Shun Long absorbed the pure qi around him, while the newly created qi ball in his hand was becoming more and more corporeal.
Time continued to pass like this, and soon, a week had gone by until Shun Long opened his eyes.
Raising his head, Shun Long saw the 31 balls of qi that were floating above his head, inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass', indicating that he had now reached the middle rank 4 of the Spirit realm.
Shun Long didn't continue to cultivate, and instead, he once again closed his eyes before he started to infuse his qi inside the storage space in the 'Stone of Time' where the herb garden was located, hastening the growth of his medicinal herbs.
2 more days passed until Shun Long finally stopped, while the single stalk of rank 5 'Soul poisoning hell grass' inside the herb garden had now turned into 3.
Little Black who was still eating the stalks of neverending 'Dragonblood grass' in front of him, watched Shun Long who was holding a stalk of a 'Soul poisoning hell grass' with confusion in his bright azure eyes.
Shun Long however seemed to not have noticed Little Black's gaze, as he activated the 'Monarch's Domain'.
As the invisible figure of an hourglass expanded from his body, time around Shun Long was forced to freeze, as Shun Long who was holding the stalk of 'Soul poisoning hell grass' instantly tore it in half!
The white liquid inside it however didn't start to flow immediately, as it was completely suppressed inside the 'Monarch's Domain'.
Taking out 2 empty pill bottles, Shun Long then stopped the 'Monarch's Domain', as he allowed the white-colored liquid to fall on the pill bottles, filling them up, before Shun Long sealed them tightly.
With a smile on his face, he turned his eyes to look at Little Black who was cheerfully munching his food before he said
''Little Black, once we return to the Desolate East, you will not have to stay in here all the time.''
Shaking his head, the black dragon looked at Shun Long as he said
''Master, dragons can sleep for hundreds, and even thousands of years. Staying in this place for a few years wouldn't even qualify as a nap. Besides, this way, I can spend even more time with master when you are cultivating.''
Shun Long smiled lightly, and after patting Little Black's head, he closed his eyes as he once again appeared inside the room on the second floor of the shop.
Almost 9 days had passed while Shun Long was cultivating inside the 'Stone of Time', but less than a day had gone by in the outside world, and it was almost time for Liu Mei to open the shop.
Despite being a necromancer, Liu Mei was still training her sword skills using the 'Four-seasons azure sword'.
At the same time that she put away her sword and was about to go down to the first floor, her eyes lit up, as she saw Shun Long suddenly appearing on the meditative cushion next to her.
Seeing the beautiful young woman next to him Shun Long smiled lightly, but just as he was about to speak, an extremely painful sensation suddenly filled his mind, as his hands suddenly clutched his head and screamed in pain.
This wasn't the first time that Shun Long felt pain in his soul, but this time, the sensation was extremely intense.
It was much stronger than the attack that he and Liu Mei had suffered from the rank 5 'Soulsinger bird' inside the 'Dreamland Forest'. This pain was only second to the soul expansion that he had suffered from the golden book, the first time that he had absorbed all the knowledge inside it.
Liu Mei was stunned from this sudden change, while her black eyes looked at Shun Long with worry inside them, before she hurriedly took out a 'Sun-healing pill' and tried to feed it to Shun Long to alleviate the sudden pain that he felt.
Inside Shun Long's spiritual space, the 'Stone of Time' had started to rotate all of a sudden without any prior warnings, as it emitted a mesmerizing, blinding blue light, that could capture the soul of any living being that looked at it.
At the same time, Little Black's blue eyes narrowed, and without any hesitation, he shot out from the 'Stone of Time', as he appeared inside the room.
The room felt cramped with the 10m(33ft) long black dragon inside it, but Little Black didn't seem to care, as he coiled his gigantic body around Shun Long, only allowing Liu Mei's hands to pass through the opening of his wings and touch Shun Long's face.
Shun Long tried to speak, but the pain in his soul was extremely intense.
As the 'Stone of Time' continued to rotate, an otherworldly blue-colored light was emitted from Shun Long's body, and under Little Black's and Liu Mei's stunned eyes, Shun Long suddenly disappeared from the room.
Shun Long's vision immediately blurred, while the familiar feeling of spatial teleportation had completely covered his body.
This feeling lasted for more than a few minutes, before Shun Long's vision once again returned to normal.
And yet, the pain in his mind was becoming even more intense while the 'Stone of Time' started to rotate even faster.
However, the moment that he saw the scene in front of him, despite the endless amounts of pain that he was feeling, Shun Long also felt a jolt in his heart.
In front of him was a majestic red palace thousands of meters tall, while sculptures of countless different creatures decorated its surroundings.
Seeing the thousands of meters tall dragons, phoenixes, tigers, vermilion birds, kilins... along with giants who were holding clubs, as well as the Nine-tailed foxes, and even the small goblins, the elves and the dwarfs, Shun Long immediately understood where he was.
This was the same red palace that he had arrived to, back when he had first broken through to the Heaven grade.