As soon as he entered inside the forest, Shun Long could smell the scent of blood assaulting his senses, as well as the thick amounts of pure qi that had filled the air around him.
Without being hasty, Shun Long first examined his surroundings before he chose which way he and Liu Mei were going to head towards.
Although the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' was said to be heaven for the lucky adventurers of the 'Night star continent', since they could both hunt magic beasts or chance upon rare medicinal herbs that would grow in this environment, it was actually the same for the powerful magic beasts inside.
More often than not, these mercenaries that came to this place either to hunt magic beasts or find rare medicinal herbs, would end up in the belly of one of the magic beasts living here.
Although magic beasts would grow when they consumed the flesh of other magic beasts, the flesh of powerful cultivators was still a good supplement for them, even if it couldn't be compared to that of other magic beasts.
It was also the instinctual feeling of these beasts to hunt humans who invaded their territories.
Knowing that Shun Long intended to train himself this time, Little Black didn't spread his soul sense too far to sense the magic beasts around him.
Instead, the black dragon kept eating the stalks of 'Dragonblood grass' as he happily observed his master from the 'Stone of Time'.
Although Little Silver had now become more accustomed to Little Black, the black panther still felt an instinctive fear towards the huge black dragon.
Oblivious to the feelings of his 2 magic beasts however, Shun Long had just finished examining his surroundings before he chose to head towards the north.
According to the footsteps that were still left on the ground, most mercenaries who chose to enter the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' seemed to head towards the north and the east.
This meant that there was a high chance, that the danger would increase significantly if someone chose to head towards the west, which was why most mercenaries seemed to avoid that route.
As Shun Long and Liu Mei walked deeper inside, Shun Long's eyes noticed that the 40m(130ft) tall trees around him didn't completely cover him and Liu Mei from the flying magic beasts that were traveling in the sky.
Although the trees' branches were long and thick, their leaves were much smaller in comparison, allowing the flying magic beasts in the sky to get a clear view of the people below.
However, since there were mostly rank 3 magic beasts near the entrance of the forest, none of them actually dared to attack them after feeling Liu Mei's aura at the middle of rank 4 in the Spirit realm.
Of course, Shun Long and the rest of the mercenaries who entered this place could fly in the sky as well if they wanted to, but if they attracted the attention of a powerful flying magic beast, they would definitely be put in a bad spot.
After all, although cultivators at the Heaven grade could fly, their speed was simply incomparable to flying magic beasts.
Even Shun Long himself guesses, that even with his second 'Monarch's Domain created by his 'Dao of Time', his speed wouldn't be much faster than an early rank 4 flying magic beast in the sky.
Suddenly, Shun Long felt a clear feeling of danger in his heart, while the ground beneath his feet had started to tremble.
He hurriedly jumped backwards almost by instinct, and Liu Mei did the same barely a moment later than him, when a magic beast had suddenly drilled itself from the ground, its sharp claws aiming to slash Shun Long's body in half.
This beast's sharp claws were a bright silver color, while its dark brown body had black-colored marks on it that resembled burn marks.
Its pitch-black eyes were staring at Shun Long with hints of malice inside them, almost as if the beast had gone crazy.
It only took a moment for Shun Long to remember the name of this magic beast based on his memories.
''A rank 4 'silver-clawed earth burrower'!''
Liu Mei had never heard of this magic beast before, and was staring at it with hints of puzzlement in her eyes, but between her hands, a black ball filled with her death qi had already been condensed.
She could sense that although the magic beast in front of her was only a middle rank 4 magic beast, even her undead knights would find it hard fighting against it head-on.
It was because the aura that was coming from this magic beast wasn't inferior to a peak rank 6 Spirit realm expert's.
Shun Long didn't find it weird that Liu Mei was unfamiliar with the 'silver-clawed earth burrower'.
It was because, this was a relatively rare and very cunning magic beast that lived beneath the ground, and would only come up when it sensed that there was prey that it could hunt.
Additionally, this magic beast had a preference for human meat, making humans its primary source of food.
Unfortunately for Shun Long, although this beast's claws could be used to create powerful silver-grade weapons, none of the parts on its body was actually suitable to be used in alchemy aside from its beast core.
And yet, Shun Long still smiled when he saw the middle rank 4 'silver-clawed earth burrower' in front of him.
He was certain that with his current strength, it wouldn't be too hard for him to take care of this magic beast.
Seeing the illusionary purple blade that had appeared in Shun Long's right hand, the 'silver-clawed earth burrower' felt a sudden feeling of danger.
Magic beasts always relied on their instincts rather than their eyes.
Although the illusionary purple blade looked extremely attractive, the feeling of lethal danger that it was emitting made the middle rank 4 magic beast shiver.
After shooting a wary look at Liu Mei and seeing that she wasn't actually attacking it, the 'silver-clawed earth burrower' dove into the ground without hesitation.
And yet, neither Shun Long nor Liu Mei moved from their original spots.
That was because they knew, that the 'silver-clawed earth burrower' could attack at any time.
This was indeed the perfect environment for such a magic beast to hunt.
In a situation where the mercenaries couldn't fly in the air as they would attract the attention of the powerful flying magic beasts, using its ability to hide on the ground and mount sneak attacks to ambush its prey was extremely efficient.
Liu Mei had a worried look on her face, but seeing the confident look in Shun Long's eyes, she didn't hurriedly summon her undead knights to help him.
After all, she clearly knew that Shun Long intended to use this chance to train himself.
Standing still, Shun Long closed his eyes, as an invisible power completely covered his body before it started to slowly spread outwards.
Now that he had already reached the middle rank 4 of the Spirit realm and had consumed thousands of top-grade 'Spirit enhancing pills', Shun Long's spirit sense was already many times stronger than before.
He could now use his spirit sense to cover almost 2m(6.6ft) around his body and sense the space around him even with his eyes closed.
He knew that this was a power similar to Little Black's soul sense.
Although Shun Long's spirit sense hadn't evolved into a soul sense just yet, it was very similar in this regard.
The silence continued for a few more moments, until Shun Long felt something entering the range of his spirit sense, while the ground beneath his feet started to tremble.
This time, the 'silver-clawed earth burrower' was clearly faster than before and didn't intend to give Shun Long even a moment to dodge.
As it tore through the ground beneath Shun Long's feet, a sharp, silver-colored claw was pointed towards Shun Long's c.h.e.s.t, ready to rip it in half.
Seeing the silver-colored claw that was about to collide with his c.h.e.s.t, Shun Long's eyes that had already turned golden suddenly lit up with a bright blue light, as he then mumbled to himself
'Time Prison'
The rank 4 'silver-clawed earth burrower' was suddenly frozen in mid-air, as the terrifying power of the 'Time Prison' had forcefully stopped the flow of time around it.
Shun Long didn't hesitate, and waving his right hand horizontally, he swung the purple blade in his hand towards the 'Silver-clawed earth burrower's' neck.
Blood instantly spurted in the air as the middle rank 4 magic beast's head was separated from its body as soon as it met with Shun Long's spatial blade, dying the patch of grass beneath it with a bright red color.
