Chapter 241 - 235: Killing the Turtle, [Gui Cang]

Chapter 241: Chapter 235: Killing the Turtle, [Gui Cang]

Fifteen minutes later, Fu Juemin and Shen Yijun arrived at the location where the Demon was discovered.

The site was five li from the vast expanse of water created by the flash flood, a barren wilderness strewn with jagged rocks.

Before they even got close, they could see a massive, dark bluish-black turtle lying helplessly on its back.

The Old Turtle was covered in countless layers of special, heavy-duty nets, its limbs bound by wrist-thick chains. A crowd of people had gathered around it.

As soon as Shen Yijun arrived, his eyes were glued to the giant turtle, his gaze feverish.

Fu Juemin, however, noticed a pile of more than a dozen sodden corpses by the roadside. They looked as if they had just been pulled from the water. He pulled a man aside to ask, "Where did these bodies come from?"

"The flash flood destroyed a lot of new graves. The coffins broke open, and the...contents were washed out."

The man replied, "Young Master, you ordered us to find the second Demon. We were worried it might disguise itself as a floater to slip past, so we fished out everything we found drifting downstream. We haven’t had a chance to deal with them yet."

Fu Juemin’s gaze swept over the pile of bodies, finally resting on a heavily decomposed corpse covered in silt and water weeds, its flesh embedded with numerous shells. A glint appeared in his eyes as he spoke slowly. "I was the one who ordered the reservoir blown up.

I will arrange for my men to find a new burial place for these unclaimed remains and erect headstones for them.

You need not concern yourselves with it any longer."

The man was stunned for a moment, then a look of genuine respect appeared on his face. "Young Master Fu, you are truly benevolent. On behalf of the families of the deceased, I thank you."

In this day and age, it’s hard enough to look after the living, let alone the dead. Among the high and mighty, men who acted as Fu Juemin did were few and far between.

Fu Juemin called over a few men from the Ghost Camp to guard the pile of corpses, especially the one known as the "water monkey’s bride."

Having done this, he walked at a steady pace toward the captured Old Turtle Spirit.

In truth, as soon as he drew near, Fu Juemin could sense that the Old Turtle Spirit was on its last breath, its life fading away.

At that moment, Shen Yijun, high on opium and unnaturally excited, had—with the help of others—daringly climbed onto the Old Turtle’s belly. Seeing Fu Juemin approach, he laughed and shouted, "Lingjun, I know I’m in this business,

but aside from my first couple of years in Yingjing, I’ve only ever seen dead Demons. This is the first time in my life I’ve ever been this close to a live one!"

He then sighed with a look of deep regret. "Such a shame, such a shame. This Old Turtle is too big. It won’t fit in a carriage, and it’d be difficult to transport by train. We’ll have to cut it to pieces.

Otherwise, if we could transport it to Yingjing City alive and whole, the nobles from the old dynasty would probably go mad fighting over it...

Keeping something like this at home to ward off evil, attract wealth, and improve one’s feng shui... it’s absolutely first-rate."

Fu Juemin couldn’t be bothered to respond. He listened as Xu Hengjiang reported in a low voice, "...three li ahead, there’s a river connected to the underground aquifers.

This Old Turtle must have been making a desperate run for it. Unfortunately, it only had one breath left before it could get there..."

Fu Juemin’s tone was flat as he asked, "And the other one?"

Xu Hengjiang shook his head. "We’re still looking."

Just then, Shen Yijun, who was standing on the Old Turtle, let out a cry of surprise.

Fu Juemin looked up and, with a single leap, landed beside Shen Yijun.

Including its shell, the Old Turtle was nearly twenty meters wide, truly the size of a small freighter. Shen Yijun was squatting down, staring at a deep, bloody crater the size of a man’s face on the turtle’s belly, his expression a mixture of shock and curiosity.

"This must be the wound that nearly killed it, right?"

Shen Yijun traced the air around the wound with his finger, clicking his tongue in amazement. He turned to Fu Juemin. "Lingjun, what on earth did you use to make a hole like this? It doesn’t look like it was made by bullets or gunpowder..."

Fu Juemin recognized it at a glance. This was where his palm had struck with [Sumeru Incline] as the Old Turtle flew over his head carrying the water monkey.

[Sumeru Incline] channeled the full power of his Demon Body’s Second Form. It was his ultimate killing blow, and its might was naturally peerless.

But even Fu Juemin himself was somewhat astonished to see the devastating results of the technique firsthand.

Fu Juemin stared at the wound, his eyes flickering, and answered Shen Yijun offhandedly, "My hand."

Shen Yijun stared blankly for a second, then chuckled and shook his head. "Fine, if you don’t want to say, I won’t ask."

’That’s just how people are. Tell them the truth, and they refuse to believe it.’

Fu Juemin paid him no mind, leaning down and extending a hand, slowly reaching into the Old Turtle’s abdomen through the wound.

He secretly activated [Black Flower], allowing the Snake Demon Soul to enter his body. His fingers released a dark, murky Vitality inside the bloody crater, and the Demon Soul Force seeped thread by thread through the exposed flesh into the body of the Old Turtle beneath him.

"ROOOAR—"

Suddenly, a tremor ran through the creature beneath their feet. The once-motionless Old Turtle Spirit’s murky eyes snapped open, and it began to struggle madly, as if trying to flip itself over.

This sudden turn of events scared Shen Yijun out of his wits. His face went deathly pale as he staggered on the violently shaking shell, nearly tumbling off.

The crowd below was also horrified, and cries of alarm erupted. A few of the braver men gritted their teeth, about to charge forward and help.

But Fu Juemin remained as if rooted to the spot, perfectly still.

The shock was enough to sober Shen Yijun up from his opium high. He was drenched in cold sweat. Fortunately, the Old Turtle Spirit’s final struggle was as brief as it was violent. Within a few breaths, it went completely still.

The commotion below gradually subsided. Soon, someone shouted, "The Old Turtle’s dead! It’s dead!..."

Meanwhile, Fu Juemin, still standing on the Old Turtle, slowly straightened up. An unnatural light flickered in his mirror-clear eyes before quickly vanishing.

He leaped down from the turtle’s body. Shen Yijun, who had already been helped to the ground, was still fuming from the scare. He viciously kicked the Old Turtle’s corpse, then gave a cold command: "Get to work! Cut it open!"

Five minutes later, Fu Juemin sat under a makeshift canopy, silently reviewing his gains on his status panel.

The Old Turtle Spirit had given him a little over two full Skill Points, and...

A new, Blue Level Talent Ability—[Gui Cang]!

’I thought I’d get a Talent like [Wave Riding] or [Water Control]. Still, since it’s a Blue Level Talent on par with [Shadow Control], it shouldn’t be a disappointment...’

Unable to contain his curiosity, Fu Juemin slowly activated the new Talent.

As [Gui Cang] activated, all surrounding noise was instantly stripped away!

The sound of the wind, the chatter of voices... every sound seemed to be cut off by an invisible membrane, becoming distant and indistinct.

The moving air stilled. Even time itself seemed to slow down.

Absolute silence enveloped Fu Juemin. He could hear the sound of his own heart beating.

"THUMP... THUMP... THUMP..."

Each one was perfectly clear.

Gradually, even the sound of his heartbeat began to slow. Soon... even his own thoughts felt as if they were submerged in thick honey, growing sluggish...

"Brother Lingjun! Brother Lingjun!"

Suddenly, a distant shout echoed in Fu Juemin’s ears.

Fu Juemin’s concentration shattered, and he immediately deactivated [Gui Cang].

He looked up to see Shen Yijun standing before him, wearing a strange, bewildered expression.

"What... what just happened to you?"

"What is it?"

Fu Juemin asked calmly.

Shen Yijun frowned. "A moment ago, you weren’t breathing and your body was ice-cold. I couldn’t wake you no matter how loud I shouted. I thought... I thought you’d been struck by some sudden illness... or worse."

Fu Juemin’s eyes shifted, a thought seemingly occurring to him, but his expression remained impassive. "Are you trying to say I was dead?" he asked coldly.

"Haha, just a joke, just a joke! Don’t be angry, Brother Lingjun."

Realizing his slip of the tongue, Shen Yijun quickly laughed it off and changed the subject.

"When you were hunting this Old Turtle, did you happen to see anything fall out of its mouth or its stomach?"

"What sort of thing?"

Fu Juemin frowned slightly and rose from his chair. He looked over and saw that, a short distance away, the large group of men Shen Yijun had brought were busily cutting open the Old Turtle’s belly.

"I’ve never seen one myself, so it’s hard to describe, but..."

Shen Yijun seemed quite anxious. He gestured wildly with his hands for a moment before saying, "Ugh, it’s... a Turtle Treasure!

You know the old saying, ’Cows have bezoars, dogs have bezoars.’

Even domestic animals will develop these things if they live long enough. So for a Demon like this, there’s no way it doesn’t have one..."

...