2 years had gone by in the blink of an eye.
In a mountain deep inside the northeast of the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range', an early rank 5 magic beast that resembled an earth bear with iron armor around its head and chest, was lying motionless in front of a blue-robed man's feet.
An army of skeletons and undead knights had completely surrounded the young man, but they seemed to have turned their swords towards the iron bear that had collapsed on the ground instead.
With a smile on his face, Shun Long looked past the skeletons and the undead knights around him, as his gaze landed at the forest behind him.
Liu Mei who was standing on the branch of a huge tree, wasn't wearing her white veil on her face as she flashed a dazzling smile at Shun Long before she floated towards him.
Shun Long looked at Liu Mei who soon landed in front of him, before he said with a smile on his face
''Mei'er, your control over the undead knights during a fight has improved a lot in the last few days.''
Liu Mei smiled even brighter after hearing Shun Long's praise, before she nodded her head without saying anything, but a sweet feeling had appeared in her heart.
In the last few years, the thing that she had practiced the most, was her sword skills as well as her control of her skeletal warriors and her undead knights during a fight.
Originally, due to her weak spirit sense, Liu Mei couldn't handle controlling more than 2 undead knights at the same time, but now, she could easily control 10 of them, as well as a certain number of her skeletons at the same time.
During the past 2 years, Liu Mei had also consumed tens of thousands of top-grade 'Spirit enhancing pills', and had killed hundreds of criminals in the 'City of Sin' as well as absorbed their qi, bringing both her cultivation as well as her spirit sense at the peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm!
The undead knights around Shun Long were also at the peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm as well, while the 200 skeletons were at the middle of rank 9 instead.
A terrifying army of 200 middle rank 9 Spirit realm skeletons, even if they weren't as strong as normal middle rank 9 Spirit realm cultivators, could definitely stall for time, even when fighting against an early rank 5 magic beast!
As for Liu Mei's comprehension of the Dao, it had long since reached the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage.
The only thing that Liu Mei needed, was a spark of inspiration in order to begin her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage.
After all, the Nascent Soul stage was also called the Nirvana stage, while the Spirit realm was the realm of preparation before entering this stage.
It was simply impossible to breakthrough and become a Nascent Soul stage expert without a sudden sense of inspiration.
Little Black had long since told Shun Long, that Shun Long needed his soul to become one with his body in order to breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage!
As for Shun Long, during the past 2 years, he had consumed countless middle-grade spirit stones in order to reach the peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm as well.
The spirit stones that he had consumed, were far more than what he had originally estimated.
If it wasn't because of his pill shop in the 'City of Sin', Shun Long would have to think of another way to gather spirit stones during these 2 years in order to reach the late-stages and subsequently, the peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm!
Unlike Liu Mei, he had also taken even more time to bring his spirit sense to the absolute peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm by consuming countless 'Spirit enhancing pills' as well.
This was even harder than advancing his own cultivation!
Just the time he had spent in secluded cultivation to advance his spirit sense to the peak of rank 9 of the Spirit realm and bring it on par with his own cultivation level, had taken Shun Long more than 4 years inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
During this time, Shun Long's 'Monarch's Eternal body' had also advanced to the peak of the fourth stage.
With both his qi and his body cultivation, at the peak of rank 9 in the Spirit realm and the peak of the fourth stage respectively, Shun Long was certain that there was no other Spirit realm cultivator in the entire 'Night star continent' who would be able to last more than 3 exchanges against him.
However, raising his spirit sense wasn't actually the most time-consuming part.
Instead, it was the fact that Shun Long had spent almost 10 years inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time' comprehending the Dao of Time!
It was only a day ago that he had managed to finish his comprehension of the Dao and came out from the 'Stone of Time' to test his strength.
More than 2 years had passed as Shun Long and Liu Mei were hunting magic beasts in the 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range' or traveled back to the 'City of Sin' to operate the pill shop.
According to Shun Long's estimations, the test for the Holy sect only had 2 or 3 months until it actually started.
As Shun Long placed the corpse of the early rank 5 magic beast inside the 'Stone of Time', a sudden rumbling could be heard from the distance, as Shun Long and Liu Mei both felt the ground beneath their feet that had started to shake.
Shun Long's and Liu Mei's expressions instantly changed as this obviously wasn't a normal earthquake.
The terrifying rumbling did not only shake the entire 'Ten thousand beasts' mountain range', but instead, it actually affected the entire 'Night star continent'!
A gigantic beam of light shot to the sky, that every single person in the entire continent could see no matter where they were.
Shun Long's expression suddenly changed when he saw the direction that the enormous beam of light was coming from.
It wasn't just coming from the center of the 'Night star continent'... but more specifically, from the 'Dragon Lord's villa' itself!