"An Earth Elemental Spirit Pearl? One that formed naturally over time? That's unbelievable! It must be difficult to absorb such powerful Energy, right?" Ye Tian asked, looking at Zhang Xinlan.
"I'm not too sure either, but I'm certain this is an Earth Elemental Spirit Pearl. How the Earth-Split Demon Turtle came to possess it is a mystery. Simply absorbing the Earth Element shouldn't be enough to form one directly. This Earth-Split Demon Turtle must have had some kind of fortuitous encounter," Zhang Xinlan said.
Ye Tian looked at the Earth-Split Demon Turtle again. After a long moment, he said, "If this pearl is an Earth Elemental Spirit Pearl, then this creature's Magic Crystal should still be inside its body. We absolutely can't miss out on the Magic Crystal of a Tier Five Earth Attribute Demon Beast.
The only problem is this creature's shell is too hard. It's going to be really difficult to cut it open completely. Do you have any ideas?"
Zhang Xinlan shrugged and said, "I'm in the same boat as you; I can only watch. Honestly, I suspect this creature might not have a Magic Crystal at all. Its source of Energy is this Earth Elemental Spirit Pearl, which would make a Magic Crystal completely redundant."
At that moment, the Snake King flew down from the sky. The Snake King's appearance gave Zhang Xinlan a huge shock, as she could clearly feel the terrifying aura coming from it. Although the Snake King was currently just a small snake, she could still tell at a glance that it was a Tier Five Demon Beast.
"Ye Tian, be careful! This snake is very powerful!" Zhang Xinlan said hurriedly to Ye Tian, simultaneously drawing her sword and staring at the Snake King before them as if facing a great enemy.
Seeing Zhang Xinlan's reaction, Ye Tian smiled faintly. "Xinlan, don't worry. This little snake is one of us. He's also a Tier Five Demon Beast. I completely forgot to let him out to help when we were fighting the Earth-Split Demon Turtle!"
Zhang Xinlan looked at Ye Tian, her face full of disbelief. She glanced at the Snake King on the ground and then asked, "Ye Tian, what in the world is going on? You're friends with a Tier Five Demon Beast?"
"Young Master, if you want the Earth-Split Demon Turtle's Magic Crystal, I can go look for you in a moment. However, I also think it's unlikely this creature has a Magic Crystal. The Earth-Split Demon Turtle is an innately Earth Attribute Demon Beast. Now that such a large Earth Elemental Spirit Pearl has appeared, it would have no need for a Magic Crystal," the Snake King said.
"Ye Tian, this little snake actually called you 'Young Master'! What is your relationship?" Zhang Xinlan asked again. This Ye Tian was simply too mysterious. It was one thing for him to have an Eight-winged Golden Scale Python as a Demon Pet, but now even this Tier Five Demon Beast had a deep connection with him.
"Xinlan, this is the Snake King. He's a very good friend of mine who will be roaming the world with me from now on. Don't worry, he won't harm us! He was just acting as our Protector earlier," Ye Tian said.
"Ye Tian, I never expected you to have a friend like this. It's truly surprising. But the Snake King really shouldn't be out in the open right now. This is the Demon Beast Region, so it's normal for Demon Beasts to appear. If other students see him, they'll mistake him for one of the local Demon Beasts and try to kill him.
But the Snake King is powerful. A single casual strike from him could take the lives of those students. That would easily cause a commotion and expose the Snake King's identity," Zhang Xinlan said with a serious expression.
"Xinlan, don't worry about that. I just let the Snake King out for some fresh air. I'll have him return to the Storage Ring later. How are your injuries now?" Ye Tian asked.
"They're much better, but it will still take some time to recover completely. A Heart Vein injury is very troublesome. Thankfully, you had that Holy Medicine. For now, my strength is at the Three Vein Realm at most. I probably won't be able to protect you; instead, I'll have become a burden!" Zhang Xinlan said helplessly.
The Snake King, however, spoke up. "Someone at the Three Vein Realm is considered an expert in this Demon Beast Region. How could you possibly be a burden? With you accompanying the Young Master, I can rest easy. For now, I'll go check if this Earth-Split Demon Turtle has a Magic Crystal!"
After speaking, the Snake King's form flickered, and it appeared before the Earth-Split Demon Turtle's corpse. However, it didn't immediately enter, instead observing the corpse carefully for a moment.
Finally, a golden light surged from its body, and its whole form shrank considerably. Only then did it enter through the massive wound on the Earth-Split Demon Turtle.
Ye Tian and Zhang Xinlan said nothing. They both stared intently at the spot where the Snake King had entered. In their hearts, they also believed the Earth-Split Demon Turtle didn't have a Magic Crystal. The Snake King was just doing this for peace of mind.
The Snake King was inside for a long time. This was probably because the Earth-Split Demon Turtle's body was so enormous and a Magic Crystal was so small, making it extremely difficult to find.
Just then, three figures suddenly came speeding toward Ye Tian's position. Although Zhang Xinlan's Heart Vein was injured, her Divine Sense was still very powerful. She already knew who the newcomers were.
She glanced at Ye Tian and said, "Ye Tian, your two beauties have arrived!"
Ye Tian was slightly taken aback, but he quickly understood what Zhang Xinlan meant. He immediately looked in the direction of the approaching figures. A few breaths later, the forms of Ye Feifei, Qin Xiaowan, and Ye Lin appeared before him.
The first thing the two girls noticed upon seeing Ye Tian and Zhang Xinlan were the bloodstains on their clothes, followed by the enormous corpse of the Earth-Split Demon Turtle.
"Brother Tian, what on earth happened? How did you get hurt? Was it from killing that Demon Beast?" Ye Feifei asked.
Qin Xiaowan looked at the ground, which had been torn to shreds, and also asked, "What kind of Demon Beast is that giant turtle? How did it wreak so much havoc here?"
"Xiaowan, Feifei, don't worry about us. This Earth-Split Demon Turtle has already been killed. It was certainly a bit dangerous, but we're safe and sound now. That Earth-Split Demon Turtle was a Tier Five Demon Beast. I just don't understand why such a terrifying Demon Beast would appear here.
Logically, any Tier Five Demon Beasts should have been killed by the academy's dean long ago. Could it be one that slipped through the net? If so, that's a terrifying oversight!" Ye Tian said.
"What? A Tier Five Demon Beast? The two of you killed a Tier Five Demon Beast? That's truly incredible!" Ye Feifei said in astonishment.
"Feifei, it's actually not that surprising. Have you forgotten I've also killed a mutated Tier Four Demon Beast? It's just that this one's Defense Power was extremely high, and we were careless. Otherwise, how could we have been injured by it?" Ye Tian said with a serious expression.
Qin Xiaowan said nothing, but inwardly she was shocked by Ye Tian's strength. Soon, however, both girls turned their gazes to Zhang Xinlan. Seeing the two of them together was rather unbelievable, and a faint sour feeling stirred in their hearts.