116: Chapter 116 Old Turtle's Fortuitous Encounter

Outside Guangnan City, amidst the desolate mountains and wild ridges.

Twilight gathered, and the mist in the forest grew thick.

The Old Turtle hunched his back, walking unevenly along the bramble-choked mountain path. His cloudy old eyes narrowed slightly, and his Divine Thought spread out in all directions like a fine spiderweb, not letting a single abnormal fluctuation escape.

He had been wandering in this desolate mountain for three whole days.

A few days ago, he suddenly felt his Luck surge, sensing a fluctuation of Spiritual Essence in the dark.

That was Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence.

As a Great Demon King of the Asking Dao Realm who had studied the art of divination for thousands of years, he was all too familiar with this kind of fluctuation.

Spiritual Essence is a sign that a Heaven And Earth Treasure is about to appear.

If it were an ordinary Heaven And Earth Treasure, it would certainly not have triggered a response in a powerhouse of his level.

Anything capable of stirring his heart must be at least a supreme treasure of the ninth grade or higher!

The Old Turtle could not sit still at that moment. He set off overnight, following the guidance of that wisp of Spiritual Essence, and found his way to this desolate mountain.

But upon arriving, he realized things were not that simple.

That wisp of Spiritual Essence was elusive, appearing in the east one moment and the west the next, as if it were deliberately hiding from him.

He had wandered the mountains for three days and simply could not find the trace of the treasure.

"Strange," the Old Turtle muttered to himself, his brows knitting into a ' river' shape. "I have cultivated for over three thousand years. While I wouldn't dare claim my divination skills are unparalleled in the world, I have certainly mastered the basics. Yet, this is the first time I have encountered such a sensation..."

He stopped in his tracks, lifted his head, and looked up at the gray, hazy sky with his cloudy old eyes.

The sky remained gray and hazy, the clouds thick and heavy, not allowing a single ray of moonlight to penetrate.

Yet, the Old Turtle could clearly feel that something had been added to this world.

It was not Spiritual Qi—the Spiritual Qi was indeed denser than before, but that was merely a superficial phenomenon.

The deeper thing was Luck.

The Luck of this world had changed.

Originally, the Southern Region was barren, the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi was thin, and its Luck was withered; it was difficult even for a Saint to be born.

But ever since that Honored One returned from the Secret Realm, the Luck of the entire Southern Region seemed to be stirred by an invisible hand, beginning to climb slowly and firmly.

The Old Turtle had lived for three thousand years and had never seen such a change.

"What exactly... did that Honored One do?"

He shook his head, suppressed these chaotic thoughts, and continued walking deeper into the mountain forest.

Forget it.

The methods of that Honored One were not something he could fathom.

His current task was to find the treasure about to emerge in this mountain and then present it to the Honored One.

That's right, present it to the Honored One.

Although the Old Turtle was a demon, he had lived for three thousand years, so he was certainly not lacking in worldly wisdom.

He knew very well that even just staying by that Honored One's side would give him a chance to become a Saint and an ancestor.

That was a peerless existence at the Quasi-Emperor Realm!

"As long as the Honored One is pleased, whatever he rewards me with will be enough to benefit me for a lifetime," the Old Turtle grinned, a flash of shrewdness appearing in his cloudy old eyes. "Perhaps, I might even be able to seize the Opportunity to Breakthrough to the Demon Saint Realm..."

Thinking of this, his steps became lighter, and his hunched back straightened a little.

Passing through a dense forest, the view suddenly opened up.

This was a hidden valley, surrounded by steep cliffs and dense forest, blocking even the moonlight.

The valley was not large, roughly a hundred feet in circumference. The valley floor was overgrown with waist-high weeds, and a few crooked old trees stood alone, their bark mottled and branches sparse, clearly quite aged.

The Old Turtle stood at the mouth of the valley, narrowed his eyes, and sent out his Divine Thought, scanning every inch of the valley floor.

A moment later, his brows furrowed slightly.

"Something's not right."

He could clearly feel an extremely subtle energy fluctuation in the valley. The fluctuation was so weak it was almost imperceptible, yet it contained a heart-palpitating aura.

Ancient, vicissitudinous, and profound.

It felt as if it came from the primordial era.

"Could it be an ancient ruin?"

The Old Turtle's eyes lit up, and he walked quickly into the valley.

He followed the direction of the fluctuation all the way to the deepest part of the valley.

There, he found a massive blue stone.

The blue stone was about three zhang square, its surface covered in moss. It looked ordinary and unremarkable.

But the moment the Old Turtle's gaze fell upon that blue stone, his pupils contracted sharply!

"This is..."

He walked quickly to the blue stone, crouched down, extended his withered palm, and pressed it against the surface of the stone.

The moment his palm touched the blue stone, a cold aura surged into his body through his fingertips. That aura contained extremely dense Spiritual Qi and a faint trace of Dao rhyme.

"Spirit Stone? No... this isn't an ordinary Spirit Stone!"

The Old Turtle's eyes grew brighter and brighter as his palm traced the surface of the blue stone, searching for cracks or gaps.

Soon, he found it.

At the base of the blue stone, there was a tiny crack, about a finger wide, extending from the bottom of the stone to the ground.

From within the crack, a faint, glimmering spiritual light leaked out, blinking like a breath.

The Old Turtle took a deep breath, hooked his hands around the edge of the blue stone, and his demon power erupted, exerting force suddenly!

"Rise!"

The blue stone was forcibly lifted from the ground by him, flipping over to the side with a boom, smashing a deep pit.

Dust filled the air, and gravel flew everywhere.

The Old Turtle ignored all this, his eyes locked firmly on the spot the blue stone had covered.

There, there was a deep, dark hole.

The hole was about three feet square, dark and profound, with no bottom in sight.

Gushes of dense Spiritual Qi surged out from the hole, carrying the scent of soil and moss, mixed with a faint, musty odor.

The Old Turtle lay at the edge of the hole, narrowed his eyes, and looked down.

The hole was very deep, at least several dozen zhang.

On the walls of the hole, spiritual light faintly flowed; these were traces left behind by some kind of Formation or Restriction.

"There really is something."

The Old Turtle grinned and leaped into the hole.

His figure descended rapidly, and the sound of whistling wind rushed past his ears.

His demon power surged slightly within him, controlling the speed of his descent just right, as light as a feather.

A moment later—

"Thud."

His feet landed on the ground, making a dull sound.

The Old Turtle steadied himself and looked up.

The bottom of the hole was much more spacious than he had imagined, a full ten zhang square. The surrounding cave walls were carved with dense runes. Those runes were mysterious and complex, with a certain pattern faintly flowing within them, radiating an ancient, vicissitudinous aura.

In the very center of the cave floor, there was a stone platform.

The stone platform was about a zhang square, entirely blue-gray, its surface smooth as a mirror, with spiritual light faintly flowing.

Suspended above the stone platform was an object.

It was a token.

The token was about the size of a palm, entirely dark gold. On the front was engraved an archaic character "Yuan", and on the back was a pattern of a strange beast looking up and roaring, its eyes blood-red and fangs menacing—lifelike.

Around the token, the Spiritual Qi was so dense it had almost condensed into a physical substance, forming a layer of faint mist, swirling and lingering like a fairyland.

"This is..."

The Old Turtle's pupils shrank slightly. He walked quickly to the stone platform, reached out, and wanted to take that token.

However—

Just as his fingers were about to touch the token!

"Hum!"

The token suddenly erupted with blinding golden light!

The golden light was as intense as the sun, illuminating the entire cave and stinging the Old Turtle's eyes so he couldn't open them!

A terrifying pressure swept out from the token, like a mountain pressing down, shaking the entire cave violently!

The Old Turtle's face changed drastically. His figure retreated violently, while his demon power surged crazily within him, setting up layer after layer of defense in front of him!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

That pressure broke through the three layers of defense he had set up in succession before it was barely blocked.

The Old Turtle's face was deathly pale, and cold sweat streamed down his forehead.

"What... what level of treasure is this?!"

His voice was trembling.

He was a Great Demon King at the sixth level of the Asking Dao Realm, already a top-tier powerhouse in the Southern Region.

Yet the pressure radiated by this token had almost crushed him!

This was definitely a treasure above the Saint Realm!

The Old Turtle swallowed his saliva, his gaze locked firmly on the token suspended above the stone platform, his eyes filled with shock and greed.