Arriving on top of the tall mountain, everyone, including Shun Long, was now curiously staring at their surroundings.
In the far off distance, a few hundred miles away from their location, the disciples of the Desolate east could see a huge city standing tall.
There was only a forest separating them from the city, when they finally turned their attention to Shun Long next to them, who was sitting on top of the black panther.
Everyone hastily opened up the distance between them, afraid that the black panther would attack them, when all of a sudden, Liu Mei started walking towards him.
''Senior sister Liu, that's dangerous!''
Wen Zihao shouted hurriedly, when he saw Liu Mei approaching the panther.
Liu Mei however, didn't seem to hear him, as she quickly arrived in front of the black panther.
Shun Long smiled at her, and without a single word, he took her right hand, as he then placed her behind him on top of the panther's back.
Shun Long then sent a mental command to the 'silver-winged panther king', who immediately jumped from the mountain's peak, as he entered the forest below them.
The disciples of the Desolate east were left speechless, but none of them dared to say anything as they watched the young man along with the beautiful woman behind him, quickly disappear in the forest below them.
After all, despite the fact that none of them knew Shun Long's identity, they were still certain that one way or another, he must be related to the Dao King from the 'Vermilion realm'.
Wen Zihao too, didn't say a word, but simply stared at Liu Mei's back with a venomous look in his eyes.
At the same time, on the black panther's back, Liu Mei stared at Shun Long who was sitting in front of her and whispered
''I'm happy that you came.''
Shun Long turned around his head and smiled, before he held Liu Mei's hand with his own.
A sweet feeling filled Liu Mei's heart, as that warm sensation from the second trial resurfaced once again.
As they were traveling through the forest, with the early rank 5 'Silver-winged panther king' unleashing its aura, there wasn't a single magic beast that interrupted them on the way.
However, Shun Long didn't head directly to the Silver sword city, but instead took a detour, as they headed toward a small mountain in the distance.
Looking at Liu Mei he then said
''Let's rest here for a few hours before we head to the Silver sword city.''
Liu Mei didn't ask the reason why Shun Long wanted to stop, but instead nodded her head, as she followed him inside a small cave in the mountain.
Seeing that Shun Long was inspecting the 'Silver-winged panther king', Liu Mei couldn't resist asking
''Shun Long... was this panther the reward for passing the third trial?''
Although the rest of the disciples of the Desolate east may not have known Shun Long's identity, Liu Mei was very clear that Shun Long was an outer disciple of the 'floating cloud sect', and he surely didn't have a rank 5 magic beast during the second trial.
Shun Long looked at Liu Mei's beautiful eyes, and with a smile on his face he replied
''He was one of the rewards for passing the trial.''
Shock immediately filled the young woman's face after hearing the confirmation from Shun Long, but she didn't ask anything else, as she watched him from the side.
Shun Long seemed to have examined the panther's tail numerous times, before he took out a few rank 2 and rank 3 medicinal herbs from the 'Stone of Time'. Surprisingly, he even took out one of the rank 3 'Blood Vermilion fruits' that he had obtained from the first trial.
After extracting the medicinal essence of the herbs inside his alchemy cauldron, Shun Long then started refining the pill.
20 minutes later, the fragrance of the medicinal essence had already filled the cave, as a bright green pill had appeared inside Shun Long's cauldron.
Liu Mei wasn't an expert in alchemy, but she instantly realized that this was a pill that only a silver grade alchemist could concoct. This meant that Shun Long's level was at least on par with a rank 1 silver grade alchemist's.
After feeding the pill to the panther, Shun Long noticed, that the 'Silver-winged panther king' started convulsing incessantly, before foam came from its mouth and it passed out.
''D-Did it die?''
Shun Long couldn't help laughing lightly after hearing Liu Mei's question, as he shook his head and said
''Just wait for a while.''
Since little Black was still sleeping after he had eaten the 'Nine-eyed giant worm', in preparation for his breakthrough to the rank 5, Shun Long had decided to heal the 'Silver-winged panther king' before they entered the Silver sword city.
2 hours later, the black panther's body emitted a powerful aura, like a beast waking up from a long sleep.
Its aura climbed higher and higher, and soon, it had broken through from the early, to the middle rank 5.
However, this wasn't the end as its aura continued to rise without stopping, and a few minutes later, the black panther broke through once again, reaching the peak of rank 5.
A peak rank 5 'Silver-winged panther king', was strong enough to destroy average late stage Nascent soul experts, almost instantly.
Forget about a peak rank 9 earth grade rookie like Shun Long, even some Dao Kings didn't have such a mount. If Cui Guoliang knew that Shun Long had healed the panther's problem in just a few hours, it was unknown what his reaction would be.
The 'Silver-winged panther king' finally opened its eyes and stared at Shun Long with endless gratitude, as it nudged its head on his foot.
Normally, 'Silver-winged panther kings', would always reach the peak of rank 5 once they become adults. However, there were some rare cases for the male black panthers, where their bodies wouldn't naturally go through that process of evolution, and would need external stimulation instead.
This could be usually detected, by how developed the muscles near the panther's tail were.
Shun Long had immediately understood the problem, and concocted a pill that was potent enough to 'wake up' the 'Silver-winged black panther's' sleeping body.
Shun Long laughed as he patted the black panther's head, before he turned his head to look at Liu Mei, as he said with a smile on his face
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''Let's go and see this Silver sword city then.''