Chapter 68: The Battle Between Eagle and Turtle!

The massive eagle descended from the gloom, circling the beleaguered island like a vulture waiting for a carcass. It did not attack immediately. Instead, it hovered on the edge of the storm, its eyes sharp and predatory, watching the giant turtle with a gaze full of cold calculation.

It noticed Su Miaoqing and Xiao Yifeng, of course. But it paid them no heed. To a peak Nascent Soul sovereign, two little Qi Refining cultivators were nothing more than ants drifting on a leaf—unworthy of even a single glance.

Xiao Yifeng’s skin crawled. “That eagle,” he whispered, his voice tight. “Its aura is no weaker than the turtle’s. It’s another peak Nascent Soul Demon Beast.”

Before Su Miaoqing could reply, the heavens roared.

The tribulation clouds had finished recharging. A massive bolt of lightning crashed down, but this was no simple arc of electricity. The energy twisted and coalesced in mid-air, taking the form of a roaring Thunder Dragon. It dove toward the island with jaws wide open, intent on consumption.

The giant turtle had no time for the eagle now. It focused everything on survival.

The mountain peaks on its back flared with light, channeling the island’s ley lines into a singular point. A massive sword composed of earth-essence and lightning formed above the shell, thrusting upward to meet the falling dragon.

BOOM!

The Thunder Dragon swallowed the sword in an instant.

But the turtle refused to yield. It fired another sword, and another—a continuous volley shooting upward like a stream of arrows. It was a war of attrition, earth against sky.

Sparks rained down like meteors as the dragon and swords annihilated each other. The dragon’s form dimmed, its power whittled down by the barrage, but it still possessed enough momentum to crash through the defenses.

It slammed into the turtle’s spectral barrier.

The impact was catastrophic. The barrier shattered. The lightning blasted the physical mountains on the turtle’s back, sending boulders flying and splitting the rock. Several peaks crumbled into dust, and fountains of dark blood sprayed into the air.

The giant turtle let out a miserable, earth-shaking shriek.

High above, the giant eagle saw its opening.

It didn’t hesitate. The bird folded its wings, diving through the chaotic winds. As it fell, it gathered the surrounding gale, compressing the storm into razor-sharp whirlwinds beneath its pinions. Then, with a violent snap of its wings, it unleashed them.

A massive tornado, laced with wind blades, tore toward the helpless turtle.

The turtle, paralyzed by the residual lightning coursing through its nervous system, couldn’t dodge. It retracted its head into its shell just as the wind magic struck.

CRACK!

More mountains sheared off the island’s back. The turtle bellowed from within its shell, a sound of muffled agony.

But the Heavens were relentless. They gave no quarter, no pause for breath.

Another bolt fell. This one condensed into a single, blinding Thunder Sword—solid, sharp, and unstoppable.

The turtle, cowering inside its shell, desperately siphoned energy from the remaining dozen peaks to form a final barrier. It was futile. The Heavenly Thunder Sword pierced the barrier like paper, driving straight through the thickest part of the carapace.

The weapon sank hilt-deep into the turtle’s body before detonating.

Flesh tore open. The shell cracked. The explosion scorched everything in its radius, including the towering Divine Tree rooted near the center of the island. The ancient wood turned black in an instant, smoke billowing from its branches.

“The power…” Su Miaoqing gasped, her face pale. “Even a monster like this is helpless?”

She looked at the suffering beast, her eyes filling with pity. “Is this what they mean when they say ‘Heaven and Earth are not benevolent’? Will we face such cruelty one day?”

Xiao Yifeng stared at the scene, lost in thought. Cruelty? Perhaps.

He remembered his past life. He remembered the cold steel of Lin Qingyan’s blade. Was his death back then any different from this turtle’s fate? Just another casualty of the Dao.

“It’s over,” Xiao Yifeng murmured. “The tribulation is too strong, and its enemy is waiting to strike the final blow. It will perish here.”

But just as he spoke, a miracle occurred.

The charred Divine Tree, seemingly dead, began to shudder. A cascade of emerald light drifted down from its blackened branches, falling like gentle rain onto the turtle’s mangled back.

Where the green light touched, flesh knitted together. Bones reset. The horrific wounds closed up at a visible speed.

The turtle was healing.

However, the tree paid the price. As the light faded, thousands of its leaves turned yellow and withered, falling from the branches in a melancholic shower. The tree looked instantly older, its vitality drained to save its host.

“That tree…” Xiao Yifeng exchanged a shocked glance with Su Miaoqing. “It’s a symbiotic treasure. No wonder the turtle carries it.”

They weren’t the only ones watching.

The giant eagle’s eyes lit up with Greed. It screeched, ignoring the danger of the tribulation clouds, and dove straight toward the island. Its target wasn’t the turtle anymore—it was the Divine Tree. It extended its massive talons, intending to rip the treasure out by its roots.

The giant turtle went berserk. It would not let this thief take its lifeline.

Summoning the last dregs of its strength, the turtle fired arcs of lightning at the intruder. But the eagle was too fast. It danced through the air, dodging the clumsy attacks with contemptuous ease.

It closed the distance in a heartbeat. Its talons opened, ready to snatch the tree like a rabbit from the grass.

HISSS!

A black shadow exploded from the base of the tree.

It was slender, fast as lightning, and vicious. It struck before the eagle could react, sinking its fangs deep into the bird’s wing.

The eagle shrieked in pain, thrashing wildly. It clawed at the shadow, flapping its wings to gain altitude. It managed to tear itself free and shoot back into the sky, leaving a cloud of grey feathers drifting in its wake.

Only then did Xiao Yifeng and Su Miaoqing see the attacker clearly.

It was a massive black serpent, covered in iron-hard scales. But it wasn’t a separate creature. Its tail fused seamlessly into the turtle’s shell.

“The tail…” Xiao Yifeng’s eyes widened. “The turtle’s tail is a snake!”

The Black Warrior. The Xuanwu.

The legendary beast form—a turtle entwined with a snake.

The eagle hovered in the distance, bleeding and furious. But before it could flee, the sixth bolt of lightning began to fall.

This was the turtle’s chance.

With a roar that shook the ocean, the turtle lunged. It didn’t aim for the sky. It extended its long neck and the serpent tail simultaneously, snapping at the eagle with desperation. It ignored the incoming lightning completely, focusing only on one thing: grappling its enemy.

The serpent tail wrapped around the eagle’s leg. The turtle’s jaws clamped onto a talon.

It dragged the eagle down, right into the impact zone.

The sixth bolt shattered into a rain of lightning spears, blanketing the entire area.

Trapped, the eagle had no choice. It spread its wings and unleashed a storm of wind blades upward, trying to deflect the heavenly punishment meant for the turtle.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The lightning spears pierced through the wind, stabbing into both beasts. Blood—red from the eagle, dark from the turtle—rained into the sea.

They were both mangled, but they had survived the sixth wave.

As the smoke cleared, Xiao Yifeng saw a gleam of malicious triumph in the turtle’s eyes. It had successfully used its enemy as a meat shield.

But the Heavens did not appreciate being tricked.

The clouds above stopped swirling. They began to boil. The air grew heavy, suffused with a terrifying, suffocating pressure. The Tribulation had been interfered with by an outsider, and now, the difficulty was scaling up.

“Foolish,” Xiao Yifeng shook his head, his face grave. “A Tribulation is a test between a cultivator and the Dao. Dragging an outsider in doesn’t split the damage—it multiplies the wrath.”

He looked up at the sky.

“The turtle could have survived with the tree’s help. But it got greedy for revenge. Now… the Seventh Bolt will be a catastrophe.”

The clouds churned, darker than ink. Slowly, the center of the vortex opened, forming a gigantic, unblinking Eye of Thunder.

It stared down at the two beasts.

The lightning hadn’t even fallen yet, but the aura alone felt like the end of the world.