Guardian

The Black-Clad Man had been sent by Su Hua Nian?

If so, then it made sense that there had been dice in the swordsmanship of the first trial. That had not been a reward at all; Su He had been stealing the art.

In other words, he had yet to receive the rewards for the first and second trials.

Su He searched around, confirmed that nothing had been left behind in the meditation chamber, then turned and departed.

There was nothing in the rear courtyard either. None of the doors would open, and even the meditation chamber door had been completely sealed shut; he could not enter.

Returning to the inner courtyard, he quickly discovered a small box where the striped giant python had been. Opening it, he found a bottle of pills and a handful of fine sand.

The moment the Trial Token touched the box, it immediately spoke: "You passed the first trial's Wooden Dummy and the second trial's Divine Pressure. You are quite a capable little turtle. Take the pills and Golden Sand, then withdraw. The third trial is not something you can pass. My cultivation method is not fated for you."

It was a prerecorded voice, triggered under specific conditions. Something like the function of a Determinative Rune within talisman scripts? The voice sounded somewhat familiar, but its speaker had pinched their throat and deliberately put on a solemn tone, distorting it enough that he could not identify them for the moment.

Su He's turtle face immediately became a spectacle of shifting expressions.

The Black-Clad Man was not a trial! Thinking back carefully, the Trial Token had vibrated three times in total: once upon entering the outer gate, once upon entering the second gate, and once upon arriving at the rear courtyard. Su He had thought it vibrated once for every trial he passed. In truth, it vibrated whenever he entered a trial! He had entered the third trial, but the trial itself was gone, erased by someone. He had cleared it directly.

It could not have been Su Hua Nian. She would never do something so lacking in taste.

With her status, if she truly wanted to get Su He a cultivation method, she could simply demand one. Why bother arranging such a bizarre trial?

There was something fishy about this trial!

Su He picked up the small box in his mouth and immediately left the trial grounds.

Leave quickly!

Delay might breed disaster!

No matter what hidden scheme lay within the trial, once he returned to Su Hua Nian's side, every problem would be solved as easily as a blade slicing through bamboo.

Besides, this was Beast Taming Valley. Even its name clashed with his nature, and Su He did not want to remain for a single moment. Beast Taming Valley bordered Elephant Water, and Listening Sea Lake lay over a hundred li to the west.

Su He headed east, racing downstream like a galloping horse. In only half an hour, he reached the mountain peak where Su Hua Nian was and climbed halfway up before plunging headfirst into the dense fog.

The dense fog wrapping around him gave Su He an enormous sense of security.

"Aang!" he let out a long cry.

Turtle Mountain flew over and landed steadily atop his shell. The immortal sword on Turtle Mountain gave a soft hum, and the mist automatically parted, just as it did for Feng Ya Ya.

Crawling inside, Su He found Su Hua Nian standing by the pool in Snow Clothes, like a Fairy in the Clouds.

Su He gently set the small box at her feet: Golden Sand, pills, and the token.

The token was still repeatedly playing its discouraging message. The more he listened, the more familiar the voice became.

Su Hua Nian gave a faint scoff. "Elder Ge is simply that sort of person. He will not pass his cultivation method on to anyone but a Direct Disciple. You need not dwell on it. Since you missed out this time, I will create one for you."

This was the realm of a true big shot. She could simply create an Unconventional Cultivation Method whenever she wished. Stars filled Su He's eyes. Then he stretched out his neck, drawing in a long breath like a whale drinking in water, and swallowed it into his belly.

This was the Turtle Longevity Breathing Art. Su He had not begun cultivating it yet; he was merely demonstrating it.

Su Hua Nian frowned. "You passed the third trial?"

When things were abnormal, there had to be something sinister at work.

"Aang!" Su He replied.

Su Hua Nian shook her head. "I do not understand Beast Language."

Yet from Su He's eyes, she could tell that he was not trying to show off. He was trying to tell her something.

Su Hua Nian extended a Fair Jade Finger and lightly tapped. A Paper Crane flapped its wings and flew away. It was probably going to find an interpreter who understood Beast Language.

"You may circulate the cultivation method. I will stand guard for you." With a wave of her hand, Su Hua Nian cast a curtain of light over the Grass Hut, protecting Feng Ya Ya.

It was only an ordinary trial. At worst, someone had tampered with the cultivation method in an attempt to tame this turtle.

Cultivators fought the heavens for their fate and acted with reckless audacity. They would not become timid and submissive merely because she had written a Su character on Turtle Mountain, nor would they refrain from attacking Su He.

Let alone one Su character—even among those who wanted to seize the Sect Leader's throne, there were countless numbers. Some knew how to endure in silence, while others were rash and lacked wisdom. That was all.

A divine beast was enough to make people risk everything. If they could tame him, what did it matter if they Betrayed the Sect? Otherwise, she would not have needed to plant the immortal sword atop Turtle Mountain.

Since Su Hua Nian wanted to stand guard, Su He naturally agreed ten thousand times over.

First, he closed his eyes and recalled the turtle's meridians and Apertures. Then he reviewed the cultivation method again. Only after confirming that there was nothing he did not understand did he slowly empty his mind, cast out distracting thoughts, relax all four limbs, and enter the proper state.

For his first cultivation, Su He was as cautious as if treading on thin ice.

The Turtle Longevity Breathing Art was divided into two parts. The first used a special Breathing Technique to draw in Spiritual Energy from all directions. The second used that Spiritual Energy to nourish the demon star and generate spiritual power, then circulate it through the meridians.

That was right, a demon star! Elder Ge had created this cultivation method with his own Second Body as its target. A cultivator's Second Body could only be an Ordinary Wild Beast and could only follow the Exotic Beast Dao Path.

But when the dice fell, the cultivation method advanced. Su He's current method used the Heart Aperture Divine Treasure as its core.

Su He closed his eyes. With each One Breath, enormous amounts of Spiritual Energy entered his belly before being expelled again. Only a wisp was retained within his body and merged into his heart aperture.

Within the heart aperture, the Dragon Turtle Phantom swallowed Spiritual Energy and breathed out spiritual power.

Spiritual power differed from Spiritual Energy. Spiritual Energy was everywhere, and even after being drawn into the body, it would eventually be expelled. Spiritual power was Su He's own strength.

To make a comparison, Spiritual Energy was food, while spiritual power was the strength contained within muscle!

The rolling mist within Su He's heart aperture was his spiritual power. It had simply formed automatically while he was ignorant, and he had not known how to circulate it or cultivate.

He had only instinctively consumed it whenever he used the Water Manipulation Divine Power.

Using the spiritual power he had just generated as a pivot, Su He guided the spiritual power in his heart aperture out of it and into his meridians.

The path followed by the Turtle Longevity Breathing Art was not merely the standard and extraordinary meridians.

Su He vaguely understood that this cultivation method treated every acupoint in the body as the stars of the heavens. The circulation of spiritual power connected those stars into a Star Map.

Or rather, it formed a formation of spiritual power within the body!

Qiu Tong, the Formation Teaching instructor, had once said that all things were formations: humans were formations, grass was a formation, birds and beasts were formations as well. Now, it indeed seemed so.

The Turtle Longevity Breathing Art originally connected only sixty-five acupoints, forming a Star Map resembling the Northern Seven Mansions.

The image after the dice had advanced it... Su He could not recognize it! Perhaps his knowledge was too lacking, or perhaps it was not a Star Map at all, but simply the path most suitable for Su He's cultivation method.

The spiritual power circulated once through the meridians and returned to the heart aperture. Then it was guided out again, taking another route to forge a complex network.

There were seven network Star Maps in total. Only after all of them had circulated once did it count as a Great Circulation. When the spiritual power returned to his heart aperture, it had grown by the slightest thread.

Su He slowly opened his eyes. The sky had turned dark again. A day had passed in one Great Circulation.

When Su He opened his eyes, he saw Su Hua Nian with one hand pressed against his turtle shell and the other stirring an Artifact Refining Furnace, refining a treasure.

For an entire day, Su Hua Nian had divided her attention among multiple tasks, refining artifacts on one side while observing the circulation of Su He's cultivation method on the other.

Seeing Su He awaken, the soft hand resting on his turtle shell withdrew. At the same time, the Artifact Refining Furnace stopped. The lid opened, and with a light tap from Su Hua Nian, a cluster of Fine Needles, each about an inch long, flew out.

She pointed at the box containing Su He's trial rewards. "What you brought back was Geng Metal Sand. It is residue formed from the excessive mixture of many different treasure metals during artifact refinement. Though it cannot be refined into a magic treasure, it contains the Metal Divinity of a hundred metals. I refined it into seventy-two Silver Needles for you. Mixed into your Water Manipulation Divine Power, they can increase its might by a few degrees."

Su He loved it. Being a turtle truly required hugging a powerful thigh.

Su Hua Nian pointed at the pills Su He had brought back. "These are Four Gentlemen Pills, refined from Angelica Sinensis, Ligusticum Chuanxiong, White Peony Root, and Prepared Rehmannia Root, each over five hundred years old. They will greatly benefit the advancement of your bloodline."