Undergoing tribulation to ascend wasn't anything new in the universe. Realms before the Origin Stage were often called the Ascension Realm, which the Xuanhuang Realm referred to as the Dao Establishment Realm.
Back then, when Zhao Xing led Great Zhou to ascend from the Xuanhuang Realm, there was a phase where many people were scattered around the Four Pillars Mountains, going through tribulation.
Only after surviving that, could they truly break free from the shackles of a small world and, together with Yun Tiandao, rain down a Spiritual Qi Revival upon the Xuanhuang Realm.
The strength of a small world determined the intensity of the tribulation.
The Origin Stage could be said to be the strongest among small worlds! Its restraints were unbelievably strong.
Now Zhao Xing noticed that this turtle-like creature, a native lifeform of this realm, already had the aura of the Life and Death Dao Domain Realm.
Didn't that mean... it was undergoing a Reincarnation Tribulation?!
"Gu Ming, scan the surroundings for any other lifeforms." Zhao Xing's interest was instantly piqued at the sight of this tortoise. Creatures like this were treasures from head to toe!
Tortoises usually lived far longer than other species. Take for example that Divine Fire Tortoise in the Moonfall Mausoleum—it had the innate divine ability Thousand Epoch Tortoise Essence, allowing a Dao Domain Realm tortoise to live for one thousand epochs.
For humans at the Origin Stage, the third realm's maximum lifespan was only three epochs, and most wouldn't even make it that far.
At the Dao Domain Realm, even after comprehending the Dao of Life and Death, the limit was about ten epochs, and with the help of treasures, at most around twenty epochs.
The Reincarnation Realm had about the same lifespan per lifetime, but it allowed one to reincarnate, though this process was full of variables and not always successful.
But that tortoise could live one thousand epochs! Its medicinal value was insanely high!
Most life-extending pills needed materials from tortoises.
"My lord, there are no other equally powerful lifeforms nearby."
"But there are several with Origin Stage auras."
"The Life Source Scanner has analyzed their core imprints and bloodlines. Their life profiles match ninety-nine percent with tortoises from the Xuanling Star Domain, but they're not any known type."
"As of now, within a five realm-star radius, there are no other dangerous sources."
Gu Ming was incredibly efficient. The moment Zhao Xing finished speaking, he already had all the data ready.
"Yu Qing, how strong is this Hou Transformation?" Zhao Xing turned to another man in a robe patterned with cloud designs.
Yu Qing was from the same generation as him, a member of the Primordial Realm. He had been the top-ranked in the combat division during the Originality Council.
Now, although Yu Qing was still at the Yin-Yang Dao Domain Realm, his overall strength had reached the Life and Death Dao Domain Realm, and he was already a Coral Seventh Tier member.
Among all the Primordial Realm members, Yu Qing stood out as a main practitioner of the Heavenly Timing School.
"Reporting, Haitong Envoy, this Hou Transformation has reached the level of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Hou Transformation and is still increasing toward the Million-Year level," Yu Qing replied.
"Wait, weren't we talking about tribulation? What's this Hou Transformation now?" a martial artist asked, clearly confused by the terminology among the Shennong.
"Essentially, tribulation is caused by Hou Transformation. It's just that different environments result in different types," Yu Qing explained.
According to the Heavenly Timing School's theories, a Hou Transformation within a realm was what most people referred to as a tribulation.
If you survived it, you progressed further. If not, you'd either be reduced to ashes or turned into some strange non-human, non-demon creature.
Even with Yu Qing's explanation, some still didn't quite get it, so Zhao Xing added, "This tortoise beast is undergoing a True Spirit Tribulation."
Everyone immediately understood. True Spirit Tribulations were directly tied to the Reincarnation Realm.
"Let's vote. Anyone who wants to participate in hunting it, raise your hand."
Zhao Xing, just having taken over as leader, needed a real action to boost team unity and strengthen his authority.
He raised his hand first, and Gu Ming followed right after. Qiu Zishan, Gong Xiaoyuan, Zhou Ze, Bi Gang, Yuan Qiusheng, Tuosen, and Xu Youling all agreed too.
Seeing so many support him, the rest quickly followed. The fifty-person team passed it unanimously.
"Very good." Zhao Xing nodded. "Gu Ming, name this type of tortoise in the Lingxu Primordial Realm as Lingxu Tortoise, and report its life profile to the Red Star Empire for record."
"After we test the strength of the Lingxu Tortoise, submit that too. We should get around ten thousand to one million merit points for this."
"That's the typical reward for discovering a new species. Divided among fifty, it's just scraps."
"But in a new Primordial Realm, there could be tens of millions of new species!"
"If we can find tens of thousands of valuable ones, we'll all make a fortune!"
"Of course, we need to be fast because only the first to report gets rewarded! And with one million people in the Lingxu Primordial Realm, simple merit tasks like this are a free-for-all!"
"Gu Ming, lead a group to set up a small Jade Realm Formation."
"Tuosen, Xu Youling, take your squads and get ready for battle. When the time's right, hit the main attack zones of the formation."
"Wu Chuanlan, you'll be on support outside the formation."
Wu Chuanlan was from the Life Formation group. Zhao Xing paired him with three Qi Sect martial artists, including Bi Gang.
If the main attack faltered and anyone got hurt, Wu Chuanlan could immediately step in and switch out the injured.
Life Formation types were the quickest to escape and wouldn't interfere with the main assault.
"Interfering with or helping a tribulation, you'll face the same danger as the one undergoing it."
"We're basically attacking while enduring the Hou Transformation ourselves. So we'll only strike once the Hou Transformation's intensity drops."
"As for the timing..."
Zhao Xing looked at Yu Qing, who thought for a moment and said, "Based on my estimates, in about nine realm-star days, the Hou Transformation will peak and then rapidly decline."
"Alright, we act in nine days."
The turtle-hunting operation was set for nine days later. In the meantime, Zhao Xing didn't sit idle. He started reviewing everything he knew about the Lingxu Realm.
"Lingxu has nine realms, and it's about one billion years old. The upper and middle six realms are mainly ruled by the tortoise race, sitting at the top of the food chain."
"The upper three realms are also very rich in resources, with a complete ecosystem."
Unlike the lower three realms, where ninety percent of the environment resembled primitive oceans and most of the creatures born there were aquatic, small worlds could still follow the model of the Self School. As the Primordial Realm evolved into the Myriad Phenomena Realm, countless new materials and lifeforms emerged.
The Lingxu Realm had internal barriers in its realm walls, causing the lower three realms to mainly nurture life, the middle three realms to produce materials, and the upper three realms to have the richest Spirit Qi and the most complete Dao origins.
Normally, an Primordial Realm over one billion years old wouldn't have divine items anymore. But due to the ninefold compression of the realm wall, the Lingxu Realm hindered its own development, leaving a chance for divine items to still appear.
Zhao Xing remembered the Lingxu Realm's history mentioning divine items, but whether they had already appeared, were yet to be destroyed, or had just emerged was unclear. And where exactly they were—what realm—they existed in, was another mystery.
"Let's try our luck," Zhao Xing thought silently.
In his past life, by the time he arrived, the Lingxu Realm had already turned into a breeding ground. The realm's history only had scattered mentions, and he didn't know the details or the coordinates. So all he could do was hope for a good encounter.
The upper three realms' tortoise race had already developed their own demon kingdoms and beliefs. There were Reincarnation Realm beings among them, making it dangerous. He needed to be careful.
External Reincarnation Realm beings couldn't enter easily, but native life reaching the Reincarnation Realm wasn't restricted, though it was just as hard for them to leave.
Zhao Xing skimmed through his panel and finally focused on a Heavenly Timing School divine ability—the Divine Fire Tortoise Transformation.
"The Divine Fire Tortoise Transformation is just a minor divine ability. After taking down this Lingxu Tortoise, I could try improving it, turning it into the Lingxu Tortoise Transformation."
Hou Transformation techniques weren't hard to adapt between similar races. When Zhao Xing first learned Fire Transformation, he quickly transitioned to Kiss Transformation, since both were dragon species with closely related bloodlines.
As long as he understood the tortoise bloodline well enough and had a live sample, modifying the Hou Transformation technique wouldn't be too hard.
And when it came to knowing tortoises, few could rival Zhao Xing.
"Tortoises from the Xuanhuang Realm—river tortoises, land tortoises, snapping turtles, dragon turtles—then in the cosmic era, there were fire tortoises, mysterious tortoises, eight-horned demon tortoises... Whether it's land or sea tortoises, I've had plenty of close, heartfelt encounters with them."
Staring at the tribulating Lingxu Tortoise in the distance, Zhao Xing couldn't help but smile.
Timing was everything. Running into a tribulating giant tortoise now was just perfect—a top-tier lifeform sample.
Nine realm-star days later, aside from the area immediately around the Life and Death Dao Domain Realm Lingxu Tortoise, the Hou Transformation's range and intensity had dropped significantly.
The time to strike had come.
Zhao Xing gave the order.
Gu Ming led six formation Mechanists forward, setting up a Jade Realm formation 0.5 realm units from the Lingxu Tortoise.
The Lingxu Tortoise was at a critical stage of its tribulation and couldn't spare any attention.
Half a day later, the Jade Realm enclosed three sides, leaving only the top Heaven Tribulation Thundercloud uncovered.
The range shrank further to just 0.1 realm units. Tuosen and Xu Youling led their squads into position, laying down Origin Projections right in front of the Lingxu Tortoise.
Tuosen followed the Extreme Dao Mother Tree path. Though he only summoned one tree, it grew branches from multiple disciplines.
Zhao Xing counted—there were fourteen innate divine abilities on that tree.
"All destruction-based divine abilities... Tuosen's cultivation of the Extinction Realm technique has surpassed my Hunyuan Realm," Zhao Xing observed from afar.
Tuosen was already at the Dao Domain Realm, so naturally, he could use his mana to further expand and develop his Origin Space, evolving it into a true world. In terms of Origin Space alone, most of the Self School Shennong present were stronger than Zhao Xing, since he was still in the Primordial Realm and hadn't converted his Spirit Qi into mana.
"Wu Chuanlan cultivates the Myriad Phenomena Realm. The plant soldiers he released now number in the billions."
Before reaching the Dao Domain Realm, Wu Chuanlan's Life Formation style only spread a grassy plain. Now, a forest covered the sea's surface.
His Five Elements mix was well-balanced and didn't clash with Gu Ming's Jade Realm.
Xu Youling, Tuosen, and Wu Chuanlan's true bodies all hid inside a Qi Sect martial artist's ear.
For this turtle hunt, Zhao Xing only brought three types of occupations—Mechanist, Martial Artist, and Shennong.
Because he could see the Lingxu Tortoise's talents clearly. It wasn't a complicated opponent, so a comprehensive team wasn't necessary.
"Zhao Xing, shouldn't we attack now? This damn turtle's about to finish its tribulation!" Xu Youling urged.
"Shut your mouth and keep the channel clean! And when you're working, use proper titles!" Zhao Xing's tone flipped, scolding her hard, making Xu Youling freeze.
She felt wronged, but knew this wasn't the time to challenge Zhao Xing's authority. She rephrased, "Reporting, Haitong Envoy, the Lingxu Tortoise is about to complete its transformation. If we don't attack now, it'll be hard to handle."
"Wait," Zhao Xing replied calmly.
"Boom~~"
Flowers bloomed over the sea, half forest, half ocean.
Martial artists shone golden, with towering Mechanist structures rising into the sky. The heavens turned a shade of blue, with only the central thundercloud remaining dark purple.
Below, a fire rainbow and a black mountain swirled with yin-yang currents. The Lingxu Tortoise's aura flickered unpredictably.
Sometimes it exceeded the Life and Death Dao Domain threshold, sometimes it dropped back to the Five Elements Dao Domain Realm.
Two hours passed, and the Lingxu Tortoise's aura became almost stable. Everyone believed that if they didn't act now, they'd miss the chance.
But still, no attack order came.
"My lord, should we attack now? It only has one moment of weakness left," even the usually steady Gu Ming couldn't help but ask through a private channel.
If the Lingxu Tortoise passed its tribulation and entered the Reincarnation Realm, the difficulty of dealing with it would skyrocket.
Fighting a Reincarnation Realm being versus a Dao Domain Realm one—how could it be the same?
Even though they were all geniuses, facing an unknown lifeform, it was inevitable someone might get hurt.
If Zhao Xing's first command resulted in heavy casualties, it would surely hurt morale.
But Zhao Xing still didn't give the order.
"It's pretending. The real moment of weakness hasn't come yet."
"If we attack now, we'll fall for its trick."
"Yes." Gu Ming didn't question it anymore.
He didn't know why Zhao Xing was so certain, but after the Jie Boundary Mountain incident, Zhao Xing had earned his trust. Those who hadn't lived through it wouldn't understand.
Zhao Xing stared closely at the Lingxu Tortoise.
The panel before his eyes turned faint.
All kinds of data flickered rapidly.
[Lingxu Tortoise]
[Level: Life and Death Dao Domain Realm]
[Soul: Reincarnation Realm (True Spirit Transformation)]
[Innate Divine Ability (Passive): Power to Bear the Heavens (Abnormal)]
[Innate Divine Ability (Passive): Tortoise Breath Origin Guard Technique (Abnormal)]
[Innate Divine Ability (Passive): Fire Moon Tortoise Essence]
[Divine Ability: Essence Devouring Technique]
The data kept shifting fast, most of its divine abilities were transforming during the tribulation, with names changing into new ones.
Zhao Xing was waiting for the exact moment it completed its breakthrough. That was its weakest moment, but also when its body would become that of a Reincarnation Realm being—immense research value.
The Lingxu Tortoise was highly intelligent. It was stalling, still trying to use the power of the tribulation to counterattack.
The so-called life and death weakness cycle was just an act.
But no matter how good the act, maybe it could fool Gu Ming's Mechanist scans, but not Zhao Xing's panel.
The final tribulation hadn't even fallen. This old turtle was just faking!
"Keep dragging it out. Let's see who outlasts who," Zhao Xing stayed calm and firm.
The tribulation would fall eventually. The Lingxu Tortoise couldn't wait, but he could.
After a two-hour stalemate.
The Lingxu Tortoise finally couldn't hold back!
It roared at the sky, spitting out a blazing red Tortoise Essence. That essence held immense life force, with a phantom turtle within it howling.
At that moment, the final tribulation thunder came crashing down.
On Zhao Xing's panel, its level officially changed to Reincarnation Realm.
But its actual combat strength dropped sharply!
Most of its abilities were now greyed out, showing the Lingxu Tortoise was so weak it couldn't even use its skills!
It was all appearance, no substance!
"Attack!"
Zhao Xing finally gave the attack order.
Just as the Lingxu Tortoise seemed at its peak.
The Tortoise Essence and Thundercloud vanished at the same time.
The tribulation was officially over.
But the Jade Realm also closed the final side.
The Lingxu Tortoise was now truly trapped.
Under the heavy pressure of the Jade Realm's light, its resistance was almost completely crushed.
The battle teams up front immediately struck.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom—a barrage of spells and martial techniques exploded, formations activated.
Fire, ice, all kinds of Dao Soldiers joined in. The worst equipment they had was mid-grade Solar Dao Soldier level.
In an instant, the Lingxu Tortoise's flesh burst open, trees and flowers sprouted from its body, blades and swords pierced its scales.
A creature that had just entered the Reincarnation Realm was very fragile.
Especially when facing top-tier Dao Domain Realm experts from the human race.
In Zhao Xing's eyes, the Lingxu Tortoise's remaining lifespan was dropping fast.
In just three breaths, it plummeted from one thousand eras down to years measured by realm-star calendars.
"Stop!"
Zhao Xing immediately ordered a halt.
"Tuosen, Xu Youling, fall back. Gu Ming, shrink the Jade Realm."
"I want it alive."
No one questioned Zhao Xing now.
Because the frontline fighters weren't fools. The Lingxu Tortoise's condition was exactly as Zhao Xing had said—just now was its true weakest moment.
If they had attacked earlier, there might have been casualties.
But now? It was too easy. The Lingxu Tortoise didn't even get a chance to fight back!
"Yu~"
Wu Chuanlan quickly activated the Life Formation. Lights shone under the feet of every member of Teams One and Two, pulling them back without affecting Gu Ming's Jade Realm closure.
As they retreated, the realm towers inside the Jade Realm flashed rapidly. Their tips pointed down, piercing into the Lingxu Tortoise.
Azure barriers surged into the Lingxu Tortoise's body like tides, completely suppressing it in no time.
The others couldn't even sense the Lingxu Tortoise's aura anymore—only the energy ripples from the Jade Realm towers remained.
With that, the turtle hunt was a perfect success. They had captured a freshly advanced Reincarnation Realm giant tortoise!
"Shrink, shrink, shrink!!" Gu Ming controlled the Jade Realm towers, forcibly compressing the Lingxu Tortoise's size, until it was just a ten-thousand-meter-radius island.
"Rise!"
With a loud rush of air, the Lingxu Tortoise gave a low whimper as it was lifted and moved in front of the realm ship.
"My lord, mission accomplished," Gu Ming's figure flickered back.
"Well done, Brother Gu."
Now that the operation was over, Zhao Xing put on his friendly smile again.
Xu Youling looked at his smug face, boiling with anger. She grumbled to Daoist Miaosong, "This guy's face is like a dog's—changes so fast. Just now he was barking at me with that bossy attitude."
Daoist Miaosong looked down calmly, "Nice weather today."
Xu Youling instantly felt like she was talking to herself.
There were still some imperfections during the operation. For example, during the attack, some members hesitated, even after getting the order, they didn't strike boldly.
But it was their first time working together, and some hadn't met before. Getting this level of coordination was already quite good.
Team chemistry could be built over time. Zhao Xing wasn't asking for more.
Now came the harvest.
Zhao Xing gathered the non-combat personnel, bringing them to the side of the Lingxu Tortoise.
"All tortoise species have three treasures—Tortoise Essence, Tortoise Shell, and Tortoise Spirit."
"But since this is a new species, there's a fourth treasure—its innate divine abilities."
"Brother Ruan, you're a top student of the Zhixin Scholar, I'll leave the imprinting of its divine abilities to you." Zhao Xing looked at a young man dressed in the red robe of the Four Realms Scholars.
Ruan Shuheng, Life and Death Dao Domain Realm, was the only scholar in the team. He had once studied under the great elder Zhixin of the Scholarly City, but now had graduated and was serving in the imperial military.
Scholars had a chance to imprint divine abilities from others, but there was a lot to it, involving innate and acquired abilities, and methods like bloodline imprinting, spiritual imprinting, and more.
Even after imprinting, it didn't mean they could learn it right away. The first copy was rough, and to turn it into something usable by humans took more work.
Zhao Xing didn't expect Ruan Shuheng to imprint everything, especially since the Lingxu Tortoise's abilities would soon flood the market.
But whichever team could imprint it first could sell it at a good price. Delay too long, and it'd quickly lose value, maybe even become worthless.
"I'll do my best." Ruan Shuheng gave a slight bow.
Being able to freely imprint from a Reincarnation Realm lifeform wasn't something you came across often. He looked a bit excited.
After Ruan Shuheng finished the first imprint, the Lingxu Tortoise didn't seem hurt on the surface, but its spirit visibly dulled.
Zhao Xing sensed that its life core had thinned slightly.
It was like someone had scraped a layer off with a knife. When Zhao Xing checked the panel again, several of its skills were gone.
Thankfully, Ruan Shuheng wasn't one of those overly violent scholar types.
More brutal scholars treated imprinting like extracting Supreme Bones alive.
The second to step in were Physician Dougui, Lou Lanxiao, and Shennong Yuan Qiusheng.
They would assess which parts had value and could be harvested for medicine.
Dougui Physicians were all-rounders among healers, almost like combining three branches of Shennong skills into one.
Lou Lanxiao had also followed Zhao Xing through the Jie Boundary Mountain incident. It was Zhao Xing's recommendation that got him the position of head of medicine on the Haitong Ancient Path.
"Go."
A square medicine cabinet beside Lou Lanxiao suddenly cracked open, splitting into three stars.
Two stars rolled into the Lingxu Tortoise's body.
The star floating outside kept opening drawers, sending out medical tools, like an endless treasure chest.
Yuan Qiusheng just quietly observed.
Soon, Lou Lanxiao and Yuan Qiusheng were whispering and discussing.
Finally, they confirmed, "Reporting to the Haitong Envoy, aside from the shell, all other parts of the Lingxu Tortoise can be used for medicine. They can substitute in thirteen thousand eight hundred sixty-two high-grade formulas as main or auxiliary ingredients. Also, they can replace auxiliary materials in eleven top-tier formulas."
High-grade formulas in the universe produced pills for use below the Reincarnation Realm.
Top-tier formulas were generally for those at Dao Domain Realm and above.
Being able to replace auxiliary ingredients in eleven top-tier formulas, as long as the final effect wasn't too poor, meant its value could skyrocket.
It was expected that Lingxu Tortoises would be bred in captivity in the future, since medicines for the Reincarnation Realm were extremely profitable.
Of course, this had nothing to do with Zhao Xing's team. The follow-up development would be left to others. They'd just earn merit from reporting the findings.
"Good. Qiusheng, any other insights?"
"No," Yuan Qiusheng shook his head. "Though I think its shell ground into powder, mixed with Five Sticky Earths, would make great fertilizer for Tortoise Pattern Trees, that path in the Original Realm has already been fully explored, probably no room left. Plus, it's not cost-effective—who'd use a Reincarnation Realm turtle as fertilizer?"
"Doesn't matter if there's room or not, report it anyway. Maybe the empire will reward us." Zhao Xing laughed.
"Trouble you both to write up your report in detail, and fast. If we're late, someone else might beat us to it."
"Understood." Lou Lanxiao and Yuan Qiusheng nodded and quickly returned to their rooms to write up the research findings on the Lingxu Tortoise.
At this point, the theoretical value of the Lingxu Tortoise had been squeezed dry by Zhao Xing's team.
Now it was Zhao Xing's turn to get to the core of things.
The Lingxu Tortoise had been completely dissected, all parts neatly arranged in front of him. There were many crystal bottles filled with blood essence, and even a cluster of Tortoise Spirit floated in a spherical barrier.
With the life diagram scanned by Gu Ming's Life Origin Sub-Scanner, preparations for improving the Divine Fire Tortoise Transformation Method were complete.
"If I can develop the Lingxu Tortoise Transformation, once the entrances to the Middle and Upper Three Realms are found, its value will skyrocket!" Zhao Xing thought.
This was the benefit of getting ahead!
He knew the Middle and Upper Three Realms had developed civilizations, and without a turtle identity, it'd be hard to enter.
They'd be driven out or even killed by the turtle clans inside.
Sure, he could disguise as another race, but the turtle clans ruled the Upper and Middle Six Realms. If you're gonna disguise, why not as the boss? Who wants to sneak in as a lackey?
"I'll study this myself. The Void Straw Puppet will handle the big picture."
With a thought, Zhao Xing swapped roles between his true body and the Void Straw Puppet, splitting duties.
Eight more realm-star days passed.
A message came through the Star Mirror.
[Coral-level member Zhao Xing, your team's reported information value has been verified.]
[The Original Realm has accepted your naming of the new turtle species. You are awarded one hundred fifty thousand merit.]
Just a name, nothing special. This reward was just symbolic.
Zhao Xing kept reading.
[Your team was the third to submit a Lingxu Tortoise life diagram.]
[Your team was the second to submit an imprinted innate skill.]
[Your team was the eighteenth to submit a medicinal value analysis.]
[Your team was the eighteen thousandth to submit a map of the Qinghe Realm (possible Reincarnation Realm activity areas).]
[Since your submitted sample was of "early Reincarnation Realm," your team has earned a total of fifteen million seven hundred fifty thousand merit. You may freely allocate it among team members or use it to purchase team weapons.]
"Hurrying as we did, someone still beat us to it." Mechanist Gu Ming, Physician Lou Lanxiao, and Scholar Ruan Shuheng all looked a bit annoyed.
If it's not the first submission, the merit reward would be greatly reduced.
It was only because their Lingxu Tortoise was at the Reincarnation Realm level that they entered the tens of millions merit range.
If it were just Dao Domain Realm? At most, they'd get a million merit, maybe only a few hundred thousand.
After all, among the million exploration personnel this time, almost all were Dao Domain Realm. Dealing with other Dao Domain Realm lifeforms was easy.
No challenge meant less reward.
But handling a Reincarnation Realm creature brought in higher merit.
"If we were first, our merit would've multiplied several times. But what can we do? The competition's fierce," Tuosen said. "Any elite group sent by a superpower has the strength to take on Reincarnation Realm beings."
"Tuosen's right, not getting first is normal," Zhao Xing said. "Still, we've got over fifteen million merit—this is a great start."
"Alright, don't dwell on it. Cheer up. Let's split the reward and get moving."
"Hahaha, time to split!"
"Yeah, for this much merit, we didn't even break a sweat."
"Let's divvy it up!"
The mood quickly turned cheerful again.
With fifteen million seven hundred fifty thousand merit, Zhao Xing's rule was that everyone got a share, and more effort meant more reward.
Non-combatants didn't fight but still contributed. Each of the fifty members got one hundred thousand merit. Even the seemingly useless priest Ji Yuan.
The rest went to the combat teams, plus Scholar Ruan Shuheng, Physician Lou Lanxiao, and Mechanist Gu Ming.
Zhao Xing planned to take only two hundred thousand, and another one hundred thousand as a token.
But all three combat teams disagreed.
They said that without Zhao Xing's command, anyone else would've attacked at the wrong time, possibly causing casualties.
"Lord Zhao, you must take one million, or we'll feel uneasy holding onto this merit," Priest Ji Yuan Zhixin insisted.
He hadn't done anything—not even moved—but still got one hundred thousand merit.
"That's right. Without the Haitong Envoy's precise timing, we wouldn't have taken down a Reincarnation Realm beast so smoothly," Wu Chuanlan added.
"Agreed."
"Seconded."
Seeing everyone say this, Zhao Xing didn't push it. "Fine, since you all agree, that's settled."
Just then, a man holding a star disk glanced sideways at the arched window, frowning slightly.
Zhao Xing noticed the Fate Officer's expression and asked, "Chu Siming, is something wrong?"
Chu Lanxing's fingers moved over the disk, then he said, "Lord, I just felt a faint sense of being watched. The Dao of Fate resonated."
"Watched? The Qinghe Realm is full of primitive beasts. Where would a Fate Officer come from?" Bi Gang joked, "Don't tell me the Lingxu Tortoise could tell fortunes."
"Yeah, according to the empire's intel, there's no sign of advanced civilization in the Lower Three Realms," Gu Ming nodded.
"Maybe I sensed it wrong," Chu Lanxing wasn't sure, "It's my first time in the Primordial Realm. Maybe the Great Dao confused my senses."
"Maybe not." Zhao Xing was serious, "A Fate Officer's instincts can't be ignored."
"Who's to say no cultivation civilization has appeared in this Primordial Realm over billions of years? Even if the Lingxu Tortoise could divine, it wouldn't be impossible."
"Chu Siming, can you sense who was watching? Any direction?"
Chu Lanxing shook his head, "Too faint, I can't tell. No specific target."
"Then do you remember when you felt it?"
Chu Lanxing thought for a moment, "About four hours ago, right when you ordered the dissection of the tortoise."
"Which direction?"
Chu Lanxing spun the disk in his hand, and everyone felt a moment of disorientation, as if space and time rippled.
"Taiyin 9, Taiyang 16, Eastern Yimu."
Hearing this coordinate, Zhao Xing felt something odd.
Because part of what Chu Lanxing said matched the Middle Three Realms' entrance.
He just couldn't pinpoint the exact location.
So this sense of being watched was real and came from the Middle Three Realms?
"Let's investigate in that direction!" Zhao Xing ordered.
He'd been wondering how to justify finding the entrance to the Middle and Upper Three Realms, and now Chu Lanxing gave him the perfect excuse.
But just who was watching them?
In the Lingxu Primordial Realm, one of the Upper Three Realms, in Xiangxing Realm.
At the center of Xiangxing Realm's starry sky, a floating ocean palace stood.
Deep inside the ocean palace, a small, crystal-clear green turtle statue opened its eyes, and a tear rolled down.
"Ah~ Gui'er is dead—who, who killed my beloved Gui'er!"
The green turtle's gaze pierced through countless barriers, trying to see the true killer of its descendant.
But after passing through so many layers, it still couldn't make out who it was.
It only saw a strange-looking large ship nearby and a tiny figure like a grain of sand.
It tried to enlarge the figure, but the face and aura stayed blurry.
Still, the green turtle was shocked.
"They've appeared, they've appeared!"
"Ancestor once said, after thirteen thousand four hundred fifty Rain Immortal Festivals, a race called humans from beyond would arrive in our world. They look like the Demon Ape Clan, but are far more terrifying!"
"Humans, the evil humans are here!"
The green turtle withdrew its gaze, swimming out of the water in shock, and flew straight to the Supreme Tortoise Sacred Hall.
It had to report this to the hall at once and prepare all of Xiangxing Realm to fight the evil invaders from beyond!