"Replying to Grand Elder Liu, this disciple did not see Tang Hong come out." The disciple answered respectfully.
When Huang Xiaolong left, he had restored his physical features to his own, so naturally, no one noticed that 'Tang Hong' had disappeared.
From then on, Tang Hong no longer existed in this world.
"You did not see him?" Liu Qingyang's brows scrunched together in obvious displeasure.
While Liu Qingyang was pondering the matter, his personal disciple Zhu Haishen walked into the hall, "Master, there is nobody inside the Golden Dragon Sacred Temple."
Liu Qingyang's eyes narrowed, "Nobody? This means that kid Tang Hong has left the temple."
"There is no other explanation." Zhu Haishen nodded, adding in a solemn tone, "Master, that kid Tang Hong stayed inside the Golden Dragon Sacred Temple for a month, could he have achieved something like Hu Dan?"
Liu Qingyang snorted harshly, "The duration of one's stay inside the temple isn't related to the number of dragon souls they can awaken. Tang Hong has a mere high rank ten godhead, how could he be compared to Hu Dan? He should be thanking his dead ancestors' good karma if he could awaken four dragon souls."
Zhu Haishen laughed in agreement, "What Master said is absolutely true, it is I who thought too much into it." A brief pause later, he added, "The odd thing is, when I inquired about Tang Hong from Elder Li Yangmin, he seemed fearful, even reprimanding me severely, insisting he did not know."
Bemused, Li Qingyang asked doubtfully, "There is such a thing?"
Zhu Haishen nodded in affirmation.
Liu Qingyang fell into contemplation, "Maybe it was the Ancestor or Gate Chief's order, prohibiting Li Yangmin from speaking about what happened in the temple, thus when he heard you asking questions about Tang Hong, he acted strangely. But what the reason is, we'll know once we capture Tang Hong. Go pass my order, have those below pay attention to that kid's whereabouts; once they find him, report to me immediately."
"Yes, Master." Zhu Haishen saluted respectfully and went out to execute his Master's order.
…
From the Golden Dragon Sacred Temple, Huang Xiaolong directly left the mountain range. In order to reach the Green Cloud Island at the fastest possible, Huang Xiaolong had Bing Jiuyi, Xie Tu, and Xie Du take turns executing teleportation.
Three Ancient God Realm masters taking turns to execute teleportation was many times faster than the flying ship's speed.
As for Liu Qingyang, he could only tie up this loose end in the future when he returned to the Golden Dragon Gate. Liu Qingyang won't run anyways. The most crucial matter right now was finding the Ancestral Dragon Fruit before the Berserk Lion Sect Chief!
If the fruit was found by the Berserk Lion Sect Chief and consumed, Huang Xiaolong wouldn't be able to recover it even if he split open the person's stomach.
In less than five days, Huang Xiaolong made it back to the Green Cloud Island's South Huai City. Huang Xiaolong sped through the city without stopping, ordering Bing Jiuyi, Xie Tu, and Xie Du to continue teleporting all the way until they reached the Blood Phoenix Forest.
Huang Xiaolong didn't even stop when they were close to the Barbarian God Sect headquarters.
After a little less than two weeks' time, Huang Xiaolong's group finally reached the inner area of the Blood Phoenix Forest.
Despite taking turns to teleport, Bing Jiuyi, Xie Tu, and Xie Du were dog-tired by the time they reached the Blood Phoenix Forest, so much that their tongues were almost hanging out from the side of their mouths.
Once they reached the forest, Huang Xiaolong sped straight toward the Hundred Beasts Summit.
The Hundred Beasts Summit was the mountain peak with the richest spiritual energy in the whole Blood Phoenix Forest. Concurrently, it was also the most dangerous place within the forest.
Its distinctively richer spiritual energy inevitably made the powerful demonic beasts living inside the forest fight for a piece of land on the summit.
Rumors have it that, every hundred years, the demonic beasts in the Blood Phoenix Forest would battle and the one hundred most powerful demonic beasts that came out on top would be the ones who could live on the summit.
This was also the origin of the summit's name.
As for why the Hundred Beasts Summit had the richest spiritual energy in the Blood Phoenix Forest, an answer hadn't been found yet, but there were a lot of speculations and different versions going around for long.
Some argued that there was a grade five spiritual vein below the Hundred Beasts Summit, a grade five spiritual vein that was sealed by a Tenth Order Ancient God Realm master so that no one would be able to take it away.
Another version claimed that when the ancient Blood Phoenix divine beast fell, its godhead shattered and all of its godforce was somehow infused into this Hundred Beasts Summit.
Others claimed there was some kind of chaos grade spiritual item within the Hundred Beasts Summit.
However, no one had ever verified the actual source of the rich spiritual energy there.
The Hundred Beasts Summit was guarded by a hundred of the Blood Phoenix Forest's most powerful demonic beasts, deterring other demonic beasts and human cultivators from getting too close to it on normal days.
On this day, as a subtle flash of light could be seen high in the air as a figure appeared above on the slope of the Hundred Beasts Summit. This figure was none other than Huang Xiaolong.
He paused for a moment looking at the enormous mountain in front of him that was at least ten thousand li wide before gradually converging his presence and flying toward the north side of the mountain.
The Three Evils, Wei Chao, and the two Berserk Lion Sect Elders had met up with the Berserk Lion Sect Chief Chao Weiran.
Cao Weiran made it to the Hundred Beasts Summit yesterday. When Huang Xiaolong received the Three Evils and Wei Chao's report, he had instructed them to obey Cao Weiran's commands for the time being, therefore the six of them were currently moving in a group.
A while later, Huang Xiaolong came to the north side's upper slope where he released the little cow from the Xumi Temple.
"Xiaoniū, how is it? Do you sense anything coming from the Ancestral Dragon Fruit?" Huang Xiaolong asked.
The little fella possessed a kind of ability;, within a certain range limit, Xiaoniū was able to sense whether there were items nearby similar to anything it had eaten before.
The little cow did not answer immediately. It closed its eyes, trying to find the Ancestral Dragon Fruit's aura.
Roughly a minute later, the little cow opened its eyes, shaking its head saying, "Nothing."
Huang Xiaolong couldn't help feeling disappointed hearing that.
Did that mean the Ancestral Dragon Fruit was not on the Hundred Beasts Summit? Then again, if the Ancestral Dragon Fruit were there, how could the demonic beasts that had been living on this mountain not discover its existence? On the other hand, the Three Evils and Wei Chao couldn't lie to him…
"Maybe the Ancestral Dragon Fruit is here, but if it was sealed by an Ancient God Realm master with a special method, I won't be able to sense it." Noticing Huang Xiaolong's flickering expressions, the little cow said.
Huang Xiaolong's eyes lit up with hope, "You're saying…?"
"If the Berserk Lion Sect Chief deduced that the Ancestral Dragon Fruit is here in the Blood Phoenix Forest from ancient records, that may not be the only thing he knows." The little cow suggested.
Huang Xiaolong nodded his head in agreement.
He understood what the little cow was implying; capture the Berserk Lion Sect Chief Cao Weiran.
Although Cao Weiran was an early Second Order Ancient God Realm master, Huang Xiaolong had Bing Jiuyi, Xie Tu, and Xie Du, capturing Cao Weiran wouldn't be difficult.
At this time, at a certain large open space on the Hundred Beasts Summit, the Berserk Lion Sect Chief was studying a fragile and incomplete piece of beast skin map while surveying his surroundings.
The Three Evils, Wei Chao, and the two Berserk Lion Sect Elders watched him from a distance not far away.
"It should be somewhere near here." Cao Weiran muttered as he stared intently at the spacious land around him that had nothing, his brows furrowed deeply.
After some thought, Cao Weiran arrived at the center of the open land in a flicker. He carefully controlled his force and struck his palm downward at the ground.
To everyone's astonishment, the ground merely quivered a little. Cao Weiran knew very well that the amount of force he used just now was enough to split a great mountain into two, yet this land below him merely quivered.