"What?" Le Dong was momentarily stunned, fixing his gaze. Indeed, he saw the massive turtle shell, resembling a small hillock. Simultaneously, its head, like a giant python, shot out of the water with lightning speed, lunging towards Le Dong to bite down fiercely. Its head was like an alligator's or a dragon's, bearing a short single horn on its armored forehead. The sharp teeth were so vivid Le Dong could almost smell its stench.

The Dragon Turtle's strike was incredibly fast, leaving even Le Dong little time to react and evade. A flash of black mist mingled with red light erupted, the Blood-colored Cloak undulating as it enveloped Le Dong securely. The Dragon Turtle's bite was entirely blocked by the crimson garment. However, a predatory strike from a Golden Core stage demon beast was not something to be taken lightly. Though the Blood-colored Cloak, a top-grade spirit artifact, managed to resist it, its luster immediately dimmed significantly, and two distinct teeth marks from the Dragon Turtle were now visible upon it.

Startled by such a sudden assault, Le Dong flinched, but fortunately, his Divine Soul was robust, granting him sharp observation skills and quick reflexes. At the very last critical moment, he activated the Blood-colored Cloak's defensive matrix.

Had he failed to react in time, he would have been directly pierced by the Dragon Turtle’s lightning-fast peck.

Le Dong suppressed the violent turbulence within his Divine Soul caused by the intense impact. After cursing himself for being too careless, his wings on his back trembled slightly, and in the next instant, he appeared dozens of feet up in the high sky. Facing a ferocious Golden Core demon beast, timely withdrawal was the only sensible course of action.

At this moment, Le Dong, forcing down the ripples in his Divine Soul, finally had a moment to observe the Dragon Turtle. Although Le Dong had heard of the existence of Dragon Turtles on Canglan Island, he never expected to actually encounter one of these relatively rare creatures. It had now fully emerged from the water, its immense shell rising high like a small hill. Even from Le Dong's distance, the crisscrossing patterns on its back were clearly visible—deep cyan, imbued with a heavy texture, with faint traces of watery light swirling across the shell. That was evidently some form of defensive system, like the Dragon Turtle's protective gangqi. Its neck was exceptionally long, like a gigantic python, stretching about ten zhang, moving with a surprising nimbleness and speed. Clearly, when it extended its neck to attack foes, it could achieve terrifying velocity—likely its primary hunting method in the ocean.

Seeing Le Dong vanish instantly, the creature became enraged, letting out a series of deep, incredibly harsh roars: "Aooo-aooo-aooo!" Seemingly unwilling to let go of Le Dong as prey, it slightly levitated, maneuvering its massive body towards Le Dong at an unwavering pace. Simultaneously, Qian Luo’s anxious voice rang out in Le Dong's ear.

"You were careless just now. No need to come over." Le Dong replied to Qian Luo while maneuvering his speed, flickering in and out of sight, beginning to lure the Dragon Turtle. Indeed, the Dragon Turtle’s speed in the air was not impressive; estimating its fastest pace, it was probably only around two thousand li per hour. Most sea-dwelling demon beasts share this weakness—their flight speed is sluggish due to their enormous bulk. However, underwater, their strength is formidable.

One certainty was that a land-based demon beast of equivalent strength could never contend with a sea beast within the ocean. But once they reached land or the air, sea beasts naturally suffered a significant disadvantage. This was precisely why the Endless Sea Domain fostered an industry dedicated to hunting Golden Core beasts. Conversely, the Hengduan Mountain Range in Kangzhou, where Le Dong resided, was teeming with demon beasts, yet few dared to venture there for similar ventures, nor did such industries thrive.

The reason was simple: the Hengduan Mountain Range hosted not only many powerful terrestrial demon beasts but, more critically, numerous perilous avian demon beasts capable of flight. These creatures were typically ferocious, possessing frighteningly fast aerial speeds. Under normal circumstances, a Golden Core cultivator could not outpace a Golden Core raptor. Forget Foundation Establishment cultivators—even those piloting flying artifacts would find those fierce birds dismantling their vessel and consuming them whole.

The Endless Sea Domain, however, offered abundant demon beast resources, most of which resided deep beneath the waves. As long as one possessed a reasonably fast flying ship or personal strength for flight, the challenges were manageable. This was a significant reason why Le Dong favored this area; in Kangzhou, finding a natural hunting ground like this was almost impossible. That was why he decided to stay longer, hunt more Golden Core beasts, earn more spirit stones for elixirs. Such opportunities were rare.

The Dragon Turtle, roaring continuously, moved with surprising agility as it soared and glided. It truly lived up to its status as a Golden Core demon beast; ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators might not escape its pursuit over moderate distances. But today, it had encountered Le Dong, whose speed, at least among Foundation Establishment practitioners, few could rival. Furthermore, the formation set up by Old Zhao was quite ingenious; it could not only trap the enemy but also momentarily conceal the whereabouts of the teammates, preventing the beast from detecting them—a rather excellent trap formation.

Le Dong maintained a speed that kept the Dragon Turtle feeling like it was just about to catch him, never allowing it to give up and retreat to the sea. Meanwhile, Le Dong hurled Netherfire Bombs intermittently, attacking the Dragon Turtle and provoking its rage. Although Le Dong's Netherfire Bombs merely scratched the surface of the beast’s shell, resulting in little more than an unattractive shower of sparks, Golden Core beasts were often the tyrants of the seas, possessing fierce tempers utterly intolerant of such ant-like harassment. Without a second thought, it pursued Le Dong relentlessly, the distance between them slowly closing. Once they were barely ten zhang apart, the creature entered the effective striking range of its neck. It violently contracted its neck down to about one zhang, then lashed its head out like a spring or a coiled serpent, attempting to bite the seemingly "fatigued" and "weak" Le Dong in one decisive strike.

Little did it know that Le Dong was merely playing with it, fully prepared for its attack.

The Asura Wings fluttered gently, and his entire body dissolved into a cloud of black mist, tearing open space to reappear dozens of feet away. Simultaneously, he shamelessly continued his harassment with Netherfire Bombs. This was no longer just about food; the Dragon Turtle instinctively felt its dignity had been challenged by this weaker entity.

In this world, it is not just among cultivators that the strong prevail and the weak perish; nature itself operates by the same principle. Between demon beasts, the weaker usually submits to the stronger. Otherwise, the consequence is death and annihilation. Therefore, Golden Core demon beasts are utterly intolerant of provocation. Of course, this applies to Golden Core beasts—wise enough, but still tethered by raw instinct. Once they reach the Nascent Soul stage, things become far more complex; they possess intellect nearly equal to humans and vast experience to cope with the various behaviors humans direct at them.

As the Dragon Turtle instinctively lunged forward, following Le Dong, it suddenly closed the distance by over ten zhang. Abruptly, it felt as if it had slammed into something, a sensation like crashing through transparent mist that momentarily jolted it to a halt. A trap, was the Dragon Turtle’s first instinct, and it instinctively recoiled rapidly into the distance. But regretfully, it then collided with another sensation, like hitting a mass of cotton. It saw Le Dong hovering tens of zhang away, sneering at it. Realizing it was a trap, the Dragon Turtle's instinct was to escape, leading it to charge wildly in all directions in heartbroken fury.

This pattern of behavior elicited a faint sigh from Le Dong. Demon beasts are just that—beasts whose actions are heavily dictated by instinct, as their nature remains largely untransformed. Because of this, despite their powerful physiques and formidable strength, they ultimately cannot defeat humans.

Le Dong did not hesitate, beginning to summon his treasured Ghost General. His other companions also emerged from the formation, circling the periphery without engaging, watching curiously to see what tricks Le Dong would pull off—intending to take on a Golden Core demon beast solo. However, as the coldly imposing and overwhelmingly powerful Berserker Ghost General materialized in its true form, wielding a blade and shield, and darted into the formation, everyone was momentarily stunned. This thing appeared to be a Ghost General. In Zhou Prefecture, there were indeed sects that specialized in controlling ghosts and exorcising demons, developing a unique combat style. However, due to the rarity of top-grade spirit ghosts, this method was not widespread and did not hold a mainstream position. They had only taken the time to learn about it because one teammate seemed particularly adept at employing ghost servants. Thus, they knew about the Ghost General.

But wasn't a Ghost General equivalent to a Golden Core-level powerhouse? Could only Golden Core cultivators command one? With Le Dong’s current cultivation at the eighth layer of Foundation Establishment, how could he possess a Ghost General? No, possessing one might be understandable, but how did he manage to control it? Why? How could he command it?

In truth, they were mistaken. Although in most situations, only Golden Core cultivators seemed to keep Ghost Generals, and many never saw a Foundation Establishment cultivator with one in their lifetime, this was because that Foundation Establishment cultivator must possess an exceptionally powerful Divine Sense—even if not quite equal to a Golden Core cultivator, it had to approximate that of a peak Foundation Establishment expert. Some peak Foundation Establishment cultivators could barely manage a Ghost General, but how many Foundation Establishment cultivators were aberrations like Le Dong? Not only did he possess a top-grade spirit ghost, but he was also willing to spend a fortune, regardless of the cost, to advance it to the Ghost General level in such a short time? Even cultivators who owned top-grade spirit ghosts could not afford such extravagance, as Le Dong's method of feeding it would surely cause a cultivator's fortune to collapse instantly into bankruptcy.

All these restrictive factors led the vast majority to believe that Foundation Establishment cultivators could not control a Ghost General. Yet, at that moment, the Berserker Ghost General entered the formation, fighting the Dragon Turtle back and forth with imposing dominance.