Tang Yue's serpentine body coiled instinctively as she processed the woman's words, the remnants of exhaustion clashing with the surge of vitality coursing through her veins. "A clam? I was fighting with a damned clam?"
The absurdity of the realization struck Tang Yue like a bolt of lightning. She blinked, her golden eyes narrowing as she tried to reconcile the epic struggle she had just endured with the image of… a clam. "A clam?" she repeated, her voice rising in disbelief. "I almost died fighting a damned clam?"
The woman, still watching her with that infuriatingly amused smirk, chuckled. "Not just any clam, dum dum," she said, crossing her arms as her green shell glinted faintly. "That was an abyssal clam that walked the path of two daos, a supre being of this forbidden lands in its own right."
"What do you an? What are you talking about?" Tang Yue struggled to grasp.
The woman's amused smirk softened, though her piercing green eyes retained their sharp edge. She crouched slightly, resting her hands on her knees as if preparing to explain sothing to a particularly slow child.
"The daos, Tang Yue. The fundantal principles that govern existence. They're the threads that weave the fabric of the myriad realms—creation, destruction, balance, chaos, you na it. Every supre being worth their na walks at least one."
Tang Yue's serpentine tail flicked restlessly, her golden eyes narrowing as she absorbed the woman's words. "And this clam walked two?" she asked, the skepticism thick in her voice.
The woman laughed, the sound lodic and mocking at once. "Oh, yes. That oversized mollusk wasn't just sitting at the bottom of so ocean twiddling its shells. It embodied the Dao of Gravity and the Dao of Void, rging them into sothing uniquely terrifying. That's why you felt like you were fighting an entire world. Because you were."
Tang Yue's mind raced as she replayed the battle in her head. The overwhelming gravity, the endless void that devoured everything—it all made a grim sort of sense now. "But I don't walk a dao," she said slowly, her voice tinged with frustration. "I'm not so enlightened immortal. How did I beat it?"
"Yes, you are still a child. A child who hasn't even stepped out of her mother's womb. It will take you a while to beco as terrifying as my old friend. But fret not, I will guide you. I will get you there. You passed the test I posed for you. Now I am here to take care of everything else. Just focus and I will feed you that bastard's essence. Devour all of his dao. Devour, my snake girl. Let the era of the turtle girl and the snake girl co alive again!"
Tang Yue froze, her golden eyes wide. "That clam was your test?"
The woman grinned, entirely unrepentant. "Of course it was. How else was I supposed to see if you were worthy of my ti? Abyssal clams don't just fall into anyone's lap, you know. I needed to know if the snake girl I rembered was still in there, buried beneath all that stubborn pride and recklessness."
Tang Yue's tail lashed against the ground, cracking the earth beneath her. "I could have died!" she snarled, the flas in her golden eyes flaring dangerously.
"But you didn't," the woman countered, her tone calm but tinged with steel. "You survived. You won. And now you've earned sothing far greater than just your life. You've earned the right to claim what that clam hoarded for eons—the full weight of its power, its daos, and everything it knew. But only if you're willing to take it."
Tang Yue opened her mouth again but the turtle girl silenced her. "I threw at you the weakest thing here. If I hadn't stopped you, you would have found sothing far more frightening and you are not ready for that yet. Now close your eyes and ditate, you dum dum."
Tang Yue glared at her, the fire in her gaze warring with the hunger that stirred deep within her. She hated being manipulated, hated even more that this woman—the so-called turtle girl—had orchestrated her near-death experience.
But right now, she needed strength. She couldn't die here, especially when she was on the verge of stepping onto sothing far grander and powerful. She closed her eyes and focused as the clam's essence once more trickled into her.
The abyssal clam's essence began to flow into her again, a turbulent torrent of raw, ancient power. It wasn't gentle—it was wild and chaotic, threatening to consu her from within.
Tang Yue focused as best as she could but she didn't make out much. Slowly, she was able to sense two different forces within the turbulent energies. But once again everything collapsed.
Tang Yue grit her teeth, the twin forces waging war within her. She could feel her draconic bloodline flaring, struggling to burn through the oppressive energy. "How am I supposed to control this?" she growled through clenched teeth, her voice strained.
The turtle girl's voice was calm, even lazy, though there was an undercurrent of sharpness. "Don't fight it, dum dum. You're not here to conquer the daos. You're here to devour them. Let them beco a part of you—let them fuel your fire. That's what you're good at, isn't it? Taking everything and making it yours."
Tang Yue exhaled sharply as the events of the battle flashed through her mind. She was not new to gravity-using attacks. She lifted her hand weakly trying to execute an attack of her own. She tried to channel the turbulent energies to wield the attack.
Sure, she might be wasting so of them but it was better than wasting everything.
Tang Yue's fingers trembled as she extended her hand, her body humming with barely contained power. The turbulent energies of the abyssal clam's essence swirled chaotically within her, resisting her control.
She took a deep breath.
The battle replayed vividly in her mind—the crushing weight of gravity that had threatened to pulverize her, the endless void pulling at her very soul. She had felt helpless then, a pawn in a battle against an overwhelming force. But now?
Now she was holding that force within her. It wasn't just her opponent anymore—it was hers to wield.
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