Time ticked by, every moment stretched into eternity, each second so long it tugged at the heart.
The battle continued all the way until dawn.
Standing at the window, peering through the gap, Miles Moon grew increasingly anxious. "Is it still not done? How much longer?"
"We're not even halfway yet..." Anna Yang let out a long sigh. "He has far too much spiritual power. He must release it all first, then gather it again, before his body can be fully tempered."
Normally, when a Sage breaks through from the Spirit Channeling Stage to the Spirit Refining Stage, even without the aid of elixirs, it takes at most a couple of hours. For a Walker, though, it's much more troublesome—at least six or seven hours.
When the process drags on this long, risks arise. If interrupted by fainting, external forces may invade, resulting in death or permanent injury.
It's not unheard of for practitioners to perish while advancing from the Spirit Channeling Stage to the Spirit Refining Stage as a Walker.
Given the Monkey King's strength of spiritual power, if no medicine is used, this process will take at least a hundred hours...
That's an utterly terrifying number.
So the Monkey King must use a specially crafted elixir, just as Erik Yang did back in the day, to complete the breakthrough safely.
Only extraordinary suffering can forge extraordinary strength.
Using medicine to shorten the time is usually only considered by Sages; in itself, it's a rather marginal method.
Because it doesn't reduce the risk—in fact, it increases it.
Though the time is shortened, the process remains the same. With even more surging spiritual power released, all it brings is an even more terrifying assault on the mind.
That requires an even stronger will to withstand.
Anna Yang didn't know whether the Monkey King had the kind of willpower needed to overcome all of this.
But what other choice was there? In the current situation, where could the Monkey King possibly find a hundred hours to break through in peace?
Does this Monkey King always insist on taking the hardest road?
Thinking this, she couldn't help but smile helplessly.
As time slipped by, it was soon noon. The two outside had long since woken up; Miles Moon, mimicking the Monkey King's voice, had twice driven away inquiries from the demon servants.