A chill run through Shun Long's spine as he heard little Black's words.
What kind of existence did it have to be, to be able to absorb every kind of energy, and from so many miles away?
''Something is wrong. No matter what kind of magic beast it is, as long as it hasn't reached an extremely high rank, it shouldn't be able to absorb every other kind of energy like the yin qi from the 'red fanged flame bat' while being so far away.''
Shun Long surmised after thinking about it thoroughly.
''Master is right. Even if I wanted to absorb the yin qi here, I wouldn't be able to do this from more than 1 mile away and I am a black Dragon. I refuse to believe that there is a peak rank 5 magic beast inside this Demonic Mountain Region that would do this.''
Shun Long nodded his head at Little Black's words as he said
''We will find out everything when we enter the central region so, there is no need to worry about it just yet. It's time to go towards the south.''
The black dragon stretched his majestic pitch-black wings after hearing Shun Long's words, and flew towards the south where he had sensed another rank 3 magic beast earlier before.
His flying speed was extremely fast, bringing a sense of horror to the magic beasts that saw a black dragon flying in the sky as they hurriedly cowered away inside their nests and caves.
Little Black and Shun Long quickly arrived in front of a small forest.
Little Black's speed didn't decrease at all as he headed towards one of the tallest trees in the distance.
The tree was green and more than 8m(26ft) tall but its branches had a bright yellow color towards their ends that resembled flower petals.
Shun Long's eyes glinted while little Black opened his mouth and spat out a black ball of fire towards the tree.
The tree immediately turned to black ashes as a small green beast core could be found inside them.
Little Black snorted disdainfully after reducing the tree to ashes and said
''Just an early rank 3 'man-eating tree' and it thought that it would escape my senses?''
Shun Long grabbed the beast core of the 'man-eating tree' and after storing it inside the 'Stone of Time' he asked little Black if he could sense any other rank 3 magic beasts around them.
The pair of the young man riding his dragon flew non-stop as they relentlessly hunted every rank 3 magic beasts they found in their vicinity.
After almost one day of hunting, Shun Long's spatial space had been filled with all sorts of rank 3 beasts. Most of these magic beasts could easily kill Heaven grade experts as easily as killing chickens and yet, Shun Long's spatial space had nearly a dozen of them now.
Little Black looked at his smiling master that was now collecting the body of a rank 3 magic beast they had just killed, and he too smiled as he looked in the distance ahead of them, towards the central region before he sent a message to Shun Long
''Master, we are now very close to the central region. If there is a chance, we should also hunt an early rank 4 magic beast!''
As little Black finished speaking however he saw that Shun Long's eyes had turned serious as he said resolutely
''No''
Little Black looked at Shun Long puzzledly as he said
''Master, won't the body of a rank 4 magic beast be of great help? Although it may prove a bit hard to kill one, I am still more than 80 percent certain of being able to kill any early rank 4 beast with my current strength. We have nothing to worry about and even if the rumored peak rank 4 magic beast from the central mountain comes, we can still flee then. Even if it is some kind of aerial flying beast it will certainly be unable to match me in terms of speed.''
Little Black's words were spoken with absolute confidence.
Shun Long however shook his head as he replied
''Although the body of a rank 4 beast would be of tremendous help to me, there is something even more important in this Demonic Mountain Region for us. Additionally, if you fight with a rank 4 magic beast, even if you swiftly kill it you will certainly attract the attention of even stronger magic beasts. The central region isn't the inner region after all and I assume that there are more than just 'a few' rank 4 magic beasts inside.
Before we find out about the treasure of the central mountain, we can't attract the attention of the strong magic beasts in the central region.''
Little Black didn't speak anymore as Shun Long walked in front of him and patted his head as continued
''Don't worry, after we find out what the secret of the central mountain is, we may still have time to hunt a rank 4 magic beast.''
After Shun Long finished speaking he noticed that it was almost night time by now.
After hunting magic beasts for the entire day, Shun Long had already arrived just a few dozen miles away from the central region. After finding a secluded cave in a mountain peak close by, he had little Black ensure that there were no magic beasts around them before he started cultivating.
Taking a deep breath inside the cave Shun Long felt the qi around him madly rushing towards him.
''The quality of the qi here is truly much better compared to the outer region. Perhaps I can even breakthrough to the middle stage of rank 8 tonight.''
Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cave, Shun Long circulated the 'Monarch's Hourglass' as he absorbed the pure qi in this place. Little Black was also cultivating, but he hadn't entered a state where he was unable to sense his surroundings like Shun Long and was instead keeping watch of their surroundings at all times.
3 hours soon passed and a small popping sound could be heard from Shun Long's body as he then opened his eyes and exclaimed joyously
''I managed to reach the middle stage of rank 8 in qi condensation in such a short amount of time. Just 3 hours of cultivating here is more efficient than 5 full days of cultivation in the outer region!''
Taking advantage of the opportunity to cultivate in this place, Shun Long quickly closed his eyes as he once again activated the 'Monarch's Hourglass', absorbing the qi around him.
Morning soon came and as the sun rose Shun Long finally stopped cultivating.
After stretching his hands and feet for a while he walked out of the cave and patted Little Black's head as he said
''Little Black, when we enter the central region, it's better for you to stay in the 'Stone of Time'.''
The dragon's eyes widened as he heard this and anxiously he asked
''Master it is too dangerous for you. What if you-?''
Shun Long patted his head as he said
''I know. But it's also dangerous if you are exposed. We could do as we please in the inner region but if the magic beasts in the central region turn their attention towards us, then the best we can do will be to flee by then.''
Shun Long saw the dejected dragon as he said
''Don't worry, if I really get in a dangerous situation, you can always come out and help me.''
Little Black nodded his head as he went inside the 'Stone of Time' before he used his powerful soul to sense Shun Long's surroundings.
Shun Long had 3 major advantages that gave him enough confidence to walk by himself towards the central region that was now just a few dozen miles away from him.
The first was little Black's soul sensing which could warn him for most dangers beforehand.
The second was the 'Monarch's Eternal body' that had both increased his physical strength and his ability to tear space and escape a few dozen meters away.
Shun Long was also certain that after refining the 'Profound Earth Fruit' into a pill, his 'Monarch's Eternal body' would become a lot stronger.
''If I concoct and consume the pill before the 'sect examination' ends, by the time I finish absorbing the pill's medicinal effects, I would have probably already run out of time to gather enough survival points to first place.''
However, the third and most important advantage that he had, was the 'Monarch's Hourglass' ability to completely conceal his aura. As long as he was careful enough, he could probably avoid most of the dangers as he explored the central region.
After more than 2 hours, Shun Long had arrived precisely 300 miles away from the tallest mountain in the Demonic Mountain Region, the central mountain.
The central mountain was nearly 10.000meters (32.800ft) tall while the 300 miles around it was what everyone categorized as 'the central region'.
Shun Long took a deep breath to calm his rising heartbeat as he looked at the central mountain, and taking a step forward, he finally entered the central region.