Chapter 100 : Temporal Order Dragon Turtle

Chapter 100: Temporal Order Dragon Turtle

The shopkeeper carefully cradled an incubation box engraved with heat-preservation and spirit-gathering formation runes and presented it before True Person Zhiying.

The box was crafted from some kind of translucent warm jade.

Through the semi-transparent walls, one could vaguely see an egg inside whose shell already bore fine cracks, gently rising and falling.

True Person Zhiying did not take it.

Instead, she signaled with her eyes for the shopkeeper to hand the box directly to Xiao Ying.

The girl excitedly accepted the incubation box, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes fixed unblinking on the egg inside.

Almost instinctively, she guided a wisp of her own spiritual energy—so faint it was nearly imperceptible, yet imbued with a unique resonance of the Dao of Time—softly into the box.

Crack!

A crisp shattering sound rang out with striking clarity.

The top of the eggshell broke open in response, forming a small hole.

A tender, pale-yellow, wet little head poked out first, clumsily pawing at the surrounding cracks.

Immediately after, the upper half of the shell seemed to be pushed apart by an invisible hand, completely splitting open and revealing a hatchling only palm-sized, its shape resembling that of a turtle.

In an instant, something strange happened!

Everyone in the hall clearly felt the flow of time around them abruptly change.

It was as if they had fallen into a viscous liquid—every movement, every breath carried a heavy sense of sluggish delay.

Even their thoughts seemed to slow, and an extremely uncomfortable feeling of constraint enveloped them all.

However, the sensation lasted only a moment.

As True Person Zhiying casually tapped the sword hilt with a finger, an invisible ripple spread outward.

The bizarre stickiness vanished instantly, and everyone’s perception of time returned to normal.

“Temporal Order Dragon Turtle,” True Person Zhiying said calmly, as though nothing at all had just occurred.

“They are born carrying the ‘weight of time.’ Their very existence slightly drags the flow of time around them, which is why their movements are exceedingly slow. What you felt just now was the concentrated Dao resonance of time accumulated within the eggshell being released all at once at the moment of hatching.”

Although True Person Zhiying immediately offered an explanation, aside from Xiao Ying—who seemed to gain some understanding—everyone else present listened as if hearing clouds and fog.

Nan Yuchen, unable to restrain his curiosity, asked, “Then… Senior Sister Weaving Shadow, how long does it take for it to grow up?”

“Under normal circumstances,” True Person Zhiying glanced at the dragon turtle hatchling on the table, which was slowly stretching its tiny claws, “about fifteen hundred years to reach adulthood.”

“Fifteen hundred years?!” Nan Yuchen sucked in a sharp breath.

“A Golden Core cultivator can live at most twelve hundred years! Doesn’t that mean that even if I reached the Golden Core stage, I still wouldn’t live to see it grow up? No wonder I’ve never heard of anyone keeping this kind of turtle as a spirit pet.”

On the other side, Zhu Huaishu sighed with emotion.

“This… this is basically raising a family heirloom.”

Since the little one had not yet formally acknowledged a master, everyone tacitly kept a certain distance while carefully observing it with curiosity.

The small turtle’s carapace was extremely marvelous—unlike the solid shell of ordinary turtles, it was more like flowing grains of sand, presenting a semi-illusory texture.

It was dotted with starlike radiance, and upon closer inspection, those points of light seemed to be moving extremely slowly along some profound and mysterious trajectory.

Having just broken out of the shell, the Temporal Order Dragon Turtle hatchling appeared somewhat confused, its little head turning slowly from side to side.

However, when its gaze landed on Xiao Ying, a sense of closeness and longing instantly surfaced.

Completely ignoring everyone else present, it let out a faint, clear chirp, then began to move its four short legs—at a speed that looked like slow motion to others—clumsily yet with remarkable determination, wobbling out of the shattered shell and resolutely inching toward Xiao Ying.

“It… it likes me!” Xiao Ying exclaimed in delight, her heart melting as she felt the little one’s pure and intense sense of reliance.

She carefully placed the incubation box on the nearby table, then extended a finger and gently stroked the dragon turtle hatchling’s shimmering, strangely textured carapace.

A trace of realization and satisfaction flashed through True Person Zhiying’s eyes as she nodded.

“Temporal Order Dragon Turtles are naturally sensitive to the power of time. You possess a unique temporal talent—like a bright lighthouse to it—so it is only natural that it would be drawn to you. That said, for it to acknowledge a master so proactively and quickly is indeed a rare affinity.”

At this moment, Xiao Ying’s heart and eyes were filled entirely with this newly gained spirit pet that matched her so perfectly.

The slight jealousy and discomfort she had felt earlier because of Luo Yusi had long since vanished without a trace.

She gently lifted the dragon turtle hatchling and placed it in her palm, smiling so brightly that her eyes nearly disappeared.

Then she happily ran over to Long Tao, raising her hand high in an unmistakable display of eager boasting.

“Look! Young Master, I’m amazing, right? I already have such a powerful spirit pet following me so quickly!”

“Yes,” Long Tao said, habitually reaching out to rub the little girl’s head, his tone filled with sincere praise and a faint, hard-to-detect complexity.

“You’re far better than this useless young master of yours.

As expected of Xiao Ying.” His intimate gesture was completely natural, yet he failed to notice that nearby, the seemingly indifferent True Person Zhiying very subtly puffed out her cheeks, a trace of displeasure flashing through her eyes.

“Heehee!” Xiao Ying enjoyed Long Tao’s praise, smiling so happily that her eyes curved like crescent moons.

Still, although he was genuinely happy for Xiao Ying, the embarrassment in Long Tao’s heart—born from being unable to afford a proper gift—once again surfaced uncontrollably.

He subconsciously glanced at Nan Yuchen beside him, who also possessed a rare azure phoenix, and could not help but sigh inwardly.

Sigh… two juniors younger than himself had both obtained priceless, rare spirit pets, while he remained completely empty-handed.

Truly, comparing people led only to frustration, and comparing goods led only to throwing them away.

He had originally planned to casually see if there might be an ordinary spirit pet suitable for himself this time, but after such a stimulus, he no longer had even the slightest interest.

Meanwhile, Luo Yusi stared at the Temporal Order Dragon Turtle in Xiao Ying’s palm with an expression full of amazement, her eyes brimming with pure curiosity toward an unknown creature.

Zhu Huaishu and Nan Yuchen exchanged glances, both seeing the undisguised astonishment in each other’s eyes.

This newly accepted personal disciple of True Person Zhiying was indeed extraordinary.

The earlier phenomenon of time stagnation had also attracted the attention of many people outside the shop.

Some curious cultivators began to gather around, pointing and whispering toward Xiao Ying and the dragon turtle in her hand.

True Person Zhiying stepped forward at just the right moment, shielding her disciple behind her and cutting off those probing gazes as she spoke calmly, “All right.

Everything that needed to be done has been done.

It’s time for us to return.”

Having obtained her beloved spirit pet and reunited with the young master she had been longing for, Xiao Ying was thoroughly satisfied.

She nodded vigorously.

“Mm!”

Just as master and disciple turned around and were about to walk out of the Precious Beast Pavilion’s main doors, a clear transmitted voice precisely drilled into Long Tao’s ear.

It was True Person Zhiying’s voice, carrying a hint of leisure.

“I will definitely snatch Xiao Ying away from your hands.”

?!

Before Long Tao could react to this abrupt, inexplicable, and oddly suggestive warning, True Person Zhiying had already flicked her sleeve.

Sword light flared, sweeping Xiao Ying up as they vanished in an instant above the marketplace, leaving behind Long Tao standing there in utter bewilderment, his head full of question marks.

What in the world? Why did that sound so strange? Wasn’t she already her master—and hadn’t she even burned the slave contract? Long Tao felt utterly baffled, yet at the same time, an inexplicable sense of pressure welled up within him.