Ten minutes.
Su Chen had used only ten minutes to sketch out the entire underground lake on the dust-covered ground.
Every hidden course of the dark rivers, every precise elevation difference along the rock walls, every subtle change in water depth, even the old turtle's fixed patrol route—all of it came from Ling Shuang's earlier root-based sensing.
Now, beneath Su Chen's fingertips, that fragmented information had been reconstructed into a deadly tactical map.
"First step: drain the water."
Su Chen's finger pressed heavily against the points where three dark rivers converged beneath the lake. He looked up at Ling Shuang.
"Can your Earthvein Vines reach the riverbeds?"
Ling Shuang lowered her eyes. Two seconds later, she gave only one word.
"Yes."
She added, "But I can't seal them off. At that depth, the water pressure would crush my vines outright."
"They don't need to be fully sealed." Su Chen's gaze sharpened. "Block seventy percent of the flow. Make the water level drop half a foot per minute. That will be enough. How many roots can you use?"
"...Enough."
Ling Shuang said nothing more. She sat down cross-legged, pressed both palms to the ground, and emerald light seeped through her fingers into the hard rock.
Silently, hundreds of Earthvein Vines transformed into a swarm of underground serpents, drilling wildly through the cracks in the stone toward the beds of the three dark rivers.
"Second step: clear the field."
Su Chen turned his gaze toward Chu Yao.
"The old turtle's Netherworld Water also suppresses the guardian turtles through their bloodline. They remain in the water only because instinct outweighs fear. What if there were something that could break that instinct?"
Chu Yao did not even need to think. Her hand was already reaching into her medicine pouch.
"Red Bee Pollen." She drew out a sealed bamboo tube.
"This stuff is harmless, but it strongly stimulates a soul beast's olfactory center and triggers its most primitive territorial anxiety. It won't work on that seventy-thousand-year-old monster, but those thousand-year guardian turtles..."
"They'll think foreign enemies have invaded their nests, abandon their formation, and scatter back to defend their territories." Su Chen finished for her.
Chu Yao nodded and handed the bamboo tube to a Shadow Leopard beside her.
The Shadow Leopard clamped the tube between its jaws, its body flickered, and it melted into the shadows of the cavern.
In less than three minutes, ripples suddenly surged across the lake.
The thousand-year Black Tortoises that had once stood in neat formation became restless one after another. They no longer maintained their ranks, instead swimming chaotically toward the branches of the dark rivers, clumsily shoving aside their companions and letting out low, mournful calls.
The guards had scattered.
At the same time, the lake's waterline was visibly receding.
The rock walls that had once been submerged gradually shed their wet sheen, revealing black silt and broken stones that had been soaked underwater year-round.
The overlord that had slumbered for countless centuries finally sensed that something was wrong.
Its cloudy white eyes slowly turned, sweeping over the empty lake.
The guards were gone.
The water level was falling.
It released a deep call, one so low that humans could barely hear it.
It was not anger, but displeasure at having its peace disturbed.
A sleeping emperor had discovered ants crawling onto its dragon throne.
"It's moving." Su Chen's voice was extremely low. "Everyone, move to your assigned positions."
The water level continued to fall.
The old turtle's belly began to emerge into the air. Its shell, covered in heavy mineral crystals, gave off a dim luster beneath the cavern's faint light. A black fortress awakened from ancient times was revealing its savage form.
It began moving toward the shore.
It was not being forced.
It was acting of its own accord.
It wanted to come ashore personally and crush these reckless invaders.
"Now."
Su Chen swept his arm down sharply!
Ten Fearclaw Bears roared as they charged out from behind the rock walls on both sides. They formed a semicircular iron-bucket formation along the shore, completely blocking the old turtle's only path onto land.
This was not an offensive formation.
It was a hunting cage.
They needed to do only one thing—leave this giant beast with no path of retreat once it came ashore!
The old turtle's forelimbs stepped onto the lakebank.
The entire underground space shook violently.
"Ye Linglong."
Su Chen's voice was cold, as though it had risen from the depths of hell.
"Wait for my signal. You only have one chance."
On a protruding stone platform at the top of the western passage, Ye Linglong stood silently.
Her eyes had already changed from emerald green to a pure, unfathomable violet-black.
The power of the Annihilation Demon Eyes was accumulating wildly. Veins throbbed at her temples, and warm blood seeped from her nose.
She did not wipe it away.
The old turtle was completely ashore.
Its hill-sized body stretched across the center of the underground space, blocking everyone's view. Its head slowly turned toward Su Chen. There was not a trace of emotion in its cloudy white eyes, only eternal stillness and indifference.
Then, it closed its eyes.
The same sign as when it had been in the lake!
With it as the center, a ring of ink-black death ripples spread outward once more!
This time, the medium was no longer water, but air and earth!
Nether Domain!
The ground was changing, the air was freezing, and the aura of death became a tangible tide crashing toward them!
"Now!"
Su Chen's roar exploded!
Destructive violet light suddenly bloomed from Ye Linglong's eyes!
Annihilation Eye—All Things Return to Void!
An invisible Mental Shock burst from her eyes, crossing three hundred zhang in an instant and piercing the old turtle's consciousness with perfect accuracy!
For the first time in its long life, the Seventy-Thousand-Year Black Tortoise had been stripped of all perception of the outside world.
It did not know what had happened.
It did not know where its enemies were.
It did not know where the attack had come from.
It knew only one thing: its domain was being released, and the core scales on its belly were opening.
And it could no longer close them.
"One second!" Ling Shuang's sharp voice rang out.
Mo Qianye had long since reached the space directly beneath the old turtle's belly. His entire body transformed into a black sun capable of incinerating all things as he shot straight toward the underside of the old turtle!
From the gaps between the core scales, which had opened like fish gills, thick black energy was surging and pouring out wildly!
Mo Qianye slammed both palms against that fatal gap!
Nether Phoenix Heavenly Flame poured in by force!
"Hiss—!!"
A soul-rending scream erupted from the throat of the ancient beast for the first time! The flow of black energy was cut off, ignited, and scorched by the Nether Phoenix Heavenly Flame. The edges of its core scales instantly blackened and curled!
"Two seconds!"
Yan Wuji stepped forward, pressed his palms together, and thrust them forward!
Absolute Zero!
A pure white force of extreme cold surged wildly into the crack burned open by the Nether Phoenix Heavenly Flame!
The alternation of ice and fire drove the temperature difference inside the shell to a destructive extreme in an instant!
Crack!
Fine sounds like porcelain shattering came from deep within the shell.
"Three seconds!"
Jiang Tieyi shot into the air from the launch platform Ling Shuang had instantly created with her vines.
His left fist—the only arm he could still use—clutched a sharp rock that Yan Wuji had frozen to its maximum hardness with Absolute Zero.
The bloodline power of the Savage Ancient Ape gathered there in its entirety.
Silently, he poured all his will and all his strength into that remaining left fist.
One punch descended.
Bang—!!!
A horrifying, penetrating crack appeared across the Seventy-Thousand-Year Black Tortoise's shell, which was said to possess absolute defense!
The crack exploded from its belly and spread like a spiderweb across its entire side along the weakened stress lines created by the alternating ice and fire.
The old turtle's body trembled violently. Its limbs instinctively contracted as it tried to retreat into its shell, but that crack had caused its defensive system to suffer irreversible collapse for the first time.
Its white eyes opened again.
The three seconds of sensory deprivation had ended.
Its gaze finally focused once more.
It saw Su Chen.
That tiny young man, who had merely stood watching from beginning to end, was now standing before it.
No weapon.
No armor.
No posture suggesting an attack.
He merely raised his right hand and gently pressed his palm against that savage crack.
Within him, the dormant martial soul of the Supreme Summoner completely awakened at that moment!
With a thunderous roar, the phantom of a Void Throne that blotted out the sky appeared behind Su Chen!
Above the throne, among the nine Spirit Ring slots, the first three shone with dazzling black light. The fourth slot flickered with unprecedented intensity, releasing an ancient hum!
That was not Soul Power.
It was authority.
A power older than Soul Power and deeper than laws themselves seeped through Su Chen's palm into the old turtle's body.
The Seventy-Thousand-Year Black Tortoise's pupils abruptly shrank to pinpoints.
What it sensed was a fear and... reverence engraved into the deepest part of its bloodline, something that had existed since its birth.
That was the mark of a king!
In ancient times, above all beasts, there had once been a supreme existence that ruled all soul beasts.
It was not slaughter. It was not conquest.
It was submission.
It was the most primitive, most irresistible instinct within every soul beast's bloodline—when the throne appeared, all beasts bowed their heads!
The old turtle stopped struggling.
Its massive body slowly lowered. Its limbs folded in, and its head bowed inch by inch until that enormous head, covered in rock-like patterns, gently touched the ground by Su Chen's feet.
Boom—!
Behind Su Chen, the fourth Spirit Ring slot blazed with light!
Black!
A black Spirit Ring so deep it seemed capable of devouring all light slowly condensed into form.
Seventy thousand years!
The radiance swept through the entire underground space, forcing everyone to shut their eyes against the intense light.
When the light faded.
Ten larger Ten-Thousand-Year Black Tortoises slowly emerged from the void at Su Chen's feet.
Their shells were carved with mysterious ancient patterns. With every step they took, a layer of pale golden defensive light spread across the ground.
They automatically moved before the Fearclaw Bears, forming an impregnable crescent-shaped defensive line.
Iron Wall glanced at them, then withdrew its gaze and released a low snort from its throat.
It was not hostility.
It was recognition.
From this day onward, they would no longer be the only ones on the legion's front line.
Su Chen felt the new power surging through his body. Two skills had been imprinted deep into his soul—
Black Tortoise Immortal Shield.
Nether Exchange.
He turned and looked at the Abyss Seven Generals behind him.
Jiang Tieyi knelt on one knee. His right arm had become charred, and blood dripped from his left fist, yet he grinned soundlessly.
Ye Linglong slid down against the rock wall and sat there. Blood from her nose had flowed to her chin, and her face was so pale it seemed translucent.
The flesh on Mo Qianye's hands had split and curled from severe burns, yet he did not even furrow his brow.
Yan Wuji had exhausted all his Soul Power and slumped on the ground, no longer possessing the strength even to stand.
Chu Yao was frantically treating their wounds one by one, cursing under her breath while her eyes reddened slightly.
Ling Shuang still maintained the posture of pressing both palms to the ground. The vines spreading outward had long since withered and broken. Her ten fingers were embedded deep in the stone cracks, all her nails torn back, her flesh a bloody mess.
Su Chen's gaze passed over every one of them. The cold killing intent in his eyes had long since faded, leaving behind only an indescribably complicated emotion.
"Let's go."
His voice was soft.
"Go back and recover. The next stop—"
Before you continue