The only reason Xiang Shaoyun had accepted Shou Xie, Jin Shui, and Ling Lin was because they had once fought alongside each other. The three had conducted themselves well, and he decided to give them a chance. He wouldn't have allowed them to join otherwise.

Now, Xiang Shaoyun was the leader of the group of seven humans and demonic beasts. A considerable amount of dragon liquid had formed within the Dragon Phoenix Mountain Range, and it was up to them to look for it.

With the treasure seeking mouse, Shou Xie had gained his first three drops. It wouldn't be easy to push the mouse to look for more. Fortunately, Xiang Shaoyun had his senses to rely on. They were heading toward an area with dragon liquid.

Along the way, they encountered a number of demonic beasts, but they were able to take a detour or escape in time without fighting too much. When they arrived at their destination, they found that it was a territory of a clan of draconic lizards.

The draconic lizards weren't any weaker than the dragon-scaled elephants. In fact, they were slightly stronger. It wouldn't be an easy feat to snatch the dragon liquid from their territory.

Xiang Shaoyun made the others stay behind while he entered invisibility and searched for the dragon liquid within a certain cave belonging to a draconic lizard. However, a dreadful Sovereign draconic lizard was residing in the cave. It was most likely a mid-stage Sovereign, its strength fearsome.

Xiang Shaoyun had thought that his plan would succeed so long as he could sneak into the cave with his invisibility. But the slumbering draconic lizard Emperor actually opened its eyes and started sniffing the air when he entered, as if it had sensed him.

"Where is this human smell coming from?" the draconic lizard Emperor muttered with a piercing voice.

At that, Xiang Shaoyun sneaked out of the cave, not daring to stay a second longer. After he returned to the group, he got the others to retreat with him as well. He did not dare to even stay in the cave's vicinity.

"There's a scary draconic lizard there. He almost found me. It will be hard to steal the dragon liquid from him," said Xiang Shaoyun.

"Each location of dragon liquid will be guarded by powerful demons. Looks like none of the academy missions are easy," said Tang Longfei with a sigh.

"So, are we returning, or are we going to continue our search somewhere else?" Shou Xie asked.

Xiang Shaoyun sank into thought for a bit before answering, "You guys find somewhere safe and hide there. I will lure him out with the puppet before I sneak inside and steal the dragon liquid."

"Won't that be too dangerous?" Lady Shura asked.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," said Xiang Shaoyun confidently.

The others didn't say anything when they saw how confident Xiang Shaoyun was. Inwardly, they were ashamed that they couldn't be of any help. After the others left, Xiang Shaoyun started his plan. He used the same plan, sending the nether prison devil puppet to attack the draconic lizard's cave.

Infuriated, the draconic lizard charged out of the cave and battled the puppet. The draconic lizard was indeed fearsome. He was a fifth-stage Demon Sovereign, and he revealed a combat prowess comparable to a human sixth-stage Emperor. The nether prison devil puppet was unable to use devilish energy, and it could only fight with pure physical strength. Even so, it managed to fight the lizard to a standstill.

As the battle raged on, Xiang Shaoyun snuck into the cave and found a hole containing a pile of high-grade spirit crystals. A considerable amount of high-level spirit spring liquid could be found in the hole as well. From the liquid's fragrance and the milky white appearance, Xiang Shaoyun was certain it was an emperor-grade spirit spring liquid.

Although the liquid had yet to transform fully into a spirit spring of life, it was not far from becoming one. Apart from the spirit spring, the spirit crystals seemed to contain some sort of liquid drops that looked more like tiny dragons. These were most certainly droplets of dragon liquid.

In his joy, Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed, "That draconic lizard sure knows how to enjoy life. He actually built a spiritual pool like this for himself? Well, thank you very much, then!"

Without a doubt, Xiang Shaoyun was planning to steal everything in the pool, not leaving anything for the lizard. Just as he was about to make a move, he noticed three extraordinary looking spiritual herbs growing beside the pile of spirit crystals.

When he focused on the plants, joy covered his face as he muttered, "Half-life draconic lizard herb? This is a treasure as well!"

The so-called half-life draconic lizard herb was a spiritual herb that would grow alongside draconic lizards. Shaped like an actual draconic lizard, the plant would only turn into a true spiritual herb with the nourishment of draconic lizard's blood essence and essence energy.

The three stalks had yet to reach the level of a sovereign medicine, but they were most certainly emperor medicines. Each stalk contained an amount of energy comparable to 10 drops of dragon liquid. Without waiting any longer, Xiang Shaoyun started harvesting everything.

Fortunately, the pool wasn't too big. Otherwise, it would take him a much longer time to dig it out. Outside, the draconic lizard who was battling the nether prison devil puppet sensed something going on within his cave, causing him to break free and rush back.

When Xiang Shaoyun sensed the draconic lizard heading back, his nerves grew tense. He had the nether prison devil puppet stop the draconic lizard with all its strength while he directly released his Nether Soul Domain, trying to use the power of the domain to help dig the entire place up. After he was done, he immediately stuffed everything into his astral cosmos sea.

It was at that moment that the draconic lizard entered the cave, cramping the cave with his massive body. Xiang Shaoyun was so frightened his hair stood on end, and he quickly dashed out of the cave while sticking close to the wall.

Hiss! Hiss!

The draconic lizard was infuriated to find his treasure stolen. Sniffing at the air, he quickly locked on to Xiang Shaoyun's position and clawed at him furiously.

"Nether prison devil puppet!" Xiang Shaoyun quickly summoned the puppet over to provide assistance. The puppet dashed over, grabbed the draconic lizard's tail, and forcefully dragged the draconic lizard out of the cave. And thus, Xiang Shaoyun was able to barely avert the calamity.

He patted his chest and muttered, "This young master nearly pissed his pants in fright!"

He normally acted like he feared nothing, but he also feared death like everyone else. Without delay, he fled at his full speed. Nowadays, he was able to keep his Nether Shadow Evanescence active for a long period of time, long enough for him to escape far away.

As for the nether prison devil puppet, after luring the draconic lizard toward a different direction, it returned to Xiang Shaoyun. The draconic lizard did not bother giving chase to the nether prison devil puppet. After all, he couldn't actually do much to the puppet, and his priority was figuring out who stole his treasure. After meeting up with the puppet, Xiang Shaoyun returned to Tang Longfei and company.

"We need to leave immediately!" Xiang Shaoyun did not dare to stay and quickly got them to leave with him. He was afraid that the draconic lizard, mad with fury, would suddenly appear. Things would then get really troublesome.