[Buddha-Heart Lamp Transmission] Wu Song Imbued with Spiritual Power; [Emergency Circlet] Successfully Developed! (Continued)

The tortoise shell was thick and heavy, embodying defense and steadiness; the serpent's body was agile and nimble, embodying attack and elusive transformation.

Tortoise and serpent coiled around each other, symbolizing the mutual aid of water and fire, the harmony of yin and yang.

This was the complete form of Black Tortoise as one of the Four Divine Beasts.

In later generations, Black Tortoise's divinity rose even further, and Daoism worshipped it as a supreme Great God.

Personified, it became the True Warrior Great Emperor, who shook the Three Realms with his might—the Demon-Subduing Heavenly Venerable.

The most iconic image of the True Warrior Great Emperor was that of him with loose hair and bare feet, standing atop a tortoise and serpent!

The tortoise and serpent became the Tortoise and Serpent Generals under the True Warrior Great Emperor.

"I understand now!"

To evolve this Ao Turtle into a true Black Tortoise, he had to add another "serpent-type material" of an exceedingly high rank and compatible attributes.

Looking over the spoils currently in Lin Chen's possession, the most suitable material was undoubtedly the ancient fiend he had just slain—

The nine-headed serpent, Xiangliu!

Both were ancient ferocious beasts, their ranks perfectly matched, and even their origins were extraordinarily close.

No wonder Xiangliu was always recorded in mythological histories as appearing alongside Gonggong, inseparable as shadow and form.

The underlying law was the mutual harmonization of tortoise and serpent, yin and yang—their entanglement and karmic ties in the unseen.

Lin Chen had effectively found the core card-making formula for evolving into Black Tortoise.

Though he had the materials, one thorny problem remained.

Xiangliu's material was likewise an object of supreme ferocity, overflowing with resentment and baleful energy.

Right now, merely an Ao Turtle fused with Gonggong's skullcap was already stubbornly unyielding, rampaging