Chapter 137: Ancient Relic with a Limit

"You agreed to it so easily; aren't you afraid of being tricked?"

After the old turtle vanished, Hui Siye drifted out of the mask and, looking at the spot where it disappeared, asked.

"What could it trick me with?" Chen Shicheng glanced at the Task prompt, chuckled lightly and said, "It's just a matter of helping to fight a battle; even if the Task reward is a lie, killing the spirit inside a giant turtle is still a gain, no matter which one we slay."

"Aren't you afraid it might take back the body and turn hostile?" Hui Siye asked, still a bit uneasy.

Don't be fooled by the fact that when it was alive it was at the peak of 25th-level Golden Core Stage, and even toured the Dayu Dynasty, yet it had never been to the sea.

Moreover, this great turtle's existence stretches back to the ancient ages; its cultivation realm is also a mystery. It always feels unreliable, and mixing it into this kind of battle—whether it's a blessing or a curse—is truly uncertain.

"What are you afraid of!"

Chen Shicheng stamped his foot forcefully, "Don't forget the chain below; when it's alive it can be trapped, and even dead it can't escape. Even if the corpse spawns a new spirit, it's still just lingering here."

After speaking, he thought for a moment; Hui Siye said that for his own sake, he shouldn't dampen his enthusiasm, so he added, "Don't forget I'm a Returnee; even if I die I can resurrect, betting a year of lifespan is quite worthwhile."

"As long as you know your limits," Hui Siye nodded.

"Moreover, there's a simple way to roughly verify whether that old turtle's words are true or false!"

Chen Shicheng, with a mischievous grin, took a golden yellow bean from the storage compartment.

【Yellow Turban Strongman Bean Seed (Ancient Relic): Can refine a high-level cultivator's corpse into a Yellow Turban Strongman, with level and strength identical to the cultivator's life, each summon lasts 60 minutes.】

Staring at the Ancient Relic in his hand, Chen Shicheng input the True Essence with anticipation; the bean then slipped from his grasp, hovering midair and shedding a golden light curtain.

However, embarrassingly, the maximum area the Relic can envelop is only a few circles larger than the pit he dug, let alone refining an entire turtle corpse; even a single fingernail might be beyond its capacity.

【Refining this corpse exceeds the Relic's limit; please select another corpse for refinement.】

Even an Ancient Relic has its limits!

Chen Shicheng wasn't unprepared, but when this scenario actually unfolded before him, he couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

If he could successfully refine the corpse beneath his feet, he wouldn't need to evade the righteous cultivators by sea; once the great turtle is released, he could flatten the entire Dayu Dynasty—and this game world—without trouble.

Unfortunately, his invincible path was cut off by the Relic, but fortunately, information revealed by the system prompt confirms that the great turtle is indeed completely dead, which counts as a small gain.

Boom!

Just as Chen Shicheng lamented his severed invincible path, the island beneath him shuddered violently.

Then the sea surface split, and a mountain-sized massive turtle head rose from the mist, the water it lifted crashing down like a tilted galaxy, raising towering waves.

Damn, didn't we say to draw out the newborn soul.

Before Chen Shicheng could finish speaking, the giant turtle's skull sagged like a deflated ball, once again raising a tsunami-like wave that cleared a large swath of the mist, vaguely revealing the open sea beyond.

At the same time, inside the "island" beneath his feet, a massive roar echoed, and two spirits dozens of meters tall burst out of the ground, one after the other.

The first spirit to appear was blue and translucent; although it bore the giant turtle's form and its size was magnified countless times, the spark in its eyes showed it was likely the old turtle that just vanished. The red spirit behind it needed no inspection—it had to be the new soul born from the corpse.

After all, the yin and dead aura in the soul is overly evident to Chen Shicheng, who has a full-level Taiyin Cold Ice Curse; it doesn't look like a good soul at all.

"It's that one, the new soul born from my corpse. If you help me eliminate it, I can give you not just the turtle shell but also the flesh!" the old turtle shouted at Chen Shicheng.

Chen Shicheng glanced that way, and under the appraisal of the Eye of Bai Ze, the red giant turtle's attributes were reported.

【Lv.???, Essence:???, Qi:???, Divine:???, Skill:????,??.】

"As expected, can't identify it!"

Chen Shicheng rolled his eyes wordlessly; the appraisal result held no surprises.

A emaciated camel is larger than a horse; after countless ten-thousands of years, this giant turtle still has such a high level, and the most hard-to-accept thing is that there are three question marks after the attributes!

Three of them—can you believe it? After many failed appraisals, Chen Shicheng has gained experience.

Although the exact numbers are invisible, the number of question marks indicates how many digits the attributes have, and the number of question marks in the skill shows how many characters the skill name contains. It's of little use.

Now, the three question marks mean the giant turtle's attributes are all three-digit numbers, anywhere from 100 to 999.

"Kid, are you sure you want to go up?"

Hui Siye couldn't see the appraised attributes, but the sheer might of the two giant turtles in combat made him doubt Chen Shicheng's decision to intervene.

"I'll take another look... look," Chen Shicheng swallowed, saying dryly.

At this moment, the two giant turtles were locked in a chaotic battle: one a mindless, killing-obsessed zombie soul, the other a vengeful soul unable to rest after its corpse was desecrated.

These two souls were fundamentally incompatible, like water and fire; when they clashed, the world shook, relentless and unending, each tearing the other's spirit with frantic ferocity.

Chen Shicheng originally thought the two spirits were born from the same body, which would mean they were taught by the same master, sharing identical techniques, making it impossible to break their moves.

But after watching for a while, he suddenly sensed something off; as time passed, the old turtle seemed to be suppressed.

"Didn't we say nobody could affect anyone?" Chen Shicheng's cheek twitched sharply, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

After the old turtle died, its soul drifted in place, deteriorating day by day. Surviving this long relied on a deep foundation, but even the deepest foundation cannot withstand the wear of time; it only grows weaker.

As for the newly born soul, no matter how weak it was at birth, it can control the body, as if it has a source of water.

Although it cannot drive the massive body to move, it can occasionally make the giant turtle's head breach the surface to swallow trivial blood meals, strengthening itself.

Over countless years, the seabed has been leveled; one can imagine its power has been continuously growing!

(End of Chapter)