And yet, the most important detail that led to Murong Tian's death was Murong Tian's own strength instead.

After all, Shun Long already knew from the information that he had obtained from the 'White tiger chamber of commerce' that Murong Tian was someone who specialized in soul attacks, which was why he dared to orchestrate this plan in the first place.

Even if the 'White tiger chamber of commerce' didn't know that Murong Tian was a body refiner since he had kept it a secret for many years, there was no way that they would be mistaken about him specializing in soul attacks.

However, soul attacks were the last thing that could possibly harm Little Black.

Forget about a peak rank 9 Dao Emperor like Murong Tian, Shun Long knew that even a peak rank 9 Sovereign realm expert like the Northern Sovereign didn't have any chance of harming Little Black using soul attacks.

After all, the 'quality' of Little Black's soul was no different than it had been in his past life.

Although Little Black's soul sense was only equal to that of a middle rank 7 magic beast, if someone wanted to harm his soul, their spiritual strength would have to surpass the defense of Little Black's soul instead or the result would be no different from Murong Tian's 'Soul spike'.

As for why the ball of black flames had managed to kill Murong Tian despite his peak 2-star armor, Shun Long knew that it was all thanks to the special properties of the 'Flames of Destruction'.

It didn't matter if Murong Tian was wearing a peak 2-star armor or even a peak 3-star armor, as long as Little Black's 'Flames of Destruction' managed to touch even a single part of his body, Murong Tian was doomed to die.

The 'Flames of Destruction' were one of the most terrifying skills that was exclusive to black dragons.

With the current Little Black's strength, only some peak seventh stage body refinement cultivators or some extraordinary peak rank 9 Dao Emperors would have a chance to survive if they were hit directly by his black flames.

As for Murong Tian, since he was only a middle seventh stage body refiner, he was doomed to perish the moment he was hit.

Whether it was Murong Tian's strongest offensive ability or his peak 2-star armor, they were both rendered useless in the face of a black dragon.

Closing his eyes, Shun Long then sent his soul sense inside Murong Tian's spatial ring, before a smile slowly formed itself on his lips a few moments later.

Staring at the purple-colored earth flame that was floating above the mountain of high-grade spirit stones, Shun Long knew that the risk he had taken was worth it.

''Even though it's true that earth flames of the fire element are the most common ones among all the earth flames, they are also the best when it comes to refining medicinal herbs and pills.'' Shun Long mumbled to himself with a bright smile on his face, as he remembered what the auctioneer of the 'White tiger chamber of commerce', Jia Guiying had said when she auctioned the earth flame to everyone.

Indeed, although there were rare earth flames that could allow the cultivators who absorbed them to gain insights into some very rare elements, Shun Long wasn't interested in any of those earth flames in the slightest.

Instead, what he wanted was the most common one, an earth flame of the fire element.

Although such an earth flame would only allow him to get a rudimentary understanding of the 'Dao of Fire', Shun Long didn't care about it at all.

Whether he could gain insights into the Dao of Fire, the Dao of Earth, the Dao of Ice, or even the Dao of Death through an earth flame, he still wouldn't pay any attention to it.

After all, his fundamental Daos were the Dao of Time and the Dao of Space.

Of course, if he could find an earth flame with either of those Daos, it would be an entirely different story.

However, Shun Long also understood that the chances of finding such an earth flame were practically nonexistent.

After staring at the purple-colored earth flame for a while, Shun Long turned his attention towards the small mountain of high-grade spirit stones below it.

Approximately 600.000 high-grade spirit stones were piled up together, forming a small mountain inside Murong Tian's spatial ring.

Shun Long didn't find it surprising that there were no other treasures inside Murong Tian's spatial ring other than the earth flame and the high-grade spirit stones, as he quickly understood what was going on.

From the looks of things, Murong Tian had taken 4 million high-grade spirit stones from the Murong family to bid for the earth flame, and the remaining 600.000 was what was left after he won the bid.

As for defensive treasures, it was only natural that Murong Tian wouldn't be carrying any of them inside his spatial ring.

After all, he was already wearing his peak 2-star armor on him and he was still within the premises of Murong city.

Why would an expert at his level need defensive treasures in that case?

''Master, do you want to absorb the earth flame now? There is still plenty of time until the 6 month period is over.'' Little Black asked as he stared at Shun Long in front of him.

The moment that Shun Long absorbed the purple-colored earth flame, he would no longer have to rely on other earth flames to refine high-grade and top-grade rank 6 pills.

However, Shun Long briefly turned his attention towards Little Silver who was lying on the ground behind him, before he shook his head and said seriously

''Absorbing the earth flame will probably take a while. Let's go to the 'Wind Dragon's forest' first to take the beast core of that 'Wind wyrm', before we return back to the Northern Sovereign's city.''

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Author's note: 3

/4 (Next chapter will be ready in approximately 12 hours)