Although the White-Armor Snake was fast, it was still too slow compared to everyone who had trained in Drifting Dragon Steps. In just moments, the group led by Eric Zhou cut off its escape.
"Sss sss!"
Realizing it couldn't break through, the White-Armor Snake spat its tongue in furious frustration.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The three—Eric Zhou and his companions—struck at once, unleashing Palm Strikes that shattered the White-Armor Snake's head, sending it crashing to the ground.
"Haha, we’re eating well tonight!"
Picking up the White-Armor Snake’s corpse, Eric Zhou couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
"Leon, should we keep going deeper?"
"Yeah, we’ll let you decide!"
Heh, we’re all used to letting Leon call the shots!
Afterwards, Leon Huang grilled over a hundred jin (about 110 pounds) of barbecue.
Now that they were outside the safe zone, everyone stayed alert and didn’t dare drink any alcohol.
Thinking it over, everyone agreed—eating great food every day and sometimes hearing Leon’s singing, this felt more like a vacation than a training expedition.
The night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, after breaking camp, the group resumed hunting sea demonic beasts. This time, though, they didn’t push deeper, since there were plenty of second-tier beasts in this area.
Several days flew by in a flash.
After days of hunting, the second-tier sea demonic beasts in this area were nearly wiped out. The materials and monster cores they collected were worth over 150,000 taels—if they returned now, each person could take home more than 10,000 taels of silver.
"Brother Huang, should we keep going deeper?"
"Yeah, we’ll let you decide!"
"Heh, we’re all used to letting Brother Huang call the shots!"
Everyone’s eyes turned to Ian Song.
They’d only gone about ten li (about 3 miles) when Leon Huang suddenly made a hand gesture, signaling everyone to stop.
Thinking it over, everyone agreed—eating great food every day and sometimes hearing Brother Huang’s singing, this felt more like a vacation than a training expedition.
Even though heading back now meant more than ten thousand taels each, it would go against the original spirit of the training.
So, after a brief discussion, they all agreed to keep going deeper.
"But I have to warn everyone—if we keep going, we’ll probably run into third-tier sea demonic beasts. We need to be careful and take it step by step. No rushing ahead!" Ian added.
Everyone nodded seriously.
A third-tier beast’s power and speed matched an early-stage Grandmaster. While it didn’t have a domain, it was still a huge threat to their group of Qi-Refining cultivators.
"Everyone, make sure to rest up tonight!"
Another night passed, and the ground was covered in a thin layer of mist.
Once everything was packed up, everyone set out on foot.
They’d only gone about ten li when Ian suddenly made a hand gesture, signaling everyone to stop.
"There’s a pond over there with a third-tier Iron-Shell Turtle inside. Should we go for it?" Ian asked.
The Iron-Shell Turtle’s shell is top-grade material for making shields and armor. A single third-tier shell sells for at least fifty thousand taels, and with its monster core, meat, blood, and tendons, the total value is easily a hundred thousand taels.
Naturally, everyone was tempted.
Soon, the group gathered around the pond.
"So what’s the plan?"
The pond wasn’t large—just a few hundred square meters—but with the Iron-Shell Turtle hiding in the water, they couldn’t do much.
"Let’s just drain the water!"
Ian smiled.
"How do we drain it?"
"Watch me."
As he spoke, Leon Huang activated his artifact ring and aimed it at the pond. Instantly, the water surged up in a massive column and was sucked into the ring. Everyone was stunned—just how big was this storage ring to hold so much water?
The pond wasn’t very deep—only about seven or eight meters (about 23–26 feet).
So after a quarter of an hour, the water level had dropped by half.
Meanwhile, the Iron-Shell Turtle was still sleeping at the bottom, completely unaware that the water level had gone down.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and the entire pond was drained dry. The Iron-Shell Turtle’s massive form was now fully exposed to everyone’s view.
The Iron-Shell Turtle was a third-tier sea demonic beast, and its shell was at least the size of a mattress, covered in dark patterns and patches of moss. Clearly, it had lived in this pond for many years—if not for Leon Huang’s Clairvoyant Vision, it would’ve been nearly impossible to find.
The sudden disappearance of the water finally woke the sleeping Iron-Shell Turtle.
Its beady little eyes swept the area and immediately spotted Leon Huang and the others by the pond. Instantly, a fierce glint flashed across its gaze, and it began making threatening, guttural noises.
"Leon, how do we fight it next?" Eric Zhou asked, itching for action.
"With the pond drained, the Iron-Shell Turtle’s strength will be greatly reduced. Let’s jump down and surround it!"
"Alright!"
Eric Zhou couldn’t wait—he leapt into the pond bed, followed by the others. The thick mud made footing awkward, so Leon Huang turned to Harriet Gu, Winnie Shentu, and the other girls: "You all can stay up here and support us from above—no need to get dirty."
"Leon is really thoughtful!"
Shentu Wan’er sighed in admiration. Girls valued cleanliness, and fighting in the mud was uncomfortable, so when Leon suggested they support from above, no one objected.
As Leon and seven others landed in the pond bed, the Iron-Shell Turtle immediately grew enraged.
Its head and limbs instantly withdrew into its shell, and with a whoosh, it shot out like a cannonball, slamming straight toward Eric Zhou.
Eric didn’t dodge. With a shout, he drew his longsword and met the Iron-Shell Turtle head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
More than ten sword-qi strikes landed hard on the turtle’s shell, producing a series of metallic clangs—but not even a scratch was left.
Helpless, Eric had no choice but to retreat.
The others attacked as well, but still couldn’t break through the Iron-Shell Turtle’s shell. Their combined blows at least managed to knock it around.
Unlike ordinary turtles, once it withdrew, its shell became a seamless, airtight mobile fortress.
After dozens of rounds of attacks, everyone realized that at this rate, they couldn’t do anything to the Iron-Shell Turtle.
Seeing this, Leon Huang quickly thought of a solution.
He quickly communicated the plan. Leon and Howard Changsun temporarily withdrew to the side, while Eric Zhou, Benson Bai, Ian Tian, Kurt Kou, and Gavin Guan continued to besiege the turtle.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sword-qi, fist force, and blade energy kept slamming into the shell. They couldn’t hurt it, but they slowed it down considerably.
Leon glanced at Howard, then shot forward, landing atop the shell. He released his true qi in the form of flames, enveloping the entire carapace.
Once the flames faded, Leon quickly retreated.
As soon as the fire died down, Howard rushed in and unleashed icy true qi, instantly encasing the Iron-Shell Turtle in a thick layer of ice.
Under the extremes of ice and fire, even fully withdrawn inside its shell, the Iron-Shell Turtle was severely affected, letting out furious roars.
Crack! Crack!
The thick ice shattered, and the Iron-Shell Turtle charged at the group again.
Eric and the others attacked together, blocking the turtle. Leon sprang out again, releasing flames to envelop it; when he retreated and the fire faded, Howard once more rushed in to unleash icy true qi.
After repeating this cycle several times, the Iron-Shell Turtle was left barely alive—ready for everyone to finish off and harvest.