Chapter 241: The Black Turtle's Gift
Dong Tianze was shocked.
The unusually dense spiritual qi and the lush forests of the fragmented land hidden beneath the cloud were truly dumbfounding.
A fragmented land like this should've been discovered long ago.
How could it have remained undiscovered?
The leaders of the five major sects in the Third World personally investigated this area after the Celestial Phoenix's remains shattered.
How did they miss this fragmented land?
Dong Tianze was utterly baffled.
"Let's see where you can run now, Dong Tianze!" The scar-faced man roared as he dived down on his ancient zither. "Arrogant fool! Do you think you're invincible because the Sinister Soul Temple bestowed powerful spirit artifacts on you?
"We're both Celestial Phoenix Divine Guards, servants of our master. You're not any more noble than I am!
"The Sinister Soul Temple has no right to interfere in the rivalries between Divine Guards!"
The scar-faced man followed the Black Iron Mountain down and soon discovered the unfamiliar fragmented land below as well.
"What is this?!" he cried, just as stunned as Dong Tianze at the hidden fragmented land.
Suddenly, the gravity above the fragmented land increased by dozens of times!
The scar-faced man and his zither plummeted toward the Resolute Expanse like meteors.
The zither was smashed to pieces the moment it hit the ground, and the man's bones fractured with a resounding crack upon impact.
Splurt!
Gravely injured, the scar-faced man spat out blood as he sat among the splintered remains of his zither.
His body was like a block of iron, and the ground like a powerful magnet, firmly holding him in place. He could not move an inch.
It was as though the fragmented land beneath the clouds was filled with malice toward him and was actively targeting him.
When Dong Tianze saw the scar-faced man rushing toward the fragmented land, he had braced himself for a tough battle.
Unexpectedly, the scar-faced man was pulled to the ground, destroying his zither and severely injuring the man himself.
"This...my descent wasn't nearly as fast, so I wasn't injured like he was."
Dong Tianze then attempted to move the Black Iron Mountain.
To his surprise, the Black Iron Mountain floated effortlessly into the sky, and the pool inside, lined with spirit jades, filled with dense spiritual qi.
The Black Iron Mountain seemed incredibly light on this fragmented land, and its speed was faster than before.
Dong Tianze's eyes lit up with excitement.
"This place is practically a paradise for me!"
He cautiously maneuvered the Black Iron Mountain, edging it closer to the scar-faced Divine Guard while secretly observing the man's expression.
Soon, he noticed the despair and frustration in the man's eyes.
Dong Tianze's confidence soared.
Accelerating the Black Iron Mountain, he simply and brutally brought its immense weight crashing down on the man.
The man could only struggle helplessly as the Black Iron Mountain loomed over him.
Despite being in the late stage of the Profound Abode Realm, he was like a grasshopper pinned to the ground by a nail—no matter how he twisted his body, he could not move an inch.
Boom!
The man was crushed to a pulp.
A glowing Celestial Phoenix Imprint floated out from the pile of bones and was absorbed into Dong Tianze's forehead.
Whoosh!
The Celestial Phoenix Imprint on Dong Tianze's brow brightened, and threads of mystical energy flowed into every part of his body.
The ground was no longer solid but fluid like water or air.
He could move freely underground with Earth Dive.
Let's go deeper!
Delighted, Pang Jian sank further.
Once he reached thirty zhang below ground, he found he could not go any deeper.
Thirty zhang was his limit.
However, his movement forward and backward was still unhindered.
Deep underground, he could see tiny insects, dead tree roots, decaying leaves, and the broken bones of Vicious Beasts and Spirit Beasts.
I've gained another escape method.
Pang Jian roamed through the depths of the earth, wandering back and forth in fascination.
Unfortunately, it was not long before most of his blood essence was exhausted.
This ability consumes far too much blood essence. I'll have to use it sparingly and not treat it as a regular technique, Pang Jian noted as he resurfaced.
Glancing at the stone pillars around him, he activated the scute's Mountain Phase ability.
Whoosh!
He passed through a stone pillar as if moving through the air, encountering no resistance whatsoever.
As expected of an Earth Spirit, even its initial innate abilities are extraordinary.
Pang Jian's eyes brightened.
Mountain Phase allowed him to ignore rock walls and traverse through great mountains.
It could be used to search for hidden treasure, hunt down elusive enemies, or simply allow him to guard his own life and make a quick escape.
The small turtle scute covering his heart unexpectedly gave him such useful abilities.
Those 100,000 spirit jades were well spent!
Will the black turtle grant me more incredible abilities as it grows? Pang Jian wondered before deciding to ask the black turtle directly.
It confirmed his suspicions.
According to the black turtle, once it reached a certain profound realm, it could refine even more mystical scutes and eventually craft a complete set of armor for Pang Jian.
That armor would fuse with his body, allowing Pang Jian to wield the Earth Spirit's abilities and essentially become an Earth Spirit in human form.
An Earth Spirit in human form...
The image sparked a deep sense of longing in Pang Jian.
While Pang Jian was lost in his vision of the future, the slightly exhausted black turtle severed its connection to him.
Pang Jian then swallowed a blood-replenishing pill and a bucket of Rank Six Vicious Beast's blood. After a brief rest, he continued with his journey.
Whenever his blood essence was replenished, he would use the black turtle's abilities to dive underground or phase through stone pillars.
He simply could not get enough of experiencing the wonders of the scute.
Bang!
Pang Jian suddenly slammed into something hard while using Mountain Phase, forcing him to stop in his tracks.
Rubbing his head and slightly dazed from the impact, Pang Jian stared in bewilderment at a grayish-white stone pillar over ten zhang tall, firmly rooted in the ground.
There was no obvious outward difference between this pillar and the others in the stone forest.
However, Mountain Phase was ineffective on this particular pillar.
"There must be something unusual inside," Pang Jian muttered with a frown.
1. A scute is a thickened horny or bony plate on a turtle's shell or on the back of a crocodile. ☜