Animal-eared Girl Era: Start by Forming a Contract with an SSS-Class School Belle

When he didn't say anything, Jie Gangtai thought the man in gray had been intimidated, and said arrogantly, "Hand it over, I don't need you to give me a lot, just a bottle of Grandmaster Realm Healing Potion will do."

The man in gray directly grabbed Jie Gangtai's neck with one hand, lifted him up, and then squeezed hard with an abrupt force.

Crack!

The sound of a neck breaking echoed.

Jie Gangtai's eyes widened, his expression changed dramatically, "You, you're actually at the Great Venerable Realm, aren't you a Trainee?"

The man in gray's mouth curved up, "You guessed right."

"Now, answer my question."

Jie Gangtai felt suffocated, his face turning red and neck thickening, so he had to respond, "Yes, I did see Xiao Ye over there just now, not far from the central passage. Can you let me go now?"

*Having his neck broken was also fatal back in the Beast Girl era.*

*Jie Gangtai was afraid this guy might accidentally kill him with one wrong move.*

The man in gray laughed, threw him to the ground, then tossed him a bottle of Grandmaster Realm Healing Potion, and vanished in a flash.

Jie Gangtai saw the Healing Potion and opened it up at the fastest speed of his life, gulping it down.

After a while, feeling that his injuries had pretty much healed, he said with lingering fear, "That was way too close, almost lost my life there."

"Damn, today really sucks. First Xue'Er kicked me out, then Xiao Ye robbed me, and now this mysterious man in gray caught me."

"And the trial has only just begun!"

After the man in gray left, he melted into the darkness and immediately reported to Young Master Hong, Hong Tao, that Xiao Ye had appeared in the Underground Crystal Ore.

Young Master Hong, Hong Tao, was overjoyed, and said, "Perfect, proceed as planned, remember, don't show any weakness."

The man in gray responded, "Roger!"

After ending the communication, the man in gray began giving out orders one after another.

[Target spotted, proceed as planned]

[Received!][Received!][Received!]

Jie Gangtai also took out his communicator and sent a message to Mu Qingxue, saying, "Xue'Er, I've got some news about Xiao Ye for you. Why don't we team up for this trial?"

Mu Qingxue replied, "Cut the crap, spit it out."

The Beast Girl era's special communicator's core chip was developed in seclusion by the Saint Realm, and its signal transmission was related to Rule Power. Whether a thousand meters underground or ten thousand meters high in the sky, it always worked perfectly.

Jie Gangtai was delighted—this was the first time Xue'Er had replied to him so quickly.

*Even though it was about Xiao Ye!*

Jie Gangtai: "I saw Xiao Ye in the Underground Crystal Ore."

Mu Qingxue: "What? Seriously?"

*Jie Gangtai could feel her excitement; he replied bitterly,* "Yeah, can I team up with you? This Underground Crystal Ore is just too weird."

Mu Qingxue: "No. I have stuff to do, not chatting."

"..." Jie Gangtai.

But right after, he got another message from Mu Qingxue. Jie Gangtai immediately grinned—Xue'Er must have agreed to team up.

He clicked the message:

"If there's any more news about Xiao Ye, tell me immediately."

Jie Gangtai's face darkened.

*Xiao Ye, Xiao Ye again... He really didn't get it—Xiao Ye, who usually had nothing to do with Xue'Er, why did she care about him so much?*

Jie Gangtai replied, "No problem, Xue'Er!"

*As long as he could talk with Mu Qingxue more, he was willing to discuss Xiao Ye all day.*

On the other side.

Xiao Ye and Cheng Bingxi headed deeper into the Underground Crystal Ore, moving through cave after cave, finally arriving in a semi-developed crystal ore cavern.

The cave had originally been covered in rock, dirt, ore, and Crystal Stone. Only after Hong family miners dug day and night did these caverns form.

It was pitch dark, with zero visibility, but darkness couldn't affect either of them anymore. As a Venerable Realm and a Grandmaster Peak, their enhanced bodies already gave them night vision.

*The real issue now was how to find the Phantom Spirit Elf base.*

*In his mind, Xiao Ye recalled the science dump Liu Ya had given him earlier about Phantom Spirit Elves, and focused his attention on the Conception Crystal Stones.*

Phantom Spirit Elves and Conception Crystal Stones, Crystal Essence, were two complementary types.

Any place with lots of Conception Crystal Stones definitely had Phantom Spirit Elf Beasts there as well.

"Boom!" Cheng Bingxi picked up a shovel and slammed it into a rock. The rock shattered, but inside—just more rock.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Cheng Bingxi grew a bit annoyed and smashed open rock after rock with her shovel.

They managed to open up a cavern about fifty meters in diameter.

But in the end, there was only more rock inside!

*Not even a single Conception Crystal Stone in sight.*

"Bingxi, let me." Xiao Ye spoke up.

Cheng Bingxi's muscles were sore from smashing rocks, so she stepped aside, planning to rest a bit.

Xiao Ye tossed away the shovel and walked up to the rocks with bare hands.

Cheng Bingxi was puzzled—he was going to break rocks by hand?

Xiao Ye said in a low voice, "Five Elements Control!"

"Earth Element Control!"

[Five Elements Control: As the name suggests, control over the five elements: gold, wood, water, fire, earth.] Inherited from the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon.

[Earth Element Control: Control over earth element. Anything made of earth element—rocks, sand, soil, stone slabs, etc.—can be manipulated.] This version was sourced from M|V|L^EMPYR.

A spiritual wave radiated out from Xiao Ye, covering the nearby rocks.

"Shatter, disintegrate!" Xiao Ye commanded.

As his words fell, Earth Element Control activated, and the giant, hard rocks began to layer-by-layer break down into rubble and turn to powder from the outside in.

In one second, the excavation expanded by ten meters in diameter. In ten seconds, a cavern a hundred meters wide had formed.

"!" Cheng Bingxi's beautiful eyes went wide in shock. With skills like that, why even bother digging—let Xiao Ye handle it all!

She had worked herself to death for over ten minutes to open up fifty meters, and he doubled that in just ten seconds.

*But Xiao Ye frowned.*

*A hundred meters in, and not a single Conception Crystal Stone dropped.*

*He refused to believe it. He used Earth Element Control for several more minutes, digging to a wild thousand-meter diameter.*

But! Not a single Conception Crystal Stone dropped.

*Strictly speaking, Conception Crystal Stones could be shattered by Earth Element Control as well, but if they appeared, Xiao Ye would sense them. He hadn't sensed a damn thing.*

*Xiao Ye furrowed his brow, frustrated. This headless-chicken approach wasn't working. When would he find a Phantom Spirit Elf at this rate? He had to find a faster, more direct way.*

*A few minutes passed, and Xiao Ye still hadn't come up with a good idea.*

But right then, Cheng Bingxi's beautiful eyes lit up and she said,

"Xiao Ye, let's use Life and Death Control power to sense if there's any vitality in the ore. In this crystal ore, only Phantom Spirit Elves are alive."

"Phantom Spirit Elves have a powerful vitality."

"If we sense any life, it means there are Phantom Spirit Elves in this ore."

Upon hearing that, Xiao Ye smiled. Of course! With such a simple and direct method, there was no need to dig through rocks looking for crystal mines.

Then, the Life and Death Power enveloped both of them, seeping into the rocks, finely sensing whether there was any life, any living being.

[Life and Death Control: Control over life factor and destruction factor.] Inherited from the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox Summoned Beast.

Life and Death Power: Two different attributes tangled together, mutually repelling, mutually entwining.

The two walked through cave after cave, their Realm Power seeping into the rocks for careful probing, until finally, after half an hour, they sensed a vibrant life force.