Chapter 9: Turtle Spirit Ripples

Seeing the larger turtle dragon easily break free from the Wind Binding Formation, Qu Yi had a rough idea of its strength—it was likely already at the advanced stage of the Golden Core realm, and with time, it could reach the early stage of the Yuan Ying realm.
From the cries of the two turtle dragons during their attacks, Qu Yi also figured out that the larger one was male, while the smaller one, attacked by Wu Yuan and Bai Man, was female.
“Is that so? You say you want to kill us? Then come at me,” Qu Yi said with a smile as he looked at the male turtle dragon.
The male turtle dragon glared coldly at Qu Yi, then suddenly leaped forward with incredible speed. Its mouth opened, emitting a chilling frosty aura—if it got close, it could freeze a person to death without even using magic.
“Want to race me?” Qu Yi smiled and immediately flew to the source of the waterfall in the air.
The male turtle dragon, realizing it had missed its target, let out a loud roar whose sound carried far. It looked up at Qu Yi in the air and also flew upward.
“Human boy, so you rely on your speed to harass me. Are you really that confident in your speed?” Instead of attacking directly, the turtle dragon smiled at Qu Yi.
Qu Yi immediately grew serious. After all, this turtle dragon was at the advanced stage of the Golden Core realm, and his own speed, though impressive, was still at that same level. Compared to a true master of this realm, he was likely still inferior.
“Turtle dragon, you’re right,” Qu Yi suddenly smiled and darted downward.
“Boy, your speed is still far inferior to mine,” the male turtle dragon snarled before chasing after him.
But by the time Qu Yi reached the edge of the pond, he had already taken out the Hidden Dust Formation disc and activated it there. In an instant, the entire pond disappeared, revealing a scene where the waterfall split into various streams that flowed into the nearby trees.
“Sister, Wu Yuan, hurry into the formation!” Qu Yi’s voice came from within the Hidden Dust Formation.
Meanwhile, Bai Man and Wu Yuan jointly attacked the female turtle dragon, with Wu Yuan bearing the main brunt of the attack. Thanks to the inferior-grade treasure sword, the Locust Snake Sword, in Bai Man’s hands, the female turtle dragon hesitated to attack directly. Additionally, having to defend against Wu Yuan’s attacks allowed Bai Man, who was only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, to avoid danger.
Wu Yuan was strong, but his only ability was to drain blood; he lacked powerful offensive spells. He could only keep opening his dragon-like mouth and circling the female turtle dragon to attack, yet he couldn’t land a bite.

The female turtle dragon was extremely agile, its head and tail moving freely. After understanding Wu Yuan’s abilities, it gradually suppressed Wu Yuan’s attacks. If not for Bai Man constantly casting offensive spells from the side, Wu Yuan would likely have escaped.

Hearing Qu Yi’s call and seeing the pond disappear, Bai Man and Wu Yuan immediately knew that Qu Yi had set up the Hidden Dust Formation. They joined forces to counterattack the female turtle dragon, then took advantage of its defensive stance to fly into the Hidden Dust Formation.

The two turtle dragons gathered together. Seeing the fake rocks and trees below, they realized Qu Yi had already arranged the formation. Filled with anger, they roared and cursed, but dared not enter rashly.

“Turtle dragons, are you going in or not? If not, I’ll go play at the bottom of the pond. Who knows what treasures lie there, making this place a suitable habitat for you,” Qu Yi’s voice echoed again.

Just then, the Artifact God reminded Qu Yi that there were actually two more young turtle dragons at the bottom of the pond, which immediately inspired him with a plan.

Sure enough, upon hearing Qu Yi’s words, the two turtle dragons became so anxious that their heads almost dropped. They wanted to rush into the Hidden Dust Formation right away but feared Qu Yi’s tricks.

The Hidden Dust Formation was actually just a formation to conceal one’s presence. Those below the early Yuan Ying stage couldn’t use their spiritual senses to detect what was inside. If the two turtle dragons rushed in, it would be like fighting outside—the formation wouldn’t interfere with them, as it wasn’t a Illusion Formation, a Killing Formation, or a Trapping Formation that could hold them back. But the two turtle dragons didn’t know the function of the formation and feared they might never be able to escape once inside.

“Despicable humans! If you want to fight, come out and do it openly!”

“Shameless humans! You try to trap us monsters with formations. Have the courage to fight properly!”

Anxious but too afraid to enter the formation, the two turtle dragons could only curse loudly.

Inside the Hidden Dust Formation, Qu Yi had already set up the Wind Binding Formation, the Wild Fire Formation, the Golden Thorns Formation, and the Storm Sand Formation. When he saw Bai Man enter, he immediately asked her to explore the bottom of the pond and find those two young turtle dragons.

Hearing there were two more young turtle dragons, Bai Man’s gloomy mood from the previous battle vanished instantly, and she dived into the pond.

Wu Yuan rushed to Qu Yi’s side. Through the Hidden Dust Formation, he saw the two turtle dragons flying in the air. His fighting spirit surged, and he wanted to rush out to challenge them again.

“Wu Yuan, don’t rush. Those two turtle dragons will come in,” Qu Yi said with a smile as he stroked Wu Yuan’s dragon head.

After a while, Bai Man surfaced from the pond, holding two young turtle dragons in her hands.

The two little turtle dragons were only about a meter long and three fingers wide. If not looked at closely, they might be mistaken for water snakes. Their strength was at the later stage of Qi guidance, suggesting they had not been born for very long. As soon as the two little turtle dragons emerged from the water, they sensed the murderous intent emanating from Qu Yi and Wu Yuan. They immediately began to emit strange chirping sounds. Qu Yi naturally did not suppress their cries, allowing them to reach outside the Hidden Dust Formation so that the two turtle dragons could hear clearly. “Despicable!” “Shameless!” Hearing the terrified cries of their offspring, the two turtle dragons became even more anxious. They circled rapidly in the air, exchanging glances constantly. Suddenly, both turtle dragons rushed into the Hidden Dust Formation at the same time, heading toward the source of the cries, seemingly intending to rescue their young before escaping from the formation. However, as soon as they entered the formation, they realized there was no danger at all. The scene before them returned to reality—the pond was right there. Upon seeing the two turtle dragons charging over, Bai Man immediately threw away her little turtle dragon and flew away from the spot. The two turtle dragons quickly picked up their young and tried to fly out of the Hidden Dust Formation. “Since you’re already in, you can’t leave,” Qu Yi suddenly said. Immediately afterward, the Wind Binding Formation, Wild Fire Formation, Golden Thorns Formation, and Sand Storm Formation were activated simultaneously by the pond. A tornado enveloped the male turtle dragon, while the Sand Storm Formation trapped the female one. The Wild Fire Formation assisted the Wind Binding Formation in attacking the male dragon, and the Golden Thorns Formation assisted the Sand Storm Formation in attacking the female one. “Despicable and shameless!” the two turtle dragons shouted angrily. It turned out that if they had been attacked by the two formations alone, they could have broken free quickly. But now, as they had to protect each of their little turtle dragons, they had to divert some of their magical power to defend them, leaving them unable to resist the formations attacking them with full force. This was exactly why Qu Yi had suddenly thought of using the Hidden Dust Formation. If he had used the four formations while fighting as before, it wouldn’t have had much effect on the two turtle dragons and would even slow down his own attacks. But now, by using the two little turtle dragons to keep them preoccupied, he could prevent them from exerting their full strength. “Sister, Wu Yuan, we can attack now,” Qu Yi exclaimed joyfully upon seeing the two turtle dragons trapped. “Good!” “Ugh!” Bai Man and Wu Yuan immediately joined Qu Yi in attacking the powerful male turtle dragon.

By this time, Qu Yi had already drawn out the Fire Scaled Blade, a lower-grade precious weapon with the effect of intensifying flames. Although its power was not as great when driven by true energy as when powered by vital energy, the flames it produced were still enough to injure the Giant Turtle Dragon. Even more impressively, this time Qu Yi did not use metal-type true energy; instead, he converted all the elemental energies from his internal organs into fire-type true energy before swinging the Fire Scaled Blade with full force. With all the true energy from his internal organs exhausted, his remaining true energy was equivalent to that of someone in the middle stage of the Golden Core phase. Once channeled into the Fire Scaled Blade, it immediately transformed into a massive flaming sword that was swung at the Giant Turtle Dragon. Bai Man was equally fierce—she also exhausted all her metal-type true energy and fully activated the Locust Snake Sword, causing a golden serpent to fly out and bite at the Giant Turtle Dragon. Wu Yuan flew to the other side of the Giant Turtle Dragon, whose dragon head then fired another golden sword that shot straight at it. Seeing three attacks coming at once, the Giant Turtle Dragon knew it could neither withstand the Wind Binding Formation nor the Wild Fire Formation nor these three powerful attacks. Realizing it had no chance of resisting, it decisively unleashed its innate secret technique: Turtle Spirit Ripples. It also channeled all its true energy, creating a long, shell-like barrier around itself that not only protected its body but also blocked the Wind Binding Formation, the Wild Fire Formation, the flaming sword, the golden serpent, and the golden sword. However, the Giant Turtle Dragon, which had just escaped the Wind Binding Formation, had already spat out a mouthful of blood, indicating severe internal injuries. “Wu Yuan, go deal with the Giant Turtle Dragon,” Qu Yi ordered immediately upon seeing this. Meanwhile, Qu Yi took Bai Man to the edge of the pond and brought out a pile of lower-grade spirit stones. The two absorbed the spirit stones to replenish their lost true energy before attacking the female Giant Turtle Dragon. Wu Yuan, having used little of his true energy, immediately followed Qu Yi’s orders and chased after the Giant Turtle Dragon. Using its horse-like hooves, eagle wings, and dragon head bites, it tried to engage the Giant Turtle Dragon in close combat. The Giant Turtle Dragon was determined to rescue the female one so that they could safely escape the Hidden Dust Formation and hide in Fanglu Mountain to avoid danger. But Wu Yuan was too fast, and the injured Giant Turtle Dragon could not escape and could only struggle closely with it. Inside the Storm Sand Formation, the female Giant Turtle Dragon saw the desperate situation of her mate and realized that not only could it not get rid of Wu Yuan, but once Qu Yi and Bai Man replenished their true energy after absorbing the spirit stones, the Giant Turtle Dragon would die, and she too would be in grave danger. “Turtle Spirit Ripples!” The female Giant Turtle Dragon also used its innate secret technique.