Monarch of Time
chapter-920

As dawn began to emerge and illuminate the 'City of Immortals' once more, the scorching heat of the 'Endless Desert' continued to batter the unsuspecting Dao Kings who dared to pass through its vicinity. The grains of sand, baked for countless years, had already turned a deeper shade of orange, reflecting the desert's unforgiving and relentless nature.

Surprisingly enough, even Dao Kings weren't immune to the heat inside the 'Endless Desert'. Things were somewhat tolerable for body refiners whose sturdy bodies could resist the overwhelming heat to a certain extent, but for most cultivators who had yet to temper their bodies, they could only protect themselves using their qi, otherwise, even taking a single step would be torturous.

And yet, Shun Long and his group were casually walking through the desert as they headed towards the south, as if the heat didn't bother them in the slightest.

After taking a look inside Mao Huang's spatial ring and verifying its contents, Shun Long didn't waste any time and gathered everyone, before they began their journey towards the south!

Normally, this trip would have only taken them a couple of months if they were traveling on the back of a peak rank 6 magic beast, but now that they were traveling on foot, Shun Long estimated that it would probably take them at least a year to arrive in their destination, even if he made use of his 'Dao of Space' in between to shorten the distance.

However, since Little Silver was now focused on absorbing the core of the 'Wind Wyrm' that Little Black had killed back in the 'Wind Dragon's forest', and was already in the process of advancing to become a rank 7 magic beast, their group could only travel on foot.

And yet, Shun Long didn't seem to mind this type of journey at all, and in fact even relished the idea of tempering his body under this environment.

After all, in the past couple of years, Shun Long had already consumed nearly 30 pills that he had concocted using the golden skeleton's essence, bringing his 'Monarch's Eternal body' to the middle of the sixth stage. Now, he was only a step away from the peak of the sixth stage as well!

Although the heat from the 'Endless Desert' wasn't strong enough to pierce through his defenses and harm him, it was still enough to slightly stimulate his body's latent potential, allowing him to absorb the pills' effects even faster.

Meanwhile, Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian were also mere steps away from reaching the peak of the sixth stage in body refinement, so this type of training was just as beneficial to them.

Liu Mei and Xingyi were the only ones who didn't find the environment of the 'Endless Desert' particularly interesting, but the 2 women were completely unfazed by the heat as well, as they were protected by Liu Mei's 'Dao of Ice'!

Although Liu Mei's proficiency in the 'Dao of Ice' was only at an elementary level and couldn't be used to fight other Dao Kings, it was still more than enough to protect her and Xingyi from the heat of the desert.

..

Like this, time continued to pass as Shun Long's group of 5 traveled towards the south, and in the blink of an eye, a month had already gone by.

Surprisingly, other than the extreme heat, the desert didn't seem to hold any dangers that could threaten a group of peak-stage Dao Kings, making their journey particularly peaceful. Occasionally, a few middle-rank 6 magic beasts would show their faces and try to attack them, but none of them could survive more than a few strikes from Liu Mei's Undead knights.

It was a monotonous routine with no change in scenery, but Shun Long could clearly feel his body getting stronger and stronger by the day, as his physique inched closer towards the peak of the sixth stage!

Eventually, as the second month came to an end, Shun Long saw his surroundings which had gradually begun to change.

The dull, uninteresting desert with its countless grains of sand seemed to have finally come to an end, and in its place, vast, verdant plains began to emerge.

''Finally... are we finally out of that accursed desert?!'' Bai Longtian's voice wasn't loud, but a myriad of emotions were contained within it as the young man stared at his new surroundings in excitement.

Looking at the vast, grassy landscape that spanned for countless miles and feeling a cool gust of wind caressing his face, Bai Longtian couldn't help but feel refreshed for the first time in a while.

Of course, Shun Long could also share Bai Longtian's feelings at this point. After all, the five of them had already spent more than 6 years within the 'Endless Desert', doing nothing but cultivating diligently the entire time.

No matter what, spending so long in such a dull environment was bound to make someone bored and crave a change of scenery.

...

Then, as the third month came to an end, Jiang Chen was actually the first one to breakthrough and reach the peak of the sixth stage in body refinement, followed by Bai Longtian just a few days later.

At this point, both Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian could confidently claim that they had already reached their absolute limits within the Dao King realm!

And yet, Shun Long could also tell that within the next couple of months at most, he would complete his breakthrough as well! Although his 'Monarch's Eternal body' required far more resources than other body refinement cultivators of the same realm, Shun Long could clearly sense that his muscles were now brimming with energy, and he was merely half a step away from reaching the peak of the Dao King realm in body refinement as well!

Two months later however, just as Shun Long felt that his body was almost fully saturated with energy and was about to attempt his breakthrough, the entire 'City of Immortals' faced a massive change.

The sky suddenly began to darken and even the mountain that Shun Long was standing on began to violently tremble, as if it was suddenly struck by a monumental earthquake, before the voice of an old man resounded loudly within Shun Long's mind!