Meeting the Hundred Thousand Year Cangming Turtle

Northern Sun Moon Empire, outer suburbs of Tantu Forest:

The Tantu Forest of the Sun Moon Empire is located in the northern part of the empire. It is the second-largest soul beast forest in the Sun Moon Empire, corresponding to the Evil Demon Forest, which is the largest forest in the south. The forest itself borders the northern seas of the Sun Moon Empire, and the climate is cold year-round. Most of the soul beasts living within are highly cold-resistant. Although the powerful soul beasts there do not compare to those in the Evil Demon Forest, they are still not to be underestimated.

Even at Kong Dehan's flight speed, it took a full three days of traveling at top speed while carrying Xu Mochen to reach their destination. This was a valley filled with birdsong, fragrant flowers, and pleasant scenery. Surrounded by misty clouds and mountains, the valley was lush with vegetation and countless precious medicinal herbs. A spiritual spring waterfall rushed down from the mountains, crashing against the rocks below and emitting a rhythmic, melodious splashing sound.

Right in the center of this valley, which resembled a fairyland on earth, stood a colossal, sky-piercing ancient tree! When Xu Mochen landed in front of this giant tree, he discovered that the interior of the tree had actually been converted into a research laboratory!

Kong Dehan approached the ancient tree politely, knocked gently on the door, and said in a clear voice, "Old Cang, open the door. As agreed, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived. If you keep stalling, I'll be the first one to object!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. What's the rush? I still have a pile of experiments to finish." Accompanied by a slightly lazy voice from inside the treehouse laboratory, the door slowly creaked open. An old man wearing square glasses and a white lab coat appeared before Xu Mochen.

The old man looked to be seventy or eighty years old, with graying hair, a beard, and a receding hairline. His face was rigid and weathered, yet his eyes were as deep as a vast galaxy! Despite his height of only about 1.6 meters and a slightly hunched posture, he inexplicably gave off the feeling of containing immense power. Xu Mochen even faintly sensed an invisible pressure radiating from him!

This old man's strength is likely extraordinary! Even if he is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has undergone human reincarnation, he must have at least reached level 90 by now! Xu Mochen thought to himself.

The old man, known as Old Cang, first glared at Kong Dehan irritably, then grumbled, "Old Kong, it's not that I want to lecture you, but you're wasting time! Artificial soul rings? A seven-year-old child who probably doesn't even understand the principles of the martial soul cultivation system? And you're already starting to indulge in such wild fantasies? I've been researching artificial soul rings for a long time; if they could be created, I would have done it already! Would I need this kid to remind me?"

Without waiting for Kong Dehan to retort, the old man looked at seven-year-old Xu Mochen standing beside him: "Little guy, you're the one with the wild imagination... what!"

It would have been better if he hadn't paid attention. The old man had only intended to take a casual look at what this arrogant "Crown Prince" looked like, but he was instantly shocked. His demeanor changed completely; he walked quickly to Xu Mochen without a word and examined him carefully from head to toe. His sharp gaze, as if trying to see right through Xu Mochen, made the boy feel quite uncomfortable.

"Old Cang! Do not be rude to His Highness the Crown Prince!" Seeing this, Kong Dehan was instantly furious and moved to intervene, but the old man stepped back on his own, closed his eyes, and began to ponder quietly, as if entering a state of deep meditation, sensing something intently.

After a dozen seconds, the old man slowly opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of stale air. Just as Kong Dehan and Xu Mochen were feeling puzzled, the old man spoke slowly: "To think you are the one bearing the inheritance of the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King! It seems the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King has a successor! And you, Old Kong, you lied to me, saying your martial soul was merely a Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon! If you have truly obtained some of the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King's inheritance, then perhaps you really might be able to help me."

Xu Mochen was not surprised upon hearing this; instead, he looked tentatively at Kong Dehan beside him. Kong Dehan's face flashed with shock, and he could only shake his head with a bitter smile: "As expected of a top genius in genetic and soul research. I had intended to tell you everything when the time was right, but it seems that is no longer necessary."

Only then did Xu Mochen react, a flash of astonishment crossing his face. His Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King martial soul had been disguised using a secret technique passed down by his ancestors! No matter how powerful other soul masters were or how well they understood the Sun Moon Empire's martial soul heritage, they would only mistake his martial soul for a Purple Imperial Heaven-Extinguishing Dragon! Not to mention that he hadn't even released his martial soul yet!

Yet this old man, who had seen him for less than two minutes, had identified his true martial soul in a single sentence! He had assumed Kong Dehan had told him the secret, but it was clear now that Kong Dehan had been keeping it from him!

The fact that the other party could see through the concealment technique used by his ancestors was truly terrifying! Could it be that this old man, like the "Grandmaster" in the original story who guessed Tang San's twin martial souls based on his Innate Full Soul Power and Blue Silver Grass, was just a blind cat hitting a dead mouse?

The Grandmaster guessed Tang San had twin martial souls, giving the bizarre reason that the Blue Silver Grass was extremely weak, yet Tang San had high innate soul power, so he must have another martial soul that granted him that power! But in reality, the entire Douluo series shows a fundamental principle that all innate twin martial soul masters must follow: the quality of the two martial souls must be roughly equal!

Although Xu Mochen did not yet know why the martial souls of an innate twin martial soul master must be of similar quality, it was certain that there would never be a case where one martial soul was a trash martial soul with almost no power, while the other was a top-tier martial soul with Innate Full Soul Power!

The original story also stated that Tang San knew his innate soul power was due to the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Before his martial soul awakened at age six, Tang San felt that his cultivation of the Mysterious Heaven Skill hit a bottleneck and could not progress further. It could be concluded that his martial soul had not yet awakened, which created a bottleneck in his soul power cultivation, causing him to make no further progress once he reached that limit!

Therefore, one could only say the Grandmaster's luck was incredibly good! Even though Tang San knew the origin of his innate soul power and knew the Grandmaster had guessed his twin martial souls by luck, he still pretended to be convinced by the Grandmaster's deduction, the implications of which were worth pondering.

Facing Xu Mochen's slightly scrutinizing and suspicious gaze, the old man smiled calmly: "What? Do you think I just guessed correctly by luck? After all, your martial soul is disguised so well, why was I able to identify it so easily? Actually, it's not difficult to explain, because I once met your ancestor, the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King! Although he might not have cared about me or even remembered me, that unique, aloof will of his is still fresh in my memory. In you, I see his shadow from back then."

Although the words were spoken plainly, they shocked both Xu Mochen and Kong Dehan: this Hundred-Thousand-Year transformed soul beast had actually met their ancestor! Even Kong Dehan was hearing this for the first time! Although judging by age, the ancestor had only descended to the Sun Moon Continent a little over twenty thousand years ago, based on his cultivation level, it was indeed possible that this old man had met him!

However, the ancestor of the Sun Moon Empire was elusive; even in the imperial history of the Sun Moon Empire, very few people had truly seen the ancestor in person. In many cases, it was merely a wisp of the ancestor's soul communicating with the outside world! If this Old Cang had truly met the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King, his luck was truly extraordinary.

Seeming to see the astonishment in their eyes, the old man began to tell his story patiently: "My soul beast form is a Cangming Turtle. I can walk on land, swim in water, and fly in the sky."

"Although our clan's combat power is not strong, we have long lifespans, formidable defense, and possess certain healing and amplification talents. Furthermore, we not only have the ability to communicate with nature and absorb the essence of the sun, moon, and heaven and earth, but we also possess the bloodline of the Xuanwu clan among the Five Elements Divine Beasts. Although it is a relatively thin collateral bloodline, it is still something to be proud of."

"Although my cultivation has reached one hundred thousand years, that does not mean I have lived for one hundred thousand years! Soul beasts, like soul masters, have the ability to cultivate and absorb soul power from the outside world to improve themselves! Therefore, the growth years of almost all soul beasts are much higher than their actual age. For example, my actual age is only about thirty thousand years."

"More than twenty thousand years ago, I was only a soul beast with fifty thousand years of cultivation. At that time, you humans were still in the era of clans and tribes, living like savages. The Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King was bringing two women to the Tantu Forest to hunt soul beasts, and it was there that I happened to run into the three of them."

"At that time, the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King was suppressing his cultivation to the level of a level 90 soul master, and the two women were both just at level 70. They had come specifically to find suitable soul rings! Unfortunately, my Cangming Turtle form belongs to the type that can absorb the essence of the sun, moon, and heaven and earth for its own use. It was a perfect match for the Blazing Sun and Silver Moon martial souls of those two women! Coupled with my cultivation level being just right, with the help of the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King, there would have been no problem absorbing my soul ring!"

"Just as I thought I was doomed and fell into total despair, the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King saw that I possessed the Xuanwu bloodline! Perhaps the Purple Imperial Chaos Dragon King had a deep connection with the Xuanwu lineage; in the end, not only did he not kill me, but he used his divine power to help me awaken more intelligence. We chatted quite a bit, and he taught me a lot about human knowledge. It was then that I first learned about the colorful world outside, and it was at that moment that I developed the idea of transforming into a human to go out and see a world different from the great forest!"

"Later, after I grew into a hundred-thousand-year soul beast and transformed, I officially entered the human world and attended human schools to learn various advanced cultural knowledge. Because of my interest in the research of soul masters and soul beasts, I began to develop in this field. Of course, for the sake of my research experiments, I have also traveled many times to explore the various soul beast forests of the Sun Moon Empire."

"It wasn't until I was exploring the Evil Demon Forest that I ran into the son of the Evil Demon Forest's leader, the Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign: an Evil Eye Tyrant with sixty thousand years of cultivation! This guy not only saw through my true identity but also wanted to kill me and use me as a supplement! If it hadn't been for the fact that I happened to run into Kong Dehan and his people at that time, who helped me escape, I probably would have lost my life there."