The sun was setting in the west.
On a small country road in the Great Northwest frontier, Gu Qingfeng rode an old horse, swaying leisurely along. He held a jug of wine in his hand but wasn't drinking from it; his expression was serious and focused.
At this moment, his divine sense was immersed in the Storage Bag at his waist. It was an ordinary Storage Bag, plain as could be—at least that's how it looked on the surface. However, after Gu Qingfeng had tempered it with Nine Nether flames, this Storage Bag was no longer ordinary.
Its interior space was as vast as heaven and earth, no less than any cave dwelling or even a secret realm.
It didn't contain many rare treasures; mostly, it held fine wine.
Apart from that, there was also a small, pitch-black turtle.
He had found this turtle a few years ago in Yun Nishang's Cave Dwelling. At the time, noticing the turtle was extraordinary and sealed by the Great Bright King, Gu Qingfeng had casually brought it along.
Gu Qingfeng was someone who had seen the world, having encountered all sorts of rare and exotic beasts. However, as for what this little turtle was, he truly couldn't figure it out. He couldn't even tell if it was a demon beast, a spirit beast, or a demonic beast...
He only knew this turtle was highly intelligent, and its body was as immovable as a mountain range; ordinary force could hardly budge it. The spiritual aura emanating from it was particularly strange—at least, Gu Qingfeng had never encountered such a peculiar spiritual aura before. He had tried to communicate with the little turtle, but it paid him no mind.
Every day, it did nothing but eat and drink—consuming spirit stones and drinking fine wine. Once sated, it would fall asleep.
Fortunately, Gu Qingfeng wasn't short on spirit stones or fine wine, so he let the little turtle eat and drink as it pleased. Thinking back, it had been nearly four years now. Who knew how many spirit stones it had eaten or how much wine it had drunk? The turtle hadn't grown in size, but its shell had grown increasingly black.
However, not long after Gu Qingfeng emerged from the fragmented heaven and earth of the mysterious era, the little turtle suddenly underwent a strange transformation.
For some reason, a Black Light began to emanate from its body. The Black Light burned fiercely like flames, and within it, the little turtle seemed to be inhaling and exhaling like clouds and mist.
Gu Qingfeng didn't know what this Black Light was.
When his divine sense probed it and found it blocked, he didn't persist, fearing he might harm the little turtle.
As the Black Light burned more intensely, the little turtle grew darker, and that spiritual aura became increasingly vast—not just vast, but also ancient, inspiring a sense of awe!
This feeling reminded Gu Qingfeng of those Nine Nether demons.
When those ancient demons who had lived for countless years emerged from seclusion, they gave off this same ancient, vast feeling—like a stone door sealed for millions of years slowly creaking open, filled with a sense of profound weight.
What on earth was this little thing's origin?
Gu Qingfeng recalled the situation back in Yun Nishang's Cave Dwelling. This little turtle had been sealed by the Great Bright King at the time. That Seal was meant for imprisoning ancient demons—why was it used on this little turtle?
This was a question he had never figured out. When he met Yun Nishang, he had been too busy asking about karma and had forgotten about this matter.
It suddenly occurred to him that the Chaos fragment in his hand had also been found in that Cave Dwelling. Could it be that this little turtle was also connected to the mysterious era?
He didn't know.
Gu Qingfeng didn't make wild guesses; he simply waited quietly.
He didn't know how much time had passed.
When the fiery Black Light stopped burning and completely dissipated, the little turtle also ceased its breathing exercises. It stood up, shook its groggy head, stretched lazily, and its body crackled with a series of crisp sounds. Then, it grabbed a jug of wine from nearby, popped it open with a bang, lifted the jug, tilted its head back, and gulped it down. After a few mouthfuls, the jug was completely empty. It then opened another jug and casually grabbed a handful of red-leaf demon fruits.
Plonking itself down on a master's chair, it leaned back, crossed its legs, took a bite of red-leaf demon fruit, and a sip of wine—its demeanor couldn't have been more carefree.
Outside, Gu Qingfeng watched, utterly dumbfounded.
Ever since he first found this little turtle, he had known it was highly intelligent. However, the little creature's actions just now—grabbing the wine, breaking the seal, tilting its head back, drinking it all down—were executed in one smooth, fluid motion, truly opening Gu Qingfeng's eyes. Especially the way it lounged in the master's chair—tsk tsk—that leisurely expression, that carefree demeanor, that slight tipsiness... it really had the look down pat, even making Gu Qingfeng feel inferior.
"What's the matter? Never seen your grandpa drink before?"
The little turtle spoke in human language, its tone incredibly arrogant and domineering, putting on an air of being the boss with heaven as its subordinate.
"I say, little guy, not bad!" Gu Qingfeng laughed and cursed. "You little rascal, you've become a spirit!"
"Become a spirit?" The little turtle curled its lip, full of disdain. "How ignorant... Tomorrow, grandpa will show you what becoming a God looks like."
"Oh, quite the big talker!" Gu Qingfeng chuckled. "Seems you still remember who I am."
"Nonsense! You're the one who dragged grandpa out of that godforsaken place. Of course grandpa remembers you."
"Godforsaken place? Little guy, let me ask you: do you know where you were sealed before?"
"Don't know. From the day grandpa became aware, I found myself trapped in a godforsaken Seal."
"So, that means you know Yun Nishang too?"
"Yun Nishang? Which nobody is that? Grandpa doesn't know her."
"In other words, you don't even know who you are, right?"
"Grandpa really doesn't know. Don't tell me you do?"
Gu Qingfeng observed; the little turtle wasn't lying. Although its tone was tough and it put on a grandpa act, its thinking was simple, its consciousness rather childish—its intellect was its weak point. To put it bluntly, it was similar to those naive kids who hadn't seen the world.
"Hey, have you seen grandpa's little sister?"
"Your little sister?" Gu Qingfeng was puzzled. "What do you mean?"
"Grandpa might have a little sister."
"Might?"
"Should be, right? Grandpa isn't too sure either. No!" The little turtle drooped its head, thought carefully, and said with certainty, "Grandpa definitely has a little sister. Yes! That's right! Must have one! Grandpa can feel it!"
"When I found you in the Cave Dwelling, you were alone. I didn't see your little sister."
Gu Qingfeng replied while also trying to figure out what the little turtle meant by its 'little sister'.
"Hmm... just now, grandpa seemed to hear my little sister calling me... She'll probably come looking for me, right?" The little turtle scratched its head with a claw, muttering to itself. "But how could grandpa have a little sister? Grandpa doesn't have any memory of it at all... Wait, that's not right either. I seem to have a faint impression. I remember always being with my little sister! How did we get separated later..." The little turtle looked very agitated and tilted its head back to down the entire jug of wine in one go.
"I say, you little rascal, can't you save some? The wine in my place is almost all gone thanks to you!"