The four of them flew into the air simultaneously, looking down warily at the floating island where they had just been resting. The island was vibrating and heaving unsteadily, and the lake water around it was churning into a massive whirlpool with the island at its center.
"It’s not an earthquake. As expected, there’s something strange about the island itself," Nie Shiyun judged.
It was obvious; looking toward the distant shore, the trees and vegetation there remained perfectly still.
"What a powerful spiritual sense," Zhai Bairong said, his brow furrowed. He felt a sense of foreboding. This spiritual sense had been completely undetectable before, but now it had suddenly surged, clearly exceeding the range of what the four of them could handle. It pinned them in place, making them unable to move.
With such a massive disturbance, was it a large group of the Yao race? But where were they hiding? Could they be underwater?
Nie Shiyun saw through Zhai Bairong's worry at a glance. He also felt that the opponent's cultivation was far above his own. However, since he didn't know the opponent's exact location or whether they were being watched, he didn't dare to rashly enter his spatial dimension to hide.
"It was I who insisted on practicing here. I shouldn't have involved you all," Shen Yan said with a hint of regret, keenly sensing their unease.
Xuan Yang immediately countered, "Don't say that. Don't talk nonsense."
This situation was highly unusual; who could have predicted it? Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong immediately chimed in as well, telling Shen Yan not to overthink it.
The feeling of being suppressed by a spiritual sense was unpleasant, but Nie Shiyun soon noticed that the other party didn't seem to have any intention of attacking.
Perhaps this wasn't an enemy?
In terms of being cornered and hunted, Nie Shiyun and Shen Yan were far more experienced. They exchanged a look and confirmed that neither felt a shred of killing intent or malice.
As if confirming their judgment, although they were pinned down by this spiritual sense and couldn't move, no enemy took advantage of this golden opportunity to attack.
"Are you saying this spiritual sense wasn't intentionally released to target us? Then... isn't that even more terrifying?" Xuan Yang finally caught on, and he couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
Since coming to the Upper Realm, he had never encountered this level of oppressive pressure.
He hadn't, but the other three had a vague yardstick in their minds. The Phoenix Emperor had never intentionally pressured Xuan Yang, but the three of them had felt it personally. This person's level might not be inferior to the Phoenix Emperor's Golden Immortal cultivation...
The ripples on the lake grew larger and larger. Just as everyone was tensely watching the surrounding water, expecting something to leap out, the shaking floating island gave a violent lurch upward. Then, before their very eyes—it suddenly rose significantly higher!
The moss-covered edges of the floating island, which had been half-submerged in the water, completely left the surface as its height increased. Immediately, water cascaded down from all sides of the island, forming a brief, circular waterfall due to its massive surface area.
Having never seen such a sight, the group was stunned. Their first subconscious thought was that there was some kind of mechanism on the island—perhaps pillars at the bottom propping it up. But when the water finished falling and they could finally see the full picture, those were no pillars. They were four massive beastly legs.
Under their gaze, the giant beast shook its body, causing the surrounding lake to tremble violently with its small movements. Finally, it stretched its head out from its shell, eyes still closed, and let out a lazy yawn.
"..."
Never having imagined a beast of such gargantuan proportions existed, the group stood there dumbfounded.
It turned out they had been resting on someone's back all along. While ignorance was a valid excuse, it would be perfectly reasonable if this senior were to be angry.
"Senior, our sincerest apologies. We were ignorant and failed to notice you. Please forgive us for our intrusion," Nie Shiyun called out across the air decisively. Since they couldn't run and the other party showed no killing intent, a proactive apology was the best choice.
The lazy giant turtle only then slowly turned its head upon hearing his voice. Its body was massive and its movements were slow; perhaps due to psychological pressure, the few seconds spent waiting for the turtle to respond felt incredibly long to the group.
However, after seeing the people in the air clearly, the giant turtle's eyes showed obvious confusion, as if it didn't understand what they were apologizing for.
"Are you here to call for me? I'm impressed you found me. Did I oversleep?"
The giant turtle spoke slowly with a smile. As the sleepiness faded from its body, the spiritual sense surrounding Nie Shiyun and the others completely vanished. Nie Shiyun breathed a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed that pressure really hadn't been targeted at them; it was just that this great senior hadn't controlled his surrounding spiritual energy properly upon waking up in a daze, and they had been caught in the crossfire.
Just as Xuan Yang had said, the fact that he hadn't even done it on purpose yet possessed such terrifying deterrent power only served to highlight the depth of his cultivation.
Nie Shiyun didn't relax completely. Realizing the senior before him was absolutely no ordinary person, he became even more alert than before.
"Apologies, we are actually not here to call for you. We were just passing through by chance."
Now that the restriction was gone, the group was able to move. Maintaining a sense of awe toward the giant creature and the great senior, they proactively lowered themselves to the same level before responding.
As they drew closer, the giant turtle finally saw Xuan Yang's face clearly among the group. It said in surprise, "What wind blew you here? You actually came to call for me personally, lad? Wait, something seems off..."
Xuan Yang let out an "Ah," realizing the other party had misunderstood something. He quickly waved his hands. "Senior... have you mistaken me for someone else? My name is Xuan Yang."
The group was inwardly shocked.
Besides the Phoenix Emperor, who else in this world could Xuan Yang be mistaken for?
But this fellow called him "lad"...
Unaware of the astonishment of Nie Shiyun and the others, the giant turtle strained its eyes to look closely at Xuan Yang. "Oh, looking closely, it really isn't Feng Guangji. But your face is truly identical to his."
"Is Senior referring to the Phoenix Emperor? He is... technically my father," Xuan Yang said with a strained expression.
He only realized now that he didn't even know the Phoenix Emperor's personal name! What kind of father-son relationship was this?
"It seems I really have slept for a long time, so long that I didn't even know his child had grown this big." The turtle wanted to move closer, but its original form was too massive and cumbersome. Just as Xuan Yang was about to say something, the other party transformed in a flash of white light, and an old man with snow-white eyebrows and a long white beard appeared before them.
This took the group by surprise. As long as a cultivator reached the Nascent Soul stage, they could maintain their appearance forever. It was rare to see someone presenting as an old man, not just in the Upper Realm, but even in the lower realms.
Since it wasn't proper for a group of people to talk while floating over the water, Nie Shiyun immediately stepped aside, letting the senior lead the way.
"Did your father send you to find me?"
Seeing that the senior still misunderstood, Xuan Yang had no choice but to explain the situation, saying they were just passing through with the others and that the Yao race banquet had ended quite some time ago.
"Oh dear, I missed it again? I'll have to write a letter of apology to those fellows later," the senior sighed, though his tone didn't sound particularly regretful.
Xuan Yang recalled the Phoenix Emperor mentioning that the "Xuanwu clan has been absent for hundreds of years" and asked tentatively, "May I ask which year it was when Senior last attended the banquet?"
After hearing the answer—which the senior took a long time to recall—and finding it matched the time the Phoenix Emperor had mentioned, Xuan Yang's lips twitched. He thought to himself that this old man really wasn't just some common turtle, but a member of the Xuanwu clan, one of the four great clans! He didn't know whether to call their luck good or bad for running into him.
Most of the Xuanwu clan possessed water spiritual roots. No wonder when they were on the senior's back, he and Nie Shiyun—the two with fire spiritual roots—not only failed to benefit from the spiritual energy he unintentionally emitted but felt their cultivation was hindered at every turn...
"Then Senior has missed more than just one banquet. Over a hundred years have passed in the meantime..."
"Oh, is that so? Hahaha! I didn't expect that! Come to think of it, it was right after the last banquet ended that I took a detour to look around here. I thought the lake looked nice. I didn't expect that a quick nap would last until now." The old man's tone was lighthearted.
"Ha... haha..." Xuan Yang laughed dryly. He didn't know if he should be laughing, but going along with it was the right move.
"I see you aren't a pure-blooded phoenix. Which clan's little bird did Feng Guangji go and provoke this time?" the old man asked curiously.
Xuan Yang looked troubled. He had no good impression of the Phoenix Emperor, and he had no pleasant memories of the mother he had long since severed ties with. Furthermore, he wasn't even born in the Upper Realm; saying he was from the crow clan here didn't seem right either.
Seeing that Xuan Yang didn't know where to start, Nie Shiyun took over the task of conversing. He sensed from the few words exchanged that this great senior didn't put on airs and seemed very eager to chat. Thus, speaking in more detail shouldn't cause any annoyance.
"Oh, I see..."
"No wonder."
"So that's how it is."
As Nie Shiyun recounted everything from why they entered the small world with Xuan Yang, tracing back to their time in the lower realm, condensing the events of the past hundred years into a brief but exciting narrative, Xuan Yang couldn't help but marvel inwardly.
He was quite a talker himself, but he often spoke illogical nonsense. Unlike Nie Shiyun, who could make a chronological account sound as exciting as a professional storyteller's tale.
He turned to look at the Xuanwu senior again. One was truly a good talker, and the other was a great listener. Having seen the arrogant and haughty Phoenix and Dragon clans, and the White Tiger clan who, while being socially adept, actually practiced isolationism, this Xuanwu senior was far too down-to-earth! He was just like an old man on a mortal street corner, tucking his robes and sitting cross-legged on the ground to listen to Nie Shiyun chat.
When Nie Shiyun spoke about his duel with Ao Fan at the banquet, and the previous incident in the Middle Layer where he made a bet with Ao Fan and was subsequently hunted, he was initially a bit worried about whether he would offend Senior Jin, who was also of the Yao race. However, not only did the senior listen with great interest, but he also laughed mercilessly upon hearing how frustrated and embarrassed Ao Fan had been.
That laughter didn't hold any malice toward the Dragon clan; it was simply the look of an elder who couldn't help but be amused when seeing a junior suffer a setback.
"Juniors from the lower realm... that sounds truly nostalgic. I haven't met any in a long time," the old man said, looking at Xuan Yang with a smile. "No wonder you, little phoenix, are so sensible. Unlike Feng Guangji and his previous descendants—the more they grow, the less cute they become."
"I'm still young and have just arrived in the Upper Realm, so I don't recognize anyone. Please don't take offense, Senior," Xuan Yang said, scratching his head. "May I ask Senior's honorable surname...?"
"My surname is Jin. You don't need to be so formal. I haven't spoken to anyone in over a hundred years, and I haven't seen many new faces in nearly a millennium. Having someone to talk to this old man makes me quite happy."
Xuan Yang nodded politely, breathing a sigh of relief. It seemed only the Phoenix and Dragon clans liked to use "Feng" or "Long" directly as their surnames. The Xuanwu clan didn't have the bad habit of naming themselves "Xuan" or "Gui" (Turtle), otherwise, it would have been very awkward to address him.
"Senior Jin is amazing, being able to call the Phoenix Emperor by his name. To be honest, I didn't even know what his name was until now," Xuan Yang remarked.
"Phoenix Emperor is just a title; he wasn't born as the Phoenix Emperor. I practically watched him grow up." Mentioning the past, the old man looked somewhat sentimental.
Although they had guessed this great senior was a figure from the Xuanwu clan, the group still confirmed it just to be safe.
The Yao race naturally lived longer than humans, and the Xuanwu were the longest-lived among them. Correspondingly, the Xuanwu clan's offspring were shockingly few. It often happened that other Yao clans had produced two or three generations of children while the Xuanwu clan was still comprised of the same group of elders.
Having received the expected confirmation, the group still couldn't hide the shock in their eyes.
Realizing that this was likely an elder who was a level above even the Golden Immortal-level Phoenix Emperor and Dragon King, and then thinking about how they, a few juniors at the Void Refinement and Body Integration stages, were chatting and laughing with him, they felt a total lack of reality.
Perhaps it was precisely because he had lived for so long that he no longer cared about things like cultivation levels or seniority.
"Living a long time allows one to hear many interesting things. Just seeing that Feng Guangji has a son who looks exactly like him but has such an interesting personality makes waking up today worth it," Senior Jin said with a chuckle, then turned back to Nie Shiyun. "And it's been a long time since I've seen a human who dares to oppose the Dragon clan. The things you told me about the lower realm and that 'mortal world' without even immortal arts were also extremely fascinating."
"You flatter me. I merely recounted what I have seen," Nie Shiyun said modestly.
He thought to himself, *Actually, I have even more bizarre stories. It's just that the things from that world are too inconceivable and might lead people to suspect I've possessed this body, so it's better if only Bairong knows.*
Senior Jin seemed to be in a very good mood, his eyes squinting into slits as he laughed. The group finally saw a hint of the expression the giant turtle had shown earlier.
"I haven't seen old friends in many years either. It's decided. You're heading back to the Phoenix clan, aren't you? Let this old man go with you. You can continue telling me interesting stories from the past century, and I can save myself the trouble of writing letters by personally apologizing to the youngsters of the three clans before heading back to my own people."
How could the group possibly object? They immediately nodded in agreement.
***
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Transmigrated into a Total Shou Novel as a Cannon Fodder, but Ended Up 1v1-ing the Male Lead | Chapter 205 | The Slumbering Giant | Novela.app | Novela.app
