Chapter 183: Golden Tortoise, Red Demon Mastiff, and Crimson Golden Phoenix
The deeper Lin Mo and his group traveled into the forest, the smoother their journey became.
The Spirit Beasts within the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest possessed extremely strong territorial instincts. However, after sensing the Titled Douluo aura Dugu Bo deliberately released, the vast majority chose to retreat.
Only a few powerful existences with cultivations exceeding fifty thousand years would release warning growls from the edges of their territories, but even they did not easily launch an attack.
Dugu Bo was naturally happy with this.
He led everyone around the areas where those obviously troublesome auras originated, carefully avoiding unnecessary conflicts as they continued deeper into the forest.
However, while passing through a swamp, the group encountered a small incident.
At the center of the swamp stood an enormous golden rock.
Lying atop it was a rather large turtle type Spirit Beast.
The shell covering its back was astonishingly uniform in color. Even every pattern across the shell was a deep golden hue.
What drew the most attention, however, were its tiny mung bean sized eyes. They looked dull and lifeless, making the entire turtle appear listless.
Even more surprisingly, it showed no desire to attack.
It merely lay there lazily, observing the group that had trespassed into its territory.
"Golden Tortoise."
Dugu Bo stopped, obvious caution appearing in his voice.
"Its cultivation appears to be around thirty thousand years. It is considered an auspicious existence among turtle type Spirit Beasts and is not something to provoke casually."
"Let's go around it. Don't disturb it."
Dugu Yan looked somewhat confused.
"Grandfather, it only has thirty thousand years of cultivation, while you're a Titled Douluo. Why do we need to avoid it?"
Ye Lingling also looked toward Dugu Bo, confusion visible in her eyes.
Dugu Bo shook his head and explained in a low voice, "The Golden Tortoise is a variant among turtle type Spirit Beasts and is regarded as an auspicious existence among its kind. Its defensive ability and means of preserving its life are exceptionally powerful."
"Even if its cultivation is only thirty thousand years, killing it would still require this old man to expend quite a bit of effort."
"More importantly, this is the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest. None of the Spirit Beasts lurking around here are simple."
"If we start fighting it, the commotion could attract the surrounding Spirit Beasts and cause them to besiege us."
Dugu Bo paused, his gaze involuntarily falling on Lin Mo.
"Our purpose in coming here is to help Lin Mo obtain his sixth spirit ring. There is no need to create unnecessary trouble."
Lin Mo nodded without saying anything.
His gaze remained on the Golden Tortoise for a moment before shifting toward the surrounding environment.
The location of this swamp was extremely good.
It sat right at the intersection of several powerful auras, almost like a natural buffer zone between multiple territories.
The surrounding Spirit Beasts generally possessed cultivations between fifty and sixty thousand years.
For a Golden Tortoise that appeared to have only thirty thousand years of cultivation to occupy such a favorable location, its true strength was probably not as simple as it seemed.
A thought quietly surfaced in Lin Mo's mind.
If he remembered correctly, during the era of the Unrivaled Tang Sect ten thousand years later, there had also been an extremely miserable yet incredibly bold Golden Tortoise.
Judging by its appearance, that Golden Tortoise had also seemed to possess only around thirty thousand years of cultivation.
But in reality, it was already a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast.
It simply did not dare reveal its true cultivation and had disguised itself as a thirty thousand year Spirit Beast while hiding inside the Star Dou Great Forest to survive.
Lin Mo pondered silently and secretly memorized the location of this Golden Tortoise.
If it really was the same one from his memory, things would become rather interesting.
The group did not disturb the Golden Tortoise.
They quietly bypassed the golden swamp and continued deeper into the forest.
After they left, the Golden Tortoise lying atop the golden rock slowly opened its half closed golden eyes.
It tilted its head and looked in the direction Lin Mo and the others had disappeared.
A trace of human-like confusion flashed through its tiny eyes.
Just now...
For some reason, it had suddenly felt as though someone had set their sights on it.
The Golden Tortoise shook its head and threw the strange feeling to the back of its mind.
Then it crawled back into a comfortable position atop the rock, closed its eyes, and continued dozing.
Lin Mo's guess was correct.
This Golden Tortoise was indeed the one from his memories.
And it had only recently escaped from the Lake of Life deep within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Because of its arrogance and greed, it had not only secretly absorbed some of the vitality and spirit power from the Skydream Iceworm captured by Di Tian and the others, but had even been bold enough to bite off a piece of Life Gold from the Lake of Life right beneath their noses.
That object was practically the lifeblood of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Even though the Golden Tortoise was considered an auspicious existence among turtles and was itself a rare Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Beast, if Di Tian ever discovered that it was responsible, he would never allow it to remain.
It was not only Di Tian.
Even Bi Ji, who had the gentlest temperament among the many Vicious Beasts, would be unable to protect it if she learned what it had done.
Precisely because the Golden Tortoise understood the severity of its actions, it had used its innate ability to escape from the Lake of Life.
Ever since then, it had hidden here while disguising itself as a thirty thousand year Spirit Beast.
It absolutely did not want Di Tian to capture it, cut open its stomach, and take back what was inside.
Although it now wished it could simply throw away the object in its belly, that green, metal-like thing had been tormenting it terribly, losing its life over the matter would obviously be even worse.
For the next seven days, Lin Mo's group continued searching throughout the core area of the Star Dou Great Forest.
The region was far larger than they had imagined.
Even with Dugu Bo and Ye Linyuan leading the way, the group had only explored a very small portion of the core area after seven full days.
During this period, they encountered two Spirit Beasts that were relatively suitable for Lin Mo.
The first was a Red Demon Mastiff.
It was a dog type Spirit Beast with an entirely crimson body and an exceptionally sturdy build. From its appearance alone, it resembled a lion more than a dog.
Its canine teeth emitted a deep crimson glow.
Its cultivation was approximately fifty thousand years.
Tracing its bloodline backward, it should have inherited a portion of its ancestry from Chi Wang, the Three-Headed Red Demon Mastiff ranked eighth among the Ten Vicious Beasts.
However, its bloodline was obviously far less pure than that of the Three-Headed Red Demon Mastiffs directly descended from the Red King.
It only possessed a single head.
Precisely because of this, although its fire attribute was quite powerful, it was not pure enough.
Combined with the fact that its cultivation had not reached the upper limit Lin Mo and Charizard could withstand, Lin Mo ultimately treated it only as a backup option.
The next Spirit Beast they discovered, however, was almost perfectly suited to Lin Mo's requirements.
It was a bird type Spirit Beast whose entire body was crimson gold and whose appearance closely resembled a Phoenix.
It perched atop an ancient tree that had long since lost all vitality and had been scorched completely black.
The Phoenix type Spirit Beast was no more than four meters long, yet its wingspan exceeded eight meters.
Its long tail feathers trailed gracefully behind it, reflecting brilliant light beneath the sunlight.
Most striking of all was the cluster of golden feathers atop its head, shaped like a crown, and its pair of eyes burning with golden flames.
"This is..."
Dugu Bo stopped in his tracks and stared fixedly at the Phoenix type Spirit Beast.
"Crimson Golden Phoenix."
"What an incredibly pure fire attribute!"
His expression gradually became solemn.
"Its cultivation should be around sixty thousand years. But the purity of this fire attribute... I'm afraid it is already approaching the level of Ultimate Fire."
Lin Mo said nothing.
His gaze had already been completely drawn to the Crimson Golden Phoenix.
According to Dugu Bo's perception, this Crimson Golden Phoenix possessed approximately sixty thousand years of cultivation.
But Lin Mo could clearly sense that its fire attribute was purer than that of any fire attribute Spirit Beast he had ever encountered before.
He had no doubt that once this Crimson Golden Phoenix reached one hundred thousand years of cultivation, its fire attribute would naturally evolve into Ultimate Fire.
And there was something else.
Lin Mo's heart stirred slightly as he sensed the excitement coming from Charizard within his body.
A strong premonition arose in his heart.
If Charizard released Sunny Day...
Under the illumination of Sunny Day, the fire attribute of this Crimson Golden Phoenix might temporarily cross that final boundary just like Charizard's flames and reach the level of Ultimate Fire.
At this stage, Charizard's control over Sunny Day had already become increasingly refined.
Even so, a hostile fire attribute target that was not considered an ally could only receive an enhancement of around ten percent.
But for this Crimson Golden Phoenix, whose fire attribute was already infinitely close to Ultimate Fire...
That mere ten percent increase might be enough to push it across the final threshold.