Do you know what mythical life is?

"I hope the stone won't be scared."

Lu Pingan glanced at Su Shi's small figure running away, and a sense of apology swept through his heart.

Then, clutching his chest, which was growing increasingly cold from exhaustion, he quickly walked to the giant tortoise.

The giant tortoise sensed the presence of a stranger and abruptly retracted its head, tail, and limbs into its shell, leaving only a black shell visible.

Right now.

Lu Pingan took a deep breath of the cool air, and without further hesitation, he sank his mind into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness, activating the Nine Imperial Dao Book.

hum-

Suddenly, a heat surged between his brows, and a stream of light composed of countless fine golden runes shot out and pierced into the giant tortoise's hard shell.

In an instant, a close and strange connection was established between Lu Ping'an and the giant tortoise.

This is... my destined beast taming.

Lu Ping'an felt a slight tremor in his heart, before he could fully process it—

Click, click!

A sickening cracking sound suddenly rang out from under the turtle shell.

The giant tortoise in front of me trembled violently, its carapace bulging and expanding at a visible speed, the originally faint lines becoming deep and rugged like ravines, gleaming with a heavy, rock-like luster.

In just a few breaths, its size had nearly doubled, and its shell had reached a diameter of 1.5 meters, resembling an indestructible black millstone.

The large tortoise stretched its thick limbs out of its shell, its claws gripping the ground, its head held high. Lu Ping'an felt a surge of excitement and sensed its affection for him.

Almost at the same instant, a tremendous force surged into Lu Ping'an's riddled body without warning.

"Hmm..."

Lu Pingan couldn't help but let out a muffled groan, his whole body stiffening on the spot.

This force is not violent, yet it is overwhelming and unstoppable.

Under the influence of this force, the weakness in Lu Ping'an's body receded like a tide. He clenched his fist and felt the long-lost power surging through his bones.

Even if there was a cow blocking his way, he felt like he could overturn it.

"puff!"

The next moment, Lu Ping'an suddenly bent over, and a mouthful of thick black blood spurted from his throat, splashing onto the ground and condensing into patches of white frost, hissing with a chilling aura.

As the mouthful of black blood left his body, the chilling aura that had lingered in his lungs for years seemed to be uprooted. An unprecedented feeling of ease and warmth rose from his chest and abdomen, flowing throughout his entire body.

Lu Pingan slowly straightened up and let out a soft sigh of relief.

As dusk settled, he felt that the world before him had never been so clear.

……

"My destiny is to control the beast..."

Lu Pingan withdrew his gaze and looked at the large tortoise in front of him.

In his mind, the second page of the Nine Imperial Dao Scripture opened.

[Negative Image of the Heavenly Pillar Turtle]

Talent 1: Divine Tortoise with Divination

The turtle shell of the negative-diagram Tianzhu is shown in the picture. It has the ability to deduce and has a chance to obtain information about the past and present, as well as possible information about the future.

Talent 2: Heavenly Pillar Body

The negative image of the Heavenly Pillar Turtle is that of a powerful and strong creature, capable of changing its size at will.

(Note 1: Currently, the giant tortoise only possesses a trace of the Negative Diagram Heavenly Pillar Turtle bloodline, which can be enhanced as the Negative Diagram Heavenly Pillar Turtle's strength increases.)

(Note 2: The Daoist scripture "Master of Beast Taming and Feeding" has simultaneously acquired the two fundamental talents of the Heavenly Pillar Turtle with the negative image.)

"The divine tortoise has a hexagram, representing the body of the Heavenly Pillar..."

Looking at the information on the Nine Imperial Dao Book, Lu Ping'an's mind stirred, and the power within his body suddenly surged. The next moment, with a cracking sound, his body grew a head taller, becoming incredibly burly.

"boom!"

Lu Pingan threw a punch, and the wind howled.

Compared to before, his power has clearly increased again in the Heavenly Pillar form.

"Right now, my strength shouldn't be inferior to a martial artist in the Strength Refinement Realm, right?"

Lu Pingan returned to his original appearance.

He felt that his current strength was absolutely comparable to that of a martial artist in the Strength Refinement Realm.

In martial arts cultivation, the first stage is the Body Nourishment Stage, the second stage is the Strength Refinement Stage, and the third stage is the Energy Condensation Stage...

Among them, martial artists at the Nourishing Body Realm only use stance training to initially regulate their bodies, making them less susceptible to minor illnesses like colds and flu, and their strength is only slightly better than that of ordinary people.

But things are different when you reach the Strength Refinement Realm.

A martial artist at the Strength Realm can lift a giant rock, draw a strong bow, and pull a powerful crossbow. In a scenario where everyone is unarmed, they can defeat several ordinary people.

However, Lu Pingan was not complacent.

Because martial artists at the Qi Condensation Realm, who are above the Qi Refining Realm, can concentrate all their strength to unleash a punch. Even the weakest Qi Condensation Realm martial artist can defeat several Qi Refining Realm martial artists.

He is still just a little Karami.

"To cultivate to the Condensation Realm, one must have a cultivation technique. Unlike the Strength Refinement Realm, some people with extraordinary talent and innate super strength do not need to cultivate. They can grow naturally and are no different from Strength Refinement Realm martial artists."

"My current situation is probably the same."

"But the Condensation Realm is different."

"Cultivation technique..."

Lu Pingan began to ponder.

If he were at his maternal grandfather's place, or at the Lu family's place, he wouldn't have to think about these things at all.

He could easily obtain these things if he wanted to.

But this clearly wouldn't work in Xiaoshi Village.

"We'll talk about the rest later; we need to find another place right now."

With a thought, Lu Ping'an put the large tortoise that approached him and touched him with its head into the Nine Imperial Dao Scripture.

After he made a contract with the giant tortoise, a beast-taming space suitable for the giant tortoise to live in automatically appeared in the Nine Imperial Dao Book.

"Tap tap!"

After putting away the giant tortoise, Lu Pingan immediately strode away from the grove.

"rumble!"

Before long, Lu Pingan arrived at a large river not far from Xiaoshi Village.

According to Little Stone, he was rescued by Uncle Su here.

Go!

Upon arriving here, Lu Ping'an had an idea and released the giant tortoise, letting it sink into the river.

The original mountain tortoise was a land tortoise.

However, the current negative image of the Tianzhu Turtle is different.

The negative-image Tianzhu turtle can move freely not only on land but also in water.

"Splash!"

Once in the water, the scales on the limbs of the Futu Tianzhu Turtle automatically open, like webbed feet, and it dives to the bottom of the water.

Lu Pingan's mind raced, and his vision suddenly shifted.

The cool, dim river flowed past my eyes, the fine sand suspended in the water slowly rising and falling, and the muffled sound of the water flowed in my ears, mixed with the chirping of insects in the grass on the bank and the barking of dogs from the distant village.

This is the underwater perspective of the negative image of the Tianzhu Turtle.

Lu Pingan found it quite novel.

"Catch a big fish."

Lu Ping'an gave instructions to the giant tortoise.

The giant tortoise reacted immediately.

It seemed to be born to adapt to this environment. With a gentle flick of its limbs, the webbed feet formed by its scales opened, and its huge body glided forward with extraordinary agility, barely stirring up any water.

The large turtle swam close to the riverbed, its head swaying slightly, as if sensing the changes in the water flow.

Soon, in a river bend lush with aquatic plants, a plump catfish appeared in its sight.

The giant tortoise's movements instantly slowed down.

It gradually adjusted its direction, slowly approaching the water. The patterns on its shell appeared somewhat blurred under the refraction of the water, like a rock at the bottom of a river, silently getting closer.

Just as they approached to a certain distance—

"Whoosh!"

The giant turtle slammed its powerful hind legs against the mud and sand at the bottom of the river, instantly stirring up the water and making it murky.

At the same time, its forelimbs moved in coordination, and its whole body rushed forward like a black shadow released from a bow.

As it approached, it darted out with its head like lightning, and in the instant the catfish was startled and tried to escape by thrashing its tail, it accurately snatched the fat catfish's hindquarters in one bite.

"Whoosh!"

Amidst the splashing water, the giant turtle, carrying a struggling catfish in its mouth, steadily floated to the surface and swam towards Lu Ping'an on the shore.

The catfish's tail was still thrashing violently, splashing water everywhere, but it couldn't break free from the iron-like jaws.

"Well done."

Lu Pingan reached out and took the catfish. It was quite heavy, and the fish was still trembling slightly.

He remarked that Old Su's family didn't have much to eat, but with this four- or five-pound catfish tonight, at least they wouldn't have to worry about food and clothing.