Liu Mei's breakthrough attracted quite a bit of attention from the disciples around them, due to how uncommon it was for someone to have a breakthrough within just an hour after the opening of the King's Palace.
However, most of those disciples only stayed to have a brief look at what was going on, before they headed deeper inside the palace a few moments later.
This was only natural since every person who had entered the King's Palace considered themselves to be a genius. Even if they were surprised by Liu Mei's breakthrough, it wasn't as if something like this had never happened before and warranted their attention.
Besides, those disciples didn't have the luxury to wait either. There was only a single year until the King's Palace closed again. They didn't have any time to lose, or they would have to wait another 5 years until the next opening.
Shun Long ignored those disciples around him, as he placed his full attention on the Silverbark guqin in front of him.
Ting~
A melodious sound came from the silver guqin in his hands as Shun Long pulled the first string gently, causing a heavenly note to fill everyone's ears.
The last few disciples that were about to leave were suddenly rooted into place, as they stared at the young man in front of the silver guqin with stunned looks.
Shun Long's full attention however was on the Silverbark guqin, as his fingers pulled the second and the third string a moment after.
Ting~
Teng~
Those surrounding disciples felt their minds entering a trance, as they sat down cross-legged on the ground and closed their eyes without a second thought.
More than 10 of those disciples were now gathered around Shun Long's group, and yet absolute silence had filled the area, as not even the sound of their breathing could be heard.
The only sounds that filled the air were the sounds of the heavenly notes coming from the silver guqin as Shun Long's fingers plucked its strings, as well as the sound of the bolts of lightning striking down from the sky every now and then, as they pierced through the half-destroyed ceiling of the King's Palace.
Shun Long didn't open his eyes, but he could feel that the violent death qi around Liu Mei had started to calm down ever so slightly.
Her creased eyebrows started to smoothen as the expression of pain that had covered her face a few moments ago had already started to vanish, before a brilliant smile appeared on Liu Mei's face in the next moment.
By now, even Jiang Chen, Bai Longtian, and Xingyi, who were standing around Shun Long and Liu Mei had failed to notice that they had also fallen into a trance.
The effects of the guqin had involuntarily affected them as well, making them close their eyes and sit on the ground, as they listened to the heavenly music that entered their ears.
And yet, the sound of the silverbark guqin didn't seem to stop, as Shun Long's fingers kept plucking the guqin's strings again and again.
It was only a full hour later that the sound of the guqin slowly died down, before Shun Long finally opened his eyes.
However, Liu Mei and the others were still sitting on the ground with their eyes closed, looking like they were still in a trance.
At that moment, inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time', Little Black who had also been relishing in the sound of the guqin suddenly snapped his bright azure eyes open, before he said in a serious voice a moment later
''Master, be careful. That little girl's Heavenly Tribulation is coming!''
The look on Shun Long's face turned serious when he heard Little Black's voice, as he turned his attention towards the sky above his head.
Among the pitch-black thunderclouds that had filled the sky that surrounded the King's Palace, a huge white cloud had also appeared, looking like a swan that was proudly standing inside a sea of crows.
The white cloud seemed small and harmless in comparison to the countless black thunderclouds around it, and yet the surrounding black thunderclouds seemed to have consciously avoided it, almost as if they didn't dare to clash with it directly.
The white cloud slowly expanded, covering an area of more than 300 meters above the King's Palace.
400 meters... 500...600...
In the blink of an eye, the huge white cloud had completely pushed off the surrounding black thunderclouds away, as it covered an area of more than 900 meters!
At this moment, Liu Mei, Bai Longtian, and the others, as well as the surrounding disciples that had also fallen into a trance previously, seemed to have all sensed something at the same time, as everyone opened their eyes and turned to look at the sky above the King's Palace.
Seeing the gigantic white thundercloud that had appeared above their heads made the surrounding disciples all turn pale from fear!
''Flee! The Heavenly Tribulation is coming!''
It was unknown who had shouted this, but the surrounding disciples all scattered as far away as they could in just a few seconds.
Those disciples had been so entranced by the sound of the guqin, that they had almost forgotten that the Heavenly Tribulation was about to descend.
However, they all knew that if they forcefully tried to stay in the radius of someone else's Heavenly Tribulation, the heavens themselves would punish them without mercy, while there was even a chance that they would affect that person's Heavenly Tribulation.
Shun Long heaved a sigh of relief when he saw everyone else clearing the area around Liu Mei, before he turned around to leave as well, along with Xingyi, Bai Longtian, and Jiang Chen.
BOOOOM
BOOOOOOM!
BOOOOOOOOM!!
Barely a moment later, the seemingly peaceful white thundercloud started to rumble violently, as sparks of pure white-colored lightning had also started to appear around its surface.
Author's note: Mass release in the next 24 hours.
