That Eagle

This was meant to be a long-term residence. It was designed to be spacious and difficult to dig, especially since the place Su He had chosen was riddled with plant roots. Ensuring the cave was sturdy also made excavation much harder.

This was not a workload that could be finished in a single day.

The place on his hind leg where the Otter had clawed him was already sealed together. At most, it would take two days to heal completely. After this hibernation, his recovery ability had improved considerably again.

Su He crawled out of the half-finished cave, surfaced to breathe, then quietly dived back down to the bottom.

A Carp swam brazenly past him.

A naked provocation.

The Su He Turtle's head shot out and retracted like an arrow, already clamped around the Carp's body. With a flick of his head, he smashed it against the pebbles at the bottom of the pond, knocking it unconscious.

Fish were tenacious creatures and not easy to kill. Unconsciousness was enough. He flipped the Carp over and bit through its spine, then slowly tore at its flesh. It tasted somewhat of mud, and the scales kept catching in his throat. What Su He liked best was still shrimp—their exquisitely fresh flavor exploded across his mouth, a true delight.

Most importantly, Shrimp Shell replenished calcium.

Food whose quality had not doubled could only fill his stomach. The Giant Salamander had vanished who knew where, leaving no one to rob.

Su He suddenly thought of a question. The dice only appeared when he robbed or stole something. Did hunting prey count as robbing it of its life and freedom? Had the dice not appeared because the Carp was not dead? Living creatures could not be rolled.

Su He pried open the Carp's head with his claws and pulled out its heart in one bite. The fresh fish heart throbbed in his mouth.

I robbed a fish of its heart. Su He kept suggesting it to himself from the bottom of his heart, but the dice did not appear.

Sure enough, he could not exploit a bug.

Su He summed up the rule: only taking something "external" from the target counted.

The Giant Salamander quietly slipped out from somewhere, carrying two Large Shrimp in its mouth as it eyed Su He's Carp.

Su He glanced at it.

Large Shrimp quality ×3
Carp quality ×2
Crying Salamander ×1

Su He had discovered a rule that could reasonably be exploited. The Carp he hunted himself could not be rolled, but if the Giant Salamander snatched it away and he snatched it back, then he could.

He could absolutely raise bandits to keep himself strong! After enjoying a fine meal, he crawled back into the unfinished cave, sealed the entrance with silt, and slept until sunset on the third day.

Onshore, the Wolf King stared at the pond without blinking.

He was very patient.

The Wild Wolves beside him had green gleaming eyes. It was hard to tell whether they were hungry or whether, as the Sky Color darkened, wolf eyes had begun to shine.

After confirming it was safe, Su He Crawled Out of the cave. His body had grown several degrees heavier, and in the afterglow of the setting sun, he could see that he had become much darker.

It was not just his shell that had darkened; even his skin had turned black. At this moment, he looked like a pure Black Turtle. If he had just a little more sheen, he would resemble an Ink Turtle carved from black jade.

He felt a little... disappointed.

In this world, white was revered above all else: White Snakes, White Peacocks, White Deer...

Any Beasts with even a trace of mysticism were white, making them seem holy and pure. So what was black supposed to mean? A villain in the making?

Fortunately, while he had darkened, his skin had also grown much tougher. The wound left by the Otter had completely healed, leaving only a faint flesh-colored mark on his dusky skin.

He had grown stronger too. Su He paddled with all four limbs, splitting the pond water as he shot forward. He was nearly twice as fast as before! Su He had eaten good things in the past as well. With the dice, he had never lacked fine goods. Yet the effect on his body had never been this exaggerated; it had merely made him grow far faster than an ordinary turtle.

After swallowing the Demon Transformation Fruit, he could clearly feel his body evolving at a rapid pace. The fine food he had been unable to absorb before could now be completely absorbed.

Thinking of food made him hungry again. His gums also itched a little, as if he wanted to gnaw on a teething stick.

But turtles had no teeth. When he had first broken free of his shell, he had possessed a large front tooth, but it had fallen out after five or six days.

Yet Su He could distinctly feel an itchy, tingling sensation in his gums. Was he about to evolve teeth?

Su He was a little worried.

Could he be evolving toward some strange beast? Had the Demon Transformation Fruit that improved quality lost its demon-transforming effect? Unease filled Su He's heart. He snatched back half a Carp from the Giant Salamander and chewed it carefully, easing the itch in his gums. His gaze drifted toward the Large Shrimp at the bottom of the pond. He needed to eat more and evolve.

He needed to improve his digestion and digest the Demon Transformation Fruit as quickly as possible.

Lest a long night breed many dreams.

The Azure Lotus in the pond should bloom in a little over half a month. At most, it would take a month for flowers to fill the entire pond. The time he had agreed upon with the Slovenly Old Daoist was approaching.

A senior's teachings could not be missed.

Su He made his plans.

"Screech!"

An eagle's cry came from the high heavens. Su He instinctively withdrew into his shell.

It was instinct.

When he had still struggled to survive in Listening Sea Lake, he had nearly been carried off by eagles several times. He had also seen the ruined corpses of turtles ravaged by eagles.

Eagles could not break turtle shells, but they would drop them from a height of a hundred meters. No matter how sturdy a shell was, it could not endure such torment.

Su He hid beneath the water, drawing his limbs in slightly so the eagle would have nowhere to grab. On Earth in his previous life, a turtle of this size would not have needed to fear flying eagles.

But this was the Profound Wilderness Realm, where Giant Eagles with wingspans of two or three zhang were not uncommon.

The water rippled, and a Watersnake nearby also dived beneath the surface. It was not hiding from the eagle—it wanted to hunt Su He.

There was clearly something wrong with this fellow's brain. Su He had stayed completely still, using only one claw to gently paddle and maintain his balance, making the Watersnake think there was a fish ahead.

Watersnakes had poor eyesight and could not use their Snake Tongues to sense things. They relied more on the ripples in the water to judge what lay ahead. Su He had encountered Watersnakes that came to him of their own accord more than once.

They tasted pretty good.

The Green Snake darted toward Su He and opened her mouth to feed. Suddenly, a foul wind descended from overhead. The Goshawk circling above had dived down at some point, its Eagle Claws tearing toward the water.

Its target was the Watersnake! What a relief!

This eagle was not particularly large, with a wingspan of about one zhang. Carrying Su He would be somewhat difficult, and it knew its own limits, so it went straight for the Watersnake.

There were many Goshawks here. Listening Sea Lake next door had a water surface more than a hundred li across, and the great Elephant Water River flowed through it, sustaining countless living creatures.

The Goshawks nested in the tall mountains southwest of Listening Sea Lake.

Su He missed Listening Sea Lake dearly. There were fierce beasts in the lake, but its waters were swift, and the breath one exhaled would be swept away in moments. As long as one was careful, it was actually safer than this place, where a Wolf Pack had trapped him in a tiny pond. He also Still Needed to guard against the Wolf King setting an Otter loose to hunt turtles.

The Goshawk touched the water's surface, seized the Watersnake, and beat its wings as it flew up, preparing to return to its nest.

A Flash of Inspiration struck Su He. His head shot out in an instant, and he bit down on the Watersnake's tail.

Miss Flight Attendant, give me a lift!

The struggling Watersnake was pulled taut at once, and the Goshawk sank downward from the drag. Yet an inexplicable delight burst from its eyes—it had caught the scent of the Demon Transformation Fruit.

This Goshawk had a wingspan of over one zhang, close to four meters. Carrying a two-jin snake and a twenty- or thirty-jin turtle should not be a problem.

From the small pond to the mountain where the Goshawk lived, it would inevitably pass by Listening Sea Lake. A perfect time to move house.

The Goshawk beat its wings and laboriously took off. It rose only three or five zhang above the ground before struggling westward.

The Wolf King on the ground caught the scent of the Demon Transformation Fruit and instantly went wild, roaring and howling as he gave chase. He was so fast that he was no slower than the burdened Goshawk.

Hello, Wolf King!

Goodbye, Wolf King!

No need to see me off, Wolf King! The Goshawk was very fast. It leaped over the pond, flew over the hills, and sped through the air in a broad arc. Riding the light breeze, it flew more and more smoothly.

The Wolf Pack chased desperately across the ground. Seeing the turtle in the sky grow farther and farther away, the Wolf King howled furiously, baring his teeth and roaring.

Bye-bye, sir.

Su He waved a claw, in an excellent mood.

Just then, crack!

The Watersnake could not withstand the tug-of-war between the Goshawk and Su He.

It snapped!

Su He hit the ground with a splat and did not react for A Long While. Fortunately, they had nearly reached Listening Sea Lake, right at a muddy pit along the shallows.

The good news: it hurt, but he was not injured.

The bad news: Crocodile Beach lay ahead, and a group of crocodiles all turned to look in his direction.

Su He shuddered, only to hear wolf howls behind him. The Wolf Pack had caught up.

A chill shot from his turtle shell straight to the tip of his tail.