The thumping came from atop the Black-Tortoise Emperor's head.
The Black-Tortoise Emperor stopped and, to everyone's surprise, spoke in a human tongue. "What? Don't kill him yet?"
Most hundred-thousand-year soul beasts could speak human languages; they simply weren't accustomed to communicating that way.
But to let the humans before him understand what was happening, the Black-Tortoise Emperor said it in their language.
Then a Black-Tortoise Scorpion that looked only a hundred years old jumped down from the Black-Tortoise Emperor's back.
With both of them covered in black shells, and with the Black-Tortoise Emperor's cultivation masking him, no one had noticed his presence.
The Black-Tortoise Scorpion came up to Tang San and studied him carefully with his pair of eyes.
Most scorpions had poor eyesight, so he took a good, close look at Tang San.
Tang San was studying him too. He looked like a miniature Black-Tortoise Scorpion.
But the soul power within him was certainly not that of a hundred-year soul beast. He was a thousand-year soul beast approaching ten thousand years.
He was probably the Black-Tortoise Emperor's offspring.
His jet-black shell was brighter and glossier than his father's, a trait he had likely inherited from his mother.
Tang San concentrated on examining him and discovered faint traces of jade green on the stinger at the end of his tail, though they were extremely subtle.
Those jade-green markings also extended across his back. Without careful scrutiny, they could easily have been overlooked.
The little Black-Tortoise Scorpion thought for a moment, then stirred his soul power and sprayed a stream of jade-green venom at Dai Mubai, who dodged it.
As soon as the venom touched the ground, it suddenly burst into flame.
That, along with the little green bumps on the Little Black-Tortoise Scorpion's shell when he sprayed his venom, made