Gao Wu: Oh no! Young Master Zhen is a cultivator!

Lin Ran's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly dodged to the side.

The figure brushed past his shoulder and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

The one who ambushed him was the fourth-tier mineral crystal toad whose tongue he had cut off.

After escaping back to the pool, it somehow made its way here through an underwater passage, using the spiritual energy emitted by the golden lotus to heal its wounds.

At this moment, the injury to its hind leg had healed, and the crystalline warts on its back once again shone with a ghostly green light, making it even more ferocious than before it was injured.

In the current situation, Lin Ran naturally could not retreat even an inch, so he immediately drew his training longsword and confronted the mineral crystal toad.

The mineral crystal toad was clearly still somewhat wary of Lin Ran, and after failing to strike once, it did not immediately pounce again.

Seeing this, Lin Ran pushed off with his feet, his figure swayed, and he arrived at the side of the mineral crystal toad. He aimed his long sword at the toad's front leg and stabbed it.

Crunch!

The mineral toad shifted its body, its long blade stabbing into its back, producing a teeth-grinding scraping sound.

"Croak!"

The mineral toad let out a piercing screech and swung its leg, sending Lin Ran and his knife flying.

Then, it suddenly turned around, its vertical pupils revealing a fierce glint, and opened its mouth to spew out a glob of thick venom.

Lin Ran rolled on the spot to avoid the venom.

After the fierce battle by the pool, he had figured out the attack patterns of the mineral crystal toad.

There are only four moves: venom spray, tongue whip, pounce, and crystal wart self-destruction.

As long as he avoids direct confrontation, even a fourth-tier mineral crystal toad would have a hard time keeping up with his speed.

So he began to circle around the mineral crystal toad, occasionally stabbing it with his knife, gradually worsening the toad's injuries.

It was nourished by the spiritual energy of the Nine-Rank Golden Lotus; otherwise, this crystal toad would have collapsed long ago.

Lin Ran kept slashing, but the mineral crystal toad frantically spun its body, unable to harm Lin Ran at all.

After Lin Ran delivered more than a dozen blows, the mineral crystal toad was finally powerless to resist and rolled into the puddle.

Lin Ran seized the opportunity, quickly stepped forward, and stabbed the mineral crystal toad in the eye.

Pfft!

The mineral toad convulsed, and the crystalline warts on its back exploded at the same time, filling the cave with poisonous mist.

The nine-grade golden lotus swayed gently, and the poisonous mist quickly dissipated.

"It actually has this effect!"

Lin Ran drew his sword, and the mineral crystal toad's limbs twitched a few times before finally ceasing to move.

He pried open the skull of the mineral toad and obtained a fourth-order dark green crystal core.

However, before he could even feel smug, a deafening thud suddenly came from the direction of the pool.

Bang!

The entire cave was trembling slightly, and loose rocks were falling from the ceiling.

A three-meter-high column of water exploded on the surface of the water, and a golden figure leaped out from underwater and landed on the edge of the cave.

"Croak!"

It's actually a Tier 5 mineral crystal toad!

The golden toad was smaller than the fourth-order mineral crystal toad, and its entire body was golden, as if it were cast from gold.

The crystal warts on its back were also golden, radiating a dazzling golden light.

It seems this thing must have been exposed to the Nine-Rank Golden Lotus for a long time to have this appearance.

A fifth-tier mutated beast is equivalent to a martial artist in the Profound Realm. Even if it is not very intelligent, it is still not something that Lin Ran can match in his current state.

Seeing the indifferent look emanating from those golden vertical pupils, Lin Ran subconsciously tightened his grip on the training longsword.

The natural pressure emanating from the fifth-tier mutated beast made his breathing slightly tight.

The golden toad glanced at the corpse of the fourth-tier mineral crystal toad, raised its head slightly, and let out a deep roar.

"Croak!"

The sound wave was like a giant hammer, smashing into Lin Ran's chest.

"puff!"

Lin Ran felt his heart suddenly clench, his blood surged, and he spat out blood.

"What's going on? A sonic attack?!"

If this golden toad, like the previous fourth-tier mineral crystal toad, only had some common moves, Lin Ran could barely handle it.

But this sonic attack is impossible to defend against, so how can we win?

No!

He had to strike first and not let the guy yell a second time!

Lin Ran bit his tongue to stay awake and charged towards the golden toad with all his might.

The training longsword, imbued with full spiritual power, was slashed towards the top of the golden toad's head.

when!

The blade struck the golden skin, sending sparks flying.

It left only a faint white mark, without even breaking the skin.

Lin Ran's tiger's mouth was numb from the shock, and his entire right arm was trembling.

The golden toad glanced at him, raised its forelimbs, and gently waved them.

Bang!

Lin Ran was sent flying several meters away, crashing into the rock wall with a dull thud.

He felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and he was in excruciating pain all over his body.

However, before he could slide off the rock wall, the golden toad opened its mouth, and a beam of golden light shot out from its throat.

"This guy didn't use poison?"

Lin Ran's pupils contracted sharply, and he barely managed to turn his body to the side.

The beam of light grazed past his ear and pierced the rock wall.

Bang!

A small hole, about the size of a thumb, appeared instantly in the hard rock wall, its edges as smooth as a mirror.

Lin Ran thought to himself, "Good heavens, if this happened to me, I'd probably be dead on the spot."

Seeing that the golden toad was about to launch another attack, Lin Ran endured the excruciating pain in his chest and rushed towards the Nine-Rank Golden Lotus.

He has no way out now and can only fight with all his might.

Even if I can't have this golden lotus myself, I can't leave it to this beast.

Seeing Lin Ran's actions, a look of panic flashed in Jin Chan's eyes.

It pushed off the ground with all four limbs, its entire body transforming into a golden afterimage as it pounced on Lin Ran's back.

Ignoring everything else, Lin Ran leaped towards Jinlian, his body fully extended in mid-air.

The golden toad's gaping maw followed closely behind, its barbed tongue shooting out from its mouth.

The moment Lin Ran touched the ninth-grade golden lotus, the blood on his hand was immediately absorbed by the lotus.

hum!

The golden lotus suddenly burst forth with ten thousand rays of golden light, which condensed into a golden light shield that enveloped Lin Ran entirely.

Snapped!

The golden toad's tongue struck the light shield, but its attempt failed.

Immediately afterwards, its entire mouth crashed into the light shield.

Bang!

The toad's belly clung to the light shield and slowly slid off.

With a splash, it fell into a puddle.

Inside the light shield, Lin Ran felt a warm current flow into his body.

The injured area is recovering at an astonishing rate; bones are returning to their original positions, and muscles are healing.

This feeling was exactly the same as when he first transmigrated and the Xuanhuang Cauldron transformed his body.

He turned over and sat cross-legged on the golden lotus, surrounded by nine golden petals that shimmered in the light.

Looking outwards, an indestructible golden light enveloped the golden lotus.

The golden toad leaped out of the puddle and crashed into the golden lotus again.

Bang!

Its forelimbs had barely touched the light shield when it was instantly bounced away and fell back into the water.

"Croak!"

The golden toad let out a reluctant cry, its eyes darting around the golden lotus.

After a moment, the golden crystal warts on its back lit up at the same time, and its mouth opened wide, spitting out a beam of golden light.

hum!

The golden light fell on the light shield, like raindrops falling on a lake, creating only a few faint ripples.

Seeing this, Lin Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

"Phew...that was close, I survived after all."

Confirming that the golden toad couldn't break through the golden light, Lin Ran felt a wicked urge arise in his heart.

He got up and walked to the light shield, sometimes reaching out his hand, sometimes his foot, while constantly mocking it.

"I came out...oh no, I'm back in...I came out again...oh no, I'm back in again! Come and hit me!"

Sensing Lin Ran's provocation, the golden toad let out a low roar.

"Croak!"

The sound was so loud that Lin Ran slipped and almost fell.

"Oh no... Ouch... That was close!"

He swung his arms haphazardly to barely steady himself, then quickly took a few steps back and obediently sat back down in the middle of the lotus platform.

The golden toad seemed to know that it couldn't break through the golden lotus's light barrier, so it stopped trying to attack and slowly lay down next to the puddle, just staring at Lin Ran.

Seeing this, Lin Ran curled his lip: "Looks like you're planning to stick with me!"

The golden toad remained motionless, offering no response to Lin Ran.