Crystal Toad

"Kill the Crystal Toad, seize its Yao Core, and snatch the Spiritual Materials!" Although many experts were present, their forces were weak, and more people wanted to take advantage of the chaos to gain some benefits. It was impossible for one or two experts to stop them. Someone shouted, and the scattered Rogue Cultivators unleashed their Spells, bombarding the small lake spanning several acres.

Fire Element, Wind Element, Earth Element, Spells of all kinds turned the calm lake surface into a boiling pot of water, surging and turbulent. Water droplets splashed everywhere.

"Stop, this won't be effective and will only waste Method Power. Only by draining the lake can we force the Crystal Toad to show itself," an Old Man, who appeared quite powerful, shouted to the surroundings using sound transmission.

"Bullshit, I'll definitely force that beast out with my Lightning Strike Technique." A voice retorted from the crowd, followed by a thunderous sound that struck a few yards in front of the Old Man. A thick arc of Lightning struck the water with a crackle. Lu Xiaotian, who was closer to the lake, could feel the tingling sensation from the Lightning.

The lake surface was too chaotic at the moment, with waves of low-level Spells. However, no one noticed an inconspicuous vortex beneath the churning water.

Splash! Something leaped out of the water. Screams suddenly erupted from all around. It was a giant Toad, half a zhang wide, its entire body transparent like water. A terrifying aura emanated from the Toad as it emerged from the water.

"Ah, a Yao Beast!"

The Rogue Cultivators closer to the lake retreated in terror. Although they had shouted about killing the Crystal Toad, upon seeing it emerge and feeling its overwhelming aura, they suddenly remembered it was a Fourth-tier Yao Beast. It was a formidable existence that none of them could match.

The Crystal Toad was also furious. It had been resting peacefully at the bottom of the lake. When it occasionally surfaced, it was spotted by human cultivators, which unexpectedly attracted so many people. Originally, most low-level Spells wouldn't have affected it even if they hit the lake surface, but a few Lightning Element Spells made it feel uncomfortable. So, it decided to come out and teach these ants a lesson.

Whoosh! Something like a sharp arrow shot out from the Crystal Toad's mouth, but it wasn't an arrow, rather something like a thin line. Almost no one could see the line clearly; it was just a blur before it retracted.

However, the moment this line appeared, several screams rang out consecutively.

Lu Xiaotian looked closely and saw that about a zhang away from him, six or seven Rogue Cultivators standing in a line had bloody holes in their chests. As the white line retracted, it pulled out large chunks of flesh and blood. Some were hit in vital points and died instantly. Others might have been slightly off, only losing a large piece of flesh and breaking a few bones; they didn't die but were severely injured.

The white line appeared again several times. It was the Crystal Toad's tongue! Lu Xiaotian suddenly recalled the scene of frogs catching insects when he was young, helping his father tend to the crops. A chill ran down his spine. The Crystal Toad was quite close to him, and it had attacked several times. If he were hit by this Yao Beast, equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm, even with good luck, he would be severely injured. The area was so crowded that he couldn't even escape if he wanted to. Lu Xiaotian panicked, but seeing one or two people fall, he had a sudden inspiration and pretended to fall to the ground as well.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

The white line appeared more than ten times. The Crystal Toad's appearance was too sudden, causing at least sixty to seventy Rogue Cultivators to die without preparation from its surprise attack. The lake shore where the Crystal Toad appeared turned blood red. Only then did the cultivators react, unleashing all sorts of low-level Spells.

The Crystal Toad took dozens, even hundreds, of Spells in the blink of an eye, yet it didn't seem to suffer much damage. It fell back into the water, and the already transparent Toad seemed to disappear. A moment later, it reappeared in the center of the lake, looking leisurely as if it disdained all the cultivators.

"This damned toad," Lu Xiaotian said, climbing up from the ground, still feeling a sense of lingering fear. In the surging crowd, he had been stepped on dozens of times. However, there were also several corpses in the direction he had been standing. Compared to that, being stepped on a few times was nothing.

"Revenge!"

Suddenly, dozens of people died. Many of these cultivators had friends and family among the dead, igniting their fury. These were the same people who had shouted about killing the Crystal Toad earlier. Can cultivators kill Yao Beasts but not be counter-attacked? Lu Xiaotian sneered inwardly, dusted himself off, and with the lesson learned from earlier, retreated to the outermost edge of the crowd, feeling safer.

The Rogue Cultivators finally calmed down, realizing they couldn't defeat the Fourth-tier Crystal Toad in the lake. Soon, a cultivator proposed digging a channel to drain the water. The mountains were full of low-lying valleys and canyons. As long as a ditch was dug, there would be a place to drain the water. Once the water was drained, the cultivators could join forces to surround and kill this Fourth-tier Yao Beast.

After agreeing on the plan, the cultivators immediately got to work. Some cultivators specializing in artifact refining even crafted spirit shovels suitable for digging the channel on the spot, while others directly used Spirit Blades or Spirit Swords. If it were ordinary mortals, digging such a water channel in the mountains would take years. However, for these cultivators, it only took a few days to complete the water channel.

As the lake water gushed out through the channel, the deep lake bed gradually revealed its true appearance.

"Spring Water Algae!"

"White Lily Yam!"

"Water Spirit Stone!"

"Ice Spirit Stone!"

As the lake bed was exposed, some Spiritual Materials within were successively revealed to the eyes of the Rogue Cultivators. Many of these were items required for Sect missions.

Some impatient Rogue Cultivators, seeing the water level drop without any sign of the Crystal Toad, began to descend into the lake to collect the closer Spirit Stones and Spiritual Grass.

"Damn it, these bastards are going down now, truly fearless," someone cursed. Seeing dozens of people descending one after another, they couldn't sit still any longer. They activated their Spirit Shields and began wading through the mud.

"Haha, I got three Ice Spirit Stones! Damn it, who used a Fireball Technique on me, show yourself if you dare!"

But who would admit it at such a time? They could only blame him for being too ostentatious. Several more low-level Spells were cast by jealous individuals, causing the middle-aged man to cry out in pain.

As more and more people reaped benefits, even more people began to enter the lake. The proud Qi Refining Great Perfection cultivators turned ashen-faced, but the situation was completely out of control, and they couldn't turn it around.

Lu Xiaotian mingled with the crowd, not directly entering the lake. Although these Spiritual Materials were precious, having suffered the previous ordeal, he wouldn't go down easily until he saw the Crystal Toad.

"Ah, my leg!" Suddenly, a scream came from the crowd. In the mud, a green Yao Crab emerged, brandishing its giant pincers, which had severed a leg.