Back in Snake Valley, he had not noticed it. Only after returning to Crocodile Beach and sinking to the bottom did he realize that he could breathe normally underwater now—not through his cloaca, but through his lungs.
Though it was not as smooth and full as breathing air, once he adjusted, the oxygen he inhaled from the water was more than enough to sustain him.
Even strenuous activity posed no problem.
He was faster too, because scales had grown over his limbs. They were not the densely packed scales of a fish, but full and sharp like those of a qilin or dragon.
Not only were they astonishingly defensive, they rang like armor when struck. These scales seemed to possess an innate ability to control water. Combined with Su He's Water Manipulation Divine Power, they complemented each other perfectly. At a thought from Su He, currents coiled around his body, sending him through the water like an arrow.
He could even control water away from his body. Like throwing a brick, Su He could flick his hand and hurl a water sphere. Though it had little power, it still counted as a ranged attack, right? If I can't beat you, I can at least splash a headful of urine on you.
Looking at himself now, aside from his head not having turned into a dragon's and his tail still being a turtle's tail, he already resembled the Dragon Turtle within his heart aperture by seven parts.
This was enough. There was no need to evolve further. If his head turned into a dragon's, with such a huge head and horns on top, he would not be able to retract it into his shell. That would leave him with no sense of security.
A dragon tail, on the other hand, would be fine. Judging by its shape, it should increase his swimming speed.
One after another, the crocodiles returned from their hunts.
The autumn fish were plump, and prey was plentiful. Whenever they caught land beasts, they would howl as they brought them over to Su He.
After this evolution, there were even fewer things Su He could eat.
Ordinary fish and beasts were no longer fit for his mouth. His sense of taste had improved too much; he could taste the rank, gamey flavor of beasts, making them hard to swallow. Moreover, ordinary beasts contained too little energy. He could not eat as fast as he digested them.
Even beasts that gave two points of quality felt merely so-so.
Fortunately, the crocodile pack was enormous. With each crocodile bringing tribute, there would always be prey worth three or four points of quality. Su He simply tossed the two-point prey back to the crocodile pack. He ate only food worth three points or more.
Even food worth three points of quality was digested by the next day. Su He maintained the pace of one meal a day.
Day after day passed as he adapted to his evolved body.
His keen hearing, sharp sense of smell, and suddenly strengthened physique left the turtle at a loss.
In merely three to four months, he had grown from the size of a dinner plate to the size of a double bed. Such a sudden, meteoric leap required a long time to settle and digest.
Fortunately, turtles never lacked time.
At night, Su He accepted offerings at Crocodile Beach. During the day, he crawled back to Snake Valley to sleep.
The weather grew colder by the day. More than half the venomous snakes in Snake Valley had vanished. Different species had different tolerances for cold, and some snakes had already entered their dens to hibernate.
Even the Green Snake only came out to move about when the sun was strong. The rest of the time, she lay there lazily without moving.
Around this time in the previous two years, Su He would have been looking for a place to hibernate. This year, however, he had grown scales, and his resistance to cold had clearly improved. He felt he could remain active for a while longer. It would not be too late to hibernate after Light Snow.
The sun shone lazily. Outside the valley, the autumn wind blew past, producing a chant-like sound at the entrance. A small boat descended from the clouds, heading straight for Snake Valley.
The languid Green Snake instantly became alert and shot onto Su He's shell. Su He watched the flying vessel slowly retreat toward the small lake.
No matter who had come, leaving oneself a way out was the instinct of beasts.
There was a tunnel beneath the lake. If anything went wrong, they could flee far away.
The flying vessel stopped above Snake Valley. A transparent barrier appeared over the valley; it was likely the restriction the Fat Daoist had mentioned, meant to protect the Green Snake.
"Fellow cultivator Green Snake, I am Gu Lin of the Azure Origin Sect. Having learned that you have opened your spiritual intelligence, I have come specifically to invite you back to the sect to cultivate."
A female cultivator dressed as a Daoist nun stood at the prow. Without a trace of makeup, her plain face was pleasing to the eye. Her tone was neither hurried nor slow, carrying a calmness that remained unruffled by the world.
She was a female cultivator with genuine cultivation.
Su He and the Green Snake thought this at the same time.
Before the Green Snake could speak, a mischievous child's voice drifted down from the flying vessel. "Big Turtle, Big Turtle, hurry and open the door! It's me!"
A Little One in tiny red clothes waved her lotus-root-white arms atop the flying vessel, hopping and jumping.
It was Feng Ya Ya.
"Big Turtle! I came to find you!"
Gu Lin pointed with two fingers, and the restriction opened. Before she could say anything else, Feng Ya Ya had already jumped straight down.
Gu Lin's expression changed instantly. Her immortal sword abruptly left its sheath and pointed directly at Su He and the Green Snake.
The Green Snake faced a great enemy.
Yet Feng Ya Ya cried out as she crashed onto Su He's head with a thud. The hard scales hurt her badly, but she burst into laughter. "Big Turtle, Big Turtle, you've grown so huge!"
The scent had not changed. It was still him. But he had gone from a plate to a big bed.
"Roaaar~" Su He hurriedly let out a low growl, telling the Green Snake that this was a friend. At the same time, he shielded Feng Ya Ya beneath himself, lest the Green Snake, provoked into panic, suddenly attack.
They were neighbors and friends, and he had been sheltered in Snake Valley for so long. Su He had an obligation to protect the Green Snake, lest Feng Ya Ya hang her up and beat her.
The image of Feng Ya Ya swinging a crocodile to whip wolves two months ago remained deeply etched in Su He's mind.
Do not let her small size fool you. With a backhand flick, she could condense spirit talisman marks. She was a little rakshasa protected by magic power, not someone to provoke.
Gu Lin hurriedly descended into Snake Valley. Her immortal sword had already returned to its sheath, but her vigilance had not lessened.
After all, there were two beasts before her.
Especially that Green Snake. She had already opened her spiritual intelligence, yet no one knew how much knowledge she had gained from her inheritance. Ordinary inheritances contained only Demon Arts and cultivation methods, rarely touching upon human relationships or the rules of the world.
If they did involve such things... then one had to be careful. The ways of the demon that left the inheritance might well have been far from satisfactory.
"Fellow cultivator Green Snake, the Heavenly Mystery Mirror has shown that you have opened your spiritual intelligence. As an Azure Origin Sect Elder, I should test your talent and guide you in taking a master and entering the sect."
Gu Lin's manners were impeccable.
Su He and the Green Snake simultaneously tilted their heads toward her.
The Green Snake flicked her snake tongue and slithered down from Su He's shell. "All right!"
Born within the Azure Origin Realm, if she transformed into Human, she could only take the Azure Origin Sect as her master. The Azure Origin Sect would not possibly let her roam freely outside.
From the day she opened her spiritual intelligence, when someone set up a restriction in Snake Valley, the Green Snake had understood this.
"Rest assured, fellow cultivator. This is merely a test of your attributes, so that I may recommend the various lineages within the sect and suitable cultivation methods."
The Green Snake flicked her snake tongue, indicating that she understood. She extended her tail and poked at the token Gu Lin had taken out.
Green and black mist churned within the golden token.
"Water and wood, two attributes. Top-tier talent. Congratulations, Fellow Daoist!" Gu Lin offered the Green Snake a cupped fist salute in congratulations. "I suggest that Fellow Daoist enter either Sword Washing Pond or Evergreen Peak. The former mainly cultivates water techniques, the latter wood techniques, and the side businesses they run are also quite popular among the sect's disciples."
A demon of top-tier talent!
The Demonic Race was already favored by heaven. She would surely enter the Demon Transformation Realm. With top-tier talent, she could take another great step forward even within the Demon Transformation Realm. If she encountered an immense opportunity, she might not be unable to pursue the supreme Heaven-Treading Realm, just like the Sect Leader and his wife.
In three or four hundred years, such a snake demon would likely leave her far behind.
The Green Snake coiled her tail, and humanlike pride appeared in her eyes.
She flicked her tongue at Su He. "Fellow cultivator Gu, could you also test this little turtle's talent and attributes? Though this little turtle has poor luck and cannot transform into a human, even as a strange beast, knowing his talent and attributes would reveal his direction of evolution and allow him to achieve twice the result with half the effort."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm!" Feng Ya Ya immediately nodded. "Aunt Lin, hurry and test Big Turtle! They said Big Turtle is a Divine Beast, and I think so too..."
No!
Halfway through her words, she glared viciously at the Green Snake. "This is my Big Turtle!"
That Big Long Worm was so annoying. Big Turtle and I had only been apart for seventy-two days, and you already want to steal my Big Turtle? I'll beat you to death and eat your meat!
The Green Snake flicked her snake tongue, unable to make sense of it. She had merely wanted to help a friend. Her friend was pitiful indeed; he could not even cultivate a human body. Perhaps the Demon Transformation Fruit he had eaten had been of too poor a quality, or perhaps his talent was too poor to fully absorb its effects.
They had spent two months together, and now she was about to leave. If she could help him, she would. If she had the chance in the future, she could return and take him in as a subordinate or beast pet. Ensuring that he was fed and clothed would count as repaying the companionship of that ignorant period.
Gu Lin smiled and extended the token toward Su He.
Su He tilted his head in thought, then stretched out a claw and pressed it onto the token.
A flash of surprise crossed Gu Lin's eyes. This turtle was remarkably intelligent. He had not taken a Demon Transformation Fruit, yet seemed to have fully opened spiritual intelligence. Could he truly possess a Divine Beast Bloodline? The instant Su He touched the token, the golden token turned black as ink, and waves of ocean sounds rose from within.
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