Originally, the Golden Tortoise held onto a glimmer of hope, wanting to take a gamble, but Lin Yun's words directly shattered its illusions and sent it plummeting into an abyss.
Even Bi Ji hadn't been able to tell that it was a 100,000-year soul beast, but Lin Yun saw its true cultivation with just a single glance.
What did this mean?
The secret of the Gold of Life couldn't be kept!
As soon as this secret was leaked, its life was definitely over. Although the Gold of Life hadn't given it any help and had even tortured it by continuously absorbing its life force, this was only because it didn't know how to use the Gold of Life. It didn't mean that the Gold of Life wasn't precious!
This was evident from the fact that Di Tian immediately sensed it when it stole the Gold of Life and then fully searched for the thief.
The Golden Tortoise trembled as it glanced at Di Tian, who was next to Lin Yun. Then, with fear in its eyes, it looked at Lin Yun, its pea-sized pupils filled with pleading.
'Don't say it!'
If the secret was revealed, Di Tian would definitely kill it with a single slap!
"Now you know to beg for mercy? What were you doing back then?" Lin Yun returned to its front, looking at it with cold eyes. "The Gold of Life tasted good, didn't it? You had the guts to swallow the Gold of Life whole, so why don't you have the courage to face us now?"
The Golden Tortoise's hanging heart finally died.
As soon as Lin Yun's words fell, Di Tian exploded.
"So it was you!!!" A pitch-black dragon shadow blotted out the sky, and a terrifying black dragon phantom appeared in the air. Its brilliant golden dragon eyes were cold and filled with murderous intent as it stared at the Golden Tortoise.
"Good, good, good. I've been searching for a thousand years, but I never expected it would be you! You stole the Gold of Life right under my nose. I'll make you wish you were dead!"
The Gold of Life in the Lake of Life has been used for Gu Yuena's healing since ancient times. Besides maintaining the most basic amount in the lake, the rest was basically taken by Gu Yuena.
Therefore, the amount of Gold of Life at the bottom of the Lake of Life has always been at a balanced point. If even a tiny bit less was there, it could upset this balance.
The piece that the Golden Tortoise bit off was a full fifth of the Gold of Life, which directly broke the balance. Although it wouldn't have any impact on the Lake of Life and the Star Dou Great Forest, it greatly slowed down the production speed of the Gold of Life.
The amount of life force is directly related to the speed at which the Gold of Life condenses.
When this incident happened back then, Di Tian was so furious he nearly went insane.
A piece of Gold of Life the size of a carving knife would take the entire Star Dou Great Forest 200,000 years to condense. With the help of other Gold of Life, this process could be shortened to 100,000 years, but that would still take a full 100,000 years!
And the piece the Golden Tortoise bit off was already that big!
"I, I..." The Golden Tortoise was incomparably terrified and at a loss for words. Or rather, it understood that after this secret was exposed, it wouldn't have any chance of survival.
"Stop your 'I's, and face your death!" Lin Yun said with an indifferent tone.
"Di Tian, just disembowel it and take out the Gold of Life!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" A cold light flashed in Di Tian's eyes, and a cruel smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He clenched his dragon claw, and the Golden Tortoise instantly appeared in front of him.
The Golden Tortoise only felt a blur before its small, pea-like eyes met Di Tian's brilliant golden vertical pupils, and its soul was utterly terrified.
"No... don't!"
However, Di Tian didn't bother to say any nonsense. He raised his dragon claw and said a few heartfelt words to it. The extremely terrifying defensive tortoise shell was like paper in front of Di Tian's dragon claw and was torn through with a single poke.
Pfft, fresh blood splattered.
The intense pain constantly stimulated the Golden Tortoise's nerves, but under Di Tian's suppression, it could only open its mouth wide, completely unable to move or even make a sound.
The next second, Di Tian's dragon claw was abruptly pulled out. After looking at the Gold of Life in his palm with the teeth marks on it, he casually shook off the blood on his dragon claw and handed the Gold of Life to Lin Yun.
"Your Highness, the Gold of Life was indeed in this turtle's belly," Di Tian said.
Lin Yun pinched the Gold of Life with two fingers, raised his hand, and held it up to the sun to examine it for a while. His smile was gentle and brilliant.
Excellent, I have seized another treasure that should have belonged to my Fierce Beasts.
However, after seeing the Golden Tortoise with a bloody hole in its abdomen, Lin Yun's eyes turned cold again. This damned thing in the original novel would rather take the Gold of Life and defect to the humans than return such a treasure to Di Tian, and its heart deserved to be punished!
After all, it was a 100,000-year Fierce Beast. If it had honestly handed over the Gold of Life, considering its cultivation and the auspicious nature it possessed, Di Tian would have likely just taught it a lesson and wouldn't have killed it directly.
But it was willing to be a traitor.
It would be one thing if Lin Yun's position was as a human, as killing it would be a simple matter. But his current identity was the co-lord of the Fierce Beasts!
The entire Star Dou Great Forest was his!
"Old Di, tell me, what kind of treatment should we give to a traitor?" Lin Yun's eyes narrowed slightly as he turned to look at Di Tian.
"Naturally, we should extract its soul and refine its spirit, so it can never be reborn," Di Tian grinned, raising his dragon claw and clenching it forcefully. The combination of his cruel and indifferent expression with his still-bloody dragon claw directly scared the Golden Tortoise, which had already stepped one foot into the gates of hell, to death.
It was literally scared to death in a physiological sense.
Because even its 100,000-year soul ring had exploded.
"Hmph, what a loser. It actually got scared to death directly." Lin Yun curled his lips, his expression full of disdain.
No wonder it became a traitorous Fierce Beast in the original novel. Turns out it was just a little piece of trash.
"But I can't let you just die so comfortably. Di Tian is right, a traitor deserves the punishment of having its soul extracted and refined!"
Lin Yun grinned, reaching out and gently clenching his hand.
Boom—!
An invisible ripple began to spread from Lin Yun's hand, eventually converging on the Golden Tortoise's corpse.
Lin Yun snapped his fingers again, and a cluster of pure white flames ignited at his fingertip. He casually tossed it onto the Golden Tortoise's corpse. Following that, its body and soul ring were engulfed in a fierce spiritual flame.
Necromancy, little one!
I'll use you as the first test subject to solve the soul ring problem!
Under the spiritual flames, which were devastating to a corpse, the Golden Tortoise's body quickly burned until it was transparent, revealing a golden-patterned torso soul bone.
Then, Lin Yun beckoned with his hand, and the Golden Tortoise's soul was drawn out from its soul ring and soul bone, gradually taking shape in front of him.
"You want to die? Did you ask for my permission?"
PS: The 100,000-year Fierce Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest are very precious, and under normal circumstances, Di Tian might not actually kill them. Even if the Golden Tortoise stole the Gold of Life, as long as it obediently returned it, acted pitiful, and took a beating, it might not have died.
(End of Chapter)
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