He Yiming and the other spent quite some time organizing things there. First, they gathered all the corpses of the Black Vultures together, and successfully extracted their Inner Cores.

A full ten Inner Cores were lined up before them. The largest among them was undoubtedly the Black Vulture King's Inner Core, fully the size of an adult's fist. It was mottled with strange, pale cyan colors, and when it made contact with the surrounding air, it could even induce slight fluctuations in the world's energy.

He Yiming’s gaze was locked onto this Inner Core. He vaguely felt that if this thing were simply refined into a pill, it would undoubtedly be extraordinary.

As for the other nine Inner Cores, although nowhere near as exaggerated as the one in his hand, any single one of them could cause countless people to fight tooth and nail over it.

Chu Haozhou sighed deeply, "The Inner Core of a Sacred Beast—this old man has never seen one before. It truly is as terrifying as the legends claim."

He Yiming was slightly taken aback. "Brother Chu, surely the Inner Core of a Sacred Beast is far superior to that of a Congenital Spirit Beast, right?"

Chu Haozhou shot him an exasperated glance. "One is in heaven, the other is on earth. How can they possibly be compared?"

He Yiming’s eyes lit up. "How should a Sacred Beast Inner Core be utilized?"

Chu Haozhou hesitated for a moment. "It is said that when the Divine Dao masters were alive, someone once used a Sacred Beast Inner Core to refine a pill. Once the pill was formed, it could possess unimaginable might." He paused, his voice deepening, "Legend has it that such a pill could negate the necessity of the Ghost Cry Ridge journey."

He Yiming took a deep breath. A pill refined from a Sacred Beast Inner Core could actually help a Peak Tier master break through to the Venerable Realm—this was truly astonishing.

He was certain that if he possessed such a pill, all the Peak Tier masters would be willing to pay any price to trade for it.

Moreover, it wouldn't just be the Peak Tier masters; even their elders and the powerhouses within the major sects would covet such an item.

Chu Haozhou coughed lightly. "Brother He, however, it is best not to refine the Sacred Beast Inner Core into a pill."

He Yiming was slightly puzzled. "Why?"

"Legend states that the Inner Core of a Sacred Beast can freely communicate with the power of heaven and earth. If it is embedded into a Divine Weapon, it can enhance the weapon's might, giving one a significant advantage in battle." Chu Haozhou’s eyes flickered with light. "Even if the owner loses their strength and is unable to absorb the energy of heaven and earth, as long as a Divine Weapon contains a Sacred Beast Inner Core, it will automatically absorb that energy to replenish its power."

He Yiming suddenly understood. Chu Haozhou himself was an outstanding Refiner, and when a fine object fell into his hands, his first thought would naturally be how to apply it to forging.

Just like himself—upon picking up the Sacred Beast Inner Core, his first thought was how to refine it into a pill. It was merely due to his limited knowledge that he had never encountered such high-tier materials before.

In fact, among the Alchemists He Yiming had met, even Old Man Hao Dong rarely had the chance to use a Sacred Beast Inner Core for refinement, let alone Yao Dao Ren and the others.

Placing the Inner Core down, He Yiming continued gathering items like spirit beast pelts, bones, and claws. Soon, the nine Black Vultures, just like their King, were completely processed.

He casually dug a pit and buried them deeply. Watching this action, Chu Haozhou privately disagreed, shaking his head. "Brother He, survival of the fittest—that is nature’s rule. Since these Black Vultures are dead, their corpses will naturally be scavenged by wild beasts. Burying them is unfair to those beasts."

He Yiming chuckled softly, saying nothing. Everyone handled matters differently, and there was no need to argue over such small details.

The two searched the jungle for a while longer before finally locating the true nest of the Black Vultures nearby.

It was a massive cave, lined with dry, fine grass. Judging by its scale, one could infer that all the Black Vultures usually rested in this cave.

Recalling the positions of the dead Vultures outside, they immediately understood.

It seemed that the White Horse was incredibly astute; it blocked the cave entrance right away, forcing the Black Vultures to rush out one by one. Then, using lightning speed, it struck them down before they could even spread their wings to fly, killing them all instantly.

Otherwise, if all ten Black Vultures took to the sky simultaneously, even with the White Horse's great abilities, it would have been impossible to wipe them out in one go.

The cave was quite dry. These Black Vultures were intelligent creatures, and the intelligence of the Sacred Beast Black Vulture King was in no way inferior to that of humans.

Therefore, the cave they inhabited was arranged very comfortably, without even a single mosquito or fly.

After searching the cave for a while, He Yiming’s eyes suddenly lit up. He vaguely glimpsed a faint glimmer of light flashing within one of the piles of grass.

He approached it and fumbled around for a moment before finally pulling out a small, round bead.

This bead was not large, only the size of a finger bone, but holding it gave him a distinct, warm feeling.

He Yiming marveled, searching the surroundings carefully. In a short while, he found five more identical beads.

A moment later, Chu Haozhou, who had been searching in another direction, returned, carrying several large sacks. "Brother He, guess what I found here?"

He Yiming heard a hint of wry amusement in his voice and immediately realized that what he had found was not of great value.

Shaking his head slightly, Chu Haozhou did not keep him in suspense and opened the sacks. Inside lay a large bag of golden sand.

He Yiming’s expression became peculiar. If this bag of gold sand fell into the hands of an ordinary person, they would naturally be too excited to sleep. However, for martial artists like them, it held little practical use.

What puzzled He Yiming, though, was why such an item would be found in the Black Vultures' nest.

Chu Haozhou tossed the bag over. "There is a shop marking on this bag. If my guess is correct, some Black Vulture must have gone out hunting, caught a person on a sea vessel, and this thing was on that person."

He Yiming started. "Black Vultures actually attack sea vessels?"

Chu Haozhou sighed softly. "They usually stick to a certain territory and don't leave easily, but when they are irritable, they might wander aimlessly for long distances. If a sea vessel encounters a Black Vulture in such a state, it's a nightmare for ordinary people."

He Yiming nodded solemnly. These Black Vultures possessed the martial power of at least Congenital Experts. If they truly attacked an ordinary sea vessel, it would be an absolute catastrophe for everyone aboard.

He had felt a little hesitant about the White Horse killing all the Black Vultures instantly, but now, he felt not the slightest bit of pity left.

These bandits—killing them was justified. If he had known earlier that they attacked people drifting at sea, he might have brought the Hundred and Eight Killers to their door before the White Horse even acted.

A thought struck him, and He Yiming took out the six round beads he had just obtained. "Brother Chu, what are these?"

Chu Haozhou narrowed his eyes, then his gaze brightened. He took them and examined them closely for a long time, exclaiming in surprise, "Where did you find these?"

He Yiming vaguely pointed. "Right there."

That spot was the location closest to the corner of the cave. Judging by the spread of the disturbed grass, it was clearly where the Black Vulture King had rested.

Chu Haozhou circled the area in the grass until he was certain there were no other discoveries, then reluctantly looked away.

Seeing his reaction, He Yiming immediately understood that these six beads were definitely not ordinary items.

"Brother He, what you picked up should be Sarira," Chu Haozhou stated gravely.

"Sarira?"

"Correct. After a Venerable-level expert dies, the True Qi and essence blood within their body will automatically coalesce into Sarira. The quantity depends on the individual's cultivation level." Chu Haozhou sighed softly. "Finding Sarira here means a Venerable must have perished here, but regrettably, since we haven't found any Divine Weapons, we can't deduce this person's identity."

"Do Sacred Beasts also attack human experts?" He Yiming asked solemnly.

When he first arrived on the island, a Black Vulture had attacked him, but upon missing its strike, it immediately left. This made He Yiming doubtful: creatures this intelligent—did they dare to kill even human powerhouses?

Chu Haozhou let out a cold laugh. "As long as they possess absolute strength, what would the Black Vultures not dare to do?" He pointed to himself, then pointed outside the cave. "Both the White Horse and I have been attacked by them. If we hadn't aided each other, we wouldn't still be alive."

He Yiming recalled the encounters Chu Haozhou and the White Horse had experienced and nodded slightly.

Chu Haozhou looked at the Sarira in his hand, lamenting, "That Sacred Beast probably kept these few Sarira aside specifically for its young to consume. Otherwise, it would have eaten them long ago; why leave them for us?"

He Yiming was secretly startled. "Spirit beasts eat Sarira?"

"We humans can take the Inner Cores of spirit beasts for our use, so why can't these spirit beasts consume our Sarira?" Chu Haozhou chuckled slyly. "Don't forget, Sarira is the essence of human beings. In the eyes of spirit beasts, it’s like our Inner Cores. Once consumed, it greatly benefits their growth."

He Yiming was silent for a moment, finally letting out a bitter laugh, and said no more.

Humans and spirit beasts—some coexisted peacefully, but many more engaged in mutual slaughter.

In the mainland, before human masters hunted spirit beasts, heaven knew how many humans had died by the mouths of spirit beasts. Now, having arrived overseas, the spirit beasts seemed even stronger.

He looked around, finally letting out a long sigh, admitting in his heart that the overseas territories were indeed far more dangerous than the mainland.