Although such wealth was much more than that of an average middle-stage Dao King in the Night star continent, it still wasn't enough to support Shun Long's expenditure for a long time.
Shun Long had already noticed that with his increase in his cultivation, the amount of spirit stones that he needed had also increased by a lot.
The moment that it noticed the 10.000 middle-grade spirit stones that Shun Long had placed in front of it, the Heaven Swallowing vine instantly started to absorb them, as it filled the air inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time' with extremely pure qi.
Closing his eyes, Shun Long circulated his 'Monarch's Hourglass' as 7 silver balls of qi appeared inside it.
With the residual energy inside his body that he had absorbed from his wine earlier as well as the pure qi in the air around him, Shun Long condensed the 8th ball of qi in nearly an instant before he started to condense the 9th one as well.
Like this, a month had quickly passed for Shun Long inside the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
While he was still sitting cross-legged on his seat, he could clearly feel the 15 bright silver-colored balls of qi that were now floating above his head inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass'!
In this last month, Shun Long had used up more than 40.000 middle-grade spirit stones, but he had successfully reached the middle of rank 2 in the Nascent Soul!
And yet, Shun Long still didn't stop his cultivation this time as he continued to stay in seclusion with his eyes closed, allowing the Heaven Swallowing vine to absorb even more spirit stones.
In the blink of an eye, another month quickly passed as 18 balls of qi were now floating inside the 'Monarch's Hourglass', allowing Shun Long to reach the peak of rank 2 in the Nascent Soul.
It was only then that Shun Long finally opened his eyes before he slowly stood up.
''More than 60.000 middle-grade spirit stones disappeared like that. Even the golden-robed young man's spatial ring only had 200.000 middle-grade spirit stones inside it. At this rate, I am not sure if I will even be able to reach the late stages of the Nascent Soul before I run out of spirit stones.''
Staring at the number of spirit stones that the Heaven Swallowing vine had absorbed to provide him with pure qi during this time, Shun Long finally felt the pinch after advancing to the Nascent Soul stage.
If he needed 20.000 middle-grade spirit stones just to advance from the middle of rank 2 of the Nascent Soul to the peak of rank 2, then 1 million spirit stones may actually not be enough to last him until he reached the late stages of the Nascent Soul.
Of course, this was only something that Shun Long had to deal with due to the 'Monarch's Hourglass' and its extremely strict requirements, as well as the fact that every subsequent ball of qi after the first one that he condensed needed to be purer than the previous one, which required even more qi to do so.
If it was an average peak rank 2 Nascent Soul stage cultivator, he wouldn't even need 200.000 middle-grade spirit stones to reach the rank 9 of the Nascent Soul in the future!
As he stood up from his seat, Shun Long first cast a look at the sleeping Little Black next to him and patted his head lightly, before he closed his eyes and imagined himself leaving the foggy space.
In the next moment, Shun Long could feel his surroundings change as he found himself back inside his room.
Dressed in her Holy sect's robes, Liu Mei was sitting on her meditative cushion next to Shun Long's as she brushed Little Silver's black fur.
Liu Mei's gorgeous black eyes and Little Silver's yellow eyes were both focused on Shun Long's figure the moment he appeared, while a dazzling appeared on Liu Mei's face when she noticed Shun Long's cultivation that had already reached the peak of rank 2 in the Nascent Soul.
Shun Long's lips curved up when he saw the unconcealed joy on Liu Mei's flawless face, before he once again used the 'Monarch's Hourglass' to completely conceal his cultivation and asked her seriously
''Mei'er, how are you feeling?''
Since he had already heard from Liu Mei about how difficult her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage really was, and how she had been close to falling into qi deviation with just her first breakthrough after cultivating in the 'Blood Absorption art', Shun Long had told Liu Mei to simply rest for now.
Although Liu Mei hadn't exerted herself during the time that she and Xie Xingyi were hidden in the cave during the third test, the mental wariness that they could be attacked at any time made the 2 girls really tired. This was especially so for Liu Mei who hadn't completely calmed her mind after her breakthrough during the third test as well, making the burden in her mind even more intense.
At the same time, Shun Long had also thought of another way to help Liu Mei during her breakthrough, one that would be even more efficient than turning a rank 5 Dreamy Ash flower into a pill. However, he still needed to purchase something from the Holy sect before doing so.
After all, herbs like the Dreamy ash flower that had the ability to calm someone's mind and expel their mental demons were extremely rare to begin with.
Although people in the City of Sin and perhaps the entire Night star continent didn't know of the flower's usage, Shun Long wouldn't underestimate every single alchemist in the Holy sect and think that no one would know of the flower's effects either. And even if they did, those medicinal herbs that nobody knew much about were the rarest ones in the end!
Nodding her head, Liu Mei smiled brightly at Shun Long and said
''Long-ge, I am fine. A couple of days were more than enough to rest completely. In these past 6 days I even meditated and slowly increased my spiritual strength as well.''
Shun Long nodded his head when he heard this as he had already planned to visit the 'Golden Treasures Hall' and see if he could find any medicinal herb that could be used to concoct a pill that could increase the spiritual strength.
However, the most important thing to do first was to first create his faction in the sect.
Seeing Shun Long stand up from his cushion Liu Mei seemed to have guessed his thoughts, as she took a deep breath and said with a curious look on her face
''Long-ge, a few hours after you entered seclusion, that young white lord from the Night star continent came to visit.''
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Author's note: 2/2