Another month passed since the Northern Sovereign's visit, but Shun Long had yet to come out from seclusion.
At this point, even Jiang Chen and the others had started to get slightly worried, but they knew that there was nothing else they could do but sit back and wait.
Of course, other than Jiang Chen and the rest, practically every single person in the entire 'Northern Sovereign's city' only had a single common topic of discussion; the opening of the 'City of Immortals'!
Nearly every single middle and late-stage Dao King realm cultivator in the city, and even plenty of early-stage Dao Kings, had already set off towards the 'City of Immortals' once the news about the city opening began to spread a couple of months ago!
At the same time, the largest shops within the city like the 'Myriad pills pavilion' and the 'White tiger chamber of commerce' were naturally booming in business as well, as those Dao Kings all made sure to stock up on pills, as well as everything they possibly needed before they left the city.
Time continued to pass, and in the blink of an eye, it had already been 6 months since the Grand Elder's visit to the Northern Sovereign's estate.
Just as Liu Mei walked past the courtyard's gates and entered inside, she noticed that Xingyi, Jiang Chen, and Bai Longtian, were all sitting on the ground with their eyes closed as they absorbed the pure qi around them without stop.
The extremely rich qi inside the courtyard seemed to have separated itself, as it formed 3 massive vortexes above Xingyi's and the others' heads.
Thankfully, the qi inside the 'Southern Dragon's courtyard' was more than enough to supply even Sovereign realm experts, so regardless of how fast Jiang Chen's and the others' absorption speed was, the 3 of them were far from being able to absorb it faster than the qi was being replenished!
At the same time that Liu Mei entered the courtyard, Jiang Chen and the others stopped cultivating and opened their eyes, before Bai Longtian nodded his head in greeting as he said warmly
''Sister Liu, welcome back.''
Liu Mei nodded her head in response, before she turned her worried gaze towards the large building at the center of the courtyard and asked
''Long-ge still hasn't ended his seclusion?''
Xingyi shook her head as she looked at Liu Mei, and after a moment of silence she said
''It's already been almost 10 months since brother Long entered seclusion and he has yet to come out. Mei… do you think that something has actually happened?''
In fact, it wasn't just Xingyi who was worried about this matter, as Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian were also worried, while even Jiang Tianfang himself had started to feel uneasy when he thought about this.
After all, just like Xingyi had said, it had been 10 months since Shun Long entered seclusion, and he should have been aware that the 'City of Immortals' had already opened by now.
Unless something had truly happened during his seclusion, it didn't make sense for him to not come out.
Liu Mei wanted to instinctively shake her head and say that everything should be alright, but at this moment, a certain memory flashed through her mind as Liu Mei suddenly remembered what she had experienced back in the 'City of Sin' in the Night star continent.
Back then, Shun Long had actually disappeared into thin air, and he only ended up returning after a few days had already passed.
Although he hadn't explained everything to Liu Mei back then, Liu Mei still understood that Shun Long had been in some real danger at that time, and she had also seen by herself how even Little Black had been unable to help him.
If something similar happened again, then Shun Long may truly be in trouble.
The more Liu Mei thought about this matter, the more she felt that such a scenario was actually plausible.
At that moment however, just as Liu Mei was about to speak, the door of the main room suddenly opened, before a figure dressed in blue robes walked out from it.
A dazzling, soul-stirring smile appeared on Liu Mei's face when she saw this scene, as she immediately called out in a joyous tone
''Long-ge!''
The moment that the door of the room opened, Xingyi, Jiang Chen, and Bai Longtian seemed to have sensed it as well, as they all turned around and stared at the figure that was dressed in blue robes and was walking towards their direction.
''Brother Long!''
''Haha, brother Shun, you are finally out!''
Staring at Shun Long, elated smiles appeared on Xingyi's, Bai Longtian's, and Jiang Chen's faces, as they all stood up and flew towards his direction barely a moment later.
Shun Long smiled and pulled both Liu Mei and Xingyi into a hug, before he turned his gaze towards Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian and asked curiously
''Longtian, how long was I in seclusion for?''
Bai Longtian stared at Shun Long with a surprised look on his face before he nodded his head and said seriously
''Brother Shun, you were in seclusion for almost 10 months. We were even starting to get worried that something actually happened to you, since you didn't come out even after the earthquake that shook the entire 'Northern Sovereign's city'.''
Shun Long's eyes widened when he heard Bai Longtian's answer, as he truly hadn't expected that 10 months would have passed while he was in seclusion.
Of course, the reason behind that was due to him having placed his entire focus on taming the purple-colored earth flame, which had caused him to completely isolate himself from the outside world and lose track of time.
After all, cultivators wouldn't usually lose sense of time while they cultivated, unless they spent hundreds or even thousands of years in seclusion or if something unexpected happened during that time.
After a moment of silence, Shun Long stared at Bai Longtian and asked in surprise
''An earthquake actually shook the city? What happened?''
