Thunderous sounds echoed continuously. As Jin Yu cast his spell, streaks of golden lightning intertwined with the ghostly blue flames conjured by the Li Water Pearl, transforming into a vast expanse of bizarre gold and blue fire.
The Xuanming Turtle's corpse was enveloped within, continuously being refined. In an instant, the deathly aura upon it was completely removed.
The Xuanming Turtle's massive corpse also shrank significantly, turning into a dried-up, skeletal remnant. Subsequently, a small piece of turtle shell suddenly emitted a surge of blood-colored baleful energy.
This surge of blood-colored baleful energy instantly transformed into dense, blood-colored runes, covering the Xuanming Turtle's corpse. The entire corpse was shrouded in a layer of blood-colored spiritual light.
Strands of vital blood essence emanated from the Xuanming Turtle's corpse, intertwining in the air to form a blood-colored orb. Jin Yu was refining the residual vital blood essence within the corpse.
Although the Xuanming Turtle had been dead for quite some time, the true form of a transformed-level great demon would not easily decay.
Moreover, the area was relatively sealed. Even if it existed for tens of thousands of years, there wouldn't be significant changes. The materials from its body could still be utilized by cultivators.
Suddenly, the Xuan Turtle narrowed its eyes slightly, sensing a wisp of blood essence within that was quite familiar. It was a trace of its own blood essence.
The piece of turtle shell that had emitted the blood-colored runes was precisely the piece that had been refined outside earlier. It seemed that when the turtle shell suddenly mutated and burst into blood essence outside the door, Jin Yu likely had a significant role in it.
As the power of vital blood essence was refined and transformed into a blood pearl, the illusory image of the Xuanling Turtle's remnant soul appeared in the air.
"Haha, there's still such powerful aura. The Xuanming Demon King truly deserves to be a great demon king with true spirit bloodline. Eh..."
Upon seeing this, Jin Yu smiled, but his smile abruptly ceased as he seemed to discover something, letting out a soft 'Eh'.
"What is it, Fellow Daoist Jin?" Liu Qing asked疑惑.
"No, although this ball of vital blood essence is pure, it seems somewhat lacking in sustained power. It shouldn't be just this little," Jin Yu didn't reply, but his expression turned gloomy.
He cast a spell on the Xuanming Turtle's corpse. After extracting another hundred strands of vital blood essence, the Xuanming Turtle's corpse, which had already shrunk significantly, could no longer maintain its original form and began to crack and shatter. In the blink of an eye, it crumbled into dry, cracked bone fragments.
Countless bone fragments fell, scattering across the water pool on the ground.
Xuan Turtle was stunned and immediately thought of the information he had just obtained. It hinted that this corpse was just an empty shell, and now it seemed to be true.
If that was the case, then the information obtained from the Xuanming Turtle statue earlier was basically correct. He lowered his head and glanced at the black Yin-Yang Gourd.
"How could it be? Even a damaged true form of a great demon king should be able to condense far more vital blood essence than this."
"Could it be that the Xuanming Turtle was too severely injured, consuming too much vital blood essence, which led to its demise?" The others were also quite astonished by this scene and began to discuss it.
"Hmph, even if a tenth-order great demon king is severely injured, if it can escape with its true form, it must have retained some strength. This remnant corpse only condensed such a small amount of vital blood essence, probably not even one-tenth of the Xuanming Turtle's physical power. It's very much like it used a feigned death secret technique, leaving behind an empty shell," Long Alligator said with a strange smile.
"Feigned death? Could it be that the true body isn't here? But how do you explain the Heavy Water Gourd? Other treasures are one thing, but the Heavy Water Gourd is a pseudo-spiritual treasure. How could such an important treasure be left here?"
Hearing Long Alligator's words and seeing the pile of broken bones on the ground, and the blood pearl in the air that was only about ten feet in size, everyone began to speculate.
They were all transformed demon cultivators, possessing strong vital blood essence. By comparing the vital blood essence on the blood pearl with their own, they could all sense that the vital blood essence on the blood pearl was not even one-tenth or one-twelfth of theirs, who were eighth-order demon cultivators.
Let alone a tenth-order great demon king with true spirit bloodline. The residual vital blood essence on this corpse was too little. After guessing for a while, everyone fell silent.
"Fellow Daoist Jin, have you found the Xuanming Turtle's demon core?" After a few moments of silence, Madam Yan suddenly asked.
"Hehe, haven't you all seen it? This corpse is likely just a shell, so naturally it wouldn't leave behind a demon core," Jin Yu snorted with a displeased expression.
With a wave of his hand, the blood pearl condensed from the Xuanming Turtle's body transformed into a stream of blood essence and merged into the Li Water Pearl. The Li Water Pearl spun smoothly and was once again grasped in his hand.
Scanning the crowd, Jin Yu's gaze landed on Long Alligator, and he said in a deep voice, "Brother Long, the Heavy Water Gourd may have to be distributed differently."
Hearing this, Long Alligator's expression also darkened. He glanced at the others and coldly snorted, "Is this what everyone means?"
"Fellow Daoist Long, you've all seen that the Xuanming Turtle's corpse has no value. The distribution of that Heavy Water Gourd does indeed need to be discussed again," Old Demon Feng also interjected at the right time.
"Indeed, the ownership of the pseudo-spiritual treasure..." Liu Qing also echoed.
