"Golden Crow Race, Golden Crow..."
The Dragon Turtle stared blankly at Little Fen Yang, dust-covered mories stirring faintly within her mind.
She had wandered alone in the Sea Realm for centuries.
She had already forgotten what the world outside looked like, and even more so, countless faces from long ago.
Little Fen Yang floated out, coming before the Dragon Eye, carefully sizing up the flawless, beautiful creature.
"Guigui, you’re so pretty, even your eyes are sky blue," Little Fen Yang couldn’t help but stretch out her small hand, gently pressing it against the Dragon Eye.
Little Fen Yang was a Demon Soul, and naturally had no physical body.
That phantom little hand would bring no trouble to the other.
It was just that, as the two Demon Souls of dragon and crow made intimate contact, inevitably, both sides could sense each other’s feelings.
As Little Deer had shown, the Dragon Turtle was gentle and kind.
And just as Du Yu had said, her heart was lonely, sorrowful, lost, even desolate.
The Dragon Turtle simply did not show it.
Confronted with seeing Yan Jiang’s silhouette again, and truly hearing word of his death, her sadness made Little Fen Yang’s own heart ache.
Little Fen Yang suddenly pulled her little hand back.
She didn’t want to touch this beautiful porcelain any longer—it hurt too much...
"Guigui... Guigui’s Demon Soul, has it reached the stage of Supre Transformation?" Little Fen Yang asked, as if changing the subject.
The Dragon Turtle had yet to reply, but Du Yu spoke up first:
"Demon Soul Supre Transformation?"
"That’s right!" Little Fen Yang turned to look at Du Yu, her face puzzled. "What’s hard to understand about that?"
Du Yu: "Ah?"
Little Fen Yang suddenly spun around, spreading her little hands wide: "Look at , don’t I look like a person?"
Du Yu: "..."
You look far more like a person than I do!
Little Fen Yang: "So races can reach Supre Level, their Demon Soul can transform~
But it’s only the Demon Soul transforming; our real bodies can’t transform."
Du Yu’s heart stirred: "So, as long as my Demon Pets keep getting stronger, then, all their Demon Souls can eventually transform?"
"That shouldn’t be the case." Little Fen Yang shook her head. "You need to reach the Supre Level."
"Supre?"
"Mhm, Supre is higher than Demon Saint Level," Little Fen Yang explained.
Du Yu felt a bit lost.
Ever since coming to the Demon Taming World, what he’d been taught was that there were seven great levels in the world.
The very peak was "Demon Saint."
He had never heard the words "Supre."
"Xiaoyan, Xiaobai’s species is rather... hmm, a bit..." Little Fen Yang said, her little face scrunched, her expression troubled.
Du Yu guessed, "A bit ordinary?"
Little Fen Yang glanced down at Bai Yujing, muttering,"Speaking from the angle of species, yes.
This world is really unfair.
There are so species, born nobler than others...
And only a very, very small number of Demon Beasts can achieve Demon Soul Transformation."
Saying this, Little Fen Yang’s eyes suddenly lit up: "Oh, right! Maybe Little Tai Sui can?"
Hearing this, Du Yu seed to understand.
From Little Fen Yang’s conclusion, Fire Fox, White Deer, Lynx, and Ghost Firefly all had no chance at Supre Level.
But Dragon Turtle, Golden Crow, and Panda perhaps could reach Supre Level.
Just look at those three species!
Speaking of what Little Fen Yang called "one rank nobler," just the nas alone made it obvious.
"But it’s not certain," Little Fen Yang suddenly recalled sothing, hurrying to comfort him, "We’ve got Demon Fire to help~"
"Uh." Little Fen Yang suddenly covered her little mouth.
By accident, she’d let slip quite a secret.
Behind her, the Dragon Turtle watched Little Fen Yang in silence, a subtle change flickering in her gaze.
Du Yu asked, "So, Supre..."
Little Fen Yang earnestly explained: "Supre ans sharing the sa lifespan as heaven and earth.
Transformation—it’s not the human form that is transford into.
I only let my Demon Soul take on the appearance of a human so you’d accept more easily.
This so-called transformation—it’s the form of all things, the very image of this world itself."
As she spoke, Little Fen Yang’s Demon Soul suddenly transford.
A tiny Dragon Turtle appeared before Du Yu’s eyes.
But, the Dragon Turtle’s eyes were orange-red, rather odd-looking.
Little Fen Yang: "Whether it’s Guigui, or your Human Race, you’re all living beings on this earth.
You, and every species, are included in the concept of ’heaven and earth.’"
As she spoke, Little Fen Yang transford into a small Fire Phoenix Tree.
About what it ans to "share in heaven and earth’s immortality," Du Yu now had a much deeper understanding.
So, the ultimate goal of all cultivation was to grasp the essence of this world.
To know it, understand it, blend into it, and finally beco one with it.
Little Fen Yang said: "Du Yu, you have to work hard!
Simply becoming a Demon Taming Saint only extends the lifespan of the Human Race; it won’t let you live alongside the world forever.
And, your Human Race already has short lifespans. Even a Demon Taming Saint can’t live very long."
Du Yu: "..."
Little Fen Yang changed her tone: "But fortunately, the Human Race, like a rare few Beast Races, possesses superior genetics.
Let’s keep up our cultivation as we are!
Perhaps, you may touch the threshold of Supre in the future~"
Du Yu silently digested the astonishing news, unable to speak for so ti.
As a Great Demon Tar, he’d co into contact with knowledge far beyond his current powers.
Du Yu believed, if he were a Demon Taming General—on the sa level as Master Qing, already able to borrow so of the world’s power—
then he would understand all Little Fen Yang had said much more deeply.
Wait!
So, does that an Master Qing’s life has already been extended?
No longer just a re hundred years?
But even so, how many truly make it to a hundred?
For humans, by sixty or seventy, their hair is already white, and society considers them old.
Little Fen Yang suddenly floated down, coming before Bai Yujing’s face, wrapping her tiny hands around the graceful Deer Head: "Don’t be sad.
After all, we have Demon Fire, and this world still has other rare treasures.
The Supre threshold—I’ll do my best to help you touch it. You’ll be able to stay with that silly Du Yu a long, long ti."
"Nai~" Bai Yujing nodded, rubbing her Deer Head against Little Fen Yang’s tiny hands.
What a pity—Demon Souls are ethereal, so Bai Yujing couldn’t touch Little Fen Yang’s hands.
"And you, Sister Guigui?" Little Fen Yang turned to the Dragon Turtle, floating upward.
The Dragon Turtle slowly shook her head.
Du Yu’s heart tightened; was the Dragon Turtle only at Demon Saint Level—not Supre?
So, the Dragon Turtle only had a long life, but not immortality?
How long had she lived already?
At least six hundred years? Seven or eight hundred was possible too.
Then her life span...
Whenever people ntion turtles, naturally they think of longevity.
But the problem is, she’s not a true turtle!
She’s a Dragon Turtle.
Even now, Du Yu hadn’t seen her shell, only her Dragon Head and Dragon Neck.
With no template to refer to—who could say how long a Dragon Turtle lives?
"Oh." Little Fen Yang seed a bit disappointed. "You can’t reach Supre?"
The Dragon Turtle had existed for so long; since she hadn’t reached Supre yet, odds were it wasn’t her cultivation, but her innate talent at fault.
Little Fen Yang muttered under her breath, "Guess I’m still the most powerful~"
Dragon Turtle: "..."
Suddenly, Du Yu spoke: "From your voice, you sound between twenty-five and thirty—should still be considered young?"
For Du Yu, the only way to judge the age of a being was by their voice.
This insight he had gleaned from the Demonic Plants.
Jia Rong, Shatang—their voices were aged.
Firethorn, Wind Chi—both had youthful voices.
If the heavens gave them such voices at this stage, surely there was a reason!
"Hm?" The Dragon Turtle lowered her gaze to Du Yu, and saw the worry in his eyes.
Du Yu asked with concern, "Is the Dragon Turtle Race exceptionally long-lived? Are you just a youth, able to live a very, very long ti?"
The Dragon Turtle stared at Du Yu in a daze.
She could not rember for how many years she had forgotten the feeling of being cared for.
The dusty mories, ward by Du Yu’s concern, seed to loosen a little within her heart.
...
A youthful voice suddenly rang out: "You are injured."
By the shore, a sky-blue Dragon Turtle slowly lifted her head to look at the young man.
He wore rough linen clothes, carrying a stone axe—he looked every bit a mountain woodcutter.
One dressed like that should be living deep in the mountains, not here by the sea.
"Hiss..."
The woodcutter smiled. "You’re so badly hurt, you really shouldn’t force yourself anymore."
The sky-blue Dragon Turtle was covered in wounds, blood flowing in rivulets, yet she still stubbornly forced herself upright.
The woodcutter looked out at the sea; in the far distance, fish fins bobbed on the surface, like great sails in the wind. "Why are they attacking you together?"
"Thud!"
Her seemingly strong, powerful forelimbs still couldn’t support her enormous body.
She collapsed once more on the beach, a hiss of pain escaping her lips.
But that hiss sounded far more like a wail.
Such exquisite porcelain, almost shattered to pieces.
"Don’t move, careful..." The tiny human youth stepped closer, releasing points of green light from his hands, gently rging them into the Dragon Turtle’s skin.
The bloody wounds slowly began to heal.
At her dragon claws, the Demon Soul rose, enveloping the tiny human: "Why do you help ?"
The woodcutter spoke softly: "I’m soft-hearted—can’t bear to see a living being suffer."
The light in his palm was gentle and warm, flecks of green brimming with lifespring energy, swirling about him like fireflies.
"Humans aren’t friendly."
"But I’m helping you; the big fish are hurting you."
The Dragon Turtle said nothing, lowering her Dragon Head slowly.
On the sea’s surface, the fish fins continued their circling, refusing to leave.
The woodcutter gazed far out to sea, and beneath the flicker of the green glow, the severely wounded Dragon Turtle gradually regained her luster.
"Human, why have you co here?"
"To find a refuge, a ho for my people."
"Humans’ ho is on land."
"Heh." The woodcutter smiled bitterly, eyes full of sorrow. "No longer—there is no ho for us anymore."
The Dragon Turtle was silent, slowly turning her head to stare at the boundless sea.
Perhaps,
there truly was no ho anymore.
The sea breeze brushed over the human and Dragon Turtle, caressing her yet-unhealed body, ruffling his rough linen shirt.
The woodcutter: "Tell , what lies beyond the sea?"
Dragon Turtle: "You cannot cross these waters. You’ll die."
The woodcutter pressed on: "What is at the end of the ocean?"
"The sea has no end—only different territories, each occupied by another race. Those who cross the boundaries die."
The woodcutter’s expression was bleak. Even the Dragon Turtle Race could not breach those boundaries?
Indeed...
What’s outside your boundary is soone else’s ho.
"Human, search in the opposite direction."
"What?"
"Toward the sea, there’s no ho you seek."
The woodcutter stared into the deep blue, the seemingly calm waters still ringed by fins.
Who could know how many more dangers lurked there?
This boundless ocean—who could say where its end was?
After who knows how long, the woodcutter slowly turned, his eyes dazed, gazing to the north.
The direction of the sea holds no ho for .
But I... wasn’t I born of the mountains...
Should I go back?
Go north, even farther into the north?
"I’m leaving now. You should rest a bit longer." The woodcutter slowly pulled back his hand, struggling to compose his tangled feelings, and spoke gently, "Be more careful next ti. Don’t get hurt again."
"Dragon Turtle?"
"Dragon Turtle?" Du Yu called softly, raising his palm and waving it in front of the Dragon Eye.
"Hm?" The Dragon Turtle ca back to herself, looking at the human youth before her.
"What’s wrong? Are you alright?" Seeing the Dragon Turtle’s reaction, Du Yu’s heart sank, filled with worry.
After all, she had lived six or seven hundred years—and since her talent limited her from reaching Supre Level,
that ant her life was finite.
Could it be that her end was near, and that’s why she was so lost after my questions?
"I’m fine." For once, her cool voice had softened a little.
Seeing Du Yu’s worried look, her Dragon Beard twined a bit tighter around his palm.
Once more, a human stranger t for the first ti.
Once more, the sa concern, the sa sincerity, the sa Lord of Mountains and Sea.
Yan Jiang,
After a thousand centuries, it seems, your shadow greets once again...
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