As Shun Long reached the end of the cave, the scene in front of his eyes had left him tongue-tied.
A huge bird almost 10meters(33ft) tall had wrapped itself around a giant vine, that was no smaller than the bird itself. The bird's wings were a shiny silver color while its wingspan was more than 30m(100ft) long.
Shun Long who looked at the bird felt like an explosion had just set off inside his head.
Little Black was shocked as well, as he said in disbelief
''Master that green vine must be the treasure of this Demonic Mountain region. Also.. what is a roc doing in a place like this? How can a roc be at just the peak of rank 4? Rocs are very similar to us dragons, so its strength should have at least been at the peak of rank 7 as it was born.''
Shun Long didn't even answer little Black's question as his eyes were glued at the huge vine at the heart of the mountain.
The silver winged roc had tried to completely encapsulate the green vine by wrapping its wings around it, looking almost like it was trying to absorb it inside its own body.
The green light that the vine emitted held a kind of fatal allure to magic beasts.
Even Shun Long's heartbeat had started speeding up at the thought of obtaining this treasure.
After taking a few breaths to calm himself down Shun Long answered little Black's question
''This isn't a pure roc, that's why it is only at the peak of rank 4. Its bloodline seems to belong to the silver winged rocs but it is extremely impure. I guess that one of its ancestors was a pure-blooded silver winged roc but as time passed, the 'pure blood' of the silver winged roc became thinner and thinner with every passing generation.''
Taking another deep breath Shun Long continued
''However, the important thing here isn't this silver winged roc, but the green vine at the heart of the mountain''
Little Black's attention was also on the green vine, as he had too felt the attraction that the vine was emitting he curiously asked
''Master, do you know what this vine is? I don't seem to recall ever seeing a plant like this.''
Shun Long nodded his head as he said
''If I'm not wrong.. this is a 'Heaven swallowing vine'.''
''Impossible! How could such a treasure exist here?'' Little Black asked but his voice seemed to be slightly trembling
To Shun Long, little Black's reaction wasn't exaggerated at all. Instead, he nodded his head as he answered
''I don't know how but it's definitely real. Originally, I didn't even think that a 'Heaven swallowing vine' could exist in this place, but now I understand why the qi in this Demonic Mountain Region is so pure compared to the 'floating cloud city's'. The 'Heaven swallowing vine' is absorbing the qi from its surroundings as it turns it into purer qi.''
Seeing the silver winged roc wrapping itself around the 'Heaven swallowing vine' little Black felt fury as well as envy in his heart. How could an impure small rank 4 roc try to eat a heavenly treasure like the 'Heaven swallowing vine'.
Even little Black in the past, hadn't seen such a treasure as this vine, if you excluded the 'Stone of Time' of course.
This 'Heaven swallowing vine' was a treasure that could advance the rate of your cultivation, if your body cultivated close to it. However, the 'Heaven swallowing vine' was also rumored to have its own spirit and it was known in the cultivation world that things that were alive couldn't enter spatial rings.
As Shun Long was staring at the vine with greed evident in his eyes, the roc's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Its bright red eyes were staring at Shun Long with extreme hostility as it let out a screech before it slowly unwrapped its wings from the vine.
''Master, it's going to attack!'' As soon as little Black finished speaking, he instantly appeared in front of Shun Long. Now that the roc had noticed them, he knew that they couldn't avoid a fight.
Shun Long was standing behind little Black as he asked him through their mental connection
''Little Black, can you pin it down just for 3 breaths of time?''
Little Black didn't know what plan Shun Long had, but he agreed without hesitation as he said
''Leave it to me master!''
The roc flapped its wings once, as it instantly appeared in front of little Black and Shun Long who were still situated at the end of the cave.
Little Black flapped his wings as he took the roc head-on.
However, the disparity in cultivation was too big, and little Black was the one who suffered in the first exchange as he was sent flying, crashing into the inner walls of the mountain.
The silver winged roc didn't let up as it attacked the black dragon continuously using its talons to tear off the dragon's flesh from his body.
Little Black's body had turned bloodied as wounds appeared all over it, while even his scales were injured as they weren't enough to defend against the roc's onslaught.
However, the dragon didn't even let out a single sound as he kept enduring the roc's violent attack.
This was the pride of the king of magic beasts, who even in the face of death would never bow down.
Shun Long who had just retrieved a silver-white page from his spiritual space looked at this scene and his eyes had instantly turned red.
Little Black and Shun Long were sharing a spiritual bond and that's why he knew what the dragon was thinking in his mind as the roc was destroying his body.
''Buy time for master, I need to buy more time for master''
Shun Long raised his left hand as he slashed the space in front of him, creating a space tear big enough for him to walk inside.
After Shun Long stepped inside, he had directly appeared above the roc's neck that was still attacking the black dragon relentlessly.
Holding the silver-white page in his hand, he circulated his qi to activate it, and as a pair of white runes appeared on the page, Shun Long threw it straight at the roc's spine.