As the Vermilion Bird and Jiang Chen expected, the Black Tortoise threw reservation out of the window after being provoked by Jiang Chen’s attitude.

If this human is truly that powerful, we’ll see if he can take my last move. If he can’t, he’s in no position to patronize me!

Fury planted the seed of malice in the tortoise’s heart.

A ferocious glint flashed through its eyes as it cackled. “If you can take my last attack, young man, I’ll do whatever you say. If not, you only have yourself to blame for being overly confident.”

Jiang Chen smiled slightly. “Do you mean that?”

“Of course!” exclaimed the tortoise.

Jiang Chen had been just waiting for it to say this. “What do you have to back up your word?”

“Why would I need that? The Black Tortoise is a superior, noble bloodline. Would one of us lie to you!?” Offended, the tortoise flew into a rage. It glared at the Vermilion Bird. “You’ve heard my words. I won’t pull back for my next attack. Don’t blame me if he can’t take it. If he can, I’ll join you and follow his orders. Whatever you command will be my wish.”

“What if you go back on your word?” the bird demanded coolly.

“If I do, may the heavens smite me with divine catastrophe and scatter me to the four corners of the world.” The Black Tortoise didn’t leave itself any wiggle room.

Jiang Chen was delighted. The simpleminded tortoise had fallen right into his trap.

“Good, you do live up to the honor of your bloodline. I admire your decisiveness.” Jiang Chen cupped his hands. “Please, go on.”

“Hmph, knock it off. Flattery will get you nowhere. I won’t go easy on you. This strike will be at my full power. Do whatever you need to survive!”

The tortoise was very matter-of-fact. It was obvious it really wasn’t going to pull its punches.

Jiang Chen smiled lazily. “I know your most powerful trick is the Black Tortoise Festering Gas, but that’s the one thing I’m not afraid of. You’d better not pick that as your last move.”

He continued to poke at the tortoise.

The tortoise had many techniques, the festering gas being the most powerful one, but that was what Jiang Chen wanted it to use.

He had a good idea about how he was going to counter the gas. If the tortoise chose any other techniques, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to hold out.

According to his understanding of the tortoise, it’d be contrarian and opt for the festering gas if he told it not to. If he’d told the tortoise to use the gas, well then it wouldn’t!

A battle in martial dao was often so much more than that. It was also a battle of wits. The opponent’s personality and state of mind must be considered. With the tortoise, one had to exploit its contrarian nature.

The Black Tortoise cackled derisively. “Stop trying to trick me into not using the festering gas. You’re just scared. Not even the divine beasts can necessarily withstand it. You, a human, dare say that it won’t work on you? We’ll see if it does!”

As Jiang Chen had expected, the tortoise had made up its mind to use the festering gas.

Jiang Chen masked his delight and adopted a serious look. “Oh, then you’ll lose for certain. Don’t try to talk your way out of it!”

That was very intentional in order to provoke the tortoise.

It huffed angrily. “Dream all you want. Me, lose? If you can take my last attack, I’ll join you and even serve you as your servant.”

Jiang Chen pulled a long face. “Must things be this way?”

“Stop putting up a front, kid. It’s too late. Know your doom!”

The tortoise shook itself. Green smoke rose into the air and formed a circle, as if pores had opened up all over his body and his scales had unfurled.

“Black Tortoise Festering Gas. Master of life and death. Overlord of souls.” The tortoise intoned, then shouted, “I’ll take you to hell and show you the gates of death, kid!”

The tortoise vanished into thin air.

The circular smoke expanded suddenly and, in the blink of an eye, flew past the void to reach Jiang Chen.

It dispersed into streams of silver smoke, writhing and rolling like silver koi leaping upstream.

Streams of light shot into Jiang Chen’s consciousness without warning, each of which contained festering gas and could destroy a cultivator’s consciousness on its own. A swarm would do even more damage.

Fortunately, a good majority of the light was bounced away by Jiang Chen’s tempered body and magnetic energy. However, some of the more resistant streams blew past his defense and hit him.

More than thirty strands of gas entered Jiang Chen’s consciousness. The tortoise appeared in front of Jiang Chen with a shift of its body.

It looked highly satisfied. “You have a decent defense, kid, but the festering gas has entered your consciousness. You’ll be my puppet next. I’ll show you what hell looks like!”

Jiang Chen looked at peace, his eyes closed as if in meditation. His body was as rigid as a statue. He seemed to have gone catatonic.

“Young master Chen!” exclaimed the Vermilion Bird.

Long Xiaoxuan’s form flickered and he rushed toward Jiang Chen, but the bird stopped him.

“Wait, the young master hasn’t lost yet,” reminded the bird.

The Black Tortoise laughed out loud. “Yes, that’s true. However, do you think his consciousness can resist my festering gas? Hahaha, only in your dreams! This isn’t something an empyrean cultivator can resist. Even a few strands will be enough to devour his consciousness and make him my puppet.”

The tortoise smirked and taunted the bird. “We have an agreement. Don’t even think about breaking it. He lost! He’ll be a slave under my command!”

The tortoise couldn’t contain its excitement. It’d failed to take Jiang Chen down with the two previous moves, which compelled it to take the young man seriously. This was why it was so pleased to have defeated the young man.

The Vermilion Bird frowned and focused on Jiang Chen. It couldn’t tell if the gas had worked on him. His lack of motion seemed to suggest that it had worked, but upon closer observation, he seemed to be fine.

The bird was silent. It wanted to get a closer look before coming to a conclusion.

The festering gas was indeed difficult to fend off. Jiang Chen’s defense had been impeccable, but the gas was unstoppable!

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