Liu Mei's eyes widened when she heard Shun Long's words.
Since Shun Long had already told her a few things about the 'Dragon Lord's villa', Liu Mei already knew, that that was probably the most dangerous place in the entire 'Night star continent'.
Seeing the shocked look on Liu Mei's face, Shun Long smiled lightly as he continued
''We are only going to have a look. I don't plan to enter in there just yet.''
Indeed, with all the rumors going around about how scary of a place the 'Dragon Lord's villa' was, and considering that Cui Guoliang and his wife who were both Dao Kings are also trapped in there, Shun Long entering inside would be suicide.
Liu Mei heaved a sigh of relief when she heard Shun Long's words.
Although she knew that he wasn't too reckless, she was still afraid that his curiosity would cause him to wish to explore the villa in the end.
Shun Long didn't head to the villa right away though, and closing his eyes, he sent his spirit sense in the 'Stone of Time'.
Inside the foggy place, the black panther still had his eyes closed, while powerful energy fluctuations were coming from his body.
Little Black's blue eyes observed the panther whose aura was rising with every passing moment, and soon, it had already reached the absolute peak of rank 5.
More and more energy was being gathered in the panther's body, while its silver wings were now shining with a bright silver luster.
Even though the increase was relatively slow, Shun Long estimated that it would only take half a day at most for the panther to accumulate sufficient energy in order to break through to the rank 6.
Closing his eyes, Shun Long's spirit sense returned back in his body, before he waved his hand and a beast skin along with a white scroll appeared in his hands.
The beast skin was Cui Guoliang's map that showed the location of the 'Dragon Lord's villa', while the white scroll was the map that Shun Long had purchased from the shop at the eastern part of the 'Heaven's Dome city' an hour ago.
After putting Cui Guoliang's beast skin on top of the map he had purchased, Shun Long could see the route that he had to take in order to arrive at the 'Dragon Lord's villa'.
His finger traced through the route as he mumbled
''As long as we pass through the Netherspirit forest, we should reach the 'Dragon Lord's villa' within a few hours.''
Liu Mei nodded her head as she observed the 2 maps.
Indeed, if they didn't follow the route through the Netherspirit forest, they would have to take a huge detour in order to arrive at the villa.
After placing the 2 maps back inside the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long and Liu Mei started to travel towards the Netherspirit forest.
Since the black panther was still undergoing his breakthrough, and they were still close to the Heaven's Dome city, Shun Long could only choose to fly there by themselves.
Shun Long and Liu Mei shot to the sky, as they flew towards the Netherspirit forest's direction.
The forest itself was close to the Heaven's Dome city to begin with, and just 8 hours later, the 2 of them had arrived at its entrance.
As soon as they arrived outside of the forest, Shun Long saw Liu Mei's eyes that had lit up in excitement.
Shun Long immediately understood the reason, as he could also sense the boundless death qi inside the Netherspirit forest, that reached all the way to the forest's entrance.
It was said that the Netherspirit forest was a place where countless cultivators had died here in the past, and their souls had turned into powerful spirits that would roam inside the forest.
Although the spirits didn't have sentience and they couldn't see or hear, they would instinctively attack any cultivator that approached close to them.
It was said that a few powerful magic beasts also lived inside the forest, and some of them were strong enough to threaten even Dao Kings.
However, these magic beasts would only appear if someone intruded in their territory, and would otherwise stay dormant inside the forest.
Since it was already night, Shun Long and Liu Mei chose to set up camp 3 miles away from the forest's entrance, and enter the forest in the morning.
Since they were out in the open and in an unfamiliar place, Shun Long didn't choose to enter the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time', but instead, he cultivated normally inside the tent along with Liu Mei.
This was the first time in a while that he cultivated outside of the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
Waving his hand, more than 1000 middle-grade spirit stones appeared around him and Liu Mei.
Shun Long smiled lightly as he looked at Liu Mei, before he summoned the 'Heaven swallowing vine' from the 'Stone of Time'.
Under Liu Mei's shocked eyes, the vine started to absorb the middle-grade spirit stones at an incredible speed, before it filled the tent with pure qi that Liu Mei had never seen before.
Understanding that Shun Long had done this for her, Liu Mei felt a warm feeling coursing through her heart.
Circulating the 'Moonlight Sigil', she started to absorb the moonlight that was entering inside the tent, along with the boundless pure qi that had filled the air around her.
Shun Long had a smile on his face, as he circulated the 'Monarch's Hourglass' and started to absorb the qi inside the tent as well.
Even though he was cultivating together with Liu Mei, Shun Long noticed, that the qi that Liu Mei could absorb was minimal when compared to him.
Not only was the 'Monarch's Hourglass' absorbing almost 90 percent of the qi in the air, but that was with Shun Long holding back.
5 hours passed like this, and as the sun started to rise, Shun Long heard a powerful roar in his mind, that was filled with joy and excitement.
257
Inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time', the black panther let out a deafening roar, as the aura of a rank 6 magic beast exploded from its body.
A rank 6 magic beast!
This meant that the panther was now equivalent to a Dao King in strength!
As soon as the black panther sensed Shun Long's spirit sense that had appeared next to it, it let out another roar that was filled with both gratitude and excitement.
After all, without the stalks of rank 5 'Dragonblood grass', it would have been unable to advance to the rank 6 just yet.
Once he confirmed that the black panther had successfully completed its breakthrough, Shun Long heaved out in relief, before his spirit sense returned back to his body.
An hour soon passed and seeing that the sun had already started to rise, Liu Mei also opened her eyes as she stopped circulating the 'Moonlight Sigil'.
Since it was already morning, it was time for the 2 of them to enter the Netherspirit forest.
After returning the 'Heaven swallowing vine' in the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long didn't bring out the black panther, but instead, he and Liu Mei walked on foot towards the Netherspirit forest's entrance.
Once again, Shun Long could feel the boundless death qi coming from the forest, as he and Liu Mei arrived at the forest's entrance.
He could see the countless black-colored trees inside, while even the sunlight itself seemed to have problems penetrating through the thick death qi that covered the forest.
He and Liu Mei had barely walked for half a mile through the forest's entrance, when Shun Long felt the death qi around him trying to invade his body.
With the strength from the 'Monarch's Eternal body' however, Shun Long didn't even need to circulate his own qi in order to block the death qi around him.
Liu Mei however didn't reject the death qi around her, and instead, she chose to absorb some of it, as she tried to refine its energy inside her body.
The result though, was completely different from what she had expected.
The moment that the death qi entered her body, Liu Mei immediately coughed out a mouthful of black blood, as a heavy pain hammered her chest.
The 'Moonlight Sigil' was unable to refine the death qi around her, causing Liu Mei to feel her senses being dulled as she almost passed out!
Shun Long was stunned when he saw the black blood that Liu Mei had coughed, that instantly corroded the black soil on the ground.
Sizzling sounds could be heard, almost as if the black blood had turned into some kind of deadly poison.
Seeing that Liu Mei was about to faint and fall to the ground, Shun Long quickly caught her with his right hand to check her condition.
An aura of death, completely different from Liu Mei's own was coming from inside her body, while Liu Mei felt weakness overcoming her as she barely held on her senses.
She could feel a stifling feeling pressing on her chest, while her heart was about to explode!
After Shun Long fed her a top-grade 'Sun healing pill', she then sat on the ground as she circulated the 'Moonlight Sigil' once again, this time to expel the new death aura from her body.
At the same time that Liu Mei was expelling the death aura from her body, Little Black's voice sounded inside Shun Long's head, as the black dragon said
''Master, that was too reckless! A death aura that is created by the death of countless cultivators will certainly be impure, and is almost impossible to be refined through normal means.
Unless one is cultivating in a certain cultivation technique that allows them to absorb any death aura, then trying to do something like this is suicide!''
Shun Long nodded his head in understanding when he heard Little Black's words.
As an alchemist, he already knew that even medicinal herbs that were of similar nature wouldn't necessarily mesh together, let alone something as dangerous as death qi.
After all, Liu Mei's death aura was created from her own qi, after comprehending the Dao of Death even further and absorbing the death aura of cultivators who died around her.
However, the aura inside the Netherspirit forest was different.
It was the culmination of death from countless dead creatures, including other cultivators, and the last thing it could be called was pure.
In other words, if Liu Mei's death aura was like a glass of water, then the death qi inside the Netherspirit forest was like the poisonous fluid of a swamp.
Seeing that the color was returning on Liu Mei's face, Shun Long nodded his head, as he then asked in a serious tone
''Mei'er, are you okay?''
Liu Mei was still sitting on the ground, and raising her head to look at Shun Long she replied
''Long-ge... I am sorry. I thought that I could absorb the death aura and comprehend the Dao of Death further, but I couldn't!''
Shaking his head, Shun Long explained to her the same thing that he had heard from Little Black.
Liu Mei's eyes widened slightly when she heard Shun Long's words, as she finally understood the reason she couldn't refine the Netherspirit forest's death qi.
Half an hour passed until Liu Mei could completely expel the death qi from her body.
At the same time, Shun Long took out the map that he had purchased from the Heaven's Dome city, and traced out a path through the Netherspirit forest.
He was planning to take a small detour instead of passing entering inside the forest's central region.
Even though this detour could cause them to travel for half a day longer, the danger that they would have to face this way would be much lower.
After all, the central region was very likely to hold Dao King level magic beasts inside it, and even with Little Black and the black panther, Shun Long didn't plan to take any needless risks this time.
Looking at the map in his hands, Shun Long mumbled to himself
''According to the map, there should be a big lake a few miles away from the Netherspirit forest's central region. After passing through it, we should be very close to the forest's exit.''
Seeing that Liu Mei could stand up and that she had completely expelled the death aura from her body, Shun Long started walking towards the west of the Netherspirit forest.
At the same time that Shun Long and Liu Mei were entering deeper inside the Netherspirit forest, back inside the 'Alchemists' Guild' in the Heaven's Dome city, a man was kneeling in front of Zhao Lan who had just returned from the Shengtian dynasty's palace, and with a solemn tone, he explained everything that had transpired inside Shun Long's courtyard a few hours ago.
From the fact that the aura of a rank 6 magic beast had appeared in Shun Long's courtyard, to the Dao Kings who had completely surrounded the 'Golden pig inn', practically no details of the previous incident were omitted.
Zhao Lan had a serious look on his face as he heard the middle-aged man's report, before he asked in a curious tone
''Was the aura of the rank 6 magic beast really related to that brat?
Also, where is he right now?''