As his spiritual sea begun to churn and split into 2 parts, the sudden pain of his soul splitting, once again assaulted Shun Long, making him grind his teeth and try his best to endure it while his eyes suddenly turned bloodshot.
This indescribable pain in his soul was the only thing that neither Shun Long nor any other cultivator could defend against it, no matter what.
This was why attacks directed towards one's soul were considered to be extremely dangerous. If your soul, your spiritual strength and your spiritual sea weren't strong enough to endure it, forget about losing your body, even your soul would be snuffed out.
And yet, along with the soul-splitting pain, Shun Long also felt an intense sensation of hunger from every fiber of his being, almost as if his body was a hungry beast that had starved for countless years and was now demanding energy.
Fortunately, Shun Long had already predicted this, as he started eating the stalks of 'Dragonblood grass' that he had already prepared and had placed in front of him before he started his breakthrough without holding back, not caring about his appearance in the slightest.
Large amounts of energy started to fill his body the moment that he consumed the first stalk of 'Dragonblood grass', but just as the energy entered his body, it quickly disappeared. And yet, Shun Long didn't stop, as he kept eating stalk after stalk of the crimson-colored grass without caring about any of this.
He could sense that the energy from the 'Dragonblood grass' that he was consuming was being split into 2 parts.
One part was absorbed by his body, enhancing his tendons, his muscles, his bones, and even his own blood, while the other half was transformed into spiritual energy and was absorbed by his spiritual sea that was split into 2 halves.
Even after he had consumed more than 30 stalks though, Shun Long still felt that he had barely made a dent in the insatiable feeling of hunger inside him.
Without any other choice, he could only continue eating until he completely filled his stomach.
It was only 2 hours later and after he had consumed nearly 90 stalks of 'Dragonblood grass' that he finally felt his body being full.
However, this wasn't the end just yet, as changes were also taking place inside his spiritual sea as well!
The huge, illusionary sea made of spiritual energy that was previously split into 2 halves was gradually merging together into one gigantic spiritual sea that was twice the size of the original!
At the same time, Shun Long could feel his comprehension of his Dao of Space advancing even more and at a terrifying rate, while his affinity with the element of space was also increasing without any signs to stop.
This process continued for more than a week until Shun Long finally opened his eyes.
Even without standing up from his seat, he could now sense that his body was filled with limitless amounts of energy, as he finally reached the early fifth stage in body refinement.
And yet, the moment that he opened his eyes, before he could actually rejoice in his breakthrough, Shun Long realized that the golden stele inside the foggy space that hadn't shown any changes during the past 2 years, was now emitting a white light that was many times stronger than before.
After staring at it seriously for a moment, Shun Long stood up from his seat and approached the golden stele with a serious look in his eyes.
He was actually feeling a little hesitant to touch this golden stele since everything that was related to the 'Stone of Time' had always subjected him to a certain degree of danger in the past, but after remembering that this stele had only appeared after he had returned from that magnificent white palace with the golden staircase that had allowed him to breakthrough again in his body refinement, he took a deep breath before he placed his hand on the stele's surface.
However, even after waiting for a few moments, Shun Long noticed that there were no changes on the golden stele.
Even after injecting his qi or his soul sense inside it hoping that there would be any changes, there was still no reaction.
''Maybe it needs a bit more time?''
This was the only conclusion that Shun Long could come to, causing him to temporarily give up for now.
After all, no matter what, it was obvious that the white light that was coming from the stele now, was much brighter than the dim and almost nonexistent light that the golden stele was previously emitting.
Shun Long guessed that he either had to wait for some more time, or he had to advance his body cultivation to the middle of the fifth stage or maybe even the peak of the fifth stage before the stele actually reacted again.
Of course, he wasn't certain whether the stele would really take him back to that golden staircase in front of the white palace with the 2 angel statues guarding in front of it, but if he could advance his 'Monarch's Eternal body' further, then this was a risk that he was willing to take.
After all, Shun Long hadn't forgotten how he had been 'abducted' by the 'Stone of Time' twice after breaking through in his cultivation in the past, and he wasn't certain what kind of enemies he would have to face in the future if that happened again.
Thus, advancing his cultivation in both his qi and his body refinement were of utmost importance to him.
Regardless, even if the stele didn't respond right now, Shun Long now knew that it would do so again in the future.
Closing his eyes, he quickly calmed down as he tried to sense the changes around him.
A moment later however, he snapped his eyes open with a surprised look on his face, as he realized that as long as he closed his eyes and focused, he could clearly sense the different layers of space present around him, meaning that his affinity with the element of space had increased even more than what he had originally thought.