Black Tortoise Methods, the Different Mystic Seals!

"Mom, what are the Mystic Sky Seal and the Mystic Spirit Seal?"

Seeing that the situation had taken a turn under Heavenly Eye's overwhelming pressure, Xu Kun hurriedly asked.

Mu Qingxuan answered without hesitation, "The Mystic Sky Seal and Mystic Spirit Seal are both techniques unique to the Black Tortoise Race. They are racial skills formed from the oracle-bone inscriptions on the backs of the Black Tortoise Race. Once mastered by an ancestor of the Black Tortoise Race, any descendant bearing Black Tortoise bloodline can comprehend these skills!"

"The Black Tortoise Race has secured its place as one of the Seven Royal Races not only because of its formidable defense and high-grade talents, but also because techniques like the Mystic Sky Seal and Mystic Spirit Seal, both belonging to the Mystic Seals, have played a major role!"

"Both belong to the Mystic Seals?" Xu Kun immediately caught the key point.

Mu Qingxuan nodded. "Mystic Seals are the collective term for these unique Black Tortoise Race techniques, including the Mystic Sky Seal and Mystic Spirit Seal!"

"Mystic Seals are also divided into grades, and the grade of Mystic Seal a Black Tortoise can obtain depends on the grade of its own talent!"

Xu Kun hurriedly asked, "Then what do the Mystic Sky Seal and Mystic Spirit Seal actually do?"

Heavenly Eye had just rejected Xuan Shiba's suggestion to use the Mystic Sky Seal, while Xuan Shiba had settled for the Mystic Spirit Seal instead!

What was the difference between the two?

Mu Qingxuan looked at Xu Kun, and her gaze became incomparably profound.

She was clearly the mother who had raised him and lived with him day and night for eighteen years, yet at this moment, she felt especially unfamiliar.

If the Mu Qingxuan of the past had exuded an aura that kept strangers at bay, then right now, she was like a cold flower upon a lofty mountain, admiring its own solitary beauty—known to the world only by name, its face never seen!

For an instant, Xu Kun even felt as if his mother were drifting farther and farther away from him. The crushing psychological pressure left him breathless.

What kind of person was my mother, really?

Mu Qingxuan parted her red lips and slowly said, "Mystic Seals are divided into four types, from highest to lowest!"

"The Mystic Warrior Seal, exclusive to SSS-tier Black Tortoises!"

"The Mystic Truth Seal mastered by SS-tier Black Tortoises!"

"The Mystic Sky Seal mastered by S-tier Black Tortoises!"

"And the Mystic Spirit Seal mastered by A-tier Black Tortoises!"

"This Mystic Seal technique offers no benefit to the Black Tortoise Race itself, because this racial skill is something Black Tortoises impose upon others!"

Xu Kun's pupils contracted as though he had thought of something.

"Among them, the most tyrannical is the Mystic Warrior Seal. It is the highest-grade Mystic Seal, one that can only be mastered by the ancestors of the Black Tortoise Race and their extraordinarily gifted SSS-tier descendants. Once someone is branded with the Mystic Warrior Seal, they will become incomparably powerful. In exchange, however, they will regard the one who planted the seal as a god, both physically and psychologically, and will be unable to betray them for all eternity. To the branded, the planter's words are divine decrees. Even if ordered to betray their race or slaughter their friends and family, they would not hesitate in the slightest!"

Xu Kun and Hao Jian's scalps immediately went numb at those words.

But Mu Qingxuan was not done. "By comparison, the Mystic Truth Seal wielded by SS-tier Black Tortoises is somewhat better. It can likewise make the branded stronger, but in exchange, they must regard the planter as their master and become their slave. Once they have any thought that goes against the planter's wishes, the Mystic Seal backlash will kill them, no matter how powerful they are!"

Xu Kun and Hao Jian's teeth ached. Holding their breaths, they continued listening as Mu Qingxuan explained the remaining two Mystic Seals.

"The Mystic Sky Seal mastered by S-tier Black Tortoises—the Mystic Seal Xuan Shiba first suggested using just now—is not as tyrannical as the Mystic Warrior Seal or Mystic Truth Seal, and the benefits it grants the branded are far less as well. The relationship between a race branded with the Mystic Sky Seal and its planter is more like that of master and servant. The planter can grasp all of the branded's mental activity, making it easier to control them. When necessary, under psychological suggestion, the branded will willingly become a gun in the planter's hand..."

"Then what about the Mystic Spirit Seal?" Xu Kun hurriedly asked.

"As for the Mystic Spirit Seal, it is the lowest-grade Mystic Seal mastered by the Black Tortoise Race. It is a skill that even A-tier Black Tortoise talents can master, and the boost it gives the branded is already minimal!"

The Black Tortoise Race was called one of the Seven Royal Races, but in terms of talent grades, the Three Saint Races stood alone as SSS-tier talent races, while the Seven Royal Races were SS-tier talent races!

For the Black Tortoise Race as a whole, SSS-tier members were the top decision-makers of the entire race, SS-tier members were the upper echelons representing the race, S-tier members were its backbone, and A-tier members, for an SS-tier race, were already at the bottom!

Compared to how Wang Teng had started showing off after awakening an A-tier talent, an A-tier Black Tortoise had no say whatsoever within the Black Tortoise Race. In the Black Tortoise Legion under the Black Tortoise Race's command, A-tier Black Tortoises merely served as ordinary soldiers in that formidable army!

"The Mystic Spirit Seal possessed by A-tier talents is far less effective than the other three grades of Mystic Seals. The branded will undergo no other psychological changes toward the planter, and the only shackle the planter can impose is the ability to constantly track the branded's whereabouts, whether they are deep within Blue Star or inside the Haotian Pagoda!"

Xu Kun narrowed his eyes, having roughly sorted out the differences between the four grades of Mystic Seals!

Mystic Warrior Seal: The branded worships the planter as a god!

Mystic Truth Seal: The branded becomes the planter's slave, with their life and death in the planter's hands!

Mystic Sky Seal: The branded and planter share a master-servant relationship!

Mystic Spirit Seal: It is more like a means of monitoring the branded and cannot interfere with their normal actions!

But even the lowest-grade Mystic Spirit Seal should not be underestimated. If the planter wanted to deal with the branded, the branded's whereabouts would be impossible to conceal. For the powerful Black Tortoise Race, dealing with a traitor would be effortless!

Whether in heaven or on earth, there was nowhere to run!

While Xu Kun was still deep in thought, Hao Jian frowned beside him. "Why does this Mystic Seal stuff sound like some kind of slave brand stamped onto the branded?"

Mu Qingxuan turned her gaze toward Hao Jian. "You are right. Among the Black Tortoise Race and those branded by it, Mystic Seals are called Divine Seals."

"But to the myriad races wary of this Black Tortoise Race method, the four grades of Mystic Seals are slave brands used by the Black Tortoise Race to control its subordinates and affiliated races."

"When dealing with certain powerful races that could not enter the Myriad Races Sequence due to their small populations, the Black Tortoise Race used Mystic Seals to completely control every member of those races, making them fight for the Black Tortoise Race on the Myriad Races Battlefield until the very last member of their race died, without ever retreating!"

Then Mu Qingxuan looked at Xu Kun meaningfully. "When dealing with affiliated races with huge populations, the Black Tortoise Race did not go through the trouble of branding them one by one. Instead, they branded the highest leader of that race with a Mystic Truth Seal, or even the highest-grade Mystic Warrior Seal, in order to control the entire race!"

Xu Kun's pupils violently contracted.

What did his mother mean by telling him this?

Since Mystic Seals were a method the Black Tortoise Race routinely used to control affiliated races, there was no reason that the human race, as an affiliated race of the Black Tortoise Race, would not have a leader branded with a Mystic Seal!

And combined with what Heavenly Eye had just said—"What happened back then must never be allowed to happen again"... The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!

Chaotic threads appeared in Xu Kun's mind, and as certain clues connected, it seemed as though another truth was about to surface!

But clearly, this was not the time for him to dwell on such things.

Hao Jian, standing beside him, did not have as many thoughts as Xu Kun. Watching Mu Qingxuan speak so eloquently, he voiced his doubts for the first time.

"Auntie, how do you know so much?"

The three of them were standing here, yet Mu Qingxuan could provide an explanation for everything that happened, as if nothing in the world held any secrets from her!

Hao Jian felt that even his own parents could not possibly know this much!

But his parents were already upper-middle-ranking members of humanity, War King-level experts!

Mu Qingxuan glanced at Hao Jian, then at her son. A smile actually appeared at the corner of her lips. "Because I... am a teacher!"

Hao Jian wrinkled his nose, seemingly dissatisfied with that answer, yet unable to point out anything wrong with it.

Xu Kun, meanwhile, clenched his fists. What secrets was his mother hiding?

Yet no matter how much doubt he showed, apart from answering the questions she ought to answer, Mu Qingxuan never gave him even the slightest clue from which he could guess any of her secrets!

Letting out a long breath, Xu Kun loosened his fists and looked toward the standoff in the distance.

"If that's the case, then as an S-rank Black Tortoise, Xuan Shiba possesses Mystic Seals of the Mystic Sky Seal and Mystic Spirit Seal grades!"

Mu Qingxuan nodded.

"So when you said earlier that the Black Tortoise Race had no goodwill without reason, you meant that they sent Xuan Shiba to block Ao Guang's attack because they were actually making plans for their own race!"

Mu Qingxuan did not answer, but the situation had already become obvious!

"Xuan Shiba kept claiming that the Black Tortoise Race would not be as narrow-minded as the Dragon Race. The Black Tortoise Race had always been committed to protecting humanity, its subordinate race, and so long as humanity did not foolishly make an impulsive decision, the Black Tortoise Race was willing to mediate!"

"And with Xuan Shiba smoothing things over, coupled with Lord Tianyan's desperate counterattack, the Dragon Race really did yield!"

"What was the Dragon Race's goal? It was because Kun had become the first to receive an SSSS-grade rating in the novice trial, trampling the prodigies of the Three Saint Races and Seven Royal Races beneath his feet. Given the Dragon Race's tyrannical nature, they naturally could not let the matter rest, so they used this to display their dominance!"

"Because of that alone, even though Kun only has an F-tier talent, he is still feared. Humanity is simply too special among the myriad races. But if Kun's talent were SSS-tier, the Dragon Race would not dare openly force humanity to submit, because all humanity knows that the SSS-tier Talented Individuals born once every century are Lords of the Era capable of leading humanity forward. Forget Ao Guang—even if an even more powerful True Dragon executive came, humanity would not yield an inch!"

"It was precisely because Kun is only an F-tier talent holder, someone at the very bottom among the myriad races, that the Dragon Race sent their lackey Ao Guang. Aside from eliminating future trouble, the more important purpose was to intimidate humanity and probe its bottom line!"

"Compared to the Dragon Race's straightforward methods, the Black Tortoise Race's seemingly impartial conduct is actually full of malicious intent!"

"Ao Guang played the villain. Not only did Xuan Shiba refrain from kicking humanity while it was down, he even blocked the massive tsunami Ao Guang unleashed for the hundreds of millions of citizens of Jiangnan Base City while humanity's higher-ups remained absent!"

"And now, under the banner of peace among the myriad races, he is mediating between the Dragon Race and humanity, making both sides take a step back. The proposed solution appears to take both races into account, but the greatest winner is still the Black Tortoise Race!"

"Because whether it is the Mystic Sky Seal or the Mystic Spirit Seal, the power to monitor and control lies in the Black Tortoise Race's hands. If Kun, an F-tier talent holder, achieves anything else astonishing, and the Black Tortoise Race wants to eliminate him to prevent humanity from growing stronger, they would not even need to act themselves. They only need to sell the Dragon Race news of Kun's activities. With the Dragon Race's tyrannical ways, they would naturally use their power to eliminate future trouble..."

"They may seem unconcerned, but the Saint Son of the Black Tortoise Race, Tian, was pinned beneath two humans this time. Their race must already be in upheaval. This plan was probably only finalized after lengthy deliberation by the Black Tortoise Race's upper echelon, wasn't it?"

"They act like whores, yet still want to put up a chastity monument. The Black Tortoise Race's methods are truly brilliant!"

"The Dragon Race has actually become a blade in the Black Tortoise Race's hand. Faced with pressure from both races, humanity has no choice but to lower its head—and still has to thank the Black Tortoise Race for stepping in to mediate. They gain both fame and fortune, killing two birds with one stone!"

After Xu Kun finished analyzing everything word by word, he failed to notice that Hao Jian beside him had already widened his eyes, as though he were meeting Xu Kun for the first time.

There was even a trace of admiration in his little eyes!

There was also a hint of gratification and reassurance in Mu Qingxuan's gaze toward Xu Kun.

"Then what choice should Lord Tianyan make, after having just refused Xuan Shiba's demand to place the Mystic Sky Seal on Kun, when Xuan Shiba has taken another step back?"

"After all, the Dragon Race has yielded again and again. If they yield any further, they will no longer be the tyrannical Dragon Race. Rather than saying that placing the Mystic Spirit Seal is the Dragon Race's bottom line, it would be more accurate to call it the Dragon Race and Black Tortoise Race's final ultimatum!"

Xu Kun squeezed his fingers until they turned white. If he had to become someone else's slave, he, Xu Kun, would rather die than agree!

His gaze could not help but turn toward those eyes in the sky, filled with contemplation.

"Lord Tianyan, have you made your choice?" Xuan Shiba had already returned to peak condition. His tone was calm, but he was actually urging him on.

As the main person responsible for this incident, Ao Guang did not say a word. Instead, he was ready to flee at any moment.

Whether the matter succeeded or failed was irrelevant. If Yang Jian refused, he would be offending both the Dragon Race and the Black Tortoise Race at once. There would be no need for Ao Guang to concern himself with what came next. The humiliated upper echelons of both races would naturally step in. It was more important for him to obediently preserve his own life.

"I agree!"

In the end, after weighing the matter again and again, Lord Tianyan made his choice!

In contrast to the delight that appeared on Xuan Shiba and Ao Guang's faces, Xu Kun, the person concerned, trembled like a fallen leaf in the wind.

Have I... been abandoned by all of humanity?

But before Xuan Shiba and Ao Guang could celebrate for long, Lord Tianyan continued, "However..."

The dragon and tortoise both pricked up their ears. Nothing was more worrying than a "however."

What trick was Yang Jian going to pull now?

Ao Guang swallowed with difficulty and cautiously said, "However what? Don't tell me you intend to go back on your word. Aren't you afraid..."

In the most timid tone possible, Ao Guang uttered his greatest threat.

"Don't rush!" With only those two words, Lord Tianyan made Ao Guang instantly curl into a ball.

"I agree, but that does not mean the person concerned agrees!"