Yong Ru gritted his teeth as he said

''I will follow you then brother.''

Shun Long shook his head after he heard Yong Ru's words and said

''It's better if I go alone. We should part ways for now and meet again after the qi eruption of the central mountain ends.''

Yong Ru sighed in his heart as he understood that he would be a burden with his strength if he followed Shun Long in the inner region. He was barely of any help while they were traveling through the outer region.

He then took a deep breath as he said to Shun Long

''Brother Shun you have to be careful. The inner region is extremely dangerous and there are many rank3 beasts here.''

Shun Long nodded his head as he responded

''I know. Let's meet again after the central mountain's eruption then.''

After parting ways, Shun Long headed deeper inside the inner region. Everyone sitting in the safe area turned their heads to look at him as he was leaving and started discussing between themselves

''Who is this guy? He dares to enter the inner region by himself?''

''Seems like he came together with senior brother Yong.''

''So what? Isn't he just a normal disciple from the 'floating cloud sect'?''

''That's right, the 'floating cloud sect' doesn't have anyone at the same level as our senior sister anyway. Even our senior sister didn't dare to walk alone inside the inner region.''

''Exactly! Does this guy think that he is at the same level as the 3 geniuses? He will certainly die for overestimating himself!''

Discussions were taking place between the 3 groups that were stationed in the safe area but Shun Long completely ignored them as he walked forward.

If other people headed deeper inside the inner region, they would surely be suicidal no matter how big their group was, if they were just rank 3 earth grade cultivators. However, Shun Long was different. He had a trump card to rely on that could take care of the magic beasts in the inner region.

After traveling forward for a bit more than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea (this is approximately 10-15mins), Shun Long had already left the safe area far behind him when little Black's voice sounded in his head

''Master, I can sense two rank 3 magic beasts. One of them is 17 miles towards the west while the other one is 23 miles to our south.''

''Let's go towards the west first since it is closer. Do you sense any humans anywhere near us?''

''No master, there are only magic beasts here. If there are any humans, then they must be more than 30 miles away from us for me to be unable to sense them.''

''Good, then let's go!''

Shun Long said as he summoned little Black from the 'Stone of Time'.

Although Shun Long hadn't summoned him when he was in the outskirts, that was because there were far too many disciples there while there were barely any threats to Shun Long's life, aside from beasts like the 'Double-headed fish' or the 'Iron-winged eagle'.

But the inner region was different. The magic beasts here were all far stronger than what Shun Long could handle alone, while the human groups were practically non-existent, and with little Black's powerful soul, sensing their surroundings Shun Long didn't have many things to worry about.

A 3m(10ft) tall black dragon had then appeared in front of him. Little Black stretched his head as Shun Long climbed on his neck, and sitting on his back he said

''Let's go!''

Little Black spread his majestic black wings as he soared from the ground heading directly towards the west.

A huge gust of air hit the ground as the black dragon flapped his wings soaring in the sky, causing every magic beast that sensed his aura to immediately prostrate themselves. Dragons were after all, kings among magic beasts.

Shun Long was enjoying the view, as well as the feeling of flying, while he was sitting on top of little Black's back, and in a very short time they had arrived outside a small cave.

The cave was about 2m(6.5ft) in height but it was wide enough for 3 people to walk inside it side by side.

screech

As soon as little Black and Shun Long arrived outside of the cave, a screeching sound was heard, as a swarm of black bats flew towards them.

Roar

Little Black opened his mouth as he roared towards the swarm of black bats that were attacking them from the cave.

As the sound of this roar hit the bats, all of them crashed into the ground with blood flowing from their ears. More than 20 rank 2 bats had directly died from a single roar.

A black shadow flew from the cave as it directly tried to escape through the air.

''It's actually a middle rank 3 'red-fanged flame bat'! Little Black quickly, don't let it escape!''

''Don't worry master, how could it ever escape from us?''

Little Black flapped his wings and the distance from the bat was immediately halved.

The 'red-fanged flame bat' was a magic beast at the middle stages of rank 3, but as soon as it had sensed little Black's aura outside its cave, it was instantly terrified as it fled without a second thought. The aura of a dragon, a king of magic beasts was one of the most terrifying things to every living being.

Forget about a middle stage rank 3 magic beast like the 'red-fanged flame bat', little Black could probably fight against even a middle stage rank 4 magic beast right now, and he would only get stronger in the future as he recovers his strength.

In almost no time, Shun Long and little Black had arrived above the 'flame bat's' head as little Black used his talons to grab the bat's wings.

The bat screeched loudly as little Black brutally tore its wings from its body, making it crash on the ground.

A small pool of blood had formed beneath the bat's body while it was still struggling to move and escape from this monster that was chasing it.

Little Black's talons landed on the bat's neck that was now on the ground, as it brutally teared off its head. Finally, the bat stopped breathing as a pitch-black core rolled off from its now torn head into the ground.

Shun Long fiddled with the beast core in his hand for a while before putting it inside the 'Stone of Time's' space along with the bat's body. Although the 'red fanged flame bat's' body wasn't edible, parts of it could still be used as ingredients for alchemy, while its fangs could be used by formation masters to create silver grade weapons.

Aside from the 'red fanged flame bat' there was still that swarm of rank 2 bats that could be sold for a good price in the 'Treasure Pavilion'. Although rank 2 magic beasts rarely had a beast core in their bodies, the rest of their body parts would usually fetch a good price.

After Shun Long put everything inside the 'Stone of Time', he walked towards the cave that the bats were living in.

Little Black looked at his master, but his own body was too big to enter the small cave so he couldn't help asking

''Master, do you think that there will be anything good inside this cave?''

''Although the chance is minimal, the truth is that when the 'red fanged flame bat' inhabits a cave, the powerful yin qi that it oozes from its body will sometimes be absorbed into its surroundings to produce rare alchemy materials. One of those materials is the rank 3 'hell flower'.''

Shun Long remembered that Yong Ru needed this flower for his grandfather.

However, after searching the cave, Shun Long was confused as well as a bit disappointed to not having found anything of use. Apparently, the 'red fanged flame bat's' qi hadn't produced anything inside the cave.

After Shun Long failed to find anything inside, he left the cave as he climbed atop little Black's back before he pondered for a while

''I don't understand. I could sense some yin qi inside the cave, but it was very faint both in quality and quantity. Unless the bats had started living in this cave today, the yin qi here shouldn't have been so faint. However, based on their sheer numbers, it's impossible for them to have migrated here today.

Little Black, can you sense anything?''

Shun Long was truly perplexed this time and his senses weren't strong enough to understand what was going on so his only option was asking little Black.

The black dragon closed his eyes as he sensed his surroundings for a long time. After that, he abruptly opened his eyes with an unfathomable glint inside them as he looked towards Shun Long and once again said telepathically

''Master... you were right. There should have been enough yin qi in the air to create some precious medicinal herbs but...''

After that little Black turned his head to look outside of the cave as he continued

''...it's all been sucked away!''

Shun Long's eyes widened as he looked at little Black incredulously before asking

''Can you sense who is sucking away the yin qi then?''

''Master... it's not just the yin qi here. Aside from the pure qi in the air, every other kind of qi in the surrounding 30 miles, is all being sucked deeper inside towards the central region!''