A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

"If my magic power hadn't been incomplete, I would have already captured you and taken you back to guard the cave."

Nangong Wan snorted coldly, then pointed at the magic weapon, and the Vermilion Bird Ring immediately shrank and disappeared. When it reappeared, it was already wrapped around the Ink Dragon's body.

"Quickly attack the black dragon's protective black clouds."

Although the other disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect were unaware of what was going on, they still obeyed the order. More than a dozen red and blue beams of light flew out, causing the black dragon's protective black clouds to thin considerably.

Lin He, who was watching from the sidelines, was also taken aback; it was the first time he had ever witnessed the power of a magical artifact.

Although the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect seemed to have the upper hand, Lin He knew that the black dragon was not so easy to deal with.

Sure enough, Nangong Wan seemed to sense the Mo Jiao's fierce struggle, and felt that the Vermilion Bird Ring that was trapping the Mo Jiao was about to give way.

"Attack while you can; I can't hold it off for long."

The girl immediately gave the order, and the attacks of the Hidden Moon Sect disciples became even more ferocious. In the end, the protective black cloud could not withstand it. Not only was its protective black cloud broken, but it also left more than a dozen wounds on the black dragon's body.

The intense pain only fueled the ferocity of the creature, and finally, with a sigh from Nangong Wan, the Ink Dragon escaped the control of the Vermilion Bird Ring by shedding its skin.

"It's there!"

A sharp-eyed disciple of the Hidden Moon Sect spotted the Ink Dragon's form. At this moment, it was snow-white and scaleless, and had actually advanced to the level two demon beast.

"The Ink Dragon has evolved to the second stage. Everyone, please leave."

Seeing this, Nangong Wan knew she couldn't fight them head-on, so she gave an order to quickly recall the Vermilion Bird Ring to cover their retreat, allowing all the disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect to escape.

No one dared to delay and they all fled. Seeing that everyone had retreated, Nangong Wan took out a mid-level golden silk talisman to temporarily trap the black dragon and prepared to leave.

Just then, a dazzling azure divine light appeared, sweeping through the passage like a tide, leaving no gaps in the several-meter-high passage.

"Minor Five Elements Sumeru Formation!"

Nangong Wan exclaimed in surprise, her face turning extremely pale. At this moment, the black dragon had already broken free from the golden silk talisman's restraint, its pair of green eyes fixed intently on the opposite side.

"You beast!"

Nangong Wan let out a cold shout, having no choice but to fight the Ink Dragon to the end. But just then, a thick water arrow suddenly shot out and landed hard on the Ink Dragon's back, causing it to roar and clearly in great pain.

"Azure Crocodile!"

Nangong Wan looked at the Azure Water Crocodile that launched the water arrow with surprise.

Enraged, the black dragon turned and charged towards the Azure Water Crocodile.

At this moment, a yellow figure stepped out; it was Lin He.

"Looks like the person I sensed before was you. Hmph, so you've finally decided to let go now?"

"Your large group suddenly appeared here, so naturally I had to avoid a direct confrontation; otherwise, I wouldn't be alive today."

Nangong Wan was speechless at these words, and snorted coldly, "The passage is now blocked. The only way out is to kill this black dragon. Unfortunately, I don't have any powerful talismans."

"I do have a powerful talisman, but I need time to prepare it."

"A magic talisman? Fine, I'll buy you some time. Hmm? It seems your Azure Water Crocodile won't last much longer."

Lin He quickly looked over and saw that, as expected, in the battle with the Ink Dragon, the Azure Water Crocodile was completely at a disadvantage. It was no match for the dragon in terms of either physical strength or magic. It was covered in wounds and was constantly retreating.

Lin He quickly urged with his divine sense, and the Azure Water Crocodile immediately retreated. How could the Ink Dragon let it go?

Just as they were about to give chase, a fiery red ring suddenly appeared and then landed on the black dragon's body.

Meanwhile, the Azure Crocodile stood guard beside Lin He, casually releasing the Yellow Silk Umbrella. Lin He then began to activate the extremely powerful Golden Light Brick.

It absorbed a third of the magic power in one go, and the golden light became even more dazzling, and a huge gold brick began to form.

The black dragon, which was fighting with the Vermilion Bird Ring, seemed to sense the danger. It roared and an irresistible force surged out. Nangong Wan cried out in surprise, and then the Vermilion Bird Ring returned to her side.

Freed from the restraints of the Vermilion Bird Ring, the enraged Ink Dragon rushed towards Lin He. The Azure Water Crocodile hurriedly stepped in front of Lin He, but was easily knocked away by the Ink Dragon.

The next moment, the massive body of the black dragon, several meters tall, slammed into the yellow umbrella, causing a violent tremor within the yellow sphere of light.

However, this yellow umbrella, as expected of a top-tier defensive magic artifact, did not immediately collapse in the face of such immense force.

The black dragon seemed quite puzzled. At this moment, a thick water arrow shot out, stopping its attack. On the other side, Nangong Wan activated the Vermilion Bird Ring again, trapping the black dragon once more.

"Is it not done yet? This beast is getting stronger and stronger."

Nangong Wan let out an anxious exclamation. Just then, Lin He, who was sitting cross-legged below, finally breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, a huge golden brick, as big as a house, appeared above his head.

He manipulated the golden brick to reach the top of the black dragon's head, and the black dragon seemed to know that something was wrong, so it quickly spat out purple liquid, which actually blocked the golden brick.

Seeing this, Nangong Wan reluctantly threw out a bead, which stopped the black dragon from spitting out the elixir, while the golden brick took the opportunity to fall.

Golden light shot out in a flash, and with the surge of spiritual energy, the head of the black dragon was smashed and it was on the verge of death.

Seeing this, Nangong Wan finally felt relieved. She put away the dragon soul and then put away the large golden box.

"I'm taking this golden box. You don't have any objections, do you?"

Lin He didn't say anything about this, and Nangong Wan seemed to feel that she had gotten a good deal, so she said, "The materials on this black dragon can be used to refine top-grade magic weapons, which should be of great use to you. In addition, you can take all of the dozen or so spiritual herbs here."

The black dragon's body was indeed incredibly tough; even Lin He's top-tier flying sword from Feng Yue could only make a small cut.

Fortunately, he had quite a few top-tier magical artifacts at his disposal, and he also took out a pair of long spears obtained from Zhongwu. After a series of wild slashes, he was finally able to barely deal with the corpse of the black dragon.

Nangong Wan watched curiously as he took out so many top-tier magic artifacts, then sighed, "This black dragon has only just advanced to the second stage, and its demon core has not yet been formed. Otherwise, even Core Formation stage cultivators would be scrambling to obtain its demon core."

"A demon core? Is that what you mean?"

Lin He took out a fist-sized red sphere from the abdomen of the black dragon.

"That's impossible! It just advanced to the second tier, it couldn't possibly have a demon core. Besides, the Ink Dragon is water-attribute, its demon core should be blue. Let me take a good look."

Nangong Wan took the red sphere, and suddenly, with a "poof," the sphere exploded, and a cloud of pink smoke completely enveloped the two of them.