You Evolved in Secret Without Taking Me Along

Language was the manifestation of intelligence. Clear speech meant the Green Snake's intelligence had fully awakened.

Su He stared at her in astonishment.

We ate the same tiger meat, and I even ate the tiger heart. Why had she evolved more than I had? No matter how great the improvement to one's physique, it could not compare to the awakening of intelligence. This was a leap in quality.

"Roar~"

Su He gave a weak cry. Congratulations! You evolved without taking me along. You can already speak human words, while I'm still roaring like a beast. At least after waking up this time, my voice is no longer all soft and babyish. It's become rough and bold, worthy of my dark complexion.

"Hm?" The Green Snake raised her head. Her lazy air instantly stirred, and her entire body seemed to come alive. "You still can't talk?"

Su He blinked. What are you so excited about?

The corners of the Green Snake's mouth split into a grin. Having awakened her intelligence, she had even learned how to smile.

All along, she had considered herself no match for Su He—not merely because of evolution, but because the difference in their species' instincts was simply too great.

She had no venom, her python constriction did nothing to Su He, and neither mist-spitting, Water Arrows, nor stirring wind and making waves could do anything to this turtle. This turtle bastard was just like something Heaven had sent down specifically to punish her.

A Heavenly Restraint!

Although they were friends now, still... your Demon Transformation progress is behind mine. That's wonderful!

The Green Snake slapped her tail against the ground and flicked her snake tongue with a rustling hiss, nearly laughing aloud. But as she laughed, she saw Su He's gritted teeth and felt a little guilty. Curling herself up, she asked, "Didn't your inheritance teach you how to speak?"

Inspiring Intelligence, Refining the Hyoid Bone, and speaking human words—weren't those the basics of Demonic Race cultivation? No matter what, a turtle that had evolved this far should have learned to talk.

Su He lifted his head and gazed at the rain-veiled night.

The Demon Transformation Fruit I ate was fake. It had no inheritance!

Seeing Su He's disappointment, the Green Snake swayed her tail and slithered over, coiling herself atop his shell. "I'll teach you!"

Su He's eyes lit up.

The Green Snake asked softly, "Can you look inward?"

Su He nodded.

The Green Snake coiled herself up and recalled the inheritance from her dream. "For humans, the first realm of cultivation, the Mortal Shedding Realm, is divided into seven steps: Heart Aperture, Divine Treasure, True Blood, Intent Aperture, Bone Sacrifice, Spirit Enlightenment, and Origin Gathering. Let's not talk about the rest—only the first two. Heart Aperture and Divine Treasure."

"When the body is tempered to its utmost limit, immense qi and blood are used to blast open the Heart Aperture. That is the first step beyond ordinary mortals. Then the Heart Aperture is nurtured, and a Divine Treasure is condensed within it: Blades, Spears, Swords, Halberds; wind, fire, lightning, and thunder; countless varieties."

"Different people cultivate different Cultivation Methods, so the Heart Aperture Divine Treasures they condense are different as well. Once a Heart Aperture Divine Treasure is formed, the cultivator gains supernatural abilities—spitting water with an open mouth, wielding lightning in the palm... and can cultivate Dao arts."

"Though the Demonic Race and humans are not entirely alike, they are similar."

The Green Snake slithered down from Su He's back and coiled herself around a withered willow tree. Like a female master stepping onto a lectern, her mature, alluring voice drifted over. "From the moment beasts swallow a Demon Transformation Fruit, they unconsciously begin consuming enormous amounts of food and evolving, until they break through their own limits. Just like how I grew from a Little Green Snake into a giant python, while you grew from a little turtle into..."

She used her tail tip to gesture out a huge shape.

"When we break through our limits, our Heart Apertures have already opened. We are merely muddleheaded and unaware of it. Once the Demon Transformation Fruit is completely digested, an illusory human figure forms within the Heart Aperture. That human figure is a demon's Heart Aperture Divine Treasure."

"Therefore, the Heart Aperture Divine Treasures of all Demonic Races are the same: they are all Human Figures. The Demon Arts and divine abilities demons wield have nothing to do with their Heart Aperture Divine Treasures; they are tied to the species of the demon itself. For instance, my mist-spitting and stirring wind and making waves, or your water control."

Her tail tip pointed at the stream of water unconsciously gathering beneath Su He's four claws.

"The human figure in the Heart Aperture is the essence of the Demon Transformation Fruit and the foundation for beasts to Transform into Human. Demonic Race cultivation must first solidify the human figure, pass the Thunder Tribulation, and only then can one cultivate a human body. If you want to speak, you must first condense the human figure in your Heart Aperture into a tangible Twelve-Storied Tower and project it onto your true body. Then you will naturally be able to speak human words."

"???"

Three question marks popped up over Su He's head.

He closed his eyes and looked inward, his gaze rushing all the way to his heart. Sure enough, his Heart Aperture was open, like a mist-shrouded space—vague and ethereal, wondrous beyond measure.

At the center of the Heart Aperture was a divine turtle, black as ink.

There was no human and no inheritance, only a huge turtle.

And it was no proper turtle either. With a dragon's head and dragon's tail, it lacked all the caution of ordinary turtles, radiating domineering majesty and a ferocious, terrifying air.

One look told him it was a brute that only knew how to charge headfirst.

Where's my human figure?! Su He felt terrible all over.

He did not know how he had left Snake Valley. He did not dare look at the Green Snake's sympathetic eyes. He had seen the divine turtle in his Heart Aperture in a dream, then forgotten it upon waking; only when he looked inward did he suddenly remember.

The human is gone. What am I supposed to do about my human body? How am I supposed to Transform into Human?

Su He crawled out of Snake Valley step by step. Behind him, the Green Snake absentmindedly flicked her snake tongue. She wanted her friend to be worse than herself, but she did not want her friend to fall into the dust.

The better her friend was, the better—so long as he was always inferior to her.

She did not know what to do about a turtle having a turtle in its Heart Aperture either. There was nothing like it in her inherited memories.

Su He returned to Crocodile Beach in confusion, only to find a crocodile in the crocodile pack challenging the entire group alone.

This crocodile could barely be called a giant crocodile. At two and a half zhang, nearly three zhang long, it had almost caught up to the former Green Giant Crocodile.

Su He had been gone for over a month, and this pack of crocodiles had rebelled.

What was more, crocodiles like this large one envied Su He's life of reaping without sowing. It wanted the other crocodiles to provide for it too, imitating Su He as it tried to fight its way through the crocodile pack.

This time, it was being pinned beneath the water and beaten half to death by four crocodiles working together.

"King!"

"Boss!"

"The fiercest!"

The crocodiles cried out when they saw Su He. Though his body had changed, his kingly aura remained unmistakable. Their king had returned.

The large crocodile burst from the water and roared.

It roughly meant that the other crocodiles had already acknowledged it as king, so they should stop. It had heard the crocodile pack's cries.

But before its roar was even finished, Su He pressed it beneath the water with one claw. It struggled out with an angry bellow and met Su He's gaze.

The king was even bigger now.

He could probably bite a crocodile to death in one easy bite now, right?

It quietly ducked its head back underwater, caught a fish, and placed it before Su He. Then, flicking its tail, it slipped silently back into the crocodile pack and never again mentioned fighting through the pack to vie for the throne.

"Roar~" Su He gave a low cry, informing the crocodile pack that the king was hungry and needed food! The crocodiles scattered to hunt, while Su He lay in the water and began carefully examining the evolution brought about by this deep sleep.

As for the turtle in his Heart Aperture—since he could not solve the problem, he would not trap himself in it and become unable to break free. That was the wisdom Su He had gained from two years of turtle life.

If there was trouble he could not solve, then he would avoid it.

This was a world of cultivation. As long as one's cultivation was sufficient, there was nothing that could not be solved.

If it could not be solved, then his cultivation was simply not enough!

If he could not Transform into Human this time, then he would just seize another Demon Transformation Fruit sixty years later. At worst, he would stop eating fruits that improved quality and eat only the most ordinary transparent fruit.

It was only sixty years. Was he afraid a turtle would not live that long? If one sixty-year cycle was not enough, then two. If one fruit was not enough, he would eat several. Sooner or later, he would Transform into Human!

If that truly did not work—then he would honestly remain a turtle.

Having already been a turtle for two years, Su He had more or less gotten used to it.

Fine rain blurred the air as clear, cold lake water flowed through his nasal cavity into his chest and lungs, leaving behind oxygen before being breathed out again.

Su He could breathe underwater now.