"What?" Long Chen asked as he turned towards them.
"Master Long, as we have already told you, we owe a debt. We realized that we are not strong enough to achieve success in this beast forest by simply hunting, and worst, we may only bring endless trouble to ourselves." Xue said as she held Mei's hands.
"Yes, and since the great master is from the supreme Long clan, can we request of you to hire us as one of the servants of the clan? Although you already saved our lives and we should not be asking you any favors, can you please accept our one selfish request? We will work diligently and won't disappoint you, master." Xue and Mei asked in unison all the while their heads were bowed.
'Ah, they must have heard that the three great clans pay their servants handsomely, they want to use my connections so they can work for the Long Clan. I guess there is no harm in that.' Long Chen thought as he gave the two women a silent look.
"Alright, I will accept your request. My carriage is standing outside of the forest. Among the three carriages that you'll see, it's the one farthest from the entrance. Stay there until I come out." Long Chen told them prior to resuming his agenda.
But before he could even take a step, he spoke once more. "Fair warning, if you ever disclose what happened today in this forest, or spread any rumors related to it, you should know I would not forgive the two of you, even if you are mere women. You will end up just like those guys on the ground."
The moment that the two heard Long Chen's voice, their celebration had stopped. They couldn't help but shiver as they thought how long it had been since Chen killed all of the people in front of them.
After a while, they both started walking towards the exit.
Meanwhile, Long Chen continued to advance, deeper and deeper, until he finally sensed something. He then used his divine sense. As soon as he saw that a 10th stage spirit beast was running towards him, he was shocked. Adding to that, a meagre distance of 100 meters was separating them from each other. There was no one else nearby except for that Spirit beast.
"Heavenly demon wings!" Long Chen used his wings and flew upwards, sitting on a high branch of a nearby tree thereafter.
In a few seconds, that Spirit beast arrived there and began to roam its gaze around the surroundings.
'A Seven-Colored panther! This one is going to be tough! This is a peak level Spirit beast with peak offense and defense. Its speed is even better than mine. Should I fight it? If I do, I need to find the right opportunity.' Long Chen thought to himself.
'I have fought with a Spirit beast at the 10th stage in Treasure Hall formation. Hence, I know that the mountain destroyer won't have much of an effect on the defense of a Spirit beast of this level. I guess it is finally time to use that. I hope it won't disappoint me.'
Finally, Long Chen decided against using the sword he had been using until now.
"Let's see if you live up to your name, King's sword," Long Chen muttered to himself as he took out the king's sword from his storage ring. He had not used this sword up to that point in time, considering that he had not faced a tough opponent like today.
As soon as the king's sword materialized, the aura of the strong sword quickly spread in the atmosphere. It was like the king of swords had been awakened. Even the seven-colored panther sensed this aura, prompting it to look toward the skies.
The instant that it looked upwards, it saw a human with a sword coming towards it at a rapid speed. And his distance? Just right above it.
A layer of defensive armor appeared around Seven-Colored Panther as it tried defending against the attack. However, Long Chen's sword easily broke this armor, followed by the appearance of a long gash on its neck.
"ROAR!" The Seven-Colored Panther cried in agony as it felt the pain of having its neck wounded.
On the other hand, Long Chen put some distance in between him and the beast.
"Seven forms of saint sword- Fourth form: Desolation!"
Without giving the beast an opportunity to retaliate, Long Chen attacked the Seven-Colored Panther with his strongest offensive martial skill.
In just a few moments since his initial attack, the Seven-Colored Panther's head was severed and landed on the ground. It laid lifeless in front of Long Chen.
'Compared to the test in the 5th stage of Treasure Hall formation, this fight was much more comfortable.' Long Chen thought to himself.
"The last few days in this wilderness had been effective. I gained more proficiency in all of my skills and even mastered the 4th form of the seven forms of the saint sword after going through so many battles." Long Chen uttered, satisfaction brimming in his voice.
"Although this is the strongest offensive skill that I know -- it even played an essential role in killing this Seven-Colored panther -- most of the credit goes to this king's sword. Its strength far surpassed what I guessed before."
Long Chen then heaved a sigh as it gave the sword one quick glance from the tip of the blade down to the pommel.
"In the previous trial at Treasure Hall, I could barely make a dent on a 10th stage Spirit beast with my sword. But this king's sword was enough to kill it. Peak Spirit grade weapons are powerful. No wonder why so many desire them." Long Chen muttered as he picked up the Spirit beast's head and stored it in his ring.
With that, Long Chen continued on his journey until another night passed by.
'Dammit, just how big is this forest? I have been walking for over two days and still have not found them. To my knowledge, I have been traveling so fast. Yet still, I haven't caught up to them, which can only mean that they are passing through this forest pretty fast as well. But Why? Did they actually come here for the experience, or for something else that they are in such a hurry?' Long Chen thought, long and hard, as he used his divine sense to check his surroundings.
Sensing that no one was in his divine sense range of 200 meters, he, again, flew up using heavenly demon wings to set up his hammock.
'I feel like I can break through to the peak of 5th stage Spirit refining realm tonight.' Long Chen contemplated as he started his cultivation using an unnamed cultivation technique.
He had never stopped cultivating, making sure to do it every night after he entered the northern black forest. Long Chen cultivated for quite some time before he finally achieved success. He reached the peak of 5th stage Spirit Establishment realm.
"Hah... I can already feel myself becoming stronger than before. Just a little more and I will be a 6th stage spirit Establishment realm cultivator." Long Chen said as he smiled.
Long Chen started cultivating for a little longer before deciding to stop. He brought out the beast egg from his storage ring. He had acquired this item at the bottom of the heavenly cliff and started feeding it with his qi.
Long Chen did this at least once every day, for the reason that he knew this would help the egg in its hatching process. After doing it, he placed the egg back in his storage ring as he decided it was time for him to sleep.
The next day, Long Chen decided to wake up early and continue on his journey. After half a day had passed, he finally got a hint of the location of the one he was looking for through his divine sense.