After emptying the red liquid from the medicinal cauldron, Shun Long started refining again.
Half an hour later little Black was stunned as he saw the same result inside the cauldron for the second time. Following the same movements as before, Shun Long poured the red colored liquid inside the wooden barrel.
He continued this process 18 more times until 3 wooden barrels were completely filled.
Shun Long's entire room was now permeated by an intoxicating fragrant smell, that even wafted outside his room.
After sealing up the barrel tops, little Black was surprised to see Shun Long placing the barrels inside the 'Stone of Time' as he buried them in the field along with his medicinal ingredients.
A fragrant smell assaulted little Black who was now looking expectantly at the 3 barrels.
Shun Long smiled as he saw the eager black dragon and said
''Although we will have to wait for a few days, I'm sure that the wait will be worth it.''
Little Black nodded his head as he heard this, and he took a deep breath inhaling the lingering smell in the air. Now that the barrels were sealed, the intoxicating aroma had topped diffusing in the air.
Unknown to Shun Long, a commotion had already started in the upper 4th and 5th levels of the 'Mystifying fragrance pavilion' as people were now trying to locate the origin of this aroma.
Just as Shun Long stood up from his bed, his sect jade started shining as 2 words appeared on it
'Arena Challenge 689'
Shun Long's eyes shone as he understood what this meant.
It was said that those ranked in the top 1000 in the arena, could directly ask for this kind of challenge once per week.
The challenged would then be notified by a message in their 'sect identifying jade', stating the arena rank of the challenger.
As Shun Long opened the door of his room then, he saw a young man in yellow robes sitting on the ground, waiting outside.
The young man's eyes shone as he saw Shun Long and he quickly sat up as he bowed and said
''Senior brother, my name is Jie Chu. Young master Fu has sent me here to deliver a message to senior brother.''
Shun Long guessed that the message would probably be about Liu Mei and Meng Shengyi as he then nodded his head and asked
''What did the message say?''
Jie Chu looked around to see if there was anyone spying on them before he lowered his voice as he said
''The Meng family will ask for her hand in marriage after the secret realm closes.''
As Jie Chu finished speaking, he bowed again and without another word he quickly left the 'Mystifying Fragrance pavilion'.
Shun Long watched the disappearing Jie Chu and thought seriously for a while before he also left the 'Mystifying Fragrance pavilion' as he headed towards the arena.
''Master, it looks like the Meng family must have come to some sort of agreement with Liu Changpun if they are going to make their move after the secret realm closes.''
Shun Long agreed with little Black's words and nodded his head while he kept walking towards the arena as he thought
''There is definitely more to this situation than what meets the eye.''
The arena was just a 10-minute walk from the 'Mystifying Fragrance pavilion' and soon, Shun Long had arrived in front of that huge building. Since there didn't seem to be any important matches today, there wasn't any huge crowd queuing up to enter inside either.
After entering the building, Shun Long first walked towards a counter with the words 'Registration' above it.
A red-haired man was waiting there, and as soon as he saw Shun Long, his eyes lit up as he said
''Surprised to see me?''
Shun Long shook his head as he had already thought earlier of who his challenger would be. There were very few people that would specifically challenge him in the arena as he didn't even have a rank here yet, and one of them was precisely Guan Hong.
Guan Hong looked at Shun Long who didn't seem to show any shock and raised his voice as he said
''Don't tell me you are going to chicken out now that you know who the person that challenged you is?! Aren't you the strongest who won first place in the 'outer sect exam' 2 months ago?''
As Guan Hong had raised his voice intentionally, the disciples around them all turned their attention towards him and Shun Long.
''So this is the person who took first place in our sect in this 'outer sect examination'?''
''I heard that he is nothing much. This batch of new disciples is really weak.''
''I agree! I heard that even the person who got first place from our 'floating cloud sect', only managed to get the 4th place in the overall rankings of this year's joint sect exam.''
Guan Hong's expression turned somewhat ugly while Shun Long looked at him and nodded his head as he said
''Don't worry, I accept.''
Then he turned his head to look at the female outer disciple who was in charge of the registration as he asked
''Can you tell me the rules of the arena here?''
The female disciple looked at Shun Long in a weird manner. Was this handsome young man going to fight in the arena for the first time? But the person who challenged him is at the top 700!
She smiled at Shun Long as she said
''Firstly, you need to be registered in the arena if you want to participate in a fight. Please give me your 'sect identifying jade'.''
As Shun Long handed his sect jade to that woman, he saw her pulling out a black jade from the bottom of the counter as she placed it above Shun Long's sect jade for a few breaths of time.
A light then came out from the black jade as it entered Shun Long's red jade. The woman then placed the black jade at the bottom of the counter and as she returned Shun Long's jade back she said
''You are now officially registered in the arena.
If you want to participate in a fight, you are free to challenge anyone that is not at the top 100 rankings. A person can only refuse a challenge if he has already fought for that day.
Otherwise, refusing a challenge will count as a loss and the challenger can then take the ranking of the challenged.
Now please take a look behind you.''
As she finished speaking the woman pointed at a big wall behind Shun Long that was filled with various names and numbers.
As Shun Long turned to look at this wall the woman explained
''This is the top 100 arena rankings. Only the top 100 strongest outer disciples can be ranked here.''
At the top of the rankings there were 3 names shining with a golden color that were different from the rest.
As Shun Long's eyes glanced over them, the person sitting at the top of the list shocked him.
'Rank 1
Name: Wen Zihao
Wins: 147 Losses: 2'