Shun Long was slightly taken aback by the dragon's sudden question. Thinking about it for a while, he nodded his head as he said
''For now, I have to return. I'm still not strong enough to even protect my parents, let alone establish a foothold for myself. I also don't know anything about the regions around the 'floating cloud sect'.
If it wasn't for the sect forcing the new outer disciples to participate in this 'sect examination', we wouldn't even have a clue about this Demonic Mountain region either.
So for the time being, it's more beneficial for me to stay there.''
Little Black agreed with Shun Long's words. Even he had never heard of this 'floating cloud sect', so he had no idea where they were right now. Staying inside the sect and gathering more information was probably the best decision.
Shun Long then thought for a bit before saying
''We have to quickly return to the safe area first. From there, I will head towards the entrance in the outer region alone. I guess that many disciples must have already gathered there by now.''
After Shun Long walked out of the cave, little Black came out from the 'Stone of Time', as he unfurled his black wings and flew towards the safe area.
While flying, little Black was also using his soul sense at the same time, to see if there were any humans anywhere near them.
However, they didn't find a single disciple from the 4 sects inside the inner region.
After all, only a few elite groups like Yong Ru's senior sister, or the son of the sect master from the 'Iron-hardened sect' would dare to enter deep in the inner region in the first place, and even they had probably left already after the sect exam was officially canceled.
One day later Shun Long who was flying on the black dragon's back had arrived near the 'safe area'. However, he had already noticed from the sky, that the place had already been completely deserted.
Landing near the safe area, Shun Long had little Black return inside the 'Stone of Time' before he continued on foot for the rest of the journey.
With little Black scanning the way with his soul sense, Shun Long didn't meet a single beast above the early rank 2 or any disciple from the 4 sects.
After 3 days, he had returned back to the outskirts of the Demonic Mountain region.
''I'm probably just a few hours away from the entrance''
Shun Long inferred as he then remembered what Yong Ru had told him while they were traveling together.
Searching inside the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long grabbed the beast core of an early rank 2 bat, that little Black had killed when they had hunted the rank 3 'red fanged flame bat' in its cave, and put it inside his pocket.
Then he proceeded to walk towards the Demonic Mountain region's entrance.
2 hours later, Shun Long had arrived in front of the entrance as he saw 4 huge rows of disciples queuing up in front of it.
The disciples were all split according to their sect uniforms, and it seemed that at the start of each line, there was an Elder from each sect, doing some sort of inspection.
Shun Long walked at the end of the 'floating cloud sect's' line as he stood behind a young man seemingly no older than 14 years old.
Although Shun Long was relatively certain of what was happening, he still decided to ask the kid in front of him
''Junior brother, do you know what's happening in the front? Why do we have to line up here?''
The young man looked at Shun Long who had just queued up behind him nervously, as he clutched something in his hand before he responded
''Ah.. actu- actually, I heard from a senior sister that there is some inspection going on. I think that they are checking for what we acquired from the outer region and also count our survival points.''
The young man replied stutteringly when the voice of a young girl sounded from the front of the line as she was shouting pleadingly
''Please Elder! I need this rank 2 'water pearl' to advance into the earth grade. I beg you don't take this from me.''
Shun Long looked at the young girl who seemed to be around 16 years old and was clutching a pink pearl in her hands, as her eyes had turned red from tears. She was begging on her knees in front of the bald Elder Zhu.
Elder Zhu however, looked at her coldly as he forcefully snatched the pink pearl from her hands before he said
''It is thanks to the sect that you could even come here. Not only that, but the sect has helped nurture you since you arrived and now you dare to deny when the sect is asking you for something? After all, I am not stealing this 'water pearl' from you, but I am giving you sect points in return. This is a fair trade you know.''
Shun Long snorted inwardly as he heard the bald Elder Zhu's words and thought
''What a joke. The sect has helped nurture the disciples? Everyone has to work to get any sect points in the 'floating cloud city'. It's thanks to the sect that she managed to come here? Yes, she had to risk her life whether she agreed or not as the sect forced her. You are not stealing from her? A fair trade you say? She is clearly being forced to trade whether she agrees or not. So this is the true face of the 'floating cloud sect' then!?''
The line was slowly moving up and people who seemed to be hiding something or didn't offer something of value by themselves, were personally searched by Elder Zhu regardless if they were men or women. 3 hours later, the line had come close to its end and the person in front of Elder Zhu was now the young man who was in front of Shun Long.