"Can this device detect anything?" Zhou Ran asked curiously.
"Anything with Star Spirit energy fluctuations can be detected by this device," Han Chengyong explained.
Zhou Ran nodded and continued to follow the group into the cave.
"Be careful, there's a strange beast up ahead!" He Ziming shouted.
Zhou Ran immediately reached out to Han Chengyong.
Han Chengyong immediately understood and handed the Star Spirit Mirror to Zhou Ran.
After putting it on, Zhou Ran glanced at it from a distance and said, "It's a fifth-tier Spirit Valley Bat."
After speaking, he had his Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog take action.
"Be careful, Lin!" Han Chengyong held his breath, fearing another unexpected turn of events.
The Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog sprinted forward at lightning speed, letting out a deafening roar.
Wind Demon Roar!
A dark green light wave erupted from its mouth. In an instant, the Spirit Treasure Bat hadn't even had time to react before its chest was pierced, causing it to fall to the ground and dissipate into a dark black energy.
Han Chengyong exhaled deeply, relieved that no accident had occurred. However, this Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog was indeed too powerful; despite being of the same fifth-tier level, it had instantly killed its opponent with a single strike.
Su Heng stood by silently, saying nothing, but gazing greedily at the Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog.
After the Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog killed the Ling Gu Bat, it immediately took a deep breath, sucking all the dark energy on the ground into its mouth.
When demonic beasts die, they usually dissipate directly, turning into dark energy. For the Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog, which is also a demonic beast, this is a precious elixir that must not be wasted.
Zhou Ran continued to wear the Star Spirit Mirror and surveyed the area before saying to Han Chengyong and the others, 'There's no danger now. Let's continue forward.'
Zhou Ran walked to the centre of the group, with the Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog leading the way, emanating the aura of a ninth-tier beast, intimidating some timid beasts.
Unnoticed, they reached the depths of the cave, where the ground was littered with the bones of many beasts. Suddenly, they sensed living creatures approaching, and the bones instantly reassembled themselves, launching an attack on Zhou Ran and the others.
'It's a skeleton beast! Everyone, be careful!' Han Chengyong recognised it at a glance and shouted first.
After all, he was a seasoned treasure hunter and wouldn't fail to recognise such a beast.
'They're all fourth-tier skeleton beasts. I'll handle them!' Li Feng commanded the two-headed hellhound and charged forward.
The two-headed hellhound possessed both fire and demonic bloodlines. It leapt into the air, spewing two black flames from its two heads, engulfing all the skeleton beasts.
In an instant, all the skeleton beasts were annihilated, turning into dark energy that the two-headed hellhound greedily absorbed.
'Li Feng, you're pretty fast. Big Brother didn't even have time to act before you beat him to it,' He Ziming said to Li Feng with a mischievous look.
'Haha, I couldn't help myself. Sorry, Big Brother. I won't抢 next time,' Li Feng said, patting Han Chengyong on the shoulder and laughing.
'Haha, no problem!' Han Chengyong laughed a few times and continued walking forward.
After about an hour, the group had used the instruments to locate a significant amount of exotic beast food and materials. Unbeknownst to them, they had reached a dead end, facing a massive stone door. At that moment, the instruments suddenly sounded an alarm.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
"Something's up! Big brother, there must be treasures behind this stone door," He Ziming said excitedly.
"It's so massive; it probably won't be easy to force open. let's see if there's a mechanism first," Wang Tao said.
Zhou Ran watched excitedly from the side, as he had come here before but couldn't proceed further. No matter how the two strange beasts attacked, they couldn't budge the stone door, so they had no choice but to give up.
But this time was different. With so many people, maybe they could really open it.
The group searched around the area but found no mechanisms, shaking their heads in frustration.
'Do we have to resort to brute force?' Wang Tao sighed wryly.
'I'll try to smash it open. Everyone step back.' Han Chengyong touched the stone door and shouted.
He immediately activated his Beast Tamer skill. As a Seven-Star Beast Tamer, Han Chengyong could use all the buffs to enhance the beasts: speed boost, strength boost, defence boost, skill boost, and aura boost.
All five buffs were amplified onto the Dark Gold Magic Bear.
"Roar!" The Dark Gold Magic Bear let out a loud roar, its body instantly expanding several times in size, with its bear arms bulging with muscle. As a combat-type beast, strength was the Dark Gold Magic Bear's greatest pride.
Its blood-red eyes fixed intently on the stone door, black mist swirling around its arms, with faint sounds of ghostly wails echoing in the air.
"Dark Magic Fist!"
The Dark Gold Magic Bear swung its fists like missiles, sending a massive cloud of sand and dust into the air, obscuring everyone's vision.
"Did it work?"
"With such power, it should have."
Everyone waited expectantly.
Soon, the sand and dust gradually dispersed, revealing the shattered stone door. However, the Dark Gold Magic Bear's fists were covered in bloodstains, and its body rapidly returned to its original size, panting wildly. Clearly, this strike had exhausted all its strength.
'No way, the Dark Gold Magic Bear is injured?' Wang Tao exclaimed in surprise.
Having worked with Han Chengyong for ten years, he was well aware of the Dark Gold Magic Bear's immense strength. The fact that the stone door could injure it was simply unbelievable.
"This stone door has a restriction. If the Dark Gold Magic Bear hadn't activated the Demon Possession technique in time, something terrible might have happened!" Han Chengyong wiped the sweat from his brow and said.
Just as the Dark Magic Fist was about to shatter the stone door, a powerful energy surge erupted from within. Fortunately, the Dark Gold Demon Bear activated the Demon Possession skill, transforming into a demonic form and significantly mitigating the damage. Otherwise, it would have been doomed.
Zhou Ran had already witnessed this through the Star Spirit Mirror and was about to intervene, but the Dark Gold Demon Bear's possession of the Demon Possession skill left him utterly astonished.
This was a legendary-tier demonic skill, summoning the power of undead demons to possess one's body, temporarily transforming into a demonic form that was immune to all physical damage, like a ghost with no physical form.
However, this skill had severe side effects, instantly draining all the beast's power. Moreover, if Han Chengyong hadn't activated the Beast Tamer skill—Skill Amplification—earlier, this move might not have been usable.
'It seems I really need to visit the Xuan Zhong Beast Academy someday. I must find a way to learn these five beast enhancement buffs!' Zhou Ran murmured to himself.
'Let's go inside and take a look!'
Han Chengyong recalled the Dark Gold Magic Bear and summoned another beast from the light gate.
An eighth-tier lower-rank Giant Claw Mantis, belonging to the Martial Arts and Insect types.
Su Heng, who had remained silent behind him, felt a slight stir of emotion upon seeing the Giant Claw Mantis. 'This guy was actually hiding an eighth-tier exotic beast. I underestimated him.'