Chapter 149: Memories of the Turtle Demon, Securing the Secret!

"However, I should start with the turtle demon I am meant to execute. I will first go and ask it if it knows that sly old bastard, the River God of Lingtian River."

Thinking to himself, Lin Yi did not start from the first cell, but instead hurried all the way to the hundredth cell.

Upon opening it, a wild boar spirit was revealed inside.

This wild boar spirit had bristles all over its body like steel needles, and its massive physique took up fully two-thirds of the narrow room.

However, Lin Yi did not need to slaughter it; he only needed to check whether the talisman patterns in the room had been damaged and if there were any signs of the metal chains having been broken free from.

After a thorough inspection, Lin Yi found nothing out of the ordinary, so he left and quickly slipped into the ninety-ninth cell.

When the ninety-ninth cell was opened, inside was a turtle as large as a pot cover.

This turtle was dark brown all over, with wrinkled, aged skin, giving it an eerie yet ancient appearance.

When Lin Yi entered, the turtle's bean-sized eyes emitted a faint greenish glow as it stared at Lin Yi without saying a word.

"Let me ask you a question, turtle demon, can you speak?"

"Gibberish... gibberish..."

The turtle demon seemed not to understand human language and let out continuous, harsh screeches.

Unable to make sense of it, Lin Yi wasted no time. He wound up his fist, ignited the scorching energy of the *Great Cavern Scripture*, and struck fiercely at one of the turtle demon's claws.

With a loud thud, the turtle demon let out a howl of pain.

Afterward, Lin Yi asked again, "Can you speak human words or not?"

Once those words were spoken, the turtle demon did not roar; instead, it bared its teeth and panted heavily on the spot.

After a moment of thought, Lin Yi realized his approach might be flawed. He channeled a surge of energy that instantly enveloped the surveillance camera inside the room.

While a look of confusion flashed across the turtle demon's greenish eyes, Lin Yi turned his head and said directly to it, "Turtle demon, do you know the River God of Lingtian River?"

Clearly, this question turned the turtle demon's look of confusion into one of sheer shock.

Then, the turtle demon subconsciously nodded, followed by hurriedly shaking its head.

Demons and monsters could genuinely be quite foolish at times.

Lin Yi knew he had come to the right place.

He hadn't expected to find what he was looking for without having to interrogate every single turtle demon on the second floor of the Demon Prison.

His luck was not bad; he had managed to find the exact target right here.

Lin Yi chuckled heartily, then said to the turtle demon, "Alright, stop putting on an act, it's you. Nodding and shaking your head just now—the River God of Lingtian River asked me to pass a question to you. He said you know of a place where there is a bead that looks like scrap metal... He wants to know precisely where that scrap metal bead is hidden."

Although Lin Yi had spread his energy throughout the entire room, he was still cautious about the surveillance camera capturing anything, so he turned his back and pretended to rummage through his pockets.

In reality, with a flicker of his consciousness, he retrieved the City God Token from the mysterious space of the *Slaying God Scripture*.

The ominous energy previously attached to the City God Token had already been completely purged when it was first deposited into the mysterious space of the *Slaying God Scripture*.

Yet, the appearance of the token remained entirely unchanged, and one could tell at a glance that it was authentic.

Originally speechless, the turtle demon instantly grew excited upon seeing the City God Token, and it suddenly found its human voice.

"Let me out, let you out—we are on the same side, hurry and let me out, I don't want to stay in this Demon Prison anymore!"

Excitedly, the turtle demon attempted to struggle against the metal chains.

However, the talisman patterns inscribed on those chains unleashed waves of energy that hissed continuously as they scorched the turtle demon's limbs and body.

It was evident that the turtle demon was genuinely stirred.

Furthermore, this turtle demon was indeed capable of human speech.

Lin Yi became increasingly certain that he had targeted the right one.

Looking down at the turtle demon, Lin Yi said, "You already know what I said is true, so tell me, where exactly is that scrap metal bead?"

"I'll tell you, it's in..."

Just as the turtle demon was about to speak, it saw the young man standing opposite suddenly draw a long saber and slash directly toward its head.

"..."

The turtle demon felt like crying. Wasn't this just toying with it?

Just a moment ago he was interrogating it, and now, in the blink of an eye, he was cleaving off its head with a saber. Was this guy really on its side?

The last shred of hope the turtle demon held vanished completely in the next second.

It felt a chill across its neck, and its massive head had already been parted from its body.

"It's here, it's here..."

Lin Yi cared little for its thoughts; the previous exchange was merely a minor test—he had just been playing with the turtle demon!

And sure enough, now that it was dealt with, the reward had arrived.

"Sealed and cataloged a low-grade turtle demon, rewarded with the Yellow-grade lower-tier *Golden Bell Shield*."

A cascade of colorful light flashed. The turtle demon's physical carcass remained unchanged, but its consciousness and soul had clearly been sucked away by the *Slaying God Scripture*.

In fact, one could presume the *Slaying God Scripture* had tampered with the turtle demon's remains; visibly, the creature's flesh appeared as though it had been drained of its vital essence.

It looked remarkably different, with the skin across its entire body appearing parched and rough.

Aside from the past and present holders of the *Slaying God Scripture*—those men and women, old and young, who each retained a portion of their own consciousness—the scripture itself possessed absolute autonomous consciousness.

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, whenever Lin Yi executed demons and ghosts, the *Slaying God Scripture* would absorb everything, including their physical bodies completely.

Yet, ever since Lin Yi had slain the first python demon on the first floor of the Demon Prison, the scripture had shown no signs of total absorption; instead, it simply devoured the consciousness and soul of the serpent directly.

Having carefully tested the waters in that very first room, Lin Yi had finally figured out how this mechanism operated. That was why his heart was filled with joy, his face beaming with an excitement that had seemed incomprehensible to Zhang Tutu and Ding Junjie at the time.

...

The sound of churning water.

This was a small lake.

Within the lake, numerous small turtles swam back and forth.

The water of the lake was blood-red, for a massive turtle was currently tearing apart a tiger on the shore.

After devouring the greater half of the tiger's flesh and blood, the giant turtle pushed the remaining scraps directly into the lake.

Instantly, many of the small turtles in the lake began to feed voraciously.

That half a tiger was quickly consumed.

Year after year, the turtle demon grew to full size.

This turtle demon had given itself an imposing name: Wuhu.

Its favorite phrase was "Wuhu, taking flight."

The hunting grounds of the turtle demon's mother began to expand continuously, and the number of various demons and humans slaughtered grew ever larger.

Eventually, there was no longer enough food to sustain them all.

Thus, the turtle demon left its mother's territory and began venturing further afield.

There was a river named the Su River.

The source of the Su River traced back to the waterways of the Lingtian River.

Depending on its invincible defense while swimming upstream at a leisurely pace, Wuhu began to carve out a reputation for itself in the Lingtian River as well.

Until one day, it laid eyes upon the River God of Lingtian River.

At that time, the River God of Lingtian River was consuming a tiger.

The River God of Lingtian River had only manifested an avatar, looking like a benevolent old man.

He wore tattered clothes and appeared identical to a human, but upon closer inspection, one would notice that the entire face of the River God of Lingtian River was densely covered in cracks!

Besides that single tiger, there were over a dozen more tigers gathered on the riverbank, and every single one of them was still alive.

Yet, those tigers dared not make the slightest movement.

They didn't even harbor the thought of fleeing.

At that moment, deep within the turtle demon's heart, the River God of Lingtian River was an absolute deity!

To be able to frighten tigers to such an extent—how immensely powerful must this demon be?

Back then, the turtle demon had wanted to swim away.

In the Lingtian River, besides the turtle demon, there were many other miscellaneous minor demons.

Those demons watched from afar as the River God of Lingtian River held his grand feast.

Then, after finishing the second-to-last tiger, the River God of Lingtian River asked, "Who among you dares to eat this very last tiger?"

When the question was posed, not a single demon answered.

None of the various minor demons dared to step forward.

Only the turtle demon's eyes lit up, its greenish gaze gleaming as its mind flashed back to how its mother had often asked the exact same question of her offspring—asking which of them wanted to come to the shore and eat her leftover tiger meals.

The reason the young turtle demon had thrived and grown stronger than its siblings was precisely because it was bold and fearless when it came to food.

And its mother had never punished it for it.

Seeing all the other monsters and spirits hesitating and holding back, the turtle demon took the lead and charged forward.

That was the crowning moment of the turtle demon's life.

As a result, this turtle demon was taken in by the River God of Lingtian River as his grandson.

As it turned out, the turtle demon was merely an adopted grandson of the River God, sharing no actual blood ties.

Following the River God to enjoy good food and drink, the turtle demon had lived a very comfortable life.

One day, the turtle demon heard a captured human woman mention that not far from there, the government had forcefully demolished an old temple, causing quite a commotion and stirring up unclean rumors.

So, that very night, the turtle demon went to investigate.

What kind of terrifying sight was that?

At the site where the old temple had been leveled, warning tape had already been set up. When the turtle demon crawled over, it saw intense waves of blood-red aura rising from within the ruins, seemingly soaring into the sky, and the turtle demon grew terrified.

Through the haze, the turtle demon caught sight of a small bead resembling scrap metal, resting right in the middle of the forehead of an old, dilapidated statue.

Instinct told the turtle demon that it was definitely a precious treasure.

All the blood-red aura in this place was connected to it.

However, the scene before it was far too horrifying.

The turtle demon turned back.

It began to boast about the incident to some of its companions.

Only, while boasting, the turtle demon kept its wits about it, intending to report this matter to its grandfather, the River God of Lingtian River.

By doing so, it believed it would receive an even greater reward.

Yet that very night, whether the turtle demon's visit to the location had been detected or not, a large contingent of Paranormal Investigation Bureau personnel arrived.

Leading them was none other than Elder An Hero.

Just like that, the turtle demon was captured, though a few other fish had slipped through the net.

That was what had happened half a year ago.

The memories abruptly ended there.

Having absorbed the memories, Lin Yi's eyes lit up. No wonder it liked to say "Wuhu, taking flight"—you really did take flight... This turtle demon had actually been captured by Old Master An Hero himself!

Furthermore, it indeed knew the whereabouts of the Demon King Bead!