Chapter 0364: Could it be?

After leaving the Business Hall, Huang Long returned to the Sihai Mansion. Unexpectedly, Donald was already “waiting” for him there.

“Elder Donald,” Huang Long was taken aback upon seeing him.

“Huang Hai, you’re back. Sit down,” Donald said with a smile upon seeing Huang Long return, then pointing to a seat nearby in the hall.

Huang Long sat down as instructed, wondering what Donald’s purpose was—could it be related to the trial mission?

“I’m sure you can guess why I’m here. That’s right; I’m here to talk to you about the trial mission,” Donald said after Huang Long sat down. “I heard you’re set to set off for the Ancient Forest tomorrow?”

Huang Long nodded. “Yes.”

Donald shook his head and sighed. “You’re too reckless!” Then, in a earnest tone, he said to Huang Long, “Your future achievements will be great, but you still need more training now.”

Training? Huang Long could only agree superficially. He knew Donald was referring to his challenge against Bishop.

“The clan leader is also somewhat disappointed, which is why he didn’t interfere with this trial mission,” Donald continued. “He hopes that after this lesson, you’ll work hard and accumulate experience gradually, rather than rushing for success.”

In Donald’s eyes, Huang Long’s decision to fight a peerless warrior after just 100,000 years was too hasty.

Feeling helpless, Huang Long could only nod in agreement.

“It doesn’t matter if you can’t enter the Ancestral Dragon Pool this time,” Donald said. “If you fail the mission, don’t give up. You have great talent, and your achievements will eventually be on par with ours. After all, none of us reached where we are today without years of hard work.”

An hour later, Donald left.

“It seems no one expects me to complete this trial mission?” Huang Long said to himself, watching Donald’s retreating figure with self-mockery.

The next day, the sun was shining brightly. Standing in front of the Sihai Mansion, Huang Long looked at Chester and Fat Francis with resignation. Although he had repeatedly asked them not to come see him off, they still showed up. Judging from their expressions, it seemed as if Huang Long was heading to a battlefield from which he might never return.

“Brother Huang Hai, take care!” Fat Francis didn’t know what else to say and kept repeating those words.

Chester grumbled, “Enough, Fat Francis. How many times have you said that? Can’t you come up with something new?” Then he turned to Huang Long, opened his mouth, but ultimately said, “Brother Huang Hai, take care!”

Fat Francis staggered and muttered, “You’re criticizing me, but aren’t you the same?”

The two escorted Huang Long to the gates of the Lu Ning headquarters. Eventually, it was under Huang Long’s insistence that they gave up the idea of sending him out of Lu Ning’s territory.
The Lu Ning headquarters consisted of a vast compound to the south of the city.
Bishop said indifferently, “Has he left the headquarters?”
Fei De replied respectfully, “Yes, Grandpa. Huang Hai just left the headquarters and is now heading northward.” Then he added with a smile, “Grandpa, Huang Hai really cares too much about face. He persists even when he knows it’s an impossible task.”
Bishop also smiled and said, “People always need some dignity. He’s just trying to put on an act.”
Fei De laughed, “Relying on his innate talents and special status, he becomes arrogant. After all, he’s just a mid-tier god, one of the lowest-ranking ones. To dare challenge Grandpa is truly reckless.”
“Go investigate that Li Qingfeng who came with Huang Long,” Bishop said after a pause.
“Li Qingfeng?” Fei De was taken aback. Why investigate him?
“I’ve always found Huang Hai’s background a bit strange. Maybe we can find something out from this Li Qingfeng,” Bishop said gravely, his eyes flickering.
…
After Chester and Fat Frank returned, Huang Long rode the Wind-Flame Dragon Lin northward, toward the area closest to the Ancient Forest, north of the Lu Ning headquarters.
Inside the Lu Ning headquarters, Huang Long naturally couldn’t use a top-tier flying immortal artifact. The headquarters was heavily fortified, and Huang Long didn’t want to reveal this secret yet.
However, as a Chaos Primal Beast and having fully mastered the speed attribute of wind, coupled with his advancement to an upper-tier god, Wind-Flame Dragon Lin’s speed was not much slower than that of top-tier flying immortal artifacts.
Of course, although top-tier flying immortal artifacts weren’t much faster than Level 7Level 7Nether King-level warriors-level warriors, they were better for long-distance travel. These artifacts could keep flying at high speed as long as they had spirit crystal stones for energy, whereas god-level warriors’ divine power would eventually run out.
Four or five months later, Huang Long left Lu Ning’s territory on Wind-Flame Dragon Lin.
After leaving, he found a secluded mountain range, used his divine sense and Heaven-Seeing Eye to ensure there were no spies within a million miles, then released his top-tier flying immortal artifact. Riding it, he transformed into a streak of light and flew swiftly toward the Ancient Forest.
Two years later, Huang Long finally reached the edge of the Ancient Forest on his top-tier flying immortal artifact.
“Finally back in this Ancient Forest!” Wind-Flame Dragon Lin Zerom exclaimed with relief.
To it, the Ancient Forest was its home.

“Yes, we’re back in this ancient forest.” Huang Long also gazed at the ancient forest with emotion. After entering the Netherworld, the place he stayed the longest wasn’t the Dragon Mountain Range but this ancient forest. Recalling the eight hundred years spent hunting beasts and improving his cultivation in the Dragon Mountain Range alongside Bog and others, Huang Long felt a sense of familiarity toward this ancient forest.

“Master, shall we head straight for the Nimeng Mountain Range this time?!” Wind-Flame Dragon Lynx asked.

“Exactly, let’s head to the Nimeng Mountain Range!” Huang Long looked ahead and pointed, deciding to head there right away—this was something he had planned long ago.

Killing a hundred High God Azure-Scaled Cloud Lions in a hundred years—although a hundred years seems like a long time, even in this vast ancient forest, one might not be able to explore even one ten-thousandth of it in that time. With such aimless searching, Huang Long knew it would be difficult to find a hundred Azure-Scaled Cloud Lions, so it was better to head straight to the Nimeng Mountain Range.

“Alright, Nimeng Mountain Range!” At Huang Long’s command, Wind-Flame Dragon Lynx responded eagerly. With a roar, it stretched out its four strong legs and rushed toward the Nimeng Mountain Range, embarking on this hunting journey together.

Along the way, Huang Long didn’t hesitate to deal with any original beasts that attacked or obstructed them. He created 1,008 avatars and sometimes summoned millions of mutated original beasts to overwhelm them.

Of course, Wind-Flame Dragon Lynx also displayed the might of a High God Chaos Original Beast king.

Ten years later, they were deep within the ancient forest, over a billion li away.

With a loud crash, a group of mid-level God-level wolf-type original beasts flew backward and crashed from the sky.

“Hehe, over a thousand fire wolves, all taken care of!” Wind-Flame Dragon Lynx revealed itself, wagging its tail proudly.

Huang Long stored these fire wolves in the Five Prison Divine Cauldron but frowned. “At this pace, it’s still too slow!”

Ten years, a billion li—that is, 100 million li per year, only 300,000 li per day. Such a slow pace was unacceptable!

If things continued like this, it would take a hundred years to cover a billion li. And since the Nimeng Mountain Range was located in the area inhabited by advanced original beasts in the ancient forest, a billion li wasn’t even enough to reach that region.

At this rate, not to mention hunting the High God Azure-Scaled Cloud Lions and returning to the Luning headquarters, they wouldn’t even see an Azure-Scaled Cloud Lion before a hundred years passed.

“Let’s go, speed up!” A glint appeared in Huang Long’s eyes.

“Yes, master!” Wind-Flame Dragon Lynx dropped its playful attitude, responded loudly, and transformed into a green streak, carrying Huang Long toward the Nimeng Mountain Range.

To speed things up and avoid trouble, Huang Long summoned millions of mutated original beasts to protect him as they slaughtered their way forward.

“Are these all Mutant Beasts?!”
“Heavens, why are there so many Mutant Beasts?! No, it’s a high-level Beast Exorcist—run away quickly!”
Huang Long’s actions naturally alarmed some of the Abyssal Beast Trial participants in the Ancient Forest.
Of course, since Huang Long had already changed his appearance and hidden the true form of the Wind-Flame Dragon Scale, he wasn’t worried about causing any trouble.
What Huang Long didn’t know was that among those fleeing in panic were a middle-aged couple. If Huang Long had seen them, he would have been surprised—these two were Simp and Belin, the leaders of the Phoenix clan in the Hengyuan Realm. They were the parents of Nicole, the little phoenix who had asked Huang Long to take care of her before he entered the Abyss.
Simp and Belin fled with the group for a long time before stopping. Like everyone else, the panic on their faces gradually faded.
“It’s terrifying. High-level Beast Exorcists are indeed as fearsome as the legends say. Who would have thought we’d encounter one,” Simp said to his wife Belin, still shaken.
Belin nodded in agreement.
“But it seems we won’t be able to complete this Abyssal Beast Trial!” Simp said gloomily after a while.
Although only ten years had passed, in that time, the two had hunted fewer than 20,000 primitive beasts. To become a powerful Abyssal King, one needed to hunt one million beasts over a hundred years—there was a huge difference between 20,000 and one million!
Belin also became depressed.
They had known it would be difficult before, but only now, facing it firsthand, did they realize that any hope they had was impossible. In the Abyss, everything depended on strength.
“Could it be that we won’t become powerful Abyssal Kings and have to return to the Ya’an Tribe?” Simp frowned. But it was precisely because they couldn’t stay in the Ya’an Tribe that they came here to undergo the Abyssal Beast Trial and become powerful Abyssal Kings.
“I wonder how Sea God Apton and Long Yi are doing now,” Belin said.
“What can they possibly be doing? Likely already gone,” Simp replied, stopping short. The implication was clear—in this Abyss, for lower gods like them who had just emerged from the transformation pool, their lives were like water under the scorching sun, ready to evaporate and vanish at any moment.
“Do you think that Huang Long mentioned in the rumors around the Abyss could be our brother Huang Long?” Belin suddenly asked amidst the gloom.