Chapter 189: The Dragon Turtle's Cultivation Method

"When should we make our move?"

"Today, we'll act today! Wang Nan probably won't stay in that cave mansion for too long. He might come out today, and we'll try to delay him as much as possible."

"Tianyun City is quite far from Hongshan County, so we need to hurry now."

"Today? That works!" Su Nan nodded.

Today marked the seventh day of the second beta test. Three days had passed since the last attack on the celestial barrier nodes by the Yao clan. There were only two days left until the countdown to the next attack on the barrier nodes.

By traveling to Hongshan County as quickly as possible, they would reach there in half a day. After dealing with the situation, they could still make it back to Tianyun City in time for the side mission the day after tomorrow.

More than ten minutes later, outside Tianyun City, Zhou Cheng, Li Ye, Ma Hua, and dozens of elite players from three guilds gathered. They were surprised to see the incarnation that looked like Zhang Yang arriving.

They had just learned that Zhang Yang would be participating in this operation against Wang Nan.

Su Nan glanced at the crowd and noticed that the elite players from the three guilds had improved significantly in strength over the past few days.

The number of Spiritual-level players had increased to five, with Ma Hua, the president of the Blaze Guild, reaching Spiritual level as well. Li Ye, who had previously suffered a drop in rank due to the plunder of his fortune, had also returned to the Spiritual level.

Apart from the three major guilds, there was another group that caught Su Nan's attention. It was a team led by a middle-aged man, consisting of five members.

What surprised Su Nan was that the middle-aged man was also a Spiritual-level player.

"It seems that Spiritual-level players are starting to emerge rapidly," Su Nan thought to himself. He checked the leaderboard and saw that there were now more than forty Spiritual-level players, a staggering increase from just over ten players a few days ago.

This rapid growth was expected, as the top players had been stuck at the threshold between Mortal and Spiritual levels for several days. It was time for Spiritual-level players to start appearing.

When Su Nan noticed him, the middle-aged man nodded in his direction and introduced himself, "I'm Nie Yuan, the Guild Master of the Blood Moon Pavilion."

Blood Moon Pavilion?

Su Nan nodded and instantly understood the situation. After the celestial barrier nodes in Fushan County were broken, the human forces inside had evacuated to Tianyun County and Hongshan County, including the players.

The Blood Moon Pavilion was obviously a player force from Fushan County.

"It's all about interests," Su Nan sighed inwardly. He had no conflicts of interest with the Blood Moon Pavilion, but they were still willing to cooperate with the Destiny Sect. Clearly, the rewards offered by the Destiny Sect were quite tempting.

The team formed by the four guilds quickly left Tianyun City and headed for Hongshan County.

Many players noticed this and soon posted about it on the forums, sparking discussions among players. Many were speculating about the purpose of the gathering of several top players.

In the secret realm.

Su Nan smirked. "Good, it seems that this time, I can not only complete the second stage of 'Wrath of the Demon Emperor' but also possibly the third stage."

Su Nan was aware of the events happening in Tianyun City as he maintained a psychic connection with his incarnation. Even inside the independent space within the ancient cave mansion, this connection remained unblocked.

However, this was not the time to dwell on such matters.

He focused on the premonition's content and his expression turned serious.

"You have entered the Endless Ice Plain, a world of ice and snow. The ground beneath your feet is covered in thick ice and snow. Here, you will encounter endless ice and snow creatures, which are manifestations of the world's power."

"As soon as you step into the Endless Ice Plain, the once calm world immediately changes. The ice beneath your feet cracks, and creatures made of ice and snow emerge from the ice, rushing towards you."

"These creatures mainly consist of physical and elemental types. The physical creatures charge at you, surrounding you quickly, while the elemental ones unleash ice arrows and blades, shooting at you relentlessly."

"You react swiftly and start fighting back. These creatures are not very strong, mostly at the Intermediate Mortal level, and pose no real threat to you."

"You use your physical abilities to battle, quickly dispatching the ice and snow creatures that approach you."

"You maintain your speed, dealing with the creatures blocking your path while moving forward. The number of creatures continues to increase."

"After one minute, over a hundred creatures lie dead at your feet, and you have moved a kilometer forward."

"After two minutes, in just a short span, you have slain over three hundred creatures. Unfortunately, the number of creatures around you doesn't decrease; instead, it keeps growing."

"After three minutes, you have penetrated three kilometers into the ice plain. At this point, you notice that the number of creatures at the Intermediate Mortal Late stage starts to slowly increase as you continue forward."

"The first premonition ends. Do you want to continue?"

"No wonder they call it the Endless Ice Plain. The creatures here are truly unending," Su Nan muttered. Clearly, these creatures were the challenge of this icy realm.

If he wanted to leave the ice plain, he would have to carve a path through the endless horde of creatures. This situation was somewhat similar to his previous hunt for the celestial barrier node attackers.

However, there was a significant difference this time. In the past, he had hunted creatures to gain contribution points, but now he needed to save his strength and exit the ice plain as quickly as possible. Lingering to hunt these creatures would be counterproductive.

"I hope the remaining five bottles of Life-Prolonging Pills are enough," Su Nan thought to himself.

In the premonition, he continued to advance rapidly, with the horde of creatures unable to stop him.

Six minutes, nine minutes, twelve minutes

...

Time in the premonition passed swiftly as he moved deeper into the ice plain, but as the creatures grew stronger, his speed began to slow down.

At this point, the creatures blocking his path had evolved from Intermediate Mortal level to Intermediate Spiritual level!

Furthermore, as time passed in the premonition, the Intermediate Spiritual creatures gradually became Late Spiritual!

Countless Late Spiritual creatures surged towards Su Nan like a relentless tide, making his progress increasingly precarious.

Luckily, his strength had improved significantly in the past few days, and with the assistance of the Dragon Blood Fruit, his physical abilities had grown to the point where he could easily defeat Profound-level creatures. This allowed him to persevere.

"What a pity. These creatures may be called 'creatures,' but they are not real entities. They are manifestations of the power of this ice and snow world and don't leave behind any corpses when killed," Su Nan lamented. "Otherwise, I would be willing to kill more of them for their corpses."

Su Nan's regret was that, unlike his previous hunt for the celestial barrier node attackers, where he had earned contribution points for killing creatures, this time, he needed to conserve his strength and exit the ice plain as quickly as possible. Lingering in battle was not the right approach.

"I hope I can find the Spiritual item soon. It should be located not too far from the exit of this trial ground, based on the previous patterns."

Chapter 189: The Dragon Turtle's Cultivation Method

"You didn't continue forward, but chose to turn and head towards the crack from which the monsters were emerging."

"In the crack, the monsters kept pouring out, severely obstructing your progress. You didn't give up and continued deeper into the crack."

"Two minutes later, you finally entered the depths of the crack. There, in a corner under the crack, you saw a cyan ice pool."

"The ice pool was not large, with a diameter of only two meters. In the ice pool, an unknown blue liquid rippled slightly, not yet solidified."

"Even from a distance, you could feel an extremely thick water energy emanating from that blue liquid. You realized that the blue liquid was the spiritual item you were looking for."

"I finally found it!" Su Nan rejoiced, but then furrowed his brow.

Obviously, it was a water-elemental spiritual item. If possible, he naturally wished he could obtain a fire-elemental one.

"You quickly approached the ice pool. When you came within ten meters of the ice pool, the monsters that originally wanted to stop you and kill you stopped and didn't advance further."

"You entered a strange area where your physical and secret bloodline powers couldn't be used."

"At the same time, you saw a giant-sized monster appear not far from the ice pool. Just like the other monsters you had killed, it was also a monster made of ice and snow."

"The monster's realm was the same as yours, but it possessed the strength of the Late Profound level."

"Late Profound level? It got even stronger!"

Su Nan expected his bloodline power to be suppressed, but the strength of the monster surprised him.

Under normal circumstances, with his current strength and without the suppression of both bloodline powers, it would have been easy for him to kill a Late Profound-level monster. However, trying to deal with one under these circumstances was a bit more challenging.

"Faced with your intrusion, the monster became furious and launched a sudden attack on you. Your body was quickly frozen, but at the critical moment, a roaring flame surged on your body, preventing you from turning into an ice sculpture."

"In the face of the powerful monster, you decisively chose to use your racial talent, the 'Destruction Serpent Dance.' You didn't hold back and unleashed all three types of powers, launching your most powerful strike."

"The fiery serpent formed by the convergence of the three powers shot out, and the monster sensed the danger. It roared and condensed a thick ice wall to resist your full force attack."

"The fiery serpent from the 'Destruction Serpent Dance' collided with the ice wall, and the raging power tore the ice wall to shreds. When everything settled, you saw that the monster behind the ice wall had its arm half torn off but was not killed."

"Unfortunately, even though your 'Destruction Serpent Dance' was incredibly powerful, it could only severely wound the monster. With no more mana left, you were no longer a match for the monster."

"You died!"

"Destruction Serpent Dance couldn't even deal with the monster?"

Su Nan's heart sank. With the increase in power from the Fire Spirit Essence and the fusion of three Spiritual-level bloodlines, the power of the Destruction Serpent Dance had undoubtedly surpassed its previous levels.

However, it still couldn't kill the monster.

"It seems that without the power of the secret bloodline, relying solely on one type of power is still lacking."

"It looks like I'll have to use my trump card."

Su Nan wasn't discouraged. With a thought, a flame appeared and danced around him like an elf.

It was the Fire Spirit Essence.

This time, he planned to use the Fire Spirit Essence to deal with the monster.

The monster was composed of ice and snow elements, and logically, the Fire Spirit Essence should be able to counter such a creature.

In the previous premonition, using the Destruction Serpent Dance had depleted his mana, making it impossible for him to activate the Fire Spirit Essence.

Now that he had found the spiritual item and encountered no danger along the way, Su Nan no longer hesitated and entered the ice pool directly.

Twenty minutes later.

He arrived at the crack mentioned in the premonition.

"Premonition!"

...

"Faced with the formidable monster, you decisively chose to use the Fire Spirit Essence. Under your control, the Fire Spirit Essence shot towards the monster like a stream of light."

"Sensing the danger, the monster quickly used an ice wall to block, but in the face of the scorching Fire Spirit Essence, the ice wall was instantly penetrated, and the Fire Spirit Essence landed on the monster."

"The flames rose on the monster's body, and in an instant, most of your mana was drawn away. The intense flames enveloped the monster, causing its icy and snowy body to melt rapidly."

"The monster struggled, attempting to extinguish the Fire Spirit Essence, but its efforts were in vain. The Fire Spirit Essence absorbed the monster's power and burned even more fiercely."

"Two minutes later, the monster was completely melted by the Fire Spirit Essence."

"As expected! Fire is effective against these ice and snow monsters," Su Nan smiled.

Fire naturally had an advantage against ice and snow, and the Fire Spirit Essence, with its ability to absorb the power of the target, made it even more potent.

He was about to head towards the crack in the ice to obtain the last spiritual item when he saw that the premonition was still continuing.

The premonition had not yet ended and was still ongoing.

"You reached the edge of the ice pool and carefully examined the blue liquid. You didn't know that this was a type of spiritual water called 'Ice Spirit Water,' which could only be found in places with extremely concentrated water energy and a cold environment."

"After pondering for a moment, you took out a jade bottle from your spatial ring, intending to collect all the Ice Spirit Water."

"Seemingly sensing the presence of the spiritual item, the dragon turtle that had established a connection with your destiny and was in your spatial ring suddenly appeared, excitedly leaping out of the ring."

"Without waiting for your reaction, you saw the dragon turtle had already plunged its entire body into the ice pool, opened its mouth, and the Ice Spirit Water in the pool was drawn into the dragon turtle's mouth."

"With the ingestion of the Ice Spirit Water, the dragon turtle's realm rapidly increased."

"Congratulations, your dragon turtle's realm has broken through, successfully reaching the Spiritual level, and your destiny has received a boost."

"This..."

Su Nan was astonished. He hadn't expected this turn of events.

The dragon turtle had actually come out of his spatial ring on its own.

Not only did it come out, but it also swallowed his spiritual item.

And it wasn't over yet.

The premonition was still ongoing.

"At the moment when the dragon turtle broke through, you suddenly felt that the dragon turtle's power was operating in a peculiar manner within its body."

"You instantly realized that it was the cultivation method of the dragon turtle that you had always wanted."

"Today's update is just one chapter, so I can only adjust my state and strive to resume regular double updates as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)