Subduing the Ancient Dragon Turtle

Zhu Jin stood with his arms folded across his chest. Compared to the Ancient Dragon Turtle, his body was so small it could be ignored, yet his face carried a lofty pride—the pride possessed only by the supreme magical beasts, the Ancient Void Dragons.

"Why do I have this Dragon Seal? Naturally, because I inherited this Dragon Cave. I am the master of this place." Zhu Jin remained calm and composed, and just as he said, he was the inheritor of these ruins.

That Dragon Jade Slip was actually an opportunity left behind by an ancient Ancient Void Dragon expert. Mu Qinghuang and those magical beasts had not been wrong, nor had they guessed incorrectly. There truly was an opportunity in the Heavenly Flame Space, and it was an extremely high-level one, left behind by a Dou Saint.

However, that opportunity had a designated recipient; it was not an ownerless opportunity. Only members of the Ancient Void Dragon Clan could obtain it. In a sense, even this entire place had been created on a whim by that Ancient Void Dragon Dou Saint expert, who had also casually placed the method of inheritance inside the jade slip.

According to the jade slip, any young Ancient Void Dragon who happened to discover it would gain the right to inherit the Black-Yellow Flame, as well as the power of life and death over this entire Medicine Garden and the suppressed Ancient Dragon Turtle. He could kill it or release it.

Zhu Jin had even suspected that, thousands of years ago, the Heavenly Flame Space had been a cultivation ground for young Ancient Void Dragons, where they could devour heavenly flame energy to strengthen their dragon flames. The Dragon Jade Slip was probably nothing more than a prize.

After all, the Ancient Void Dragons of that era had been far too powerful. Places blessed for cultivation were likely as common as weeds.

The Ancient Dragon Turtle fell silent. Back then, he had offended the Ancient Void Dragon Clan and been suppressed here for thousands of years. Nor was he completely ignorant. This place had once seen dragons constantly coming and going. Many young Ancient Void Dragons would enter the Medicine Garden to search for medicinal herbs, then head to the Heavenly Flame Space to temper their dragon flames and bodies. Yet several thousand years ago, all of that suddenly vanished, and not a single Ancient Void Dragon had come here since.

Thus, he had more or less guessed that earth-shaking changes must have occurred within the Ancient Void Dragon Clan. They might even have declined and lost their former glory. They might have even been wiped out.

"What if I refuse to pledge loyalty?" Old Turtle narrowed his eyes. Although his cultivation had fallen, he had once been a Tier Eight magical beast, and his foundation remained. Perhaps he still had a chance to recover his strength. Naturally, he had no time to serve a Tier Four young dragon.

Rumble!!! In the next instant, the heavens and earth of the Dragon Cave Medicine Garden seemed to explode as the entire space rippled violently! With a thunderous boom, an invincible force of space descended from above, like a gigantic invisible hand that slammed Old Turtle into the ground.

In an instant, Zhu Jin became like an enraged dragon, his entire body wrapped in spatial power as his dragon whiskers fluttered. The spatial tremors sent dirt flying, uprooted dead trees, and made space itself wail.

"Then according to the Ancient Void Dragon Clan Law: criminal beast Shi Yuan infiltrated Dragon Garden and stole a Grade Eight spiritual fruit, the Dragonblood Heavenly Fruit. The punishment is death!" Zhu Jin directly read out Old Turtle's name and the crime he had committed back then.

Old Turtle had really just been a thief back then. He had been stuck at the peak of the Dou Zong realm and lacked an opportunity to break through, so he had risked everything to sneak into Dragon Garden and eat a Dragonblood Heavenly Fruit. This had allowed him to break through and obtain a Dragon Vein, evolving into a Dragon Turtle.

But he had also been discovered by an Ancient Void Dragon expert, which was why he had ended up like this.

"Y-you! What are you trying to do?! Stop right now!" Old Turtle's voice carried a trace of panic. He had never expected a Tier Four young dragon to unleash such terrifying power.

Looking at Old Turtle, who was being suppressed by spatial power, Zhu Jin said, "Don't think your little bit of cultivation is anything special. Following me will not disgrace you. In the future, I will certainly ascend to become a Dou Di. Even if you recover your former cultivation, you will still only be fit to kneel before me."

"A Dou Di?!" Old Turtle froze. There had long been no Dou Di on the Dou Qi Continent. The most recent one had existed tens of thousands of years ago. Even the most dazzling ancient experts had been unable to reach the Dou Di realm. "Just what kind of dragon are you?"

The corner of Zhu Jin's mouth lifted slightly. "The Heaven's Mandate Dragon."

"You only need to remain loyal to me. It will not even take a hundred years—several decades should be enough. By then, not only can I restore your cultivation, I can also absolve you of your crimes."

Those words immediately lifted Old Turtle's spirits. Because his cultivation had fallen, he only had around a hundred years left to live. That was why he would rather be crushed to death than follow a Tier Four young dragon. But if he could restore his cultivation, that would be entirely different. If he recovered his Dou Venerate cultivation, his lifespan would increase as well. The turtle race was naturally long-lived to begin with.

"You have a way to restore my cultivation?" Old Turtle asked, somewhat tempted.

Zhu Jin's eyes rolled as an idea came to him. He bluffed, "Have you heard of the 'Poria Green Pill'?"

"'Poria Green Pill'?" Contrary to Zhu Jin's expectations, Old Turtle tilted his head, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Tsk." Zhu Jin looked at him with faint contempt. He had not even heard of such a famous pill? Back then, the moment Xiao Yan mentioned Skyfire Venerable, he had immediately known who that was.

"The Poria Green Pill is a Grade Eight medicinal pill capable of returning those whose strength has regressed to their peak."

Hisss!!! Old Turtle's pupils suddenly widened, and dragon breath burst excitedly from his nostrils as he cried, "You have one?!"

"I don't, but I know someone who can refine it. Once I meet him, I can ask him for one." Zhu Jin stroked his little dragon whiskers, looking as though he could refine it himself.

As for who could refine it, did that even need to be said? Of course it was the chosen son of the Dou Qi Continent—Xiao Yan.

As for whether Xiao Yan would be willing to give him one, or when he would be able to refine it, Zhu Jin did not care. He would fool Old Turtle first.

"Master!!! Please accept this old turtle's bow!" Old Turtle caught on quickly and immediately knelt to kowtow. Had he not been suppressed for thousands of years over a single Grade Eight spiritual fruit? If the Ancient Void Dragon Clan had been willing to take him in back then, asking him to work for a hundred years in exchange for a Grade Eight medicinal pill, he would have agreed long ago. Yet a Tier Seven magical beast like him had not even been qualified to follow the Ancient Void Dragons, much less receive the reward of a Grade Eight medicinal pill.

Seeing Old Turtle pledge loyalty, Zhu Jin nodded to himself and withdrew the spatial suppression. Then he jumped onto Old Turtle's back and used him as a mount.

Though he was a turtle, a mount for a Dou Emperor was still rather imposing.

"Oh, right. Do you know what strange change occurred here?" Zhu Jin looked toward a certain spot in the Dragon Cave. Some time ago, black light had shot into the sky and covered the heavens. That had not been Old Turtle's doing. This place still held secrets, and they might be the reason the Wild Mountain Macaque Dragon Empire had been destroyed.

Hearing this, Old Turtle swallowed and said, "This old turtle does not know. I only know that five hundred years after the Ancient Void Dragons stopped coming here, I suddenly sensed a terrifying aura underground. Afraid of being discovered, I used the battle skill Turtle Breath Technique and hid inside my shell. When I emerged, I found that the entire Dragon Cave no longer held a trace of life."

Zhu Jin fell silent. In the end, he did not rashly interfere with the matter. "Let's go. We'll leave this place first. We can deal with this mess later. Right now, the most important mission is to head to the Black-Corner Region!"

Zhu Jin calculated that he was now qualified to head to the Black-Corner Region. He could go fool—pah, go cling to the Dragon Emperor's thigh.

And Zhu Jin was clever. He had guessed that he had most likely transmigrated at the same time as Xiao Yan. But he had overlooked one thing: Xiao Yan had transmigrated into a fetus, while he had transmigrated into an egg. He had been a dragon egg. Ancient Void Dragons were long-lived creatures, and their incubation period was far longer than ten months—it lasted four years.

At this moment, in the Xiao Clan of Wutan City, the annual Dou Qi testing ceremony officially began.