“Ah—!” The Dragon Head Ancient King roared. As the ancestor of his clan, one who had roamed freely throughout the ancient age with few rivals under heaven, to be knocked flat by a single slap from a turtle had nearly driven him mad.
The Black Turtle lay sprawled atop the Barbarian King’s head, utterly composed. It tilted its neck and spoke slowly: “Screaming your throat raw won’t do you any good.”
The Dragon Head Ancestor King trembled with rage, his eyes as cold as two sharp blades — icy, frigid, and glacially sharp. He rose to his feet and advanced step by step, his divine principles surging like a sea, his aura trailing like a brilliant ribbon of light, weaving together into a tapestry of Dao traces.
Every beam of light struck the turtle shell; every manner of divine principle rained down upon the dark-patterned mysterious armor — and all of them were silently extinguished.
Smack!
And in that same moment, the Black Turtle extended another massive claw — large enough to fill a winnowing basket — and with a single slap sent the Dragon Head Ancient King tumbling again, knocking him flat on the ground a second time.
Crack-crack-crack-crack—
The bones throughout the Ancestor King’s body erupted in a thunderous chorus. None could say how many had fractured; he was covered in blood, nearly torn apart. He transformed into a blazing streak of light and fled, coming to stand several hundred zhang away.
The Dragon Head Ancestor King’s face had turned an iron-grey — one could not imagine a more unsightly expression. Moments ago he had been looking down on everyone with contempt, yet now he had nearly been slapped to pieces by a turtle. What position did that leave him in?
“You remember who I am now, don’t you?” The Black Turtle slowly descended upon the Barbarian King’s head and waved a tiny claw. “Xuanwu. I am the great Xuanwu.”
“Ah—!” The Dragon Head Ancestor King was nearly beside himself with madness. He felt this was a humiliation. The twin dragon horns atop his head blazed with brilliant light, releasing ten thousand zhang of radiance, as though he meant to slash open the very canopy of heaven — accompanied by the rumbling thunder of great Dao resonance.
BOOM!
Suddenly, the aura of an ancient Great Emperor spread across everything, and waves of Dao sound shook the heavens and deafened all ears!
From the vast heavens above, streams of misty green energy fell one after another, each as thick as a mountain range — massive and heavy, like cascades of the Milky Way pouring down from the sky.
Far away in the remote celestial vault, as if in a trance, one could make out a small independent world — chaos energy surged within it, the four elemental forces of earth, fire, wind, and water churned, and at its center, a green pagoda flickered in and out of visibility.
This was an all-encompassing presence — righteous, benevolent, and vast. It carried no aggressive intimidation, yet bore an inviolable sense of the sacred and the solemn.
Not merely ordinary cultivators — even the Dragon Head Ancient King and the Black Turtle felt their bodies stiffen, not daring to make the slightest reckless movement. Even they sensed that any undisciplined act would surely invite destruction.
The West Emperor Pagoda!
Also known as the Immortal Tear Green-Gold Pagoda, it had been personally forged by the West Emperor Consort in ages past. It had endured through immeasurable great epochs without decay, passed down to the present day, and could suppress and destroy all things in the world.
“The Yaochi Grand Assembly has its rules — no one may incite or engage in open battle here. I trust the Ancestor King of Hidden Dragon Valley will abide by them.” The voice of the Queen Mother of the West descended from the heavens above.
An ultimate Dao imperial weapon is inherently an invincible existence — it is a different form of continuation of an ancient Great Emperor’s life. Who in the world would dare to pit themselves against it? Once an imperial weapon awakens, even Ancestor Kings who charge at it will meet a bitter end!
However, the process of awakening tends to be rather slow. An ultimate Dao imperial weapon is difficult to control; even with the full effort of numerous great powers working to activate it, considerable time is consumed — and those who do so risk having their very life essence drained dry.
Otherwise, with a single imperial weapon in hand, one could claim dominance over all under heaven. Who could possibly match that?
Aside from an ancient Great Emperor themselves, no one can truly and fully activate an imperial weapon — not even a sage. Even if one can get it running, the effort required is immense.
Of course, within their respective mountain gates, ancient Great Emperors would certainly have personally inscribed formation patterns that can accelerate the awakening of an ultimate Dao imperial weapon, preventing excessive consumption of life essence — and that is why the Immortal Tear Green-Gold Pagoda had manifested here and now.
The Queen Mother of the West spoke, targeting only the Dragon Head Ancient King. Even the streams of misty green energy fell solely above his head, pressing upon him with enormous force — enough to fill him with a trace of genuine fear.
Within this pure land of Yaochi, the West Emperor Pagoda surpasses all things of the mortal world. Once within its confines, even a sage is no longer free to act as they please.
The Black Turtle, noting that no energy column hung above its own head, was quite satisfied. It then extended a small claw toward the Dragon Head Ancient King and beckoned provocatively: “Come, if you’re not convinced. I’ll carve the characters ‘Xuanwu’ right into your face.”
The Dragon Head Ancient King’s nostrils vented white steam. His earlier display of high spirits — commanding the world, looking down upon all living beings with that aloof and transcendent bearing — had vanished entirely.
“Fight me outside if you have the guts!”
“That’s exactly what I’ve been waiting for. Let’s go — the great Xuanwu is about to etch a chapter into history, and your face shall be the canvas for this grand epic!” declared the Black Turtle.
“Fine!”
Duan De, Li Tian, and Li Heishui cheered quietly from the side, eagerly fanning the flames and hoping for all-out chaos.
Many human cultivators also broke into smiles, feeling that this turtle had quite the character indeed — stepping forward like that had genuinely knocked this contemptuous Ancestor King down from the heavens and planted him firmly on the ground.
No one moved to stop them — and in truth, no one could have stopped them. The Dragon Head Ancient King could not bear to linger a moment longer and charged out first.
The Black Turtle landed on the ground and transformed to about the height of a person, standing upright — looking like some strange creature carrying a black pot on its back. It balanced on its hind legs, both foreclaws clasped behind it, and walked outside at a leisurely pace — barely faster than a snail.
The Ancient King standing outside Yaochi waited a full quarter-hour, fire blazing in his eyes and nearly steam-venting from the top of his head, before he finally caught sight of that blasted turtle slowly ambling over.
No superfluous words were exchanged. The Dragon Head Ancient King immediately unleashed his most powerful divine technique. The luminous halo behind his head blazed with dazzling brilliance, outshining the sun in the sky.
The halo expanded and transformed into a full circular disc — resplendent and breathtaking, devouring the vital essence and spirit of all living beings, plundering the primordial energy of heaven and earth, forged into an immortal treasure wheel.
Dong—
A clear, lingering tone rang out through heaven and earth. The divine wheel behind his head grew ever more blinding, casting him in a light that made him appear divine — his entire body luminous and crystalline.
BOOM!
At last the treasure wheel blazed with light and began to roar, like a great wheel of reincarnation turning its radiance upon the Black Turtle, unleashing the power of the cycle of rebirth.
“Heavenly Dao Cycle of Reincarnation!”
The Dragon Head Ancestor King bellowed with tremendous dominance. He stepped forward, and the ten directions of the sky trembled. The treasure wheel descended, nearly returning the heavens outside Yaochi to primordial chaos.
“You think you can out-dominate the great Xuanwu? Watch me break you apart!” The Black Turtle withdrew entirely into its shell. No matter how many divine principles or supernatural techniques came at it, all were rendered useless.
Every manner of law transformed into blazing light and fell upon the black tortoise shell — upon which mysterious, ancient patterns flickered — dissolving endless divine radiance, unable to breach it.
From afar, onlookers watched in astonishment. There were probably very few individuals in the entire world with a more outrageous defensive capability — standing there and directly absorbing the Ancestor King’s most powerful divine technique without taking any damage.
“Where does this Xuanwu come from?” Ye Fan edged close to the Barbarian King and asked quietly. He knew only that it was the Barbarian Race’s guardian deity, but had not expected it to be this formidable.
“Who raised it — let me think — it should have been my grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather’s…” The Barbarian King trailed off into a long string of “grandfather’s grandfather’s,” and even he couldn’t make clear how many thousands of years this turtle had lived. The conservative estimate was over six thousand years of age.
Ordinarily, this turtle paid almost no one any mind, only occasionally exchanging a few words with the Barbarian King. No one had expected that upon meeting an Ancestor King today, it would have this much to say.
“You go die!” The Dragon Head Ancient King roared. The circular disc behind his head grew even more blinding — blazing like the sun as it descended, bearing down to suppress Xuanwu. His single bellow shattered the surrounding mountain ranges and even scattered the clouds hundreds of li away, swallowing mountains and rivers whole.
“You want to out-dominate me? You’re not up to it — let’s see who’s truly superior!” The Black Turtle was perfectly at ease and unafraid, and roared back just as loudly.
It drew its head out from the shell and swung two black aged fists, directly smashing apart the heavens and earth, bellowing: “Overlord Divine Fist!“
One could say its movements looked ridiculous and its chosen name wasn’t particularly impressive — heard any way, it sounded more like a “Turtle-Shell Divine Fist” — but the punches were undeniably fierce and heavy.
With those black fists — the first punch directly blasted apart the circular disc and shattered it; the second punch broke both of the Dragon Head Ancient King’s arms; the third punch punched straight through his chest.
The Dragon Head Ancient King exploded apart, then manifested as a streak of light in the distance, reconstituting his physical body, his face iron-grey, an expression of utter wretchedness.
“A turtle-shell fist… I — I can’t believe I lost to a damn turtle-shell fist!”
“You just won’t learn. This is the Overlord Divine Fist founded by the great Xuanwu, and today I will make you remember it forever!”
The Black Turtle stood upright and charged forward, swinging its two black aged fists like a pair of massive millstones, whooshing through the air. The mountain ranges beside them were like papier-mâché — every one of them was uprooted from the ground and sent flying into the distance.
People watched in astonishment. Upon those two black fists, countless divine principles densely covered their surface — no wonder they could crush every secret technique an Ancient King had. The power of heavenly Dao was cycling through them.
BOOM!
Two sages clashed once more in fierce battle. One could not help but say this Black Turtle was outrageously formidable — those two aged fists pulverized the void and destroyed everything in their way.
In one breath it threw a hundred and eight punches. Although the Dragon Head Ancient King, fighting with desperate ferocity, managed to deflect most of them, a great wave of fist-shadows still rained down upon his body.
“Remember — this is the King’s Overlord Divine Fist!”
The Dragon Head Ancient King’s body was disintegrating. Whether on his flesh or his broken bones, indelible dark imprints had been left — mark after mark of inky black.
Especially upon his face — more than a dozen trail-marks, all pitch black, each shaped like a tiny turtle. These were the impressions left by the fists.
When the two separated again, the Dragon Head Ancient King had gone mad. Not only had he suffered a resounding defeat, but he had been branded with marks of disgrace — flickers of dark light that simply could not be wiped away.
Everyone nearly burst out laughing — including the ancient clans of the primordial age, who were not exceptions. Awed by the Ancient King’s divine might, they were struggling to hold back their laughter.
The Dragon Head Ancient King was battered from head to toe, with his face worst of all — struck with more than a dozen tiny turtle imprints that could not be dissolved.
“Remember — I am Xuanwu. Dare to get it wrong again, and I’ll carve it into your primordial spirit too!” The Black Turtle stated this with great gravity, wearing an expression of complete seriousness — yet anyone who looked at it wanted to laugh.
The Dragon Head Ancient King had truly gone mad. Was there anything more humiliating than this? Earlier he had displayed his power with grandeur, mocking the human race, pressing down upon all four directions so that no one dared utter a sound.
And now he had been thrashed to pieces by a turtle, with turtle imprints carved into his body and face by the power of great magic — imprints that could not be erased. He threw his head back and screamed without stopping.
“You damned turtle… turtle-shell fist!” The Dragon Head Ancient King seethed through gritted teeth.
“I’m telling you very seriously — the great Xuanwu is furious, and is going to pulverize you to dust with the King’s Overlord Divine Fist!” The Black Turtle wore an expression of absolute gravity, then swung its aged fists and charged forward.
Divine principles of the great Dao blazed in all directions. Magical power surged like a sea. The four elemental forces of earth, fire, wind, and water cycled endlessly. The two of them fought until heaven and earth came apart — and the Dragon Head Ancient King was beaten to the verge of complete dissolution by those two black turtle fists.
In the end, he let out a terrified roar — furious and exasperated — and then… turned… tucked his head under his arms and bolted, fleeing in utter panic.
In that moment, he no longer cared about anything — face, dignity, all of it was meaningless. The only thing that mattered was staying alive.
By now, he was genuinely afraid of this turtle. In a frantic frenzy, he transformed into cloud, into wind, into lightning — and fled, fleeing in every direction he could.
“Remember — I am the great Xuanwu!” The turtle pursued him relentlessly, utterly earnest, with no intention whatsoever of letting him go.
This was clearly an event of enormous consequence — the implications were severe. After all, pursuing and killing a primordial Ancestor King was no small matter. Yet the people watching all laughed; there was no sense of urgency to be found anywhere.
The ancient clans of the primordial age felt the same — they wanted to laugh too, but couldn’t quite bring themselves to. A bitter feeling stirred in their hearts. This was madness — the human race had raised a turtle that was itself a sage, and it had beaten a powerful Ancient King into running away with his tail tucked. Would any clan be left standing at this rate?
In the end, the human cultivators all burst into laughter — it felt deeply satisfying. This Ancient King who had despised the human race and sought to suppress their sages deserved to be chased down by the “great Xuanwu.”