Chapter 897 

In the blink of an eye, a year had quickly pa.s.sed by since Shun Long and his group had settled down in the "Endless Desert".

During this past year, Shun Long had entered a cycle of constant qi refinement, as he continued to absorb the qi that the "Heaven Swallowing vine" unceasingly produced.

However, regardless of how much qi he absorbed, the qi in the air around him didn"t seem to diminish in the slightest, as the "Heaven Swallowing vine" continued to absorb the pure qi inside the "City of Immortals" as well, before releasing out only the purest and most condensed version of "immortal qi" possible.

During this time, Xingyi, Bai Longtian, and Jiang Chen had also placed their entire focus in their own cultivation, but to their complete astonishment, once they started cultivating alongside Shun Long, the 3 of them finally realized what the term "monster-like" really meant.

Even though the 3 of them were all cultivating immortal-grade techniques that Shun Long had personally given them and were practically tailor-made for them, once they started absorbing the qi in the air around them, Jiang Chen, Bai Longtian, and Xingyi realized that they were only absorbing less than 30 percent of the qi in the air in total.

This meant that each of them was only absorbing around 10 percent of the immortal qi in the air!

As for the remaining 70 percent? It was all being drawn towards Shun Long, like a voracious child who was hungrily consuming everything that came close to it!

Feeling a sense of urgency in their hearts, Bai Longtian, Jiang Chen, and Xingyi chose to cast aside all useless thoughts, as they focused their entire attention in their own cultivation as well, unwilling to be left too far behind.

During this past year, Shun Long"s cultivation had naturally increased by a great deal as well, entering the middle stages of the Dao King realm and even reaching the early rank 5 Dao King.

Back in the central region, his speed of cultivation would be considered extremely terrifying and completely unheard of, and it would have been more than enough to raise waves throughout the entire central continent. After all, breaking through the barrier to become a middle-stage Dao King and even reaching the early rank 5 in a mere short year was nothing short of miraculous.

However, with the "Heaven Swallowing vine" and the extraordinarily pure qi inside the "City of Immortals", Shun Long knew that such a result was only natural.

It was only after successfully condensing the 39th golden-colored ball of qi and pus.h.i.+ng it inside the "Monarch"s Hourgla.s.s", that Shun Long let out a breath of turbid air, before he finally opened his eyes! At this moment, Shun Long could see the 39 golden-colored b.a.l.l.s of qi that were hovering above his head inside the "Monarch"s Hourgla.s.s", each of them emitting an unnaturally powerful sense of oppression, seeming slightly different from how they were in the past.

With a satisfied smile on his face, he threw one last look at the 39 golden-colored b.a.l.l.s of qi above his head, before he turned his attention towards Xingyi and the rest.

Right now, Shun Long knew that although the outer appearance of his golden-colored b.a.l.l.s of qi was barely any different from before, his strength had already gone through a dramatic increase compared to when he was still in the early stages of the Dao King realm!

This was a qualitative change that was brought not just by the increase in his own cultivation, but also thanks to the extraordinarily pure immortal qi inside the "City of Immortals".

After scanning through his surroundings and seeing that Xingyi, Bai Longtian, and Jiang Chen were all seated on the ground with their eyes closed, focused entirely on absorbing the pure qi from the "Heaven Swallowing vine", Shun Long"s gaze soon landed on Liu Mei.

Without a doubt, during this past year, the person whose cultivation had increased the most was definitely Liu Mei. She had leaped from the early rank 7 of the Dao King realm all the way to the peak of rank 8, and from her aura, Shun Long could tell that she was only a step away from becoming an early rank 9 Dao King as well.

However, unlike Jiang Chen and the others, during this past year, Liu Mei hadn"t been absorbing the pure qi from the "Heaven Swallowing vine", but was instead focused on adjusting her mental state.

It was clear that although Liu Mei had absorbed a large amount of qi after the fight with Yao Guanting"s group of 100 Dao Kings, allowing her to reach the peak of rank 8 in the Dao King realm in one fell swoop, she didn"t find it easy to do so.

After all, the negative effects of the "Blood Absorption art" were extremely hard to suppress, and Liu Mei had to give it her all to prevent them from affecting her mind.

Shun Long was just about to walk over to Liu Mei"s side and help her deal with the remaining aftereffects of the "Blood Absorption art", but it was at this moment that Little Black"s calm voice sounded in his mind

""Master, you should focus on your own cultivation for now. I know that you dote on that little girl quite a bit, but this is something that she has to deal with by herself. The pain she is experiencing isn"t that bad, and it will allow her to temper herself further. This is why, until she becomes a peak rank 9 Dao King, there is no real need for master to intervene.""

Little Black could easily tell, that although Liu Mei appeared to be struggling to fully suppress the aftereffects of the "Blood Absorption art" on her own, her life wasn"t in any real danger. This was why the black dragon cautioned Shun Long against helping her, despite Liu Mei"s obvious struggle. After all, Little Black knew better than anyone, that for cultivators who trained in certain cultivation techniques like the "Blood Absorption art", the most important thing they needed, was to have a steady heart that wouldn"t waver easily! This was precisely why Liu Mei needed to get past this hurdle on her own, without any external a.s.sistance.

After a brief moment of silence, Shun Long ultimately nodded his head in agreement, before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. No matter what, since Little Black was personally paying attention to Liu Mei, there was nothing untoward that could possibly happen to her.

As he closed his eyes and entered the foggy s.p.a.ce in the "Stone of Time", Shun Long then put every other matter to the back of his mind and turned his gaze towards the figure of a golden skeleton that was hovering in the air just a few meters away from him!