As he opened his eyes, Shun Long looked at the 81 silver-colored qi balls that were hovering above his head, all of which were shining with the same silver light, before he exhaled out a breath of foul qi.
At this moment, Shun Long had not only reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul, but he had also purified all 81 of his qi balls, while the quality of his soul had also reached the absolute peak of the Nascent Soul stage as well.
During this time, a full year had passed in the outside world, but almost 10 years had gone by inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
In these past 10 years that he had spent in seclusion, Shun Long had not only reached the peak of the Nascent Soul in just his qi cultivation, but he had also consumed nearly a thousand top-grade 'Dragonblood tempering pills' before he reached the peak of the fifth stage in his 'Monarch's Eternal body'.
Although he had yet to test out his strength, Shun Long believed that even an early rank 6 magic beast wouldn't be a match for him right now.
Taking a look at the black dragon who was joyfully drinking an entire barrel of wine, as well as Little Silver who was sleeping soundly, Shun Long closed his eyes as he imagined himself leaving the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
In these past 10 years, Shun Long very rarely left his own room, while he didn't step out of the Holy sect even once.
The only times he left his room were only when he had to visit the Golden Treasures Hall to buy some things.
A year ago, Shun Long had purchased the magic beast cores of a few peak rank 6 wind element magic beasts from the Golden Treasures Hall, the same element as Little Silver.
After letting Little Silver consume a handful of those beast cores, Shun Long saw the black panther that had been stuck in the middle of rank 6 finally breakthrough once again, and a month later, it had become a peak rank 6 magic beast.
This was the only way that Little Silver could breakthrough even further and surpass its natural limits... to consume the beast cores of even stronger magic beasts of the same element.
A moment later, Shun Long's surroundings changed as he appeared back in his room, before Liu Mei's and Xingyi's voices entered his ears in the next moment
''Long-ge!''
''Brother Long...''
Shun Long had a warm look in his eyes as he looked at the joyful and relieved looks on the Liu Mei's and Xingyi's faces, before he pulled them into a hug.
It wasn't surprising that the 2 girls would be relieved once they saw Shun Long.
After all, there was less than a day left until the Elders of the Holy sect left for the King's Palace.
Although the Grand Elder had promised that he would take Shun Long and the others to the King's Palace, if Shun Long didn't show up in time, the Grand Elder would come searching for him.
Seeing that both Liu Mei and Xingyi had reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul in both their qi cultivation and the quality of their soul, Shun Long's lips curved up as he led the 2 girls out of the room.
Shun Long had actually formed the 81st ball of qi and had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul just 4 months after the Martial Roll of Honor tournament ended.
Of course, these 4 months were equivalent to nearly 4 years inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
However, reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul in terms of the quality of his soul was almost just as hard, if not even harder.
Shun Long had to refine thousands of top-grade 'Soul Purifying pills' to bring his soul to the peak of the Nascent Soul as well.
This process by itself took 5 full years!
The easiest part was actually purifying his qi balls, and bringing all of them at the same level as the 81st ball of qi, but even then, Shun Long had spent another year and had only finished just now.
However, at this moment, with his 81 purified balls of qi, his peak fifth stage 'Monarch's Eternal body', and the quality of his soul that was at the peak of the Nascent Soul, Shun Long was confident that his strength had reached the absolute pinnacle of the Nascent Soul stage.
Normal rank 1 Dao Kings couldn't possibly stand in front of him, while even rank 2 Dao Kings would be defeated almost effortlessly.
Even if he had to take on another blow from Dong Ai's elder brother, Dong Cheng, who was ranked 6th in the Martial Roll of Honor, it wasn't certain if Shun Long would be the one on the losing side this time!
Since there was less than a day left until the appointed time with the Grand Elder, Shun Long left his room with Liu Mei and Xingyi in tow, to meet up with Bai Longtian and Jiang Chen as well.
Jiang Chen had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul a month ago, in both his qi cultivation and his body refinement.
The only way to become stronger was to increase his comprehension in his Demonic Dao or his Dao of Darkness even further, and breakthrough to become a Dao King.
However, it wasn't that easy to become a Dao King.
Aside from Yang Hui and Qiao Min who were ranked 1st and 2nd in the Martial Roll of Honor respectively, and had both reached the Dao King realm before the age of 100, practically every single other outer court disciple in the Holy sect that had reached the Dao King realm had taken at least 150 years to do so.
Even Yang Hui had only managed to reach the Dao King realm after he had received the full support of his Yang family and he had entered the King's Palace himself nearly 10 years ago.
As for Qiao Min, it was only thanks to her Blackwater unique physique that had let her reach the Dao King realm so quickly.
However, although others didn't know about it, Shun Long already knew that Qiao Min's unique physique would only allow her to reach the Dao King realm.
Her cultivation speed would no longer be as fast as it was in the past.
Whether she could breakthrough to the Dao Emperor realm, that would be up to her.
