Golden Tortoise: "I Want to Sacrifice Myself to You." (Please Keep Reading, I'm Begging You)

A massive turtle-like Soul Beast, roughly five meters in diameter, slowly surfaced from the water.

Its golden shell looked sacred and noble beneath the sunlight.

Its strange triangular-pyramidal head was held high as it flared its hole-like nostrils and swam toward Huo Yuhao on the shore.

By then, Huo Yuhao had grilled the three fish until they were golden and crisp. Grease continually dripped from the fish onto the fire, producing sizzling sounds.

The Shadow Cat beside him tucked its paws in and lay on the ground, staring eagerly.

Soon, Huo Yuhao placed the largest fish before it. After all, it had caught all three fish, so it deserved the best one.

Seeing Huo Yuhao place the biggest and best fish before it, the Shadow Cat did not rush to eat. Instead, it first walked over and rubbed against Huo Yuhao's pant leg.

"Meow~"

Only then did the little fellow walk over to the grilled fish, shove its head directly into the fish's belly, and start eating like mad.

It was so absorbed that one might have thought he had added some ice to the grilled fish.

Huo Yuhao nodded in satisfaction. He had spent several months in Xuanfeng City without getting a chance to show off his exclusive grilled fish skills.

Judging by the Shadow Cat's reaction, it seemed his skills had not declined.

Huo Yuhao was not bragging. Even without Soul Power, he could build his own grilled fish empire on Douluo Continent with this skill and a few marketing tricks.

He could open hundreds of chain stores a year. He had even thought of the name: "Huo Tianyao."

Then he could introduce sweet drinks like milk tea and bring "Snow King Ice City" to another world.

He would give the people of Douluo Continent a little chain-store shock.

Unfortunately, if his cheat had not personally picked him, he might really have gone into that business by now.

Still, if he had the chance in the future, he could try and see whether the chain-store model worked on Douluo Continent.

Huo Yuhao picked up a grilled fish from beside him. Ignoring the heat, he tore off a huge mouthful of fish and began chewing.

The fish on Douluo Continent might be rather rude, but their flesh was undeniably excellent. Even during the Golden Age on Earth in his previous life, they would have been absolute top-tier ingredients!

Just as Huo Yuhao was eating heartily, the Colored Blade Pattern on his right hand faintly glowed and conveyed a message to him.

"Human, I want to eat too."

Ever since obtaining this blade, Huo Yuhao had been feeding it with Entropy Power, and it had been growing. At first, it spoke in broken, halting fragments.

Now, it could already say a complete sentence.

Huo Yuhao had tried asking where it had been born, but it only vaguely said that it had been born in a colorful sea.

Yu Hongzhi's Soul Skill had summoned it.

To uncover the whole truth, he would probably have to enter the Dream Gate. But without Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux in place, he did not dare enter rashly.

"You can eat too?"

Huo Yuhao was rather surprised. A blade being able to eat was indeed a little bizarre.

Still, Huo Yuhao placed half the grilled fish above his right hand.

His own blade deserved to be pampered by him.

Then the Colored Blade Pattern bloomed with white light. A ribbon of light shot out from it and turned the grilled fish into bubbles.

"Delicious!"

For the first time, the Remnant Dream Blade conveyed an emotion of joy. Then the Colored Light Ribbon rubbed against Huo Yuhao's cheek as if acting cute.

The Shadow Cat beside him raised its head and meowed a few times, unwilling to be outdone. Ignoring the grease all over its face, it ran to Huo Yuhao's pant leg and rubbed against it frantically.

"Damn it, you old thing! These pants are brand new!"

"Meow!"

After fooling around for a while, the two little ancestors beside him finally settled down a little. Just as Huo Yuhao was about to pick up the last grilled fish and eat it, a deep, muffled voice reached his ears from behind.

"Why's your grilled fish so tender and fragrant?"

"There's another expert here!"

Huo Yuhao's limbs went numb, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

There was a common understanding in the Star Dou Great Forest: if one heard a human voice nearby when no humans were around, one could basically start holding one's identification in one's mouth.

Because it meant either encountering a super Soul Beast or running into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Beast King.

Fortunately, once it entered the range of his spiritual power, the [record] ability added its information to the Illustrated Record.

"Golden Tortoise: An auspicious beast, the royal lineage among turtle-type Soul Beasts, the uncrowned king of turtles, the pinnacle of defense. It generally grows in places within the Star Dou Great Forest where fortune is abundant. This species has an extremely long lifespan, and every individual can normally grow into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Beast King."

"Because they possess fortune by nature, powerful Soul Beasts generally serve as guardians around them. Golden Tortoises themselves are proud and loyal by nature and will not actively provoke conflict."

After obtaining the information from the Illustrated Record, Huo Yuhao let out a long breath. If it had been another Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, he would probably have lost a layer of skin.

The only Golden Tortoise Huo Yuhao could think of that might appear in the Outer Circle was the one from the original story that had secretly eaten Life Gold.

In the original story, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Golden Tortoise had greedily snuck into the Lake of Life. Using its fortune to conceal itself, it bit off one-fifth of the Life Gold at the spring's source.

That one-fifth of the Life Gold could be said to be the Star Dou Great Forest's accumulation over tens of millions of years.

A mere Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could not possibly withstand such immense life force.

Thus, the Life Gold instead began absorbing its life force, causing it unbearable agony.

In the end, Xu Sanshi got the benefit and made it into his Soul Spirit.

Huo Yuhao relaxed. Turning around, he saw that it was indeed a strange turtle-like Soul Beast staring at the grilled fish in his hand with golden eyes.

Huo Yuhao raised the hand holding the grilled fish, and its eyes moved along with it.

It looked utterly simple-minded.

But that made sense. If its head were not hard enough, how would it dare make a move against the Lake of Life while Di Tian and a bunch of Fierce Beasts were there?

"Here, eat it."

Huo Yuhao handed the grilled fish to the Golden Tortoise's mouth.

The Golden Tortoise was overwhelmed by the aroma. It had lived for so many years, yet it had never smelled food this fragrant.

"Thank you, human."

It swallowed the grilled fish in one bite, and then the Golden Tortoise's eyes suddenly widened.

The entire turtle was like a cat encountering catnip. It no longer knew what heaven and earth were, directly flipping its shell over and lying on the ground.

The Shadow Cat beside it looked at the Hundred-Thousand-Year Beast King as though it were some country bumpkin, its eyes full of disdain.

After a long while, the Golden Tortoise flipped itself back over. Its golden eyes looked at Huo Yuhao with satisfaction as it said:

"It has been a long time since I last felt this relaxed."

"Human, do you need a Soul Ring? I can sacrifice myself to you."

Huo Yuhao looked at it doubtfully. He did not believe pies fell from the sky, nor did he believe a single grilled fish could make a Hundred-Thousand-Year Beast King voluntarily offer itself as a Sacrifice.

If Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings were so easy to obtain, Soul Masters all over Douluo Continent would have started studying cooking long ago. This was not the set of some food anime next door.

Huo Yuhao asked, "Why do you want to sacrifice yourself to me? I don't believe you made this decision because of grilled fish."

The Golden Tortoise's eyes were filled with pride as it said in its deep, muffled voice, "Of course not. This old turtle is still a Beast King, after all. How could I sacrifice myself over food?"

"You've found a bargain, kid. This old turtle doesn't have much lifespan left because of certain problems."

"Our Golden Tortoise clan consists of auspicious beasts blessed with fortune. We can turn misfortune into fortune."

"The moment I saw you, my fortune told me that I had to follow you."

"I trust fortune's judgment. It is the foundation upon which our clan survives."

"And a voice was urging me to sacrifice myself to you as soon as possible. That voice was too ethereal. It felt as though it came from the world itself."

Huo Yuhao fell into thought. He did not want his first Soul Ring to be the Golden Tortoise, because Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was about to arrive.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was currently being hunted by a group of Fierce Beasts. He could not wait any longer.

If he was even a little late, Di Tian and the others might capture him and bring him back to the Lake of Life.

The Golden Tortoise could continue waiting, so Huo Yuhao hoped that his second Soul Ring would be the Golden Tortoise.

He still wanted to leave his first Soul Ring for Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and the Electrolux who would be drawn over.