Unlock Kamen Riders in Douluo's Way Ch 90

The chaotic energy dissipated, revealing a large, overturned turtle shell. It spun a few times before settling, belly up. Yin Xiaoya emerged from the smoke, brushing off imaginary dust.

Su Xuan and the other tense teachers stared, dumbfounded. The anticipated aura of a soul bone hadn't materialized. Instead, a clear sign of life emanated from the turtle shell. Yin Xiaoya hadn't killed it or transformed it into a Rider power.

Yin Xiaoya nonchalantly kicked the shell, addressing his companions, "Mantis, Ankh, keep an eye on this guy. Don't let it touch water."

Confusion rippled through the small crowd. What kind of plan was this? If he wasn't claiming its power, why guard it?

Su Xuan asked, "Xiaoya, what's going on?"

"Oh, right. This Crystal Blue Tortoise can help me unlock a special Rider power. But that power is tricky to control, liable to cause me trouble. I need to let it sit a while, find a balance. Then, we can discuss its capabilities."

Those familiar with the Kamen Rider multiverse had almost guessed it already: this Crystal Blue Tortoise was a key to unlocking the power of the Imagin, Urataros from Kamen Rider Den-O.

The problem was that this Crystal Blue Tortoise had a far worse temper than the Urataros in the original series. The System stated that, after unlocking, the character would adhere closer to the original, but Yin Xiaoya remained wary.

It was one thing to know that the power of the Imagin only granted possession. But their most powerful ability was their manipulation of time. If he wasn't careful, let it form a contract with someone, and they successfully traveled to the past, something big would happen. The System couldn't reach back through time to retrieve it.

So, before acquiring time-space powers himself, Yin Xiaoya wouldn't unlock the Imagin's power.

"So, it's still alive?" Su Xuan inquired.

"Yup. Don't worry, so long as it doesn't touch water, this thing is just a lawn ornament."

Su Xuan knocked on the shell, a curious expression on her face. "I remember now. My master mentioned this soul beast before. Once completely dehydrated, it enters a state of suspended animation. Is that what you did?"

It was true. The Crystal Blue Tortoise feared the complete evaporation of moisture from its body because it forced them into suspended animation. This life-saving ability, originally evolved to deal with harsh environments, had become a liability. To survive, they automatically sacrificed their strong defenses, even weakening their prized shells.

At this point, even a level-ten Spirit Scholar could kill them, so long as they had some means of attack.

Yin Xiaoya hadn't been grandstanding. He hadn't tried to kill the beast. His goal was simply to evaporate all the water, forcing it into dormancy.

"This kind of soul beast is too… amorous. Because of this guy's shenanigans, I couldn't find a soul beast suitable for you. Well, no matter. Maintaining its suspended animation for a century is no problem. Treat it as punishment."

Su Xuan smiled wryly. No wonder he returned so quickly. She had believed that Yin Xiaoya intended to subdue the tortoise first. It seemed she had misjudged his intentions.

"Do you want to go back in the water…?" Su Xuan began.

Before she could finish asking if he wanted to resume the search, the soul bone in her head issued a warning. Almost reflexively, she shouted at Mantis and Ankh, "Be careful!"

Their response was a beat faster than Su Xuan's. The moment she sensed the danger, they had registered a surge of desire aimed at the Crystal Blue Tortoise.

Almost instantly, they reverted to their Greeed forms, unleashing their respective energies towards a point in the air.

The physical impact proved their success, but it also elicited simultaneous sounds of surprise. Even Ankh, mutated from the Azure Phoenix King and possessing a cultivation base of nearly sixty thousand years, felt the force of the impact.

Because of their intervention, while the attacker retreated, everyone noticed a water-like distortion in the air. A figure materialized.

"I wondered how you could detect me so keenly. So, you two are alien creatures disguised as humans. A truly strange existence."

The speaker was a young man with a weary air. Stubble covered his face, yet it was obvious he was no more than thirty years old.

Seeing that Mantis and Ankh weren't human, Su Xuan stepped in front of them. She spoke in a low voice, "Leave this to me. Don't do anything."

Mantis and Ankh, poised to attack, conceded to Su Xuan's wishes. With a surge of Cell Medals, they reassumed their human forms.

Their cooperation stemmed from a desire to avoid causing Yin Xiaoya trouble. They knew that humans had their own ways of resolving human affairs.

Su Xuan turned to the young man, thinking she had grown careless. She had only been concerned with someone stealing a soul bone. But when the soul bone didn't appear, she had subconsciously relaxed. She had forgotten that the undead soul beast possessed its own inherent value.

The man was clearly after the Crystal Blue Tortoise. After all, whoever killed the soul beast first claimed the soul ring. In other words, he coveted the tortoise's soul ring.

"This friend, are you going too far? Don't you know the rules? Whoever discovers and subdues the soul beast owns it. Surely you understand that?" Su Xuan demanded.

The man shrugged. "Since I've been discovered, there's no help for it. Yes, I'm after this soul beast. It's your fault. If that man had killed it directly, I wouldn't have said a thing. You didn't. I don't know what your deal is, but it's against the rules to raise soul beasts privately, right? Since it's against the rules, then the beast belongs to whoever strikes first, doesn't it?"

Su Xuan frowned. "Those are weak arguments. Private breeding of soul beasts is forbidden in residential areas. Shrek Academy has a special place for raising soul beasts, which complies with the regulations."

"Tch. It's Shrek's…" Su Xuan had deliberately revealed her affiliation, but the man remained undeterred. "Fine, fine. You win. How about this? You don't want its soul ring, so sell it to me? The price is negotiable. This Crystal Blue Tortoise is important to me. I came here looking for it specifically."

"You think Shrek is short on money?" Su Xuan scoffed.

"Right, how can soul masters talk about money? Of course, I'll trade you good things. Don't look at me like this. I can be considered a prince. I have a lot of things."

"Prince…?" Su Xuan paused, then recognition dawned on her face. "Are you Prince Xu Sanshi from the Dou Ling Empire?"

The man grinned. "Oh? So, you know me?"

Yin Xiaoya, who was just providing backup, nearly choked. He wasn't adept at negotiation, but hearing the man's identity caught him off guard. At that moment, the System spoke up.

[Host, detecting a powerful soul residing in this person's body. Based on current scale analysis, it's highly likely to be the soul of a soul beast.]

Yin Xiaoya's mouth twitched. He had expected chaos, but the arrival of this particular character threw him for a loop.

Heh… hehe. This Douluo World is a mess. It's one thing for the second-generation characters from the main timeline to appear. But this guy already has a soul beast inhabiting his body. Could it be the Golden Tortoises from the original? No wonder he wants the soul ring of the Crystal Blue Tortoise. That makes sense. His martial soul is a tortoise, they are all turtles, so this fits.