The moment that Bai Longtian opened his eyes, an extremely fierce and yet simultaneously serene aura burst out from his body, like a sword that had finally woken up from its long slumber.
At that moment, the aura around Bai Longtian was completely different from Jiang Chen's aura when he had woken up.
If Jiang Chen was similar to an unsheathed demonic saber that was craving blood, then Bai Longtian was more like a calm, righteous sword that wouldn't be moved even if it was faced with a hundred enemies.
''Are you serious? Which power did these kids come from? What the hell is going on?''
''It wasn't a coincidence? Hahaha, I have to tell senior sister Yu. I am sure that she will be interested in this matter!''
Once they sensed the aura coming from Bai Longtian's body, the surrounding Dao Kings could no longer stay quiet as they began to question the reality in front of them.
It was one thing if it was just 1 or even 2 people among Shun Long's group who had obtained enlightenment and had managed to step into the realm of masters, but for 3 of them to do so one after the other, this wasn't something that could be ignored any longer.
Additionally, Shun Long was the only one who had yet to wake up, and at this point, there were very few people who believed that he would fail to make it into the realm of masters as well.
''Senior brother, should we try to rope these kids in? Judging from the robes they are wearing it doesn't look like they belong to any large power or I would have already recognized them. Do you want to make a move?''
A young man in yellow robes who was emitting an aura at the peak of rank 8 in the Dao King realm and was standing just a few meters away from Liu Mei and the others said in a low voice as he asked the yellow-robed middle-aged man who was standing by his side.
However, the yellow-robed middle-aged man next to him simply stared at Liu Mei and the others seriously for a few moments, before he shook his head and said
''Don't bother. They are too weak to join us. Even the strongest among them is just an early rank 7 Dao King while the rest of them are just in the middle stages.
Even if they are somewhat talented, they will be nothing but dead weight to us here. Remember, our top-most priority is still the 'City of Immortals'. Once everyone else wakes up we will continue to explore this desert.''
The yellow-robed young man nodded his head and didn't say anything else as he sat on the ground and closed his eyes.
Indeed, just like the middle-aged man had said, even though Bai Longtian and the others may be somewhat talented, in the end, they were still limited by their own cultivation bases.
Even if they had entered the realm of masters, it was still impossible for 2 peak rank 4 Dao Kings like Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian to face off against an average late-stage Dao King directly!
Regardless of how talented they were, this was an insurmountable difference caused by the gap in their cultivation bases that they couldn't possibly defy.
Even this yellow-robed young man knew, that he could effortlessly slaughter their entire group all by himself if he ignored Little Silver.
Although a peak rank 6 magic beast was quite a formidable force in a place where only Dao Kings could enter, the yellow-robed young man knew that in the 'City of Immortals' that was filled with countless monsters, it was actually nothing much in comparison.
Additionally, there were less than 9 years left until the 'City of Immortals' closed again.
Putting aside whether Bai Longtian and the others could even reach the late stages of the Dao King realm within these 9 years, it was actually uncertain if they would even be able to stay alive.
These weren't just the thoughts of the yellow-robed middle-aged man, but many of the surrounding powerful Dao Kings as well, who merely threw a few glances towards Shun Long and his group before they ignored them.
It would be one thing if Bai Longtian and the others had been late-stage Dao Kings who had also entered the realm of masters, but a group of middle-stage Dao Kings would rank near the bottom in terms of strength within the 'City of Immortals'.
At that moment, Bai Longtian took a deep breath and retracted his aura back into his body, before he turned his gaze towards Liu Mei and the others and said calmly
''It seems that brother Shun is the only one left. Unfortunately, I couldn't last any longer either. Although the scenes in that stone mural are truly profound, that pressure near the end was simply too powerful! Most likely, even a peak-stage Dao King will have trouble enduring that!''
Liu Mei nodded her head when she heard Bai Longtian's words, before she turned her gaze towards Shun Long who was still sitting there with his eyes closed.
During the last few months, Liu Mei had seen plenty of late-stage and even some peak-stage Dao kings who had been forced to give up and had failed to enter the realm of masters, but she had also seen more than a handful of people who had managed to step into that level as well.
There was no doubt that to enter the realm of masters, one didn't just need a powerful spiritual strength that rivaled that of a late-stage Dao King's... but also immense talent.
However, Liu Mei was certain that neither of those requirements would be enough to stop Shun Long. The only question was, how long it would take him to do so.
Time continued to pass, and soon, the 11th and the 12th months slowly came to an end. Like this, an entire year had gone by since Liu Mei and the others had arrived in this desert, but Shun Long had yet to open his eyes.
However, Liu Mei and the others weren't worried as they simply waited for him to wake up.
As the 12th month came to an end, Xingyi's cultivation had also reached the early rank 6 of the Dao King realm, while Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian had both stepped into the early rank 5 of the Dao King realm as well.
Of course, it wasn't surprising that Xingyi would surpass both Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian during this time.
After all, Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian had both spent nearly 5 more months comprehending the scenes in the stone mural, while Xingyi had spent that time cultivating and absorbing the pure qi in this place, so it was only natural for her cultivation to surpass theirs.
As for Liu Mei, she had already managed to become an early rank 7 Dao King after she finished absorbing the qi that she had obtained from killing Li Tian, and she had spent the past 9 months suppressing the negative emotions that had bubbled up inside her due to the 'Blood Absorption art'.
After 9 whole months, Liu Mei could feel that she had completely suppressed all those negative emotions, and that as long as she managed to obtain enough qi, she could even breakthrough all the way to the peak of the Dao King realm in one go.
Soon, the 13th and 14th months also went by but Shun Long had yet to wake up.
Finally, as the 15th month came to an end, Shun Long's body suddenly trembled before an extremely sharp and profound aura burst out from his body.
''Wh-What? What is this? What's going on?''
''What kind of aura is this? I- I can feel my soul trembling!''
The aura that came from Shun Long's body didn't just startle Liu Mei and the rest, but all of the nearby Dao Kings as well who now stared at him with expressions of shock and disbelief plastered on their faces.
Although most of the peak-stage Dao Kings had already left this place by now, there were still quite a few early and middle rank 9 Dao Kings around the stone mural, and each of them was stunned when they sensed this indescribable aura that seemed to have emerged out of nowhere.
At the same time, Bai Longtian's eyes widened momentarily, before he mumbled to himself in a low voice
''So brother Shun really reached that realm...''
