Chapter 135: with translation of chapter title

That huge black object, the more Chen Shicheng looked at it, the more it seemed like the gigantic turtle head Simon described.

After all, the seabed here is a flat plain; aside from bones there are only ghosts, let alone a mountain‑sized skull, there isn't even a modest rise.

He first checked the remaining time on his underwater breathing mask, then dog‑paddled inch by inch toward that sky‑piercing, earth‑piercing giant pillar.

As he drew nearer, Chen Shicheng's eyes widened more and more, and in his shock he even forgot to paddle.

It wasn't a pillar at all, but an indescribably massive iron chain, each link alone thicker than the world's largest skyscraper by a whole ring; Chen Shicheng floated beside it like an ant, utterly insignificant.

Looking up along the chain, there was a turtle head with its eyes tightly shut, exactly as Simon described, damn, it was as big as a mountain.

The chain was tied around the turtle's neck, sunk deep into its flesh, yet oddly no blood spurted, only faintly visible, sea‑soaked, whitish, swollen rotten meat.

Behind that skull lay a massive shadow; Chen Shicheng roughly gauged its size, compared it to the area of that island at sea, and reached a startling conclusion.

There's never been any island; that damn thing is this turtle's Turtle Shell!

"It's completely off the charts!"

Thinking that the turtle before him was so huge its Turtle Shell could serve as an island made Chen Shicheng feel dizzy.

By the rule that higher cultivation levels correspond to larger demonic bodies, this turtle's cultivation must be boundless, perhaps already a Daoist immortal, maybe even ranked among the celestial ranks.

Of course, another possibility is that, like La Tiao, it possesses an ancient bloodline, so its cultivation has little direct relation to its size.

Even so, its massive size means it wields sea‑turning power; it need not attack directly—just rolling over could generate currents that would instantly kill any creature, like Chen Shicheng, daring to target it.

Moreover, after the incident at the prefect's mansion where members of the Yunxiao Sect spotted his Eye of Bai Ze appraisal, he dared not use any technique on this giant turtle for fear of revealing a clue, lest a sudden bow cause it to crush him.

Worse, after crushing him, the giant turtle might not even notice the tiny, ant‑like person compared to it.

Yet the turtle's current deathly silence, combined with the non‑bleeding wound on its neck and the whitish, swollen rotten flesh, makes him suspect something is wrong—most likely it's already dead, and he's looking at a corpse.

But Simon had said the boat he rode was capsized by this turtle, leaving Chen Shicheng uncertain about his conjecture, and he fell into a dilemma.

After much inner conflict, he flicked his eyes, summoned Hui Siye from the mask, pointed at the skull above, and said with Divine Perception, "Hui Siye, you're fast—go up and see whether this turtle is sleeping or dead."

Hui Siye flew out of the mask, gave Chen Shicheng a cold stare, then perched on his shoulder, "What do you think? If we don't wake this turtle, who'll know if it's dead or alive? But if it awakens, the commotion could destroy ships on the sea; you're this close—how could you survive?"

"Then when I'm farther away, you go up and check," Chen Shicheng asked tentatively.

"If I don't die the first time, does your heart itch?" Hui Siye said incredulously, looking at him.

"Hahaha," Chen Shicheng laughed a bit sheepishly, "How could that be? I was just speaking offhand."

For a moment, the scene fell into Silence.

After a long while, Chen Shicheng reluctantly gave up the idea of sending Hui Siye to his death, activated the Five Ghosts Transport Technique and returned directly to the fishing boat. Using True Essence he evaporated the seawater on his body, then clenched his teeth as he stared at the dead‑silence island in the distance, "MD, go all out! Onto the island! At worst I die once!"

A large size has its advantages, and a small size has its own advantages.

Compared to the massive size of this giant turtle beneath the sea, not to mention Chen Shicheng, even the fishing boat is no bigger than an ant, at best a mite.

What reaction would an ordinary person have if bitten by a mite?

Nothing!

Even if a mosquito silently draws a drop of blood, an ordinary person would show no reaction.

Only when it itches will you notice a bump on your skin; afterward you might just dab some saliva and that's it—there's no way to chase the mosquito to the ends of the earth.

And Chen Shicheng scraping a bit of skin off this enormous Turtle Shell is essentially just cleaning a small callus on the foot of this ambiguous‑alive‑or‑dead turtle.

Will it be noticed? Chen Shicheng thought not! With a hint of luck, he mustered courage, steered the fishing boat to the shore of the "small island," stepped onto a ground littered with tiny bones and set foot on the shore, but he didn't go deep; instead he chose a low‑lying spot at the island's edge and began digging.

However, he dared not make much noise, merely using the Five Ghosts Transport Technique to gradually move the sand‑like broken bones away.

The Five Ghosts Transport Technique can even uproot the Gray Immortal's ancestral tomb and carry it away; the loose ground here is nothing to it.

In less than half an hour, he dug a nearly hundred‑meter‑deep pit, exposing the black‑gray Turtle Shell beneath.

The Turtle Shell was uneven, riddled with ravines like the Loess Plateau; in the deeper parts a sheer cliff formed, with a huge drop.

Chen Shicheng leapt down, his eyes shining as he stroked the broken wall of the Turtle Shell, striving to use the Zhi Xiang Skill's material‑identification method to determine its composition.

Surprisingly, the mass of this Turtle Shell exceeds the upper limit understood by the Zhi Xiang Skill.

What's speechless is that the Turtle Shell's mass also exceeds the limit of the Blade Gang Attack Power.

Chen Shicheng tried to scrape off some fragments, but even the most powerful Blade Gang slash failed to remove a single hair, leaving only a faint white mark on the surface, leaving him dumbfounded.

"Hui Siye, you're so knowledgeable—any way to get a piece off?"

"My Turtle Shell has been tempered for countless years; even an immortal would need effort to break it. You, a youngster who hasn't even reached the Golden Core Stage, don't even think about it."

"Indeed, then I'll try invoking a deity and see if I can barely manage, Wocao!"

Chen Shicheng was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly realized the voice, though aged, was not Hui Siye's at all!

And what does "my Turtle Shell" even mean?

Damn!

Sneaking to scrape a callus, only to be caught red‑handed by the owner?

(End of chapter)