Chapter 114: Chapter 96: Geng Metal Essence Acquired, Sword Butterfly’s Egg!
As soon as He Guangda finished speaking, golden light spots gathered in mid-air, gradually forming the outline of a Sword Butterfly.
"My Sword Butterfly can self-destruct and then reassemble itself."
"Don’t you just want me to fight with the Burrowing Rat King so you can reap the benefits while we weaken each other?"
"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes back at you."
"Similarly, while you plot against me, I am also plotting against you."
He Guangda sneered, but he didn’t notice Big Gray appearing behind him at an unknown moment.
Sharp claws pierced through He Guangda’s back, blood spilling from his mouth, his eyes growing dim, and his body convulsing.
He reached out his hand, gazing blankly in the direction where the Sword Butterfly was reassembling, using his last bit of strength to shout, "Sword, Sword Butterfly, flee quickly!"
More blood seeped from the corner of He Guangda’s mouth, and finally, his hand dropped down limply.
At this moment, the Sword Butterfly reassembled, and its gaze was as sharp as a knife as it looked at Big Gray.
The Sword Butterfly sensed its Pet Beast Master had died; it was eager to tear Big Gray into pieces at this moment.
It crazily charged forward, the crescent-shaped Sword Qi gathering, about to shoot out when—
Big Gray swung a heavy slap again.
A crisp slap echoed as the Sword Butterfly was whacked away, crashing hard into the rock wall, its wings twisting in varying degrees, its outgoing breath outnumbering the incoming breath.
"Big Gray, hold it down."
Big Gray pinned the Sword Butterfly with its claws.
Ye Bai, cautious as ever, feared the Sword Butterfly might unleash a powerful move, forcing him to accompany its Pet Beast Master in death.
Ye Bai took out a Beast Card and placed it near the Sword Butterfly.
Numerous chains burst from the Beast Card, pulling the Sword Butterfly into the card bit by bit.
Only then did Ye Bai pick up the Beast Card, upon which an image of a bound, wing-clipped butterfly appeared.
The body of the Fire Poisonous Giant Scorpion exploded into countless shards along with the self-destruction of the Sword Butterfly clone.
The Tier Four Crystal Core dropped to the ground, covered in dust.
However, with the Eye of Insight, Ye Bai retrieved it from the ground.
Its Crystal Core was a purplish-red color, containing both Poison and Fire Element energy.
A dual-attribute Crystal Core is far more precious than a single-attribute one.
At this moment, Ye Bai discovered several things next to He Guangda’s body, including various household items and several large metal statues.
It felt like loot exploding out, including unwashed underwear and smelly socks.
With the Eye of Insight, he discovered only gray mist emanating from the belly of the metal statue.
"Could it be?"
Ye Bai recalled the metal statue he was about to search for in the He Family courtyard, could it be this one?
Was He Guangda so destitute that he stole even the metal statue?
No wonder the intelligence reported that He Guangda discovered Geng Metal Essence inside the statue’s belly; it was likely discovered by his Sword Butterfly.
Ye Bai pointed at one of the statues, signaling to the Sunflower King.
The Sunflower King nodded, using its steel-like stems to tear through the statue, splitting it in two.
Inside the statue, it found a palm-sized piece of golden metal and an ancient parchment scroll.
The parchment seemed to have been cut, with only a third remaining.
The golden metal was Geng Metal Essence, a Tier Five treasure, irresistibly attractive to Gold Pet Beasts.
The Sunflower King entangled the flesh of the Burrowing Rat King and the Fire Poisonous Giant Scorpion with its stems; only beasts of this level warranted the Sunflower King’s action, as their flesh contained immense energy.
After absorbing all of it, the Sunflower King’s body became bloated, resembling a giant King Kong Barbie.
The Crystal Core of the Burrowing Rat King was the size of a pigeon egg, glowing with an earthy yellow luster.
"Thanks to the He Family’s acting Patriarch for delivering the treasure promptly."
"And for bringing me the Geng Metal Essence."
"Now all that’s missing is the Celestial Destiny Turtle’s shell."
The Sword Butterfly was nearing death too, and once it died, Ye Bai would acquire another Tier Four Gold Crystal Core.
"Let’s go, Sunflower King."
Looking at the hesitant Burrowing Rat King and the Tier Three Burrowing Rats, Ye Bai had no interest in attacking.
He left them behind, not out of kindness, but viewing them as a steady resource.
Ye Bai would patrol periodically, and whenever a Tier Four Burrowing Rat King emerged, Big Gray would use its powerful arms to instantly eliminate it.
A Tier Four Crystal Core is equivalent to a hundred Tier Three ones and often priceless in the market.
Once Ye Bai disappeared, the Burrowing Rats turned their attention to He Guangda’s corpse and the items he dropped.
They swarmed forward, and soon the sound of bones being gnawed echoed.
After leaving the Burrowing Rat Secret Realm, Ye Bai used hacking techniques to erase He Guangda’s poorly hidden methods.
Fortunately, He Guangda chose to act at night, a time when almost no one was around.
This way, others would think He Guangda fled Jiaying City to escape debts, severing any link to Ye Bai regarding his death.
When Ye Bai reached the Research Institute, Zhang Lingxue lazily replied, "You’re back, caught any Burrowing Rats?"
She crushed the roots of the Thunder Clover, its purple body releasing a bluish juice, which Zhang Lingxue collected for testing.
Zhang Lingxue furrowed her brows and explained to Ye Bai, "The Thunder Clover does indeed have issues; there’s a special component that makes the Negative Electric Rabbit increasingly aggressive."
"However, this component is very difficult to isolate, and I still haven’t fully extracted it."
Zhang Lingxue felt a sharp pain in her head; she was extremely troubled.
"Teacher, have you ever thought about it."
"Given the existence of the Negative Electric Rabbit, could there also be a Positive Rabbit?"
"Could there be some relationship between them?"
Ye Bai tentatively asked.
Zhang Lingxue put down the test tube in her hand.
"Of course, we’ve considered that. The Western Research Institute once conducted an intensive search."
"The incident stirred quite the commotion and nearly every researcher knew about it."
"In the end, after a grueling search, they concluded that there are no Positive Rabbits left in the world."
"Honestly, I understand the people at the Western Research Institute; they really invested a lot of manpower and resources into this project."
"They must have explored all possible avenues, struggled for five years, and eventually decided to give up."
"If we, teacher and student, manage to research it successfully, perhaps we could go down in history."
"But if we fail, we’ll only receive a lot of criticism."
Zhang Lingxue said helplessly; the Negative Electric Rabbit research project was a bottomless pit.
"Right, deal with He Guangda cleanly; dispose of all his belongings."
"You don’t need to explain; it’s definitely He Guangda causing trouble for you."
"My Spiritual Power is attached to the Space Key. I can sense who you brought in."
"That chinchilla of yours is strong enough; naturally, He Guangda, that wimp, wouldn’t be your match."
Zhang Lingxue added one last comment.
Ye Bai shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a Beast Card.
"This is He Guangda’s Sword Butterfly."
"Teacher, see if it’s of any use. If not, I’ll destroy it and extract the Tier Four Crystal Core."
Zhang Lingxue raised an eyebrow, "Sword Butterfly, such a rare Exotic Beast; He Guangda sure kept it well hidden."
"Quickly check if there’s an insect egg inside the Sword Butterfly."
"If there is, then we’ve really hit the jackpot."
A glimmer of brilliance flashed in Zhang Lingxue’s eyes.
"A Sword Butterfly mates only once in its life, producing just one insect egg."
"The value of the insect egg is even higher than that of the Sword Butterfly."
"It can be used to cultivate a Sword Butterfly loyal to oneself, or for Spirit Summoning."
Zhang Lingxue casually opened the Beast Card, and the barely alive Sword Butterfly emerged from it.
Its wings were already broken, and it didn’t have the strength to repair them.
As the Sword Butterfly felt its vitality rapidly draining away, Zhang Lingxue pierced its head with a scalpel when it tried to struggle.
Zhang Lingxue extracted a thumb-sized Crystal Core from the Sword Butterfly’s head, examined it briefly with her fair, jade-like hand, and tossed it to Ye Bai.
"Take this Crystal Core to cultivate a Gold Pet Beast."
"Naturally, don’t waste the Sword Butterfly’s body either."
"It has devoured a lot of metal. With a bit of refining by fire, it turns into highly pure metal."
Zhang Lingxue used the scalpel to cut open the Sword Butterfly’s abdomen, revealing a chicken-egg-sized silver-white insect egg.
She carefully cut the blood vessels connecting to the insect egg and placed it gently in her palm.
"Not bad, this insect egg is in great condition."
"Perfect for Spirit Summoning."
"Ye Bai, it’s normal if you don’t know about Spirit Summoning; this kind of knowledge isn’t found in books."
"Spirit Summoning can awaken the soul of ancient objects; the older the soul, the easier it is to succeed."
Zhang Lingxue handed the insect egg to Ye Bai, and simultaneously took out a yellowed ancient tome from her Pet Beast Space.
"Explaining it to you might be a bit cumbersome, so it’s better if you read it yourself."
Zhang Lingxue stretched her muscles.
"I’m currently leading the Negative Electric Rabbit experiment, and I have no leads. How about we switch, Ye Bai?"
"I’ll handle the Burrowing Rat research, and you take over the Negative Electric Rabbit."
"If you have any questions, come ask me."
"This is your opportunity to grow quickly."
Zhang Lingxue looked sincerely at Ye Bai, "You won’t refuse your teacher, right? This is the first request your teacher is making of you."
"If nothing comes of the research, it’s on me. If we succeed, it’s on both of us."
Ye Bai blinked a few times but eventually nodded in agreement.
He had already seen the Negative Electric Rabbit’s Evolutionary Path through the Eye of Insight.
As for the Burrowing Rat, he wasn’t really interested.