The Stone Turtle's Ancient Secret

Even at his current formidable level, Xiao Chen had sensed nothing of its presence beforehand.

The Heavenly Stele was terrifying enough to nearly suppress even Ancestral Gods, yet beneath its very foundation, among the rubble, there lurked a powerful creature. This caught Xiao Chen completely off guard.

An ancient gray-brown turtle, its body so fossilized it seemed indistinguishable from the surrounding rocks—irregular, pitted, crisscrossed with deep scars. It looked like a weathered boulder resting among the debris.

This old turtle could truly be called a stone turtle; its body was almost entirely fossilized, exuding an aura of unfathomable antiquity. It was not overly large, about the size of three millstones combined.

A living creature!

Xiao Chen was genuinely startled, backing away several steps.

The old stone turtle was covered in cracks, its shell riddled with fissures as if it might crack apart at any moment.

While Xiao Chen was tense, the turtle was leisurely, poking its head out and looking around in an absurdly comical manner.

Good heavens! Xiao Chen felt he was worrying over nothing. Though this old turtle was hidden beneath the Heavenly Stele's foundation—admittedly eerie—it radiated no killing intent.

The fossil-like turtle shook itself, slowly dislodging the stones from its body, then crawled out with a lazy, unsteady gait.

It wobbled and swayed, shuffling along like a drunken old man, glancing this way and that, moving as if it had all the time in the world.

It seemed completely at ease, paying no attention to Xiao Chen whatsoever, as if taking a leisurely stroll.

This old stone turtle truly put on airs, treating Xiao Chen as if he were invisible. Finally, it tottered toward Keke.

With a sharp clang, Xiao Chen drew a War Sword and blocked its path.

"Ahem," the old turtle coughed gravely. "Put that toothpick away. Don't wave it in front of me."

Xiao Chen wanted to hack it twice. This talking old turtle was infuriating, calling a divine War Sword a toothpick.

"Move aside, move aside, don't block the way." The stone turtle advanced unhurriedly, looking serene and unconcerned.

With another clang, Xiao Chen thrust the sword into the ground. "I don't care what spirit or monster you are. Don't come any closer, or I'll have to pick your teeth with this."

Keke was undergoing a tremendous transformation, and Xiao Chen didn't want this strange stone turtle getting near, fearing something unforeseen.

"Ha, afraid of me?" The old turtle craned its neck, squinting at Xiao Chen with that insufferable, cocky expression and tone.

This was dizzying for Xiao Chen. A bizarre old turtle that talked and argued with him was strange enough, but now it wore that smug look, leaving him almost speechless.

Still, he dared not act rashly. Who knew what dreadful origins this stone turtle had? Simply remaining unharmed at the base of the Heavenly Stele spoke volumes!

The old turtle spoke slowly. "What are you staring at? Haven't you seen such a venerable turtle before?"

Xiao Chen felt like spitting blood. No matter how he looked at it, this old turtle was utterly perverse.

Wobbling and swaying, the turtle shuffled forward, brushing against the War Sword, utterly unconcerned by its razor edge.

"Who the devil are you?" Xiao Chen retreated, sword in hand, on guard.

"A turtle," the old turtle answered unhurriedly, then added dryly, "You've got eyes that big—what are you looking at?"

Xiao Chen's brow darkened with irritation.

"Stop right there. No further." With Keke nearby, Xiao Chen had to warn it again.

"I'm not looking at a stick of wood like you," the old turtle said, glancing at Xiao Chen dismissively. "Stop wasting emotions."

This old turtle was a true demon—its words were like a curse, deliberately provoking him.

"Stop shaking that toothpick," the old turtle said leisurely. "Do you really think you can kill a venerable turtle with that thing?"

Again, the old turtle looked down on him. Xiao Chen was tempted to stomp it.

"Ah, youth is so impatient." The old turtle sounded utterly self-important.

Xiao Chen considered summoning the Divine Diagram but refrained. Unless absolutely necessary, he did not want to attack this inscrutable old turtle.

Just then, the stone turtle craned its neck, peering past Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen also sensed the change. Keke was undergoing a startling transformation, and he turned to look.

The cocoon of light had turned into a genuine seven-colored jade egg, and Keke slept within.

With his current power, Xiao Chen could clearly see everything inside. Keke's divine power was steadily growing; its tiny body blazed with blinding light, and its form was shifting in an astonishing way.

Moments later, Xiao Chen was stunned, utterly shocked.

Inside the jade egg, Keke's form had completely transformed. Its once plump body gradually slimmed down. The seven-colored light dots on its skin turned into seven-colored scales. Its pure white fluffy fur vanished entirely. And the two small bumps on its head had grown into two glittering little jade horns.

It was a miraculous transformation.

A miniature seven-colored Ancestral Dragon was taking shape!

Within a quarter hour, Keke had become a miniature seven-colored Ancestral Dragon.

Xiao Chen felt dizzy. Though he had suspected this all along, it still felt unreal now that it was happening.

Back on Dragon Island, everyone had searched and speculated about the young Ancestral Dragon, but all efforts had failed. Everyone had assumed the young Ancestral Dragon would emerge through fierce competition among the Dragon Kings.

Who could have imagined that the true young Ancestral Dragon was this snow-white little beast that looked nothing like a dragon—and yet it was!

The identity of Keke's mother was practically begging to be revealed.

"It's a freak, a natural-born Ancestral Dragon," the old turtle spoke up again. "Without undergoing the vicious transformation, it was born with all the abilities of an Ancestral Dragon. A natural-born Ancestral Dragon!"

Thinking back, Xiao Chen found many things confirmed. On the Forbidden Sea, when the nine Dragon Kings gathered to summon the Ancestral Dragon Ship, Keke alone had seemed capable of the same feat. Its childish cries had once overpowered the roars of the nine Dragon Kings, reaching deep into the Forbidden Sea—but with nine Dragon Kings present, no one had truly noticed. Also, it had effortlessly displayed the Dragon Clan's greatest divine powers, overwhelming all the young Dragon Kings even in infancy, which pointed to the same truth.

At that moment, the Seven-Colored Sacred Tree floating nearby blazed with light. Seven streams of Ancestral Dragon essence, resounding with dragon roars, rushed out and orbited Keke, sending divine sparks into the jade egg.

The old turtle looked at Keke, then at the sacred tree. "Just as I thought—a natural-born freak. Now I finally know its true identity..."

"Master?" Xiao Chen was puzzled.

"What's that look, boy?" The old turtle glanced at him. "Want to know what's going on?"

Obviously!

But Xiao Chen resisted the urge to beat it senseless and nodded helplessly.

"I'm not telling you."

Xiao Chen nearly cursed out loud, leveling his War Sword at its big head in frustration.

"A long, long time ago, someone like you came here and told me all the secrets of the Dragon Clan..." The old turtle began its tale.

The saying that two Ancestral Dragons cannot coexist has a true meaning beyond common understanding—it does not mean they literally cannot meet.

As the old turtle explained, Xiao Chen learned a major secret of the Dragon Clan.

The Dragon Clan was an extremely powerful race! The Ancestral Dragons born from it were far more terrifying than ordinary Ancestral Gods, capable of cultivating heaven-defying techniques like the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

But this clan, though powerful, could barely produce more than one Ancestral Dragon in the same era. Even if a Dragon King had the talent to evolve into an Ancestral Dragon, it had to wait until the previous generation's Ancestral Dragon died out.

Legend said the Dragon Clan was cursed: if a second Ancestral Dragon was born in the same era, it would bring the calamity of the extinction of three dragon species.

Dragon Clan species were not few—they included powerful ones like Tyrant Dragons, Lion King Dragons, and Eight-Armed Malignant Dragons, as well as weaker ones like Winged Dragons and Thunder Dragons. But losing three entire species at once was an unbearable burden.

To break this curse, the Dragon Clan had tried various methods. They transplanted the World Tree to Dragon Island, hoping its sacred aura would slowly dissolve the curse in their blood over endless ages. Finally, they conceived the idea of using a natural-born Ancestral Dragon to break through the forbidden zone.

The World Tree grew on Dragon Island, absorbing and accumulating immeasurable dragon essence over incalculable time, along with the spirit energy of fallen Ancestral Dragons. From this vast accumulation, the divine tree gave birth to a natural-born Ancestral Dragon, formed entirely from the essence of ten thousand dragons.

It was not conceived by the Dragon Clan but born naturally, hoping to break the taboo. But unexpectedly, it invited even greater disaster. The birth of this natural-born Ancestral Dragon caused the Dragon Clan to lose seven entire species.

This was far worse than the disaster brought by a gradually transforming Ancestral Dragon!

Without question, the natural-born Ancestral Dragon was more powerful.

Keke's mother had been born in this way, making the Dragon Clan both love and grieve for her.

From then on, the Dragon Clan abandoned any thought of breaking the curse. It was only after Keke's mother met Keke's father that the old dragons' hopes revived, hoping to use this heaven-defying family to break the Dragon Clan curse.

So they raised no objection to the marriage between Keke's mother and father. But they could never have imagined that Keke's father's lineage was also cursed—and that family's curse was even more terrifying, nearly wiping out the entire clan.

In the distant past, Keke had already come into the world in the form of a seven-colored jade egg, but its consciousness had not yet truly formed. The offspring of two heaven-defying, cursed beings bore an even more terrible curse: on the very day the jade egg appeared, ten dragon species were wiped out.

For this reason, Keke, before it could truly be born, had to be sealed. Everyone feared that when Keke broke out of the shell, it would bring an even more horrific curse.

Time slowly passed. A thousand years ago, the sealing power gradually faded, and the jade egg re-emerged from the World Tree. Around the same time, the broken tree revived, sprouting the seven-colored sacred sapling.

The old Ancestral Dragon of that era watched the jade egg daily. When he saw that a snow-white little beast was inside, he could not bring himself to seal it again. Thus, Keke, who should have been born in that distant age, only came into this world a few centuries ago.

Moreover, this little creature was naturally sleepy, sleeping for decades or centuries at a time. In real terms, it had been awake for only five or six years, so it remained like a child.

Though the Dragon Clan had long tried to hide the truth, word had still leaked. Many old relics knew that a world-shaking little demon star, cursed beyond measure, had appeared on Dragon Island. The rumors grew more and more exaggerated: Keke was an ill-omened, heaven-defying little beast that would eventually destroy the Dragon Clan, perhaps even affecting other races. Some had, of course, stirred things up, not wanting such a dangerous creature to exist.

Some of the above was revealed by the stone turtle; some Xiao Chen had already learned.

When he understood it all, Xiao Chen was dumbfounded, his mind shaken. He had never imagined that this little creature had such a momentous origin—bearing the curse of two families, no wonder its fate had been so harsh since birth.

Recalling how the many ferocious dragons on Dragon Island had treated Keke, Xiao Chen now understood.

When leaving Dragon Island, the ten elder dragons had seen them off. Their feelings toward Keke were a mix of love and hate; some had even wanted to kill the little beast but ultimately held back.

Fortunately, the old Ancestral Dragon of this generation doted on Keke. Had it been a heartless figure, the little creature would truly have become a pitiable orphan.

Keke, suspended in the void within the jade egg formed from seven-colored light, was growing ever stronger. The fleshly shell of the nearby Ancestral Dragon was growing dimmer by the moment.

This was a succession—an acknowledgment of Keke's identity as an Ancestral Dragon. The immense ancestral dragon essence was converging toward the little beast.

At this moment, Keke's body was completely different from before. It had fully become a miniature seven-colored Ancestral Dragon, its two tender horns shimmering like crystal.

Suddenly, the little creature awoke. It was startled by the change in its own body.

When it discovered the transformation, Keke became annoyed.

"How did I become like this? So ugly!"

Keke sulked inside the seven-colored jade egg, touching its body with tiny paws and grumbling discontentedly.

"I don't want this!"

It struggled, light blazing, and the Ancestral Dragon form began to destabilize, slowly reverting to its original snow-white shape.

But the fleshly shell of the Ancestral Dragon on the ground continued to emit divine radiance, still converging toward the little beast.

Keke kept flickering between its original white form and the Ancestral Dragon form.

"It's just as well. If it truly became a young Ancestral Dragon, several more dragon species would likely go extinct." The old stone turtle nodded.

By now, Xiao Chen had gradually relaxed, convinced the old turtle meant no harm.

"What's that look, boy? What are you staring at?" The old turtle was annoyed by Xiao Chen's wary gaze.

"Looking at an old turtle." Xiao Chen, finally at ease, replied unhurriedly.

This time, the turtle was indeed struck speechless.

After a long pause, it said, "A long time ago, someone else who cultivated the Six-Heavenly-Stele Profound Art came here, but he had better manners than you. You rub me the wrong way."

Xiao Chen wanted to say he felt the same, but the weight of this revelation made him swallow his words.