Chapter 21: The Six Millennial Ebony Turtle
Surging waves of flame energy gushed forth from Tang Xiao Xi while Lin Mu Yu could only rely on his martial spirit to lessen the heat. However, a ten-thousand-years-old Fire Jiao’s fire energy was vigorously unyielding, and was not something a lowly Green Gourd could ward off. The heat quickly devastated the lake as unending sizzling pools of lake water evaporated into the air. In the blink of an eye, the lake looked as if it was about to boil.
……
“Woo……”
Tang Xiao Xi had awoken with a whimper, only to feel as if her organs were ablaze. It was as though every cell in her body was on fire. She didn’t think that the Fire Jiao’s beast spirit would be this violent, nor could she imagine that by not listening to Qu Chu and absorbing just a little bit more of the beast spirit would cause her to be in this situation. At that moment, she opened her eyes only to see Lin Mu Yu hugging her closely and tightly closing his eyes. The shirt on his chest had been burnt black while a layer of faint green l.u.s.ter enveloped him. If not for the Green Gourd, perhaps this guy would have been burnt to death.
Looking down on herself, Tang Xiao Xi realized that she was stark naked. Instantly her cheeks flushed red in embarra.s.sment as her heart fluttered confusedly. But when she looked up to see Lin Mu Yu focusing on warding off the heat while tightly shutting his eyes, she couldn’t help but be slightly moved. Right as she was about to say something, a wave of heat rushed up to her temples and she fainted once more into Lin Mu Yu’s embrace.
No one knew when he had arrived, but Qu Chu was already at the lakeside. Looking at the pair of young man and woman embracing in the water, he did not try to stop them, but instead sighed in his heart, “This kind of fate…Would it have been better if they had never met?”
After a while, Qu Chu shouted from a distance, “Lin Mu Yu, you must persevere. The life of the princess is in your hands. No matter what, you must hold on! You could say that this is also training, as it should be able to greatly enhance your martial spirit’s power. Do you understand?”
Lin Mu Yu did not respond. Right now, he can’t refuse even if he wanted to anyway. He had already been bound to Tang Xiao Xi like a rope.
……
The Fire Jiao’s heat was truly too vicious. In the blink of an eye, it had surged forth several times, and had gradually burnt the tip of the Green Gourd spirit until it was black. Because the martial spirit and the pract.i.tioner is one and the same, a sweet taste rushed up Lin Mu Yu’s throat as mouthful of fresh blood seeped out the corner of his mouth and dripped down onto his chest. His mind had blanked out and his consciousness was also on the verge of collapse.
No, I must not give up like this!
He clenched his teeth as his unyielding pride would never allow him to give up so easily. Enduring the martial spirit’s wounds, he continued removing the excess Fire Jiao spirit power from Tang Xiao Xi.
Nearly two hours pa.s.sed while half of the lake water had seemingly evaporated into steam. The lake water was only able to reach Lin Mu Yu and Tang Xiao Xi’s ankles, but this did not affect their ability to remove the heat with the water.
Finally, Tang Xiao Xi let out a small whimper and woke up once more. This time she was finally able to feel the heat in her body becoming calmer. The Firefox had also awoken from its deep sleep and was lying down on her shoulder while grumbling.
On the contrary, Lin Mu Yu stuffily groaned and fell onto his knees. He let out a whimper as another mouthful of blood was spat out into the water and colored originally clear lake water in a shade of red.
Tang Xiao Xi was both embarra.s.sed and anxious. When Lin Mu Yu had fallen to his knees, his body had almost been sliding down on hers. His face had slid past her twin peaks and that was a feeling that she had never experienced before. Momentarily, her cheeks had become flushed red as she stood there and blankly stared at Lin Mu Yu as his face rested on her lower abdomen. The more she looked, the redder her cheeks flushed. She did not know what to do at that point, and could only anxiously ask, “Mu Mu…Are you alright? Mu Mu…”
In the distance, Qu Chu removed a backpack from the horseback and threw a suit of clothing at Tang Xiao Xi, “Princess Xi, put on some clean clothes and pull Lin Mu Yu ash.o.r.e. His martial spirit has been heavily injured.”
“Okay!”
Tang Xiao Xi speedily put on a delicate cyan cloak, then picked up Lin Mu Yu. Using spirit power, she was on the dry sh.o.r.e with a single leap.
……
Lin Mu Yu was not waking up from his unconsciousness. After Tang Xiao Xi put on a new set of clothes, she anxiously asked, “Old Qu…He is ok right? It’s all my fault… If not for me, he wouldn’t be like this…”
She was so worried that tears were building up in her eyes.
Qu Chu looked at Tang Xiao Xi and secretly bickered in his heart. Tang Xiao Xi’s status was truly too prominent. The granddaughter of Tang Lan, the Duke of Azure Tide, one of the two founding fathers of the Empire. Truly deserving to be called a priceless treasure. It is reasonable to say that Lin Mu Yu was just a civilian, so it’s naturally normal for a civilian to die for a n.o.ble like Tang Xiao Xi, right? But right now, Tang Xiao Xi looked as if she was going to break down in tears, could it be that she…
Qu Chu did not dare to continue his train of thought. A pampered n.o.ble girl falling in love with a peasant boy. These things usually end in tragedy. Qu Chu did not want these two to also suffer that kind of ending. As such, might as well cut their ties now before they become even more entangled.
“Princess Xi.”
Qu Chu gently said, “We’ve been out for long enough. Lin Mu Yu is also gravely injured as too much of the Fire Jiao’s heat is in his martial spirit. He would never be able to expel that energy, so his future could be considered to be wasted. Let us bring him back to Silver Fir City and leave him some gold coins as remuneration. How does that sound?”
Tang Xiao Xi froze and looked at Qu Chu in shock. Biting her lips, she snapped, “Qu Chu!”
“Princess…” Qu Chu hurriedly knelt down on one knee. He understood the difference in his status compared to the princess.
“I command you. You must save Lin Mu Yu, or else I will definitely not go back to the Capital with you!”
“Yes…” Qu Chu sighed in his heart. He knew that he shouldn’t have tried to be the villain and to try cutting their ties. Oh well, if she wants me to save him, then I’ll save him since his injuries are connected to me anyway.
……
“Lin Mu Yu’s Green Gourd only has one layer, so its strength is naturally limited. It’s almost been crippled by the searing flames, thus even if we save his life, he will never be able to use his martial spirit again. I will have no way to fix that, unless…” Qu Chu said somewhat helplessly.
Tang Xiao Xi bit her lips as her eyes were covered in a layer of mist and asked, “Unless what?”
Qu Chu continued, “Unless we have a water element beast spirit with an age of at least 5000 years old and use its water to control the fire. In this way we’ll be able to heal his Green Gourd spirit, but you can’t find a 5000-years-old water spirit running around everywhere. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to find one right now? If we were still in Lanyan City, we could easily find one of these spirits in Dragon Seeker Forest. However, this is Seven Star Forest, and its beast variety is far from that of Dragon Seeker Forest…”
“Then…Then what do we do….” Tang Xiao Xi slowly knelt beside Lin Mu Yu. Remembering the sight of him hugging her to help her lessen the raging flames, she couldn’t help but burst into tears.
But right at that moment, the sun had set, and high tides unexpectedly rose out of the lake.
“Huh?”
Qu Chu suddenly looked at the lake with a stunned face.
“Old Qu, what’s the matter with you?” Tang Xiao Xi asked.
Qu Chu clapped his hand together and exclaimed, “Princess, youngster Lin is saved!”
“Ah?” Tang Xiao Xi abruptly stood up with a face of joy and asked with a smile that looked to have survived desperate straits, “Tell me, Old Qu. What’s going on? Did you think of a way to save him?”
Qu Chu nodded and pointed at the rising water level, “A lake will generally never refill this quickly. There is also a whiff of the strong medicinal smell of Rainbow Lotus in the water. If I am correct, there should be a giant ancient beast within these waters: The Ebony Turtle!”
“Ebony Turtle?”
“That’s right. The Ebony Turtle is a magical underwater creature. It can swallow clouds and spit out mists. It is said that an Ebony Turtle of 2000 years old had already consumed huge amounts of water and compressed them in its body. Since this lake’s water is increasing so rapidly, there must be something going on under the water, especially with this smell of Rainbow Lotus. As far as I know, the Ebony Turtles’ favorite food is the Rainbow Lotus, so this smell must have originated from the turtle’s feces.
Tang Xiao Xi was flabbergasted.
At this time, Lin Mu Yu’s body twitched a little as he woke up. Sniffing the air, he muttered, “What is this…Rainbow Lotus? I haven’t smelled this in a long time…”
Qu Chu chuckled, “Kid, you’re quite lucky. Don’t move and wait here. I’m feeling nice enough today to pull the Ebony Turtle out for you. You and princess Xi will stay here while I kill this Ebony Turtle.”
Lin Mu Yu quickly thanked Qu Chu, although he didn’t know why he was going to kill an Ebony Turtle.
……
At the next moment, Qu Chu awakened his martial spirit and the Flame Cauldron materialized before him. After a single dash forward, he dove deeper into the lake. Over ten minutes had pa.s.sed without a single hint of movement. Lin Mu Yu stood and channeled the basic energy in his body, only to find that he was able to smoothly manipulate energy. However, the Green Gourd was seemingly still gravely damaged and his own meridian network was also injured. A murderous wave of scorching heat chaotically rampaged in his meridians, but there was also another wave of energy pressing down on the Fire Jiao’s energy. Otherwise, his fragile body would have long been burnt to ashes.
“Why is he taking so long…” Tang Xiao Xi anxiously muttered.
Just then, a stream of water shot up through the air. No, that is a water arrow!
Qu Chu flew out of the water with the Flame Cauldron in his hand. He gave a harsh shout before sending a heavy punch through the air and into the water. The gigantic beast in the lake followed Qu Chu out of the water and it really was a giant turtle. It was an especially sinister looking turtle, having a st.u.r.dy-looking body covered in a giant sh.e.l.l with a radius of about 20 meters. Its movement created high waves in the water, so much so that it left observers in awe.
“One…two…three…four…five…six…” Tang Xiao Xi’s mouth widened as she counted. “Six pieces of golden turtle sh.e.l.l! This Ebony Turtle is at least 6000 years old. Wow, Mu Mu, you are really lucky! After Qu Chu kills this Ebony Turtle, you can go and refine its beast spirit!”
Lin Mu Yu nodded: “Alright!”
Soon enough, Qu Chu had lured the giant turtle onto solid ground. It was like a gigantic tank whose deafening roars sounded like cannon fire. However, compared to its fierce appearance, its water arrow attacks were all warded off by the Flame Cauldron. After all, the difference in strength was too great. In the blink of an eye, it was already worn down to its last breath, and finally died to one last Lightning attack from Qu Chu!
“Quickly, Lin Mu Yu. Use your martial spirit to absorb this Ebony Turtle’s beast spirit!”
……
Lin Mu Yu dashed forth using Starfall Steps, only to feel faint because his body was too weak. He arrived next to the Ebony Turtle and sat down cross-legged to begin refining the rare beast spirit of this Ebony Turtle.