Chapter 17: Splitting the Beast Core

Yan Haonan: "……"

He no longer begged Cang Li, but quickly summoned a female disciple of the Heavenly Cloud Sect to treat Weng Mingshu's severe wound.

Cang Li also walked toward the direction where Yuan Yao was.

At that moment, Lin Jingtao and his two companions, seeing this, exchanged a glance, then leapt down, weapons in hand, ready to dig out the beast cores from the already slain giant pythons.

"You despicable shameless lot, the giant pythons weren't slain by you—what right do you have to the beast cores?!" A young male cultivator of the Qingyun Sect, spotting Lin Jingtao's trio, immediately shouted in anger.

That shout instantly drew the attention of the cultivators still alive.

They all turned their gazes toward Lin Jingtao's trio, instantly becoming alert.

"You haven't contributed the slightest effort, so you naturally don't deserve to possess these beast cores."

"Are you trying to reap the benefits without lifting a finger?!"

Lin Jingtao snorted, looking at this group of severely wounded cultivators before him; he felt no fear, and instead shamelessly said: "These beast cores naturally belong to whoever sees them!".

Having said that, Lin Jingtao swiftly slit open one of the giant python carcasses and pulled out a crystal-clear third-rank beast core!

"Lin Jingtao, you're shameless!" The two Qingyun Sect members, unable to tolerate it any longer, attacked him together.

Boom—

Lin Jingtao swung his sword, sending the already severely wounded two Qingyun Sect members flying to the ground.

"Overestimating your abilities!"

The two Qingyun Sect members collapsed in a sorry state, vomiting blood incessantly!

"Fellow Daoist Yan! Fellow Daoist Cang!" Seeing this, the crowd placed their hopes on Yan Haonan and Cang Li, for they had nearly exhausted their spiritual power and were utterly unable to oppose him.

Yan Haonan narrowed his eyes, about to speak, when he heard an arrogant female voice.

"This, that, these, those—I've seen them all! I, Yuan Yao, want them all!"

"Third Senior Brother, dig them out for me!"

Following the sound, I saw the blood-soaked girl standing atop the giant python's corpse, arrogantly pointing her hand in a circle.

"Junior Sister, don't be too greedy!" Cang Li feigned displeasure, then clasped his hands and sighed softly: "We only need twenty-three beast cores."

Upon hearing this, everyone glanced around.

The giant python corpses numbered exactly twenty-three!

What's the difference between that and "I want them all"?!

Where's the difference?!

Yan Haonan's mouth twitched slightly.

Lin Jingtao's expression shifted; just as he was about to hide the beast core in his hand, a spear flashed forth like lightning, swift as thunder.

Lin Jingtao's pupils contracted; he had no time to react before the spear pierced his arm!

"Ah!" he cried out in pain.

The intense pain made cold sweat bead on his forehead, and his lips lost color from the agony.

His hand involuntarily loosened, and the precious third-rank beast core, like a kite with its string cut, fell straight down.

At that critical moment, everyone's gaze was suddenly drawn to a hand that had shot out.

The fair, knuckle-distinct hand steadily caught the beast core just before it hit the ground.

The youth's other hand recalled the spear, pressing its tip against Lin Jingtao's neck, nearly piercing his skin.

The youth gave a slight smile, "You're pretty good at digging beast cores—come, help my junior sister dig."

Lin Jingtao's face turned grim; his pierced arm trembled uncontrollably, blood streaming steadily from the wound, the pain unbearable.

"How about it? You unwilling?" Cang Li asked, slightly surprised.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lin Jingtao felt the spear's sharp, icy tip pierce his neck, warm fluid trickling down.

"I'm willing!" he answered eagerly.

Cang Li withdrew the spear, remarking, "Thanks, you're really a great guy!"

Lin Jingtao gritted his teeth, silently enduring the humiliation.

And the onlookers were also stunned; they never expected things to develop so strangely.

Only then did Lin Jingtao's trio, having no choice, go dig out the beast cores, and after finishing, respectfully handed them over to Yuan Yao.

"Fellow Daoist Yan, don't you want these beast cores?" a cultivator, anxious inside, thought; they also wanted the third-rank beast cores but couldn't beat Cang Li, so they hoped to persuade Yan Haonan to contend with Cang Li.

In the end, Yan Haonan said nothing.

The cultivators exchanged glances.

They murmured discontentedly.

"Why do they get all the beast cores while we get none? Clearly we also contributed..."

"Exactly, I almost got buried in the giant python's maw."

Not far away, Cang Li and Yuan Yao naturally could hear these words.

Soon, the twenty-three beast cores were already in Yuan Yao's hands.

Yuan Yao turned her head, saw the cultivators with varied expressions, and the 250 System's voice echoed again in her sea of consciousness, reminding her that these were the targets she needed to conquer.

She raised her eyebrows slightly, stepped forward a few paces, and said solemnly: "Fellow Daoists, we two siblings naturally cannot hog these beast cores. For fairness, let's distribute them according to labor."

Hearing this, the cultivators' eyes lit up slightly.

"Really?!"

"Naturally it's true." Yuan Yao nodded, "I calculated that my senior brother and I jointly slew twelve giant pythons, so we take only twelve beast cores."

"The Heavenly Cloud Sect slew six giant pythons, getting six cores; the Qingyun Sect gets one. As for fellow cultivators who contributed but failed to slay a python, don't worry—I'll divide the rest among you!".

Upon hearing this, the crowd furrowed their brows slightly.

How should we divide it?

Just as they were also thinking about how to divide it, they saw Yuan Yao draw her five-colored variegated long sword, place one beast core on the ground, and then chop at it like splitting firewood.

"This..." Everyone was stunned, mouths agape.

"It can't be split open!"

The hardness of a third-tier beast core is enough to withstand high-grade weapons.

Clang—

They saw the beast core, like a watermelon being sliced, split in two by that five-colored variegated long sword.

Before anyone could react, that beast core was struck again, splitting into four pieces.

Only after Yuan Yao had split all four beast cores did they barely regain their composure.

"Come, each take a piece." Yuan Yao handed the split beast cores to the cultivators.

Everyone: "..." This really... is a bit too fair.

Cang Li reminded them: "The split beast cores will gradually leak spiritual energy, so you'd best seal their energy with a spell, or quickly refine them."

Everyone replied in unison.

At that moment, Yan Haonan and several rogue cultivators unconsciously turned their gazes to Yuan Yao's just-sheathed sword.

Although this sword is hideously ugly, its grade seems quite high.

Its grade is at least above high-grade.

Someone couldn't help but ask Yuan Yao, "Fellow Daoist, why is your sword five-colored variegated?"

I doubt you could find another sword like it anywhere in the cultivation world.

Because the blade's colors are red, white, green, purple, yellow, orange, black, silver…