Chapter 2455 — The Heaven-Rank Soft-Shelled Turtle

"A Heaven-Rank spirit beast..." Wei Zhao cursed inwardly. Kang Jinglong's luck was simply outrageous—he had caught one little turtle and somehow drawn out a Heaven-Rank old turtle in the bargain!

The giant soft-shelled turtle froze, seemingly taken aback that the people in the cave had actually recognized it as a spirit beast—and a Heaven-Rank one at that! Its earlier speech had been meant only to frighten the cruel humans inside the cave before it finished them off.

But to its surprise, there appeared to be cultivators in this cave! Only a cultivator could have recognized it as a Heaven-Rank spirit beast.

"Since you know I am a Heaven-Rank spirit beast, then you who crippled my child—do not dream of living!" the giant turtle roared in fury. "Come out and meet your death!"

Kang Jinglong was by now scared witless. He had never imagined that catching one little soft-shelled turtle would draw out a giant one—though that, of course, was not the main problem. The main problem was that this giant turtle could actually talk!

"Heaven-Rank soft-shelled turtle, the one who crippled your child is him—the very man you just swatted away. It has nothing to do with us. Every grievance has its debtor; do not come looking for us," Wei Zhao said, glancing at the Heaven-Rank turtle with a faint headache.

Who would have thought one could run into a Heaven-Rank spirit beast here of all places! There was no telling how many years this beast had cultivated in this spot. Still, it was hardly surprising—though this place had been developed into a tourist scenic area, the two mountains were connected by a cable-car line, and no one ever came down into this valley. It was utterly deserted. No one could have imagined that such a soft-shelled turtle spirit beast was hiding at the bottom of this lake.

"Wei Zhao, you're despicable—selling me out!" Kang Jinglong's expression changed. He had never expected Wei Zhao to say such a thing.

"You were the one who caught that little turtle in the first place. What does it have to do with us?" Wei Zhao shot back.

"I..." Kang Jinglong's face turned exceedingly ugly. He did not know what to say.

"ROAR! I don't care—you all must die!" The giant turtle clearly had no interest in hearing Wei Zhao's explanation. "You are all in it together! You watched him maim my child and did nothing to stop him, so every one of you must die!"

"Haha!" Hearing the giant turtle's words and seeing the speechless poker face Wei Zhao was wearing, Kang Jinglong burst out laughing in sheer schadenfreude.

"Fool," Wei Zhao said, glancing at Kang Jinglong. "If I die, do you think you'll live?"

"Gah!" Kang Jinglong's laughter cut off mid-sound. Only then did it dawn on him—right, if Wei Zhao died, wouldn't he die just the same?

"Come out and meet your death!" the giant turtle said impatiently.

"Not coming out. Do you take us for idiots—come out and get killed?" Kang Jinglong snorted.

"Not coming out? Fine, then I'll block up the cave mouth and see whether you die or not!" the giant turtle roared. It extended its claws and began pounding relentlessly at the rock wall around the cave entrance. Instantly a tremendous rumbling arose, and chunks of stone the size of rubber balls came clattering down. At this rate, the cave mouth would surely be demolished by the giant turtle—and even if it could not get in, it would still suffocate Wei Zhao and the others inside.

This giant turtle was clearly not an attack-type spirit beast; it was probably a defense-type or some other type. Though its full-force blows could knock down a good deal of rubble, a beating of that magnitude was something even a Yellow-Rank expert could manage.

Add to that the fact that the giant turtle's earlier swipe had failed to kill Kang Jinglong, and the point was plain enough.

One could argue that the giant turtle had simply been frantic to save its child and so had not finished Kang Jinglong off directly—but judging by the look of him, Kang Jinglong did not seem to have suffered any grave injury. Clearly it was because the giant turtle's strength was not great!

That, at least, let Wei Zhao breathe a little easier. What he had feared was the giant turtle saying nothing at all and simply charging into the cave to kill the three of them.

"The trouble you've caused!" Wei Zhao glared at Kang Jinglong in exasperation.

"Wei Zhao, don't blame me either—if you don't think of something, we're all going to die!" Kang Jinglong had no choice but to pin all his hopes on Wei Zhao.

"..." Wei Zhao was speechless. In the end, he could only say helplessly to the giant turtle, "Stop for a moment! I can save your child!"

"You? Save my child?" The giant turtle's movements faltered slightly, but it immediately snorted coldly. "How could that be? My child is gravely injured—it has not yet advanced to Yellow Rank, and even I have no way to heal a wound this severe. Do not try to deceive me!"

"If you want your child to die, then keep blathering!" Wei Zhao said.

"You... you can really save my child?" the giant turtle asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Whether I can or not, won't we find out if we try?" Wei Zhao shrugged. "I can come out now and treat your child. If I heal it, then you let us go. If I fail, then kill me. How about that?"

"...Agreed!" The giant turtle hesitated. Though Wei Zhao's terms were somewhat unfair—the little turtle had been crippled by their people, so treating it was only their duty, and it still had every right to punish Wei Zhao and the others afterward—matters had come to this point. Since the giant turtle could not heal the little one itself, it had no choice but to place its hopes on Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao had no wish to stand up for Kang Jinglong, but the giant turtle had lumped them all together as one gang. Saving Kang Jinglong now meant saving himself, so he could not afford to worry about such things any longer. He lifted his foot and strode toward the cave entrance...

Wang Xinyan's heart lurched. Fearing the giant turtle might not keep its word, she instinctively wanted to call Wei Zhao back—but then she reflected: once Wei Zhao had made up his mind, how could she ever stop him? And besides, if Wei Zhao did not go out now, what else was there to do? Did anyone really believe the giant turtle would simply let them go?

Wang Xinyan glanced at Kang Jinglong with a touch of scorn. Coward—he stirred up trouble and then had not the spine to face it.

Wei Zhao walked slowly out of the cave. The giant turtle did not strike at him; instead it set the little turtle down and asked coldly, "Well? Will you not hurry up and treat it?"

Wei Zhao nodded, sat cross-legged on the ground, and gathered the little turtle into his arms. Circulating the second layer of the Xuan yuan Dragon-Taming Art, he began to heal the little turtle! The reason Wei Zhao had dared come out was not recklessness—he had more or less gauged the giant turtle's strength, and even if it wanted to kill him, it would not find that easy.

"A cultivator at the peak of the mid-Earth Rank?" The giant turtle discerned Wei Zhao's strength the moment he began circulating his art, and could not help being somewhat surprised. Spirit beasts were rare, to be sure, but human cultivators were hardly plentiful either!

The giant turtle had lived more than a thousand years and was broad in experience. It was normal enough, it knew, for some wealthy men to keep a few Yellow-Rank guards about them, and some underworld bosses or bandit chieftains might likewise be Yellow-Rank experts—but even those were few and far between. Those above Mystic Rank were rarely seen, existing only at the level of the hidden great clans, and Earth Rank was rarer still! RQ