Chapter 39 - The River Lion Turtle (2)

"So much death," Lin muttered as he felt several spirit energy sources disappear in the village while watching from atop the hill with Qing and Shen Hua. He could not bring himself to be a part of the slaughter, but he still witnessed its horrors. He didn't know who was in the wrong or right now.

"Your sister draws near, incredibly fast," Shen Hua said, disturbing his thoughts.

"She's on the back of a giant owl," Qing said, and the trio looked to the sky, seeing Mei approach them on her owl.

"Mei! You're back. What's wrong?" Lin asked as the owl landed, Mei getting off and walking toward them.

"All the bandit villagers are dead. We were too late to save the caravan and the guards. As Yang suspected, they were all killed. That is no village of innocents," Mei answered. "Qing and Shen Hua, Yang needs your help to fight the River Lion Turtle. He confirmed the tree's true form. I need to get Sun Yi and Lu Jing."

"What about me?" Lin asked.

"Yang did not call for you," Mei said.

"I have no qualms about fighting a magical beast!" Lin cried. "I'm not that innocent! I have killed magical beasts— not wild ones, but I have killed them."

"It's true; Yang gives you little credit. However, this is an ancient magical beast. Its power is comparable to an initial Meteor Vessel practitioner, but it is like fighting multiple practitioners due to its eighteen branches. Yang does not want to risk you," Mei said.

"And he will risk us?" Qing frowned.

"He could always leave His Highness for dead, kill you two, and manipulate Guan Hai. It is my belief that Yang has some kind of playing card against Guan Hai. I doubt he even knows what secret Yang has," Mei shrugged. "In the end, you two must help. Lin, you can come, but don't bring out the manticore. My owl will also be sent back to the Spirit Realm. We cannot risk the loss of our magical beast. We can only have three in our lifetime."

"I'll take us there on my manticore," Lin said, his manticore appearing as a gold formation appeared above him and on his forehead. "I will fight alongside my brother. It is the job of the elder to protect the younger."

"And he is older than most of our clan's ancestors," Mei thought silently but said nothing as she nodded and got on her owl to get Sun Yi and Lu Jing.

Back in the village, Yang barely arrived in time to see eighteen glowing branches stab at Red Death and Shen Dong furiously as Shen Dong sent lightning into the river by channeling his spirit energy through his great sword and into the water. Yang closed his eyes and used his Moon Slicer Art to send dozens of water crescent moon blades at the branches.

The branches were barely scratched by the blades, the wood repairing itself quickly. There was no such thing as the wood element for humans, but there was for magical beasts. The one human exception was Guo Lin; if he could learn to fuse earth and water to make wood. The branches seemed to have an intelligence of their own, nine of them changing direction to stab at him.

Yang used his Soaring Volt Dragon Arts to strike at the base of the tree at incredibly high speeds, blue lightning crackling around his body. However, the tree merely shuddered, and he only stabbed his spear an inch into it. Yang coughed blood as three tree branches pierced his back. Desperate, he used his Viper's Dominance Art to blast them all away. The three branches were blown out of his body, and Yang turned invisible through his Mirror Mirage Art. He retreated as he assessed the tree and the branches.

The branches were not intelligent, attacking whatever the base of the tree targeted. River Lion Turtles had a figurative third eye. That fake third eye was the lone tree on its back. It could only form one tree, but it was ten times stronger than any other tree and could actually be used as a weapon. The tree on the back of lion turtles represented their life force. No tree, no life. That's what made the River Lion Turtle vulnerable and invincible. It had to keep its gills wet or die, but its tree was hundreds of times stronger and more durable.

Yang disliked River Lion Turtles, as they were a scavenger race, not at all like a hermit like the other lion turtles. This one was exceptionally powerful, despite its weak cultivation, due to the artifact it had in its possession. Still, his aim was the branches. He would kill it regardless.

The nine branches stabbed at him, aiming for different parts of his body. He could not damage the tree, so he could only attack the main body. Yang dodged the branches and jumped atop one to propel himself forward. He tossed his spear at the tree; three branches quickly coiled around it to block the spear. He yelled as he focused all his spirit energy into his hands as he landed by the river.

"Frost Snake Prison Art!" Yang roared, submerging both hands into the river. Ice began to spread and slowly formed an orb of ice beneath the small land where the tree rested in the middle of the river. Yang heard a roar and was blasted back, the ice sphere cracking as it completed forming. Yang coughed as he shook his head.

The tree branches all rose into the air, stabbing downward at Shen Dong at fast speeds. Yang ran to the tree and used his Coiling Spirit Drain Art, elated as he drained vast amounts of spirit energy at high speeds. The tree branches stopped abruptly, barely touching the scales and skin of Red Death and Shen Dong. Yang stopped his practitioner art as the branches stabbed at him. He waited until the last second to use his Snake Specter Art and teleported fifteen yards above where he stood, the tree branches accidentally stabbing the trunk of the tree.

Yang retrieved his Moon Lotus Spear and aimed at the point of contact where the branches pierced the tree. Green spirit energy swirled around him and his spear, making the very air appear to cry out in anguish. The green spirit energy began to condense at the spearhead as green acid poison seemed to drip from the weapon.

"Jade Poison Desolation Spear Art!" Yang roared, throwing the spear at the multiple tiny holes in the tree trunk as the branches removed themselves. The land beneath the tree quaked as the River Lion Turtle finally got out of the water. Lightning from Shen Dong's great sword was seen blasting it as the tree on its shell began to turn white from the poison. Yang quickly severed three branches from the tree, storing them into his storage ring.

"I will not die!" the magical beast roared, stunning Yang.

"You can talk in human tongue?" Yang gasped and saw a black glass orb beneath its body as it rose from the river. It was definitely an ancient relic, as it contained its own spirit energy.

"How dare you fight me and kill my minions?" the lion turtle roared. "Who do you think you are?"

Yang scrutinized the River Lion Turtle. It had many breaks in its skin and several burn marks along the right side of its body. Occasionally, he could see a black and purple vein pulse from its body. It was definitely weakened, and its branches could no longer be used.

"Why did you do all this? Why ally yourself with bandits, those human scum?" Yang asked, watching the lightning and two different poisons spread across its body.

"I am wisdom. I am power! I made the bandits great, draining the spirit energy from the blood of their victims and enemies. For three hundred years, I persisted and am at the peak of the Element Adept Stage. I already have the power of a human practitioner of the Meteor Vessel Stage, but now you have weakened me so! I will devour your corpse and your soul!" the magical beast screamed.

"You are weak and pathetic. Look at yourself; you're not even bound to a human. Yet, you rely on them so. So old, yet your cultivation is too weak. That ancient relic must be the reason you still have such a body vibrant with vitality. Your branches were far more lethal than most others. Yet, you are not wise. A real lion turtle would have granted their branches intelligence. You were afraid and only let your trunk develop intelligence. You were afraid that your mind would succumb to their power and lose control of your body," Yang spat.

The River Lion Turtle coughed blood, glaring at him, and laughed, saying, "You think you defeated me? I am not the master of this village. It is inside me! It is inside me!"

"I know. This was the bandit village I was looking for," Yang said, staring at its stomach. "You bastard, why the fuck aren't you killing that weak shit? Come out and face me!"

The River Lion Turtle's eyes widened with despair and let out a regretful howl before its stomach exploded, dying at that very moment. A rainbow-colored snake came out and expanded to a five-hundred-foot long, twenty-foot-thick serpent.

"It appears the message was true: the World Serpent lives," the snake hissed in the serpent's tongue. "You've come for my neidan. My snake breed is famous for making it at the Spirit Forming Stage at such a weak cultivation."

"Of course. Nine neidan form a perfect core for cultivation. Especially since humans can see into their own Spirit Realm, I gain more power with each neidan. You weak thing, you manipulated a River Lion Turtle? How low have your breed fallen?" Yang said, the snake looking down with disgrace.

"I could not cultivate further. I needed

the blood of those with spirit energy and the humans' many magical treasures. I broke into the Element Adept Stage, but I needed the River Lion Turtle to break into the Meteor Vessel Stage so I could breakthrough by devouring its magical beast core. Alas, to think the World Serpent would personally ruin my plans," the snake hissed. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Yes. I aim to stand at the peak of the world once more. My heart was not ready before. Now, I am ready to embrace immortality. I have two forms now. I have no worry of being hunted for my magical beast core as I have none," Yang said, reaching his hand toward the snake. "Don't worry. The poison of my spear should have already entered your body. You'll die at the hands of snake practitioner arts made human."

"Sovereign," the snake rasped and fell onto the ground, its body disintegrating from the poison to reveal a tiny rainbow marble. Yang picked it up and placed it against his chest. The jade neidan in his Spirit Realm shined, and the rainbow neidan entered his Spirit Realm.

Slowly, the two neidan revolved around each other. Due to a second neidan, his Spirit Realm doubled, and he was able to absorb more spirit energy from around himself, no longer needing to meditate to cultivate spirit energy. He sighed with relief as he stored his spear in his storage ring. Red Death slithered into the river and deposited four things from its mouth as it returned to him shortly afterward.

"You're late," Yang said as he heard three different sets of footsteps behind himself.

"You knew I would come?" Lin asked, surprised.

"You also have an inferiority complex. I expected as much. Like I said, those four things are of no concern for me. Three of them contain the eggs of the River Lion Turtle, the last being an ancient relic."

"So that will be mine?" Shen Dong asked as the eight of them gathered together after ten minutes.

"It will help you as you need victory in the coming tournament," Yang said. "As for those three eggs, sell them. That breed of lion turtle is weak unless you live in an island nation or a village by the water. Without water, it will die."

"Any idea what the relic is?" Shen Dong asked, showing it to him.

"Do I look like I know? Just because I am cunning and know much about practitioner techniques and magical beasts does not mean I know everything. I have as much exposure to magical items as a child. I don't use any after all. Neither do Guo Lin or Guo Mei. Our clan is not that rich," Yang shrugged.

"Now that you mention it, Lin and I do only use our swords we got from the Awakening Ritual," Mei nodded in agreement. "However, I fail to see how an orb is useful for combat. I don't want it either."

"It seems the battle is ours," Guan Hai said as he appeared beside them. Quite a few of those bandits were at the Element Adept Stage. However, I found no magical treasures on them. It is very suspicious. I also checked their hideouts. I found nothing there."

"They were broken down to be used for cultivation. A magical beast's breakthrough to the next realm of cultivation is much more difficult than it is for humans. The two magical beasts, a River Lion Turtle and a Rainbow Blood Snake, drained the magical treasures of all the spirit energy. Thus, they were destroyed. However, these two lacked so much talent, it almost makes me want to cry out of disgust. Almost," Yang sighed.

"Magical beasts can do that?" Shen Hua asked.

"Well, they are not human and cannot use most magical treasures," Yang shrugged. "Most keep them just to absorb spirit energy, the same way humans collect magical beast cores to absorb spirit energy. You guys go on ahead and try to see if there are any treasures and food we can salvage from the buildings. I'll need to rest to recover my strength."

"Right, I'll also scout ahead to see if there are any bandits I missed," Guan Hai said, speeding into the air.

"It would seem this was a success," Sun Yi said as he stayed behind to guard Yang while he recovered.

"Yes, but I underestimated the magical beast. I had no idea it was a River Lion Turtle. It took a while to discover that the snake was inside the magical beast. I forgot the compression ability of certain snake magical beasts, like Red Death. It appears I need to reassess my plans so as to not overlook obvious details that would otherwise be considered insignificant," Yang said. "Any other bandit locations we should concern ourselves with?"

"No, but there is a town with suspicious activity. We should reach it in about a week," Sun Yi answered.

"Oh? What seems to be worthy of note?" Yang inquired.

"People are disappearing and many foreigners have appeared in the area. Also, it seems the dead are walking there. It is my belief that a necromancer has taken residence there, working with the mayor of the town. The necromancer gets his sacrifices, and the mayor gets the money. I also read reports of demons in the area," Sun Yi answered.

"If it is a necromancer, he might be making a magical weapon of extreme evil, actually creating a magical item that would radiate death energy. That metal could be used for my spear. Either a metal or a crystal," Yang grinned. "Is it on the way?"

"No. We have to go under the mountain. It is actually an underground city. Several tunnels contain magical beasts there. It is a shortcut to the capital, but deemed too dangerous by the Adventurer's Guild," Sun Yi answered and took out a yellow talisman. "I also communicate with my agents using this magical treasure. This is how I receive their reports, either written or verbal."

"What's the route we are supposed to take?" Yang asked.

"We're to take the mountain trail that goes a little way to the south before we continue proceeding west. The mountain trail is steep, and there is a series of bridges we need to cross. No magical beasts are there, so it is relatively safe," Sun Yi answered.

"We cannot collapse the bridges, so contact your agents. Tell them to attract magical beasts along the path. Kill some of the travelers and merchants, letting some live so as to spread the tale of terror. Because we travel with three members of royalty, Guan Hai is sure to change the route to the shortcut through the underground city to ensure their safety," Yang ordered.

"Understood. It will be done," Sun Yi bowed and proceeded to instruct his agents while Yang meditated to recover his spent spirit energy and heal the various internal wounds and bruises.