Han Li and the others had not expected that, not long after they piloted the spirit vessel away from the lightning storm region, the Thunder Turtle hidden within the dark clouds would suddenly sink its massive body downward. The black clouds around it dispersed in an instant, revealing its true form.
The sheer size of this turtle was comparable to a small mountain, to say nothing of anything else. Its enormous shell was a deep gray, yet it shimmered with an eerie metallic luster, appearing impossibly smooth.
Stranger still, only the creature's four limbs were visible — its head and tail could not be seen at all. It seemed to have retracted them entirely within its shell, making no effort to extend them outward.
By this point, the lightning storm had fully erupted. The entire sky was shrouded in brilliant blue radiance, and from the blazing heights above, countless arcs of blue lightning rained down in a torrent — the smaller ones merely a foot or so across, while the largest stretched over thirty meters long. They plummeted toward the ground with terrifying force, and the deafening roar of thunder drowned out every other sound in heaven and earth.
Given the Thunder Turtle's colossal body, it naturally bore the brunt of innumerable lightning arcs. Yet the moment any arc made contact with its form, it was absorbed as silently as a clay ox sinking into the sea, vanishing without a trace.
Even more astonishing, a steady pulse of white light now radiated from the surface of the turtle's body. The lightning arcs that fell elsewhere nearby were drawn toward it as if pulled by an enormous magnet — their trajectories bent, and they descended upon the turtle's back instead. In this manner, nearly half of all the lightning generated by the storm was forcibly drawn into the creature's body.
The giant turtle's four limbs paddled lazily through the air, and it appeared thoroughly at ease within the raging storm.
Then, without warning, the four limbs froze and retracted into the shell.
Almost simultaneously, the surrounding space rippled, and a beam of multicolored light shot out from the void. As the radiance condensed, it revealed a massive bone bird wreathed in prismatic glow.
Though the bone bird was only about thirty meters in length, the aura it emanated was in no way inferior to that of the giant turtle gorgeously devouring lightning within the storm. What was even more alarming were the two figures standing atop the creature's skull.
One stood over six meters tall, his entire body flickering with black light. The other was of ordinary build, yet shrouded in a faint green mist, and neither could be seen clearly.
"Not bad, not bad. I didn't expect that the moment we teleported here, we'd encounter such excellent prey. I still need a few more materials for the Ten-Headed Demon I'm refining — this Thunder Turtle should just about suffice," one of the figures murmured as it gazed at the giant turtle.
"Brother Tianmiao, finders keepers, I'd say. Your Ten-Headed Demon only needs skeletal material anyway. Help me slay this turtle, and I'll claim the two Thunder Pearls inside its body," the other figure replied with a chuckle.
"Hmph, Brother Xuanwu, you certainly have it figured out. The most precious things on this turtle are those two Thunder Pearls. You expect to simply talk them away? Don't you think that's rather unreasonable?" The figure within the green mist let out a displeased snort.
"Heh heh, the Thunder Pearls are wondrous indeed, but they're of little use to either you or me. I only want them for a different purpose. Tell you what — I'll trade you a True Spirit Qilin's arm bone for the two Thunder Pearls. How about that?" The tall figure seemed unwilling to haggle further and proposed his terms directly.
"A different purpose? Oh — I nearly forgot. The Can Spirit of yours, Brother Xuanwu, is also a Thunder Turtle. You want to use these two Thunder Pearls to nourish it and extend its lifespan, don't you?" The figure in the green mist spoke with sudden realization.
"As long as you understand! Extending the Can Spirit's lifespan is a great boon to our human race. It is equivalent to half a True Spirit in combat power. Should an extermination war truly break out, it would be a tremendous asset for both of us. Surely Brother Tianmiao wouldn't refuse such a thing?" the tall figure replied in an unhurried tone.
"Since it truly serves a great purpose, Brother Xuanwu, I naturally wouldn't play the villain. It's settled then. But we should act quickly and not delay the important matter at hand. We didn't come out here to casually gather rare treasures. We have another critical assignment — we must eliminate every single one of those foreign race strongholds near Heavenly Abyss City." After considering for a long moment, the figure in the green mist agreed, albeit reluctantly.
"Ha ha ha, we certainly won't delay anything of importance. With the two of us joining forces, plus this puppet refined from an ancient Rainbow Phoenix's remains, how long could it possibly take to destroy a freshly matured Thunder Turtle?" The tall figure let out a hearty laugh, then his body moved, and he shot directly into the heart of the lightning storm with fists clenched.
Moments later, a thunderous boom erupted from within the storm, followed by an equally earth-shaking roar from some beast.
The other figure, standing atop the bone phoenix, let out a soft sigh and shook its head — seemingly exasperated by its companion's explosive temperament. But it immediately formed a set of hand seals, and the bone phoenix beneath its feet surged in size, transforming in the blink of an eye into a creature over three hundred meters long. Then, urged on by the figure above, the bone phoenix plunged headlong into the storm region as well.
Almost at once, the beast's roar from within the distant blue lightning grew far more frantic and enraged — tinged, even, with a note of fear.
……
On the other side, Han Li and the rest of the group continued pressing forward aboard the Spirit Cloud Vessel without pause.
Whether the blood-mole young man's warning had truly been accurate or not, over the next month or so, the Spirit Cloud Vessel — though it flew at considerable speed and its illusion technique was quite refined — still encountered danger on several occasions.
For instance, at one point it was suddenly swept into a vortex of crimson wind. This so-called wind turned out to be driven by countless rice-grain-sized scarlet insects swarming together.
Had the group not reacted in horror and combined their powers to blast their way out of the wind and flee, the vessel would have been devoured clean in an instant.
Not long after that incident, while the Spirit Cloud Vessel was in mid-flight, the space ahead of it rippled without warning, and another enormous bird — this one with two heads and a body a hundred meters long — burst through the void.
The creature was entirely golden and radiated spiritual energy of breathtaking intensity. One look was enough to tell that it was every bit as fearsome as the Thunder Turtle. Everyone's hearts leaped into their throats.
Whether the bird genuinely failed to notice the vessel's presence, or simply considered something the size of an ant beneath its interest, it merely flicked its massive wings a few times and flew off on its own.