Chapter 160: Opportunistically Seizing the Mysterious Tortoise Shell

Beneath the dim glow of flickering lamplight, several hundred figures knelt prostrate upon the ground like livestock awaiting slaughter.

An invisible blade flashed through the air.

In an instant, every sacrifice was severed cleanly at the waist before their broken bodies were mercilessly cast into the sacrificial pit.

Even in death, not a trace of fear or pain could be seen upon their faces.

Only that chilling, fanatical madness remained.

Standing before the sacrificial pit was a thin man dressed in ancient gray robes. With utmost reverence, he was performing a divination.

Strands of incomparably mysterious aura gathered from heaven and earth, converging upon the tortoise shell suspended in midair.

As though it were being scorched by an invisible inferno, cracks gradually spread across the shell's surface, forming patterns that resembled written characters.

Fang Han's consciousness broke free from the illusion.

Only then did the excruciating agony of his body being torn in two crash over him like a tidal wave.

"Verdant Wood Invocation!"

Rather than waiting helplessly for death, Fang Han pushed his ability to draw upon the world's life force to its absolute limit.

At the same time, both hands firmly grasped the lower half of his body, which was on the verge of separating completely.

Had it been anyone else, even a martial artist of the Imperial Clan, suffering such a waist-severing blow while blood gushed forth like a waterfall would almost certainly have meant death.

Yet with an almost inexhaustible torrent of vitality pouring into him, Fang Han forcibly clung to life.

The flesh around the severed wound writhed and intertwined like fresh spring shoots bursting from the earth, reattaching the two halves of his body and knitting them back together.

"What is this..."

Fang Han retreated at full speed until he reached a safe distance, his eyes locked firmly upon the tortoise shell lying motionless ahead.

"That tortoise shell is undoubtedly the point where the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi converges."

"It has clearly surpassed the limits of the martial path in this world. It can wound from afar, and I can't even perceive how it's attacking."

Every instinct in his body screamed in warning, urging him to flee this place of certain doom as quickly as possible.

Around him, the bizarre aquatic weeds slowly rotated the eyeballs growing from their tips, every gaze focusing upon him in unison.

"Ordinary methods won't be enough to collect this tortoise shell."

"Even a Grotto Mystic Realm expert from Great Qian might not be able to accomplish it. The power contained within this shell belongs to an entirely different system from Great Qian's current cultivation path."

"However..."

A glimmer flashed through Fang Han's eyes.

He had no intention of giving up.

A puppet neither lived nor died.

He could probe its dangers over and over again without the slightest reservation.

A short while later, once most of his injuries had recovered, Fang Han moved once more.

Dark currents surged beneath the water as his entire body transformed into a razor-thin streak, shooting directly toward the tortoise shell at astonishing speed.

This time, his true qi circulated at its utmost limit, protecting every vital point of his body.

Just as expected, that bizarre invisible execution descended once again.

His true qi failed to provide even the slightest protection.

Fang Han's body was once more cleaved cleanly in half at the waist.

But at that very instant, with a single thought, both halves of his body shattered and returned to the Fangcun space.

Moments later, an entirely restored body descended upon the same spot once again.

Borrowing the remaining momentum, he surged another stretch closer to the tortoise shell.

The eerie power pursued him relentlessly.

Once more, Fang Han was split cleanly into two.

Yet sustained by his endless stream of vitality, he always managed to retreat into the Fangcun space before truly dying, rebuilding himself and recovering.

Then, after descending into the world once more, he would charge another short distance forward.

Again and again, like a moth flying into a flame, he steadily shortened the distance between himself and the tortoise shell.

The invisible resistance he endured grew ever more terrifying.

Fortunately, the tortoise shell never displayed any new supernatural abilities.

From beginning to end, it relied solely upon that invisible waist-severing strike.

By the latter stages, the frequency of the attacks had become so rapid that it bordered on the absurd.

But so long as Fang Han was not erased in a single instant, he could always retreat into the Fangcun space to catch his breath.

At last, the ancient tortoise shell was within arm's reach.

Fang Han extended his right hand like an iron claw, pressing it firmly against the shell.

With a thought, he attempted to forcibly draw it into the Fangcun space.

However...

Something completely unlike anything that had happened before occurred.

In the past, any object in the world could be stored within Fangcun simply by touching it and willing it so. The next moment, it would disappear into the space.

The only thing that had ever resisted this process was the Xuanhuang Qi of Heaven and Earth.

Now, this tortoise shell also seemed to possess the weight of ten thousand mountains.

As Fang Han pulled with all his strength, he felt an overwhelming resistance. Every inch was painstakingly difficult.

"Fortunately, it isn't as completely immovable as the Xuanhuang Qi of Heaven and Earth."

"It's merely difficult to move."

This time, Fang Han had fully recovered within the Fangcun space.

When he descended once more at the peak of his condition, he steadied his breathing and focused his mind, pouring every ounce of strength in his body into forcibly collecting the tortoise shell.

In an instant, the lakebed shook violently as though a massive earthquake had erupted beneath it.

The bizarre aquatic plants surrounding him also seemed to descend into madness. They lashed out wildly, their countless tendrils twisting toward Fang Han in a relentless attempt to strangle him.

Fang Han paid them no attention whatsoever.

Relying solely on the immense vitality surging through his body, he endured every attack head-on.

Fortunately, the tortoise shell itself also appeared to be resisting the Fangcun space's power of absorption.

Its entire body trembled violently, leaving it with no opportunity to unleash that waist-severing technique against Fang Han.

A bizarre scene unfolded within the dim lakebed.

The mysterious tortoise shell began to dissolve into thin air, inch by inch.

The remaining portions seemed to sense an overwhelming threat to their very existence. They trembled more violently with every passing moment.

Yet in the end, like the loser of an exhausting contest of strength, it disappeared completely, carrying only its lingering unwillingness.

The instant Fang Han drew the tortoise shell into the Fangcun space...

The eerie atmosphere that had blanketed the lakebed vanished without a trace.

The dark lakebed suddenly seemed much brighter.

Yet in reality, the source of light, the countless "eyeballs" growing from the tips of the aquatic plants, had all disappeared.

In truth, the lakebed had become even darker than before.

Before Fang Han had the chance to inspect the tortoise shell within the Fangcun space, a new upheaval erupted beneath the lake.

The tortoise shell had been continuously gathering vast quantities of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi. Now that it had been taken away, all of that accumulated Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi instantly became ownerless.

The massive reservoir immediately lost control.

Moreover, the torrent of Primordial Qi that erupted was far greater than Fang Han had previously sensed.

Its might was no longer merely at the Grotto Mystic level.

It had reached the level of Celestial Phenomena.

Starting from the depths of the lakebed, the entire Cuiling Lake boiled like a colossal cauldron as endless Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi surged outward in every direction.

"So this Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi can be absorbed directly into the body..."

A sudden flash of enlightenment struck Fang Han.

Every pore across his body opened completely as he greedily devoured the surging Primordial Qi.

Seated cross-legged upon the lakebed, he himself became an enormous vortex.

Yet despite his best efforts, his rate of absorption was far too slow to capture the boundless tide of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi pouring outward.

He was destined to claim only a tiny fraction of it.

Half an hour later, the surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi had already thinned until it was almost impossible to perceive.

Fang Han closed his eyes and examined himself.

Within his body, true qi had already taken shape, flowing through his meridians like a gently winding stream.

"Under normal circumstances, even a talented martial artist would need at least five years of bitter cultivation to reach this level."

"And yet I accomplished it in mere moments."

"This is the fortune bestowed by Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi..."

Breaking through the surface of the water, Fang Han stepped onto the lake as though walking upon solid ground. He slowly surveyed the surroundings of Cuiling Lake.

Everything remained deathly silent.

However, as the immense tide of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi continued to spread, some creatures with especially keen senses had already detected its presence.

Following nothing more than instinct, they quietly began converging toward the lake.

"Although this Primordial Qi will eventually disperse throughout the entire world, Cuiling Lake is its point of origin. The concentration here will inevitably remain much higher than anywhere else."

"Of course, compared to the Great Qian world, the Primordial Qi here is still so thin that it can practically be ignored."

"But compared to the complete absence of it before, this is a qualitative transformation."

"The most obvious consequence of this change is that martial artists of this world will cultivate just a little faster."

"And those who have already reached the True Qi realm and beyond will benefit the most."

Fang Han's thoughts slowly settled.

At last, he shifted his attention toward the bizarre tortoise shell he had just collected within the Fangcun space.