At the same time that the enormous white cloud of Heavenly Tribulation started to disappear from the sky above the King's Palace, within the core region of the palace, Shun Long was sitting cross-legged on the ground when he felt his aura rising rapidly without any signs of stop.
Shun Long could feel that the nourishing energy from the bolts of Heavenly Tribulation inside him wasn't just increasing the strength of his soul, but it also increased his cultivation, allowing him to advance towards the final barrier and reach the Dao King realm.
Of course, to complete his breakthrough and truly become a Dao King realm, Shun Long knew that he first had to condense all of the 81 silver-colored balls of qi inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass' together and form a single ball of qi.
At that moment however, just as he was about to begin his breakthrough, Shun Long sensed that something had changed inside the King's Palace.
Suppressing the urge to breakthrough right away, Shun Long opened his eyes and looked around him, trying to identify the origin of this change, before his eyes fell on the figure of the golden skeleton sitting on the bronze throne.
Although nothing seemed different at first glance, Shun Long had instantly realized what was going on, before Little Black's voice sounded in his mind almost at the same time
''Master, quickly! The aura of that golden skeleton is completely suppressed! This is master's chance to take it!''
Shun Long's eyes lit up when he heard this, and after a moment of deliberation, his body shot towards the figure that was sitting on the bronze throne at full speed.
Indeed, the aura of the golden skeleton had been completely suppressed at this moment, looking like it was no different from an ordinary skeleton, but Shun Long understood that this skeleton was anything but ordinary.
He had already seen how the Northern Sovereign and the other experts around her had tried to get close to this skeleton, but the terrifying aura that was coming from the skeleton's body had kept those experts at bay, preventing them from moving even a step closer towards it.
''Most likely, this golden skeleton is the owner of the King's Palace, that expert who was trying to ascend to become a true immortal.''
At the same time that Shun Long made his move, outside of the King's Palace, the Northern Sovereign and the experts around her all stared at the scene above the palace with stunned looks on their faces.
They had all seen the 9 bolts of purple lightning that had started to take shape and were about to strike the core region of the palace, but before they actually descended from the sky, the cloud of the Heavenly Tribulation had suddenly vanished, leaving behind a dumbfounded group of experts!
''Did the Heavenly Tribulation just disappear? I really thought that the 9 bolts of purple lightning were about to descend at that moment!''
''Could the Heavens have changed their minds? Senior... is that even possible?''
''Let's go!'' The Northern Sovereign wasn't willing to hear the speculations of the experts around her as she spoke in a cold voice, before her body disappeared on the spot, heading towards the King's Palace in the distance at full speed.
The surrounding experts all nodded their heads before they followed after her, heading towards the King's Palace as well.
The Northern Sovereign and the other experts were just 200.000 meters (120miles) away from the palace, but such a distance was a matter of a few seconds for the Northern Sovereign to cross.
The black thunderclouds that had been pushed away from Shun Long's Heavenly Tribulation had yet to gather together again and needed some more time to do so, making the King's Palace a place without any danger for experts at the Northern Sovereign's level.
After all, the only thing that the Northern Sovereign was afraid of, was the bolts of purple lightning around the palace!
As for the pressure that was coming from the golden skeleton, although the Northern Sovereign couldn't get past it, it didn't pose the slightest bit of danger to an expert at her level.
Liu Mei, Xingyi, Jiang Chen, and Bai Longtian, all saw the Grand Elder and the other experts hurrying towards the King's Palace and followed after them without any hesitation.
A few seconds later, the Northern Sovereign was the first one to arrive in the core region of the King's Palace, but the scene in front of her left the silver-robed woman stunned in disbelief.
''Senior!''
The experts who were following after her soon arrived one after the other, but as soon as their eyes landed on the empty bronze throne, these experts instantly went silent.
''This... where is the golden skeleton?'' Surprisingly, young lady Niu who was carried by the red-haired Sovereign realm expert, senior Feng, was the first one to break the silence, as she looked at the Northern Sovereign with a curious, and even somewhat excited look in her eyes.
Since the golden skeleton was no longer on the bronze throne, then that could only mean that someone had managed to get their hands on it, and the most likely person to do so was the person who had arrived first, the Northern Sovereign.
Although the Northern Sovereign was indeed the strongest among the experts inside the King's Palace right now, the golden skeleton wasn't something that she could keep for herself, regardless of how much she coveted it.
Even the strongest experts of the central region had their eyes set on the figure of the golden skeleton, but they had tried to obtain it for countless years to no avail.
Naturally, those experts wouldn't come to the King's Palace every time it opened for such a fruitless endeavor.
However, if someone really managed to get the golden skeleton, even if the person who got it was the Northern Sovereign, those experts would naturally chase her down to obtain it.
As for Shun Long, the thought of him trying to steal the golden skeleton didn't even cross young lady Niu's mind. Putting aside whether he could even get close to the bronze throne in the first place, if Shun Long really dared to try and steal the skeleton, then there would only be one outcome for him... death!
