How Much Guile Can Beasts Truly Possess?

The Giant Salamander wailed.

He watched helplessly as that turtle bastard swallowed his Red Carp piece by piece. That would have been one thing, but after finishing the fish, he even beat him up!

Turtle bastard, why were you in this pond too? If you were so good at fighting, couldn't you go to the big lake next door? It was huge—you could swim forever and never reach the other end.

Looking pitiful, the Giant Salamander took advantage of Su He's inattention to steal a Crucian Carp and quietly swallow it.

Su He could not be bothered with him. He curled up at the bottom of the pond without moving.

He was a little too full.

The quality-doubled Red Carp was packed with nourishment, and he was having trouble digesting it. He needed somewhere warm and sheltered from the sun to sleep properly.

If not for the Wolf Pack on shore, he could have found a shallow bank, dug a hole, buried himself inside, and left only his nostrils exposed to breathe. That was how he had spent every hibernation since reincarnating as a turtle two years ago.

Of course, he could also sleep at the bottom of the water like other turtles.

On the very first day after hatching, Su He had discovered that not only could he breathe through his nose and mouth, but he could actually breathe underwater too—though the body part involved was difficult to describe.

His butt!

Or perhaps it was called a cloaca? That should have been the term. Su He's grasp of biology was mediocre, so he was not entirely sure.

The cloaca could not only urinate, but also draw in lake water and absorb the oxygen within it. Still, that kind of breathing was extremely weak, better than nothing at most.

Didn't Know whether all turtles could do it, whether only his species could, or whether he was special because he had transmigrated.

If he chose Deep Sleep, filled himself with air, Reduced to Minimum all bodily activity, and then breathed through his butt, he could sleep quietly at the bottom of the water for six or seven days.

Su He rarely breathed this way. At first, he simply could not get past the psychological hurdle. Later, he had merely grown unaccustomed to it.

But being unaccustomed did not mean he could not do it.

Holding his breath, Su He dug out a cave at the bottom of the pond. Then he swam to the surface, stirred up the Wolf Pack to exchange air, took several deep breaths, sank back down, burrowed into the cave, and slowly closed his eyes.

Before long, everything fell silent, and he drifted into a deep sleep.

This pond was not large, only around two mu. There were no natural enemies in the water, and the Wolf Pack stood guard outside, so he did not have to fear other predators arriving. Su He could sleep peacefully.

But this sleep was far from restful. His entire body itched unbearably. Su He kept dreaming that someone had caught him and put him in a clay pot to stew. Boiling water churned, waves licking his shell with scalding pain.

After the burning came wave after wave of itching. He wanted nothing more than to peel off his shell and scratch himself to his heart's content.

As pain and itching took turns tormenting Su He, the days passed one by one, and the Wolf Pack on shore grew increasingly restless.

The Wolf Pack's patience was not normally so poor, but the scent of the Demon Transformation Fruit pervading the pond had faded as Su He slept!

A turtle's breathing became extraordinarily faint once it fell into Deep Sleep.

The Wolf King began to grow violent. He had already beaten three or four other wolves, and even forced the Wolf Pack into the water more than a dozen times each day to search back and forth.

The Wolf Pack was angry, but none dared speak.

Worse still, no fish carcasses had floated to the surface these past few days. The Wolf Pack had nothing left to scavenge and needed to hunt, but the Wolf King had been unable to organize a single effective hunt.

He did not dare stray far from the pond, only directing them from the nearby Mountain Ridge. The Wolf Pack's hunting success plummeted.

The wolves were going hungry.

A Deer Herd ran by, occasionally Glancing at the Wolf Pack. The lush Water Grass areas they had once dared not enter could now be freely traversed, while the Wolf Pack was suppressed by the Wolf King and forbidden from leaving the pond.

These places thick with Green Grass had become paradise for the Deer Herd.

Not far away, a Watersnake had just Swallowed a Frog when a Goshawk swooped down from the sky, seized it, and carried it aloft.

A faint scent of blood Pervaded the air.

Hunters were prey too. No one could guarantee they would live to see the next moment.

The calm and peaceful days passed one by one.

At the bottom of the pond, Su He felt that This Time he was truly Doomed. All he could feel was boiling water around him, his shell being peeled away layer by layer. He was probably being cooked, his whole body sinking toward the bottom of the pot.

Down...

Down...

Su He jolted awake and looked around. He was still in the pond. But the cave where he had hidden had collapsed—it had been crushed apart by him! Judging by the remaining air in his lungs, he had only slept for five or six days.

But Su He had grown from the size of a plate to the size of a washbasin. The cave he had dug before could no longer contain him and had burst apart. His heavier body had sunk into the mud. No wonder he had kept sinking to the bottom of the pot in his dream.

Shed fragments of turtle shell covered the area around him.

Turtles shed their shells too, but not like crabs, which slipped out of their entire shells in one go and grew new ones. Turtles shed theirs piece by piece, layer by layer.

They probably shed twice a year.

They gradually grew larger while shedding, a slow and progressive process.

But during this five- or six-day Deep Sleep, he had shed more than one layer of shell. Moreover, the color of the shed shell had changed. His formerly Dull Gray ordinary turtle shell had begun to deepen in color.

It was showing signs of turning black.

That was a good thing. Buried in the mud, he would be even better concealed.

Su He cautiously poked his head out, confirmed there was no danger, then gently paddled the water and slowly swam toward the surface.

After only a few days, lotus leaves had already covered more than half the pond's surface. The leaves had Not Yet reached their full size; in another five or six days, their greenery would blanket the entire pond.

Then they would be ready to bloom. Su He was waiting for the Lotus Flower to flourish. He had an appointment to keep.

His front claws gently paddled, his hind feet treaded water, and Su He raised his head above the surface to observe his surroundings.

The Wolf King was pinning down two wolves and beating them savagely. Only three wolves were still patrolling the pond, while the rest gathered around the Wolf King, Baring Teeth and growling threats.

Didn't Know whether they were threatening the Wolf King or cheering him on while threatening the beaten wolves.

But Su He vaguely sensed that this Wolf Pack no longer respected the Wolf King as much as before! In just five or six days, the Wolf King's authority was gone! Hello, Wolf King!

Goodbye, Wolf King!

The Wolf King's attention was drawn away by something else. By the time Su He had finished exchanging air and sunk back to the bottom, he finally reacted. Hastily abandoning the two wolves being beaten, he dove headfirst into the pond.

The center of the pond was roughly two zhang deep, and lotus leaves blocked the view above. Once Su He dived to the bottom, he was absolutely safe.

The Giant Salamander was swimming about happily underwater. After several days apart, he had become much livelier.

Su He decided to help reinforce his memory. So he beat him up, and took two large shrimp while he was at it.

Dice Fell: three points.

Shrimp ×8. Two had become eight. This time, it was not tripled, but cubed.

But he was still a Non-Chief! Su He wanted to improve the quality of the large shrimp.

He casually pushed the shrimp toward the Giant Salamander and watched him go blank before devouring them like a starving tiger.

What a pity the dice had a virgin complex. Once something had its points rolled, even if it was snatched back, it could not be rolled again. Otherwise, he could have repeated the cycle endlessly.

At the surface, the Wolf King returned to shore resentfully. Gazing At the calm pond surface, his eyes grew humanly profound. After looking for a while, he turned and ran deep into the forest, turning a deaf ear to the barking Wild Wolves Behind Him.

About two or three hours later, the Wolf King returned with a small beast the size of a cat, something like a rat clenched in his jaws. With a swing of his head, he tossed it into the pond. The creature had long been terrified out of its wits by the Wolf King. With a slap of its tail, it shot into the pond and hid far away from him.

An Otter?

Su He was startled, then flew into a rage.

You bastard, an otter!!

Since when had a wolf learned to use tools?!

Otters were absolutely the natural enemies of turtles! Their reactions were sharp and their speed Extremely Fast; hunting turtles larger than themselves was Not to the point of difficult.

Small turtles had their shells smashed. Large turtles had their flesh dug out through their limbs.

Hiding inside the shell was useless! Son of a Dog! Curse your ancestors! You were playing dirty! This otter was about the same size as Su He.

Danger! Su He slashed forward with all four limbs and rushed toward the surface. While the otter had just escaped the wolf's jaws and was still panicked and disoriented, he bit down on the Back of the Neck and gave a fierce yank downward, dragging it toward the bottom of the pond.

An otter could only hold its breath for five or six minutes, while Su He could hold his for seven days. This was his The Only advantage.

Having just escaped a wolf's mouth only to be suddenly Attacked, the otter was scared out of its wits. Its body twisted like a fried dough twist as it pulled at its own skin to look behind it, struggling as it paddled and kicked.

It did not relax in the slightest just because a turtle had bitten it. With its Back of the Neck clamped tight, it could not exert any strength at all! The otter desperately tugged its fur, its front claws scratching at Su He's head while its Hind Claw kicked at Su He's shell like a cat, trying to kick him away in one blow—or tear open his shell outright.

Su He let it struggle. Even when the otter's claws tore open his right hind leg, he did not notice. Determined, he clenched his jaws around its neck and forced it to the bottom. He immediately flipped over and rode atop it, pinning it down tightly, his claws hooked into the Water Grass on the pond floor without loosening for a moment.