Return of the Immortal Emperor Daddy-Chapter 172 Human Nature

Staring at the terrifying creature, everyone was frozen in shock. It was only the size of three palms, yet it had devoured the entire head of the Faqiu general. It was neither a dog nor a cat—nothing like any common animal—yet it was undeniably alive.

A chill crept into the hearts of Zhao Zetian and the others. Even the bravest among them were terrified at the sight of an unknown creature. Although Zhao Zetian was normally calm, her breathing now came in ragged gasps. She was afraid. It was not just her; even men like Hua Shengting were petrified, not daring to breathe as they stood rooted to the spot, completely at a loss.

Even Michelangelo, the vampire, furrowed his brow. Moments ago, he had been arrogant, warning everyone not to touch the treasures, lest they face his wrath. Now, facing this unknown creature, he also felt a chill. The thing was repulsive, and its teeth looked even sharper than his own vampire fangs.

The creature now turned its attention to Michelangelo. From its three-palm-sized body emerged a dark-black tongue of the same immense size, which it used to lick its lips with interest. A foul-smelling drool dripped from its mouth.

Michelangelo knew exactly what the monster intended; he wore the same expression whenever he was about to suck a human’s blood. "You vile thing, you want to eat me?" Michelangelo roared with fury, his sharp vampire fangs appearing as he ground them together. He was making a point to the little monster: he was bigger, and if anyone was getting eaten, it would be him doing the eating.

The little monster seemed to understand. It shrieked, opened its mouth, and began inhaling the Yin energy of the tomb. To everyone’s astonishment, the creature began to grow. It inflated like a grotesque balloon, a sight that sent shivers down the spines of Zhao Zetian and the others. In moments, the small thing had expanded into a creature one meter wide. The stench was overpowering, and the sight of its hideous, drooling maw made them want to vomit.

"A Corpse Turtle! It’s a Corpse Turtle!" the Mount Mover Taoist suddenly exclaimed.

"How is that possible? A Corpse Turtle this big?" The Unloading Ridge Strongman found it hard to believe, even though he had harbored the same suspicion.

"Ancient customs involved burying attendants with the dead," the Mount Mover Taoist said, his voice trembling. "You have to understand, Guo Jia was incredibly important to Cao Cao. When Guo Jia died, with Cao Cao’s temperament, how could he not have killed people in a rage? But we haven’t seen a single skeleton on our way here. It seems... they were all eaten. Moreover, this village already had heavy Yin energy, and the Yin in this cave is even denser. With a tomb here, the concentration of Yin is simply unimaginable."

So-called Corpse Turtles are small, carrion-eating social animals that are naturally afraid of fire. They usually appear in deep mountain rivers or swamps, often swarming during floods or mudslides. They feed on corpses and are commonly found in burial chambers, pyramids, and pharaohs’ tombs.

But this Corpse Turtle was different. There should have been multitudes of them here, yet only this single one appeared. Where had the others gone? A single, horrifying possibility occurred to everyone: cannibalism. This one had devoured countless of its own kind. It was, without a doubt, the King of Corpse Turtles.

With a shriek, the massive Corpse Turtle leaped at Michelangelo with incredible speed. Startled, Michelangelo snatched Hua Shengting from beside him and hurled him toward the creature.

"Ah!"

Hua Shengting was swallowed whole. The scene chilled everyone to the bone.

Trembling, Elizabeth pointed a finger at Michelangelo. "You... you said that as long as we didn’t compete with you for the treasures, you wouldn’t kill us."

Michelangelo snorted. What use was hypocrisy now? "No," he sneered. "You all must die. The existence of the Blood Clan cannot be revealed."

He had wanted to kill Wu Tian and everyone else here from the very beginning. The only reason he had brought them into the tomb was to use them as fodder at a crucial moment, to have them die for his great Blood Clan.

Furious that it had missed its target, the Corpse Turtle leaped again, snapping its jaws fiercely. Despite its bulk, it had the jumping ability of a flea. Greatly alarmed, Michelangelo grabbed Elizabeth and tossed her toward the monster as well. He wanted to get out of there, go outside, throw in some dynamite, and then come back for the treasure. The priority now was to stall the Corpse Turtle, to keep it from following him so he could escape.

With this in mind, Michelangelo then grabbed the foreigners—from Fusang, the Iron Tower Country, the Iron Wolf Country, the Silver Fox Country, and the Ruthless Tooth Country—and threw them one by one toward the Corpse Turtle.

"Michelangelo, you can’t kill me! I am from the great Iron Tower Country! The people of the Arc de Triomphe will not let you get away with this!"

"I am a royal of the Iron Wolf Country, of noble blood! How can you treat me like this?"

"I’m from the Ruthless Tooth Country! No, please!"

The arrogant foreigners were thrown to the Corpse Turtle one by one as Michelangelo made his escape.

"You all will stay here too," Michelangelo snorted as Zhao Zetian’s group tried to flee. "If you leave, I’ll kill you myself."

They froze in panic, their faces drained of color. If they stayed, the Corpse Turtle would kill them. If they left, the vampire would. Despair washed over the faces of Zhao Zetian and Zhao Mulan. The Mount Mover Taoist, the Unloading Ridge Strongman, and his followers were on the verge of tears.

CRUNCH, CRUNCH...

While Zhao Zetian’s group was frozen in panic, the Corpse Turtle finished devouring the arrogant foreigners. They had believed their lineage was superior to the people of the Dragon Country; they had felt the descendants of Yan and Huang were less noble than themselves. But in that moment, they were the first to die, destined to become nothing more than the Corpse Turtle’s excrement. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Having devoured several people was not enough to satisfy the Corpse Turtle. Its gaze turned towards Zhao Zetian and the others.

"What do we do?" Even Zhao Zetian, the wisest of the Zhao Family, was panicking, completely at a loss.

The Mount Mover Taoist, who had initially been respectful to Zhao Zetian with the air of an elder, cast all pretense aside. Knowing this type of Corpse Turtle possessed some Spiritual Wisdom, he hurriedly pointed at Zhao Zetian and shouted, "Eat her first! She’s delicious!"

"Yes, she’s delicious! They’re all delicious! I’m the least tasty one!" The Unloading Ridge Strongman, who looked fat and powerful, had his courage utterly shattered. He began pushing his own followers in front of him.

His followers were terrified. They never imagined that their leader, the man who always spoke of sharing fortune and facing hardship together, would be the one to send them to their deaths.

The Corpse Turtle’s eyes seemed to glow as it gazed upon the people still before it.

Good, good, good. So many people. Today, I can feast to my heart’s content.

It decided to find the tastiest one to start with.

Finally, its gaze settled on... the little guy.