Turtle, Tablet, Boundary!

In a corner of the small world beneath the Nether Pool, under a brilliant ten-colored sky, stood a pitch-black stone tablet weathered by time.

Dense chains as thin as silk threads were wrapped around the dark tablet, and at the other end, an old turtle was bound.

In front of the old turtle stood a suspension mirror taller than the stone tablet itself, reflecting the entire small world within the cloud-filled sky.

At this moment, the old turtle was standing upright on two legs like a human, pacing back and forth in front of the suspension mirror with its shell on its back.

The chains around its body dragged along as it moved, clashing against each other with sharp, ear-piercing metallic clangs.

The old turtle's bald head shone brightly, and the two white eyebrows above its eyes were extremely long, hanging down to its chest like ponytails.

It held its hands behind its back, its body hunched, and it grumbled under its breath.

"Good!"

"It really is a little brat from the Li family."

"Fortunately, I kept a trick up my sleeve. If I really let you escape, it would be more painful than killing me. And you even inherited the White Jade Capital... I truly didn't expect that."

"But... why would the Li family send a mere hatchling to this place of exile? He even ran right into my lap. Isn't that just begging for death?"

It stroked its chin, questioning and answering itself.

"No, there must be something fishy going on. The power of the seal has been weakening for nearly ten thousand years. Something must have happened to the Li family."

"Heh... maybe they were wiped out, so they have no time to worry about this place. This kid is a remnant who fled to Fanzhou to seek refuge."

"It's not impossible..."

"If that's the case, I definitely can't let this kid leave. I can't let him grow up."

"I have already awakened, so the day of the Sovereign's awakening shouldn't be far off. Once the Sovereign wakes up, my suffering will finally be over. How long has it been? A hundred thousand years? Two hundred thousand? More than that. Surely it hasn't been a million years."

"No, I need to get some information out of this brat. I need to ask him what exactly is going on."

"...."

The old turtle rambled on, its thoughts in disarray. Faded memories flashed by like frames of a film—humiliation, resentment, pain, despair, and helplessness flickered through its murky eyes.

It guessed, speculated, and fantasized.

It had been silent in the despair of years past, yet now, in the midst of this desolate silence, it saw a glimmer of hope and seemed to smell the wind of freedom.

That scent, long lost, actually made its heart race.

Lost in its own thoughts, it didn't notice that in the suspension mirror, the youth was already approaching its location at an extremely high speed.

Under the ten-colored sky, Xu Xian walked toward the direction Little Book pointed, reaching the end of this small world at the edge of a precipice.

Here, an invisible high wall cut the world apart. The watery marsh beneath his feet ended abruptly, and before him was nothing but churning grey mist, making it impossible to move forward.

When he reached out to push the grey mist aside, he could physically touch the wall hidden within it.

An invisible wall condensed from the laws of heaven and earth.

Similar to the spatial barriers of a storage bag, this was the boundary wall of this small world.

In Cangming, and even in the entire universe, all small spaces and small worlds had an end. They were not vast and boundless like the cosmos.

These small worlds were like storage bags. Essentially, they were all reinforced by an array. The only difference was the strength of the array and the size of the world.

The small world beneath the Nether Pool was no exception.

Xu Xian had naturally come to this array wall more than once. Not just here, but he had found the ends of the array walls in all four directions of this world.

However, previously, neither he nor Little Book had thought much of it, assuming they had truly reached the end. Now, things were different.

Both Little Book and Xu Xian were absolutely certain that there must be something else behind this array wall. If it wasn't an array within an array, then there was another world inside.

Or perhaps the array wall before them was merely a false illusion.

After investigating at close range, the tiny Little Book suddenly realized something.

"No wonder we couldn't find it. It was hidden behind this."

Xu Xian asked, "Can you break it?"

Little Book first shook its head, then said, "I can't break it, but I can dismantle it with brute force."

With a flick of his wrist, Xu Xian gripped a large iron hammer in his hand. Without a word, he prepared to start smashing.

Forty for a tap, eighty for a smash. To take down a wall, one had to use a hammer.

But before he could swing the hammer, Little Book suddenly threw a wet blanket on his plans.

"Master, don't waste your energy. This hammer won't work."

Xu Xian froze, looked at the wall, and asked tentatively, "Then should I draw my sword?"

Little Book continued to shake its head. "That won't work either."

Xu Xian tilted his head. "Hmm?" He was half-doubting.

The hammer wouldn't work.

The sword wouldn't work.

Then how?

Little Book offered a solution, crossing its tiny arms and saying proudly, "This is a boundary wall, not an array wall. Only a full-power strike from this Sword Immortal can cut it open."

Xu Xian silently put away the hammer, not forgetting to roll his eyes at the little fellow. This thing really knew how to show off and act grand.

Just across the boundary, the old turtle also snapped out of its daydreams because of the youth's arrival. It stared at the youth in the suspension mirror, its mouth widening into a grin.

It mocked, "Tsk tsk, you actually found it. This brat has some skill. But what's the use? A mere sixth stage ant thinks he can split this boundary wall? How laughable."

This boundary wall was not left by the Li family. Instead, it was something the turtle had condensed using the power of delusion after it awakened.

It was suppressed here, its cultivation imprisoned, and its physical body had been eroded by this world over the long years.

It had shriveled and shrunk at a visible rate. Once as massive as a star, now...

It was beyond words.

The only thing it could still use was its thoughts.

Therefore, it was currently like an old wolf lying in its den, having long since lost its fangs and claws, vulnerable to anyone who wanted to take a few stabs at it.

Because of this.

When the youth broke into this world, it had used its meager remaining source power to forcibly condense this array wall with a divine ability of delusion, hiding itself away.

It wasn't afraid of being killed by the kid. The Nether Tortoise was famous for its powerful physical body, and it had sacrificed its soul to the Sovereign. As long as the Sovereign lived, it would not perish.

It simply didn't want anyone to see its current pathetic appearance.

In the past, even the ancestors of the Li family couldn't kill it and had to go through the trouble of imprisoning it.

So what could this ant-like junior do?

Of course.

It had also tried to take the initiative and drag the brat into its dream of delusion to control his will.

But it had failed from the very beginning.

Originally, it had wondered why.

Now it was clear. It was because this boy had inherited the White Jade Capital that had once shaken the Star Sea.

With such a divine object protecting him, the turtle could not disturb his mind in its current state.

But it didn't matter.

He was already a rat in a trap.

He couldn't break the array wall, couldn't see the turtle, and couldn't go back.

It had plenty of time to wait and wear him down. Once his mind became clouded, it could do whatever it wanted.

On the other side of the array, the youth's voice rang out.

"Old bastard, I know you're in there. Get out here! Do you have the guts to stop being a shrinking turtle?"

The old turtle laughed and stopped pretending. It stood in front of the suspension mirror, and its phantom was instantly projected outside the array.

Its massive body loomed in the clouds, and its head emerged from the mist just as before. Looking down at the youth, it sneered, "Haha! I am a turtle to begin with. What's wrong with shrinking my head?"