Dense amounts of pure qi filled the air around Shun Long and Little Black, as the 'Heaven Swallowing vine' consumed more and more middle-grade spirit stones.
The black dragon sighed inwardly as he thought to himself
''How good would it have been if master had this vine in his previous life?
Sigh I suppose that some treasures can only be chanced upon, regardless of cultivation level. This is fate after all.''
As this thought flashed through his mind, Little Black had already coiled himself around Shun Long, and started to munch on a stalk of 'dragonblood grass', as he watched Shun Long absorb the pure qi around them inside his body.
As Shun Long circulated the 'Monarch's Hourglass', the indistinct figure of an hourglass expanded from his body, as 12 balls of qi were now floating above his head.
Soon, a 13th ball of qi had appeared on his right hand, it's figure blurry at first, but as time passed, it started to turn more and more corporeal.
A few hours passed until the newly created ball of qi was shining with a bright white light, not inferior to the light that the 12 balls of qi were emitting inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass'.
Raising his right hand in the air, Shun Long used all of his strength, as he pushed the ball of qi inside the hole of the hourglass.
Sweat had formed on Shun Long's forehead, and half an hour later, 13 bright balls of qi were floating above his head.
Every new ball of qi that Shun Long created was even harder to condense than the last one, as it required even more qi to be formed.
As Shun Long was cultivating inside the foggy space, on the first floor of the shop, Liu Mei was staring at the shop's entrance.
After taking a deep breath, a black ball of qi appeared in her hands, before she allowed it to fall on the floor.
2 undead knights dressed in black armor appeared in front of Liu Mei, each of their cultivation having reached the peak of rank 3 in the Spirit realm.
After sitting on the chair next to Shun Long's, Liu Mei allowed the undead knights to open the door, before they proceeded to stand guard at the shop's entrance.
The crowd that was waiting for the shop's door to open, was stunned for a moment when they saw the 3m(10ft) tall undead knights inside the shop.
The knights' terrifying appearance, as well as the 2m(6.6ft) long greatswords on their backs, gave off a dangerous feeling to everyone who was about to pass through the shop's entrance.
However, after noticing that the black-armored knights were only standing guard and weren't proactively moving, people stopped paying too much attention to them as they slowly entered the shop.
''Eh?''
Surprised exclamations sounded, once people saw that Shun Long wasn't present, and instead, it was just Liu Mei on the first floor.
Liu Mei however didn't seem to mind the crowd's reactions, as she continued to stay seated and observe the people around her.
The first day quickly passed, and it was unknown whether it was thanks to the deterrence of the undead knights or for some other reason, but no one tried to create any trouble inside the shop.
At the end of the day, Liu Mei closed the shop's entrance, having collected a total of 3 million low-grade spirit stones.
At the same time, inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, as he consumed top-grade 'Spirit enhancing pills' without stop.
Although one day had passed for Liu Mei, 10 days had already passed for him inside the 'Stone of Time'.
Above his head, Shun Long could see 21 bright balls of qi if he opened his eyes, as his cultivation had already reached the early rank 3 in the Spirit realm.
After consuming the 'Spirit enhancing pills', Shun Long could clearly feel his spiritual strength and his spirit sense becoming stronger with every passing second.
Time continued to pass like this, and soon, 6 more days had gone by for Liu Mei who had already started to get used to the role of a shopkeeper.
During these 6 days, Liu Mei had been surprised to see that nothing unnatural had happened, and the shop's business continued normally.
In the last week alone, she had already made 20 million low-grade spirit stones.
This was an enormous amount of spirit stones, that would make even Dao Kings grow envious, let alone Nascent Soul stage experts or Spirit realm cultivators.
In the worst-case scenario, that Nascent Soul stage experts would come to find trouble in the shop while Shun Long was still cultivating, Liu Mei had also been prepared to have the black panther deal with them.
However, to her surprise, not only were there no Nascent Soul stage experts who came to find trouble, but even the 'Violent guardian gang' and the 'Blood Pill pavilion' had also stayed silent during this time.
Although Liu Mei couldn't guess the reason behind their lack of actions, she was certain that at least the 'Blood Pill pavilion', wouldn't want to suddenly become friends with Shun Long.
At the same time that Liu Mei was pondering over this issue while she was closing the shop for the day, in the foggy place inside the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long finally opened his eyes.
A powerful aura exploded from his body, while 30 bright balls of qi were now floating above his head, as his cultivation had now reached the early rank 4 in the Spirit realm!
A little more than 2 months had passed since he had entered seclusion, and even with his own standards, his rate of advancement this time was far too fast.
Shun Long had expected to spend at least a month more before he managed to breakthrough from the peak of rank 3 in the Spirit realm to the early rank 4, but surprisingly, his advancement was extremely smooth.
''This is probably thanks to all the fights I have been through lately, allowing me to get fully used to my strength before breaking through.'' Shun Long thought to himself, as he stared at Little Black who was still eating a stalk of 'Dragonblood grass'.
Now that his cultivation had advanced to the early rank 4 of the Spirit realm, Shun Long was confident in refining even rank 5 medicinal herbs like the 'Dragonblood grass' into pills.
This would make him equal to a gold grade alchemist!
Closing his eyes, he once again simulated himself leaving the 'Stone of Time', as he returned back inside the room on the second floor of the shop.