Shun Long however was completely oblivious to this, while his eyes were closed and his mind had entered a state of enlightenment, as he tried to comprehend the Dao of Time.
More and more time passed, while the blue light around his body would sometimes become dim, while at other times it would be extremely bright.
One more year passed like this inside the foggy place in the 'Stone of Time', and yet, Shun Long was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, while the blue light had completely covered his body.
''What is time? Is it the unstoppable river that sweeps all things, something that no one can touch? No...''
Time continued to pass like this as Shun Long tried to feel the passing seconds around him.
At the same time, back inside the inn's room, Liu Mei had closed her eyes, sitting cross-legged on top of a meditative cushion, as she consumed another top-grade rank 4 'Spirit enhancing pill', when she suddenly felt a rumbling in her spiritual space.
Although more than a year had passed inside the foggy place in the 'Stone of Time, 2 months had passed for Liu Mei inside the room.
During these past 2 months that she had spent in seclusion, her soul and spiritual strength had already been strengthened to their limits, while her cultivation had also reached the peak of rank 9 in Heaven grade.
The only reason that she hadn't attempted her breakthrough to the Spirit realm yet, was because Shun Long had told her to strengthen her soul and spiritual strength to the limit by consuming the 'Spirit enhancing pills'.
And today, Liu Mei finally felt her soul and spiritual strength reaching their limits, while her spiritual space had started to expand.
3 hours later, her spiritual space had expanded by almost one-third of its original size, while her soul and her spiritual strength were now many times greater than before.
Liu Mei had a joyful expression as she opened her eyes, but the moment that her gaze fell on the meditative cushion opposite to her, a worried and anxious look soon appeared on her face.
''Long-ge... are you okay?''
It had been almost 2 months since the last time that Shun Long had returned back. Since then, Liu Mei had already advanced from the early rank 9 all the way to the peak of rank 9 in Heaven grade, and she was ready to attempt her breakthrough to the Spirit realm.
And yet, Shun Long still hadn't returned.
After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Liu Mei shook her head as she then thought
''No, Long-ge must be alright. After all, comprehending a Dao isn't easy.
I also took 2 months to comprehend the basics of the Dao of Ice, before breaking through to the Heaven grade, and that was still the first time.
If I tried to break through to the Spirit realm using the Dao of Ice as my foundation, I would surely need more than 2 months as well.''
Once these thoughts flashed through her mind, Liu Mei's worries started to die down.
She knew that the best thing that she could do right now, was to bring herself to peak condition before attempting her breakthrough to the Spirit realm.
After all, after peering through the Abyss of Death and absorbing so much death aura in her missions with Shun Long, Liu Mei's comprehension of the Dao of Death was more than high enough to attempt her breakthrough.
She still remembered the scenes during her first mission with Shun Long, where her skeletons and her undead knights were unable to help, as a determined look appeared in her beautiful black eyes.
Closing her eyes, Liu Mei then took more than 200 middle-grade spirit stones from her spatial ring, before she spread them on the ground around her.
Then, as she circulated the 'Moonlight Sigil', the aura of death around her had quickly started to thicken.
Time passed as Liu Mei absorbed the power of the middle-grade spirit stones, while the aura of death inside the room became stronger and stronger with every passing second.
The black panther that was still sleeping in the courtyard, suddenly opened its eyes and looked at Liu Mei's and Shun Long's room.
The black panther's intelligence wasn't any lower than an adult human's. Since the panther knew that this aura of death belonged to his master's wife, it once again closed its eyes before it spread its soul sense even further beyond the courtyard, making sure that no one would dare to disturb Liu Mei during this time.
The same moment that Liu Mei attempted her breakthrough to the Spirit realm however, Shun Long's eyes inside the foggy place abruptly opened.
He could suddenly feel a part of the flow of time around him, and even though it was an ethereal feeling, Shun Long was certain that it was still there.
It was like an invisible membrane hugging everything.
Shun Long could also feel, that once he focused hard enough, he could actually sense this ethereal feeling.
At that moment, he also knew that he had gained even deeper insights in the Dao of Time.
Every step forward in comprehending the Dao was hard, but the benefits would always be immense.
However, at the same time that Shun Long seemed to have gained comprehension in the Dao of Time, the 'Stone of Time' inside his spiritual space started to rotate in a clockwise motion.
The rotation speed was slow at first, but soon, it quickly sped up.
Shun Long could almost hear a buzzing sound from his spiritual space, that was also akin to a calling.
A feeling of urgency quickly filled his heart, but the 'Stone of Time' didn't seem to stop rotating.
Little Black could sense Shun Long's emotions that seemed to have suddenly changed, as the black dragon immediately coiled himself around his master.
However, as the buzzing inside his spiritual space reached its peak, Shun Long could feel the 'Stone of Time' releasing a powerful blue light that covered his entire body.
His vision then started to blur and under Little Black's shocked eyes, Shun Long abruptly disappeared from the foggy space.
Even though his vision was blurred and he couldn't see anything in front of him, he could feel a spatial distortion around his body, while the membrane of time around him was also being affected.
An unknown amount of time later, Shun Long found himself appearing in front of a majestic white palace, the likes of which he had never seen before.
However, before he could check his surroundings, as soon as the spatial distortion disappeared around him, Shun Long could feel a powerful pressure crushing his body, which forced him on the ground, leaving him barely able to breathe.
