since I've seen such interesting people!"
"However, since you want my soul ring, have you prepared for death?"
"You two, I smell a strong spatial attribute aura on you. Since you need my soul ring, that means you're a spatial attribute Soul Master, right?"
"If you lose, then I want you dead!"
Hu Bai replied calmly, "Oh? I was planning to beat you up and then give you a way out. After all, it's not easy for you to survive for a hundred thousand years."
"Unless you're special, I really can't bring myself to kill a Soul Beast over a hundred thousand years old. But you want our lives?"
Hu Bai shook his head with a sigh. "It seems I can't be too benevolent. Listening to your words just now, you've eaten quite a few Soul Masters, haven't you?"
The Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle revealed its sharp teeth with a sneer. "So what?"
Hu Bai understood now: at least this turtle wasn't as kind as Da Ming.
Oh, that's not right—perhaps Da Ming and Er Ming, as Soul Beasts, had also killed Soul Masters, but they tended to let higher-level cultivators go because they understood the difficulty of cultivation at those levels.
For a hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast capable of speaking human language, Hu Bai still harbored some goodwill and was reluctant to kill it directly.
He had originally thought of having the Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle sacrifice itself to his father, so that when he ascended to godhood and took them up, this turtle could also become a Divine Beast.
But now...
"Bastard! Xiao Bai, this guy is just too hateful! You can't be too benevolent—just kill him!" Tianmeng Iceworm was so angry that he stomped his feet.
This Soul Beast's arrogance was likely due to its powerful spatial abilities.
But a hundred-thousand-year-old spatial attribute Soul Beast did have the right to boast. It had provoked the wrong opponent!
Ice Empress: "Exactly. Give him a taste of his own medicine!"
Snow Empress: "Exactly. Give him a taste of his own medicine. Didn't speak, but her expression made it clear she agreed.
At Hu Bai's signal, Xie Tian and Hu Leyao immediately activated their Martial Soul Fusion Skills.
Because Xie Tian's Martial Soul evolved from the Dragon Pattern Moon Blade, and Hu Leyao's Charming Fox Martial Soul also evolved into a Three-Tailed Fox, her form changed.
Three-tailed form!
However, this tail was only energy-based, usually hidden, and could appear suddenly to surprise opponents.
The Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle also sensed a threat—the human gave it a very dangerous feeling.
Suddenly, its aura surged from a humble ninety-level to Super Douluo!
Though Xie Tian and Hu Leyao's Martial Soul fusion did not reach Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing's level in the original work, it was still very high.
After their fusion, their strength approached the ninety-seventh level!
And Hu Bai's hundred-thousand-year soul ring rose sharply as he unleashed his Sky Fox True Body.
His Dark Demon Evil God Tiger soul ring had been advanced to a hundred thousand years by the Tianmeng Iceworm.
Of course, all his initial soul rings had been upgraded to a hundred thousand years.
While this didn't grant him an additional Soul Skill, the attribute enhancements and decreased soul power consumption were significant.
In the Sky Fox True Body state, Hu Bai transformed into the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox Main Body, his body swelling tens of meters.
His form was different from typical foxes—standing on two legs, with eight physical tails behind him, and his front limbs resembling human hands.
This form was not lacking in close combat ability, but Hu Bai preferred long-range attacks—cooler and cleaner, and less likely to dirty his white fur!
Tianmeng: "Stop explaining. Aren't close combat moves just not cool enough?"
Hu Bai possessed the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's soul ring and his External Soul Bone, giving him extreme metal control and absolute defense-breaking power—though he didn't want to use it.
Heh heh.
Tianmeng understood Hu Bai's habits well and shot him a look that said, "Figure it out yourself."
Additionally, although Hu Bai's spatial Divine Artifact had not been used, he had seen it: two uniquely shaped short blades, typical Divine Artifacts for close combat.
"Xiao Bai, if you don't want close combat, why not let your parents use your Divine Artifact? It would definitely deal more damage than the Dragon Pattern Moon Blade!"
Hu Bai nodded. One of his tails vanished, transforming into two short blades shimmering with a starry sky-like glow.
Spatial Divine Artifact, Star-Dome Rift Blades!
"Mom and Dad, use these!"
Hu Bai then passed the two short blades to Charm Demon.
Charm Demon nodded, sheathing the Dragon Pattern Moon Blade, and gripping the short blades with both hands.
As soon as they grasped them, information about the usage and abilities of these Divine Artifacts appeared in their minds.
They were called short blades, but their length was similar to the Dragon Pattern Moon Blade.
With the Divine Artifact's aid, Charm Demon was estimated to unleash power close to level ninety-eighth!
This was not the limit of the Divine Artifact but a reflection of their control.
Seeing Charm Demon's aura surge again and the divine glow from the weapons, the Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle retreated in fear.
It had spent so long cultivating to a hundred thousand years, living a life of eating and sleeping. It was unwilling to die now.
It admitted it had met a tough opponent.
Fortunately, it had an innate Soul Skill—Space Shuttle!
As long as it opened a spatial passage, it could escape.
Thinking this, the Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle roared, putting on a show of fighting to the death. The star-track patterns on its carapace emitted specks of starlight—another innate Soul Skill: Star Energy Control.
When absorbing moon essence, it could also absorb star energy. It only awakened this ability after reaching a hundred thousand years of cultivation.
Using starlight to attack and control—this was its trump card.
But, it had a drawback: it required charging.
How could Xie Tian and Hu Bai just stand there and let it charge?
Charm Demon held the short blades, slashed forward, and instantly opened a spatial rift, teleporting behind the turtle.
"Mom and Dad, attack the patterns on its back!"
Hu Bai always felt that since the patterns on the carapace lit up, the turtle relied on those star-track patterns for energy charging.
If they interrupted it, perhaps they could prevent the energy build-up?
"Heh heh, naive!" The Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle sneered. Its entire body glowed silver-white, intending to activate a short-range teleportation.
But just as the teleportation was about to occur, it sensed a Domain power!
With Hu Bai at the center, the Sky Fox Domain spread out!
Elemental Deprivation!
Hu Bai meticulously stripped away all the spatial elements near the turtle and enveloped Xie Tian with them.
Moreover, the Sky Fox Domain carried a divine suppression aura, making the turtle feel fear!
Under the Domain's influence, Charm Demon's aura surged even higher.
"Mom and Dad, now!"
Charm Demon nodded, raising the Star-Dome Rift Blades with both hands. A surge of spatial energy gathered, forming a silver shockwave of spatial power that blasted toward the turtle's carapace.
The shockwave caused spatial compression and distortion.
Boom!
The originally beautiful star-track patterned shell was shattered by the violent spatial compression.
"Ah—"
"No! This is impossible! How can I not use spatial power anymore?"
The turtle immediately froze in terror. Its proud spatial power was stripped away!
It relied on that enormous body and short legs to move quickly using spatial abilities.
Now that it was restricted, how could it escape with just its short legs?
It was staring death in the face!
At that moment, Charm Demon exclaimed, "This turtle shell is really tough; this full-power strike only severely injured you."
Star-Track Moon-Wheel Turtle: Look—does that sound like what a human would say?
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End of Chapter