Breeding?
No, that's not quite right.
To human eyes, it might resemble breeding, but Zhou Qing understood it differently. In his mind, it was the Spirit-Tuned Turtle's survival instinct that drove it to herd a group of large white carp into this section of the stream.
The Spirit-Tuned Turtle earned its name because, upon reaching the millennial level, plants begin to grow on its shell. These symbiotic plants draw in ambient spirit energy, accelerating the cultivation of both the turtle itself and nearby soul beasts.
If a human Soul Master could tame a millennial-level Spirit-Tuned Turtle, they could theoretically speed up their own cultivation as well.
However—
The range of soul beasts that humans can tame is very limited. Only a rare few are suitable.
And although the Spirit-Tuned Turtle is relatively docile, no Soul Master is willing to wait for it to grow from a ten-year-old juvenile to a thousand-year cultivation level. For soul beasts, years mean power—and the risks of waiting are simply too high.
Even the Martial Soul Hall would hesitate to invest a millennium into raising a Spirit-Tuned Turtle from ten years to a thousand. Soul Masters, after all, can't live a thousand years unless they reach Rank 99.
Besides, the forests of soul beasts across the Douluo Continent are filled with countless species—many of which remain undiscovered. Why waste time on a Spirit-Tuned Turtle?
That said, Zhou Qing had a puzzling question.
This Spirit-Tuned Turtle—barely two hundred years old, with an artificially cracked shell that had been prematurely "planted" with common aquatic vegetation—could it truly have the ability to gather spirit energy?
According to the soul beast texts Zhou Qing had purchased, only millennial-level Spirit-Tuned Turtles with fully grown symbiotic flora possessed a tangible spirit gathering effect that even Soul Kings could perceive.
Which meant: before reaching a thousand years, the turtle's body was still in the process of storing spiritual power and energy for its own growth.
This two-hundred-year-old specimen had patches of moss-like aquatic plants growing in the cracks of its shell, but its underlying flesh was mostly ulcerated, oozing pus, and crawling with snails.
No matter how Zhou Qing looked at it, it didn't seem capable of "gathering spirit energy." In fact, he suspected the turtle might die soon from infection.
Its behavior during feeding was a clear indicator—biting slowly at the large white carp, taking only small chunks at a time with very little appetite.
If this was really the creature at the center of the terrifying legends surrounding Shenghun Village and nearby areas, then it must've endured a bad back and festering wounds for over fifty years.
And according to an old belief—that the more painful a soul beast's death, the higher the chance it leaves behind a soul bone—this two-hundred-year-old Spirit-Tuned Turtle had a 60 to 70 percent chance of dropping one upon death!
In fact, the records stated that millennial-level Spirit-Tuned Turtles were guaranteed to drop soul bones.
Maybe the long-term symbiosis with the plants embedded in their shells came at a cost. The roots of those plants likely burrowed into the turtle's flesh over time—and only after enduring ten thousand years of agony would the turtle and the flora fully merge into a singular, self-sustaining lifeform.
At that point, the Spirit-Tuned Turtle would never need to eat again.
Ten thousand years of torment for a lifetime of peace.
Now that's bitter first, sweet later.
---
"So, how do we kill this Spirit-Tuned Turtle?"
Tang San lightly tapped Zhou Qing on the elbow.
He knew that Zhou Qing had far more knowledge of soul beasts than he did, so he hoped Zhou Qing would suggest the best way to kill the turtle.
In his past life, even a common two-hundred-year-old turtle was considered an extraordinary tonic!
He was certain that eating this turtle's meat would allow his Xuan Tian Gong to reach the first layer of perfection within a month.
But—
"I've changed my mind," Zhou Qing said, shaking his head. "I'm no longer planning to hunt it."
"Why?"
Tang San was surprised by the sudden change. The turtle was clearly wounded. If they waited until it died naturally, the meat might spoil!
Still, he decided to hear Zhou Qing out. If the explanation didn't satisfy him, he'd simply kill the turtle himself and offer Zhou Qing a portion of the spoils afterward.
Zhou Qing explained the spirit gathering theory and why this section of the stream might be turning ordinary white carp into soul beasts.
"According to what we know, only millennial-level Spirit-Tuned Turtles with fully integrated symbiotic plants have spirit gathering abilities. But this one is only two hundred years old. Its shell was manually cracked and artificially planted with common water moss—'cow hair moss,' to be exact, named for its dense texture resembling cow fur."
"A turtle like this couldn't possibly generate spirit energy, let alone turn carp into soul beasts."
"Which means—"
Tang San's eyes lit up. "Something else under this stream is responsible for transforming the carp!"
Zhou Qing nodded. He suspected that same hidden force was also suppressing the turtle's infection, allowing it to linger in pain for decades.
But the stream was murky and foul. Who knew what dangers lurked beneath? There could be soul beasts… venomous snakes, poisonous insects… even ordinary parasites could be fatal if they infected someone.
The stream's surface was littered with decaying plant matter, wood debris, fish bones, bird feathers, and entrails.
Zhou Qing wasn't willing to risk it.
Even Tang San hesitated. His Mysterious Jade Hand could detoxify poisons, but it wouldn't stop pollutants from penetrating his skin and causing internal damage.
So the two of them simply watched as the Spirit-Tuned Turtle finished its meal, then crawled away.
Zhou Qing asked, "San'er, do you think it can be healed?"
"What?"
Tang San paused for a moment. "Why would you want to heal it?"
Zhou Qing replied, "The Spirit-Tuned Turtle is docile by nature. According to a strange-beast record passed down in my family, some noble clans keep Spirit-Tuned Turtles in ornamental fish ponds. Ones under fifty years old are still common. People catch and sell them to nobles as decoration…"
"But no one has ever recorded raising one past a hundred years. The oldest on record lived only fifty years before being butchered."
"I'm not interested in imitating noble tastes," Zhou Qing said softly. "But this one… it was cracked open and force-planted far too early, and yet it still survived. It's… kind of like me."
Tang San fell silent, thinking about Zhou Qing's background as an orphan. He then recalled his own absent father and muttered inwardly:
"Me too."
And just like that, Tang San couldn't help but feel a strange kinship with the suffering Spirit-Tuned Turtle.
Bound by fate.