Having lived for several decades, Wu Shaoyi had never set foot inside an immortal's cave dwelling before, and he was filled with curiosity and longing.
He Lingchuan spread his hands. "Immortal or not, I can't say. There's a small mound in there and a skeleton seated in meditation."
He turned to ask the crocodile demon, "Did you get any treasures from inside earlier?"
"A pile of junk," the crocodile demon said. "There isn't a shred of spiritual energy in there—it's even worse than the outside world. Any treasure would have deteriorated into worthless scrap."
By now, Wu Shaoyi's heartbeat had steadied somewhat, so he requested once more to be brought ashore.
He Lingchuan knew it was time to leave as well, but glancing back at the old turtle demon's remains, he felt a twinge of regret. If you're already dead, why fear leaking heavenly secrets? Couldn't you have just written the answer directly on the fortune sticks?
Besides, He Chunhua had made a good point: the old turtle demon had gone through the trouble of appearing in the shrine keeper's dreams to craft those sticks. If it wanted nothing from He Lingchuan, why go to all that effort?
He had expected to find answers on the turtle demon's corpse, but found nothing.
Disappointed, He Lingchuan pulled out the two worst lots and set them on the old turtle demon's carapace. "Here, I'm returning these to you."
He placed them quite squarely, yet for some reason, one of the sticks slipped along the edge of the shell and—
Then it vanished.
"Huh?" He Lingchuan caught this out of the corner of his eye as he turned, slightly startled.
Where did the stick go?
It seemed to have slid beneath the turtle's belly and disappeared.
He Lingchuan crouched down to search, but found nothing.
It was just a useless wooden stick—what was the big deal? He turned to leave, only to see the second stick slide gracefully down, falling right before his eyes onto the ground, where it sank out of sight.
As if afraid he hadn't seen clearly, it moved in agonizingly slow motion.
Never mind that the ground was solid stone; even if it were soft sand, how could a stick just sink into it?
His curiosity finally piqued, He Lingchuan reached under the turtle's belly to feel around. Squeezing his hand inside was no easy task, but then one of his fingers suddenly probed empty air.
There was an opening beneath the turtle's belly!
Amid such solid reef rock, there was actually a hole?
A rather deep one, at that.
He Lingchuan instinctively shoved at the turtle carcass, but it naturally remained unbudging, splashing another spatter of blood over his hand instead.
"Crocodile God, care to lend a hand?"
The Crocodile God merely gave a flick of its tail, not even bothering to open its maw.
If it wasn't part of its duties, it absolutely wouldn't lift a finger.
Left with no choice, He Lingchuan drew his broken saber and began cutting into the rock floor. "Old Wu, hang on a moment longer."
Sparks flew in every direction, making him worry the blade might snap again.
Fortunately, this weapon proved as reliable as ever. After a quarter of an hour of hard labor, he finally widened the stone hollow beneath the turtle's belly enough to reach his arm inside.
Then, he pulled out an object larger than a rugby ball, an oval so elongated it was almost rectangular.
It was off-white and covered in speckles.
An egg.
An intact, undamaged... turtle egg?
So this turtle demon was female? He Lingchuan carefully carried the egg out and rinsed the mucus from its surface by the pool.
Only after finishing did he recall that washing chicken eggs in water was a bad idea. But what about turtle eggs?
Whatever. This egg had been laid by the Water Spirit, so it had to be a little different, right?
Watching with wide eyes, Wu Shaoyi was equally astonished. "Is that a turtle egg?"
"You have eyes, don't you?" Had the Water Spirit specifically left those fortune sticks for him to entrust its offspring to his care?
That meant when it appeared in the shrine keeper's dream, it already knew it was destined for an untimely death. Looked at that way, the Water Spirit's divinations were remarkably accurate.
Hmm... That was hardly good news for him.
The crocodile demon lifted its heavy eyelids and stared at the egg. "Let me eat it, and I'll give you one of my great-grandsons as a spirit pet!"
The several large and small crocodile demons outside were all of its lineage.
It was common knowledge that crocodiles and snakes were among the hardest creatures to tame into spirit pets.
He Lingchuan could only refuse. "Sorry, no deal." A crocodile spirit pet would be nice, but this turtle egg was tied to the mystery of the worst lots and to his own life. There was no way he could part with it.
The crocodile demon took no offense. "Forget it then. I've already killed it once; I might as well leave it a chance to live." Monsters pursued the Dao as well and understood the principle of never driving things to absolute extremes.
"'It'?"
The crocodile demon tilted its head. "Is there only that one egg?"
"Yes." At least he hadn't pulled a second one out of the hole.
"This isn't reproduction; it's corpse liberation," the crocodile demon said coolly. "What you're holding isn't the turtle demon's offspring—it's the turtle demon itself!"
He Lingchuan was astounded.
Only after the crocodile demon explained did he understand that when such spiritual creatures of heaven and earth reached the end of their lifespan or could progress no further in cultivation, they would choose corpse liberation to transcend, seeking a second chance at life.
This turtle demon had likely condensed the essence of its entire body, transferred it out in the form of laying an egg, and then poured its soul inside.
As long as it could hatch from the shell, it could begin a second turtle life—essentially deleting its account to start over from level one.
Granted, transferring the soul carried the risk of soul damage and memory loss, but defying heaven always came with risks.
Yet here, even if the egg hatched, the hole's opening was thoroughly plugged by the heavy turtle carcass. The newly hatched turtle wouldn't be able to get out and would likely starve to death trapped inside.
On the other hand, if the hole hadn't been blocked, the water rats swarming the cavern would have devoured the egg long ago, leaving it no chance to hatch at all.
That was why it needed external help.
Realizing he was being used as a tool, He Lingchuan produced a copper coin from his robe, turned toward the empty air, and said, "Turtle Immortal, do you want me to take the egg with me? If so, land heads up all three times."
He had just sliced off the turtle demon's privates earlier, so reaching out to converse with it now made him feel somewhat guilty, prompting him to hastily use a respectful title.
He tossed the coin onto the ground three times, and every time, the inscribed side landed faceup.
The old turtle's soul really was still lingering in this cavern! He Lingchuan suddenly felt a chill run down the back of his neck.
"You gave me two of the worst lots. Is my calamity supposed to strike tonight?"
Three tosses, and all three landed tails up.
The old turtle was clearly saying no.
He Lingchuan let out a long breath. "Thank you."
Looking on the bright side, did this mean he would ultimately make it through the bandit crisis safely?
His mood brightened at once.
"Then do you mean my great disaster lies further ahead, and my death is certain?"
The coin he tossed landed vertically, wedged tight in a crevice between the stones.
What did that mean—an answer that was neither affirmative nor negative?
These old charlatans never gave a straight answer.
"Is there still a glimmer of hope?"
The coin landed inscribed side up once more.
Good, good, an affirmative answer at last. He Lingchuan rubbed his hands together. "Then how do I seek life from the jaws of death?"
This time, the coin dropped straight into a fissure, clattering several times as it fell. Apparently, there were deeper cracks within the crevice; retrieving it would be far from easy.
There was no telling whether the turtle spirit had no answer or simply wasn't permitted to speak.
Beside them, the crocodile demon couldn't help chiming in, "Are you quite finished?"
Wu Shaoyi coughed twice as well, sounding increasingly feeble.
They couldn't afford to linger here any longer. He Lingchuan was also anxious to get outside and look for his family, so he stowed the turtle egg away and told the crocodile demon to fulfill its promise to carry them out.
The crocodile demon had long grown impatient. "Get on my back."
Chapter 132