The Guardian of the Crystals

As Li Zhu opened his eyes, a wave of pain crashed into him, making him grimace. He was lying on the ground, where he had fallen after the fight.

Even though he currently felt unimaginable pain, inspecting his meridians, Li Zhu noticed in shock that there was no longer any poison. Usually, one single bite of a Sword Tooth Alligator could not kill a ninth stage cultivator, but still cause immense pain. This was if the poison was removed right away, though,otherwise it could still result in the victim's death .

When Li Zhu had fallen unconscious, he had hoped that he would wake up in time to cure the poison, but it seemed as though there was nothing to worry about. Confused, he slowly stood up, before looking around the island.

Bo Ai was cultivating cross legged a few yards away, with Buddy lying beside her, sleeping. Blue was flying around the sky, searching for possible threats.

'Could she have healed me?' wondered Li Zhu. After all, to pass this trial they had to both be alive, so it was in her best interest to save his life.

Ignoring the reason why he had been cured, Li Zhu began to cultivate, recovering the energy he had lost. If they wanted to get the soul crystals, they needed to be in full shape, since there could potentially be dangerous encounters

He also did not want to waste too much time, though, so after about an hour of cultivating, Li Zhu stood up, before walking towards Bo Ai.

"We better go now, if we want to have any chance at getting a good reward from this trial" said Li Zhu, who realized that the faster they got the crystals of the Silent Kill Marsh, the sooner they could hunt down the crystals from other locations or teams. Five days seemed like a long time, but in an illusion world so vast, if a team simply hid at the ends of the world, it would be hard to reach them in time.

"Ok, let's go!" agreed Bo Ai, before standing up as well, having recovered most of her energy. She had not been injured like Li Zhu, and other than the energy expenditure from the skill, she was fine.

With that, the two began their journey in the Silent Kill Marsh once again, albeit more alert. Anytime they heard a peculiar sound from a direction, the two would change course, finding a way to go around it.

This way, the avoided most dangers, and other than the occasional alligator or small toad, they did not encounter many dangerous spirit beasts.

This, of course, sped up their journey, and even with the occasional detour, the two quickly reached the center of the swamp, where the soul crystals supposedly were. The map only marked the general location of the crystals, and Li Zhu and Bo Ai would still need to find their exact location.

They had assumed the crystals would be in a cave, but there seemed to be no caves anywhere in sight, so Li Zhu and Bo Ai began searching around the vast center area of the swamp, while still being as cautious as before.

Although the area marked on the map was quite large, there were few hiding spots in the swamp, which besides the occasional tree, was completely flat. Because of this, in only ten minutes, Li Zhu and Bo Ai found the crystals, excited expressions appearing on their faces.

The crystals were hidden in the bushes of a large island, but they shined slightly in the sun, so Li Zhu had managed to spot them when he had been walking by.

"Let's gather them, I guess!" said Li Zhu, before grabbing one soul crystal after the other, until there were five in his spirit ring. It did not matter whether he or Bo Ai carried them, since they both needed to reach the end of the trial together, anyway.

When Li Zhu went to pull the sixth soul crystal towards him, he noticed that it was actually stuck in the ground. Not wanting to waste any time, he pulled with all of his strength, until the crystal finally came out. There was something strange, though, as on the ground below the crystal, some crimson red blood could be seen seeping out.

After a short moment of utter confusion, Li Zhu froze, before yelling, "We need to get out of here!" to Bo Ai, and retreating as fast as he could, fused with Buddy to increase his speed..

Fortunately, Bo Ai had incredibly fast reflexes. so the moment the warning came out of Li Zhu's mouth, she pushed herself backwards with a powerful skill.

They had been just in time, as the moment they landed on nearby ground, the entire island that the crystals had been on began to shake, and move upwards.

Waves began to form around the island, where the murky water of the swam was very deep. Li Zhu and Bo Ai stared at the scene in shock, shivering at the thought that they had been standing on the island, which now seemed to be a creature.

Although they were shocked, the two would not just stand there as a threat appeared, so they immediately ran back towards the outskirts of the swamp, having already gathered the soul crystals.

Behind them, the island had finally risen completely, showing its true appearance as enormous toad. As it shook its back, the mud, trees and bushes all fell off, revealing its green skin and red spots. The beast had stayed in hibernation for years, and after dirt and mud had gotten on its back, vegetation had surprisingly grown, giving it the appearance of an island.

Fury was visible in the eyes of the toad, as it stared at the fleeting figures of Li Zhu and Bo Ai, before opening its large mouth, revealing a long, pink tongue.

As fast as lightning, the tongue flashed towards Bo Ai, who was by now hundreds of yards away. This did not matter for the powerful toad, though, as the tongue latched onto Bo Ai, before carrying her back towards its mouth. Having stayed dormant for many years, the toad was incredibly hungry, and Bo Ai and Li Zhu would be a good meal to start off with. Furthermore, the two had stolen the soul crystal that it had been guarding, so they needed to die.

Bo Ai screamed, as she was pulled backwards by the tongue, which was as tough as steel. She did not have any physical attacks, so she could not get out of this predicament, and would need to fight the toad head on.

'That toad is at the core consolidating realm!' he realized, but this did not stop him from running towards it. He could not win the inheritance if Bo Ai died, and he would not let someone who he had been fighting with, whether she was from an enemy sect or not, die in front of him, while he did nothing.

as Li Zhu ran, long, black claws grew out of his hands. His speed when fused with Buddy was about the same as the tongue, so he managed to reach the toad before Bo Ai , at the same time infusing most of his energy into his shadow claws.

This was Li Zhu's full force attack, and even thought the toad was at the core consolidating realm, the tongue was a vulnerable spot. Because of this, it was instantly lacerated, freeing Bo Ai, who had been unable to breathe under the tongue's tight grasp.

As the toad shook its head in pain, Bo Ai retreated to a safe distance, before deciding how to confront the beast.

Running away was not a viable option, since it could just catch them with its tongue, which was shockingly already growing back, in front of them.

"Its's a Hundred Years Slumber Toad!" exclaimed Li Zhu, before explaining, "It has incredible healing capabilities, so if we do not kill it quickly, it will be able to recover from any injury in the span of a few minutes. The issue is that it has very few weaknesses, which are its eyes, and the inside of its head. To kill it at our cultivation... we will have to enter its mouth!"

As he said this, Li Zhu had a solemn expression, since he understood that entering the mouth was the only way to kill the toad, but it was also an easy way to get killed, since the beast's saliva was extremely poisonous, and being covered by it would without a doubt result in death.

"We have a tough fight ahead of us!" agreed Bo Ai, as she prepared herself to launch her powerful soul attacks. At the same time, she was impressed by Li Zhu's vast knowledge about spirit beasts, which overshadowed even her own, as the heir of Myriad Soul Palace.