A week passed by in the blink of an eye, as the figure of a middle-aged man that was standing in front of Shun Long started to turn into motes of light and slowly disappear from the palace hall.
At the same time that the old man disappeared, some of the motes of light that were forming his body didn't dissipate in the air, and instead, they started to gather around Shun Long before they were absorbed inside his 'Dao token'.
In the past week, Shun Long had fought more than 60 battles inside the Dao Tower, causing the color of his orange token to change, from the original deep orange to a deep red color.
The higher his rank rose inside the Dao Tower, the more fights he needed to win to advance even further into the next rank while his opponents became even more difficult to handle.
In the beginning, Shun Long could easily fight a dozen white and yellow rank opponents without an issue, but as soon as he entered the red rank, every single one of his opponents had a Dao comprehension at the Nascent Soul stage, causing him to feel much more pressured during the fights.
Even with his Dao of Time, he could still feel the ever-increasing pressure from the opponents around him, making Shun Long realize that the depth of one's comprehension of their Dao was equally as important as a person's cultivation base.
Of course, although he was pressured, Shun Long actually felt exhilarated, as he could clearly feel that his comprehension of his Dao of Time was increasing at an extremely rapid rate through these fights.
The more he was pressured to fight against these stronger opponents, the deeper he could comprehend his Dao of Time as well making this a cycle that he was unwilling to stop.
However, he still had to stop his challenge inside the Dao Tower more than once during the past week, both to quietly comprehend his Dao of Time as well, but also to allow his mind to rest.
After all, fighting against Nascent Soul stage cultivators with every single fight, most of whom had even comprehended their Daos even further than Shun Long had comprehended his Dao of Time placed an extremely heavy toll on Shun Long's mind.
As for the middle-aged man in front of him whose body had almost completely disappeared by now, he was the strongest opponent that Shun Long had yet faced inside the Dao Tower during the past week, his comprehension of his Dao reaching the peak of the Nascent Soul stage!
Even with his Dao of Time, at his current comprehension, Shun Long found it more than hard to defeat the old man.
If it wasn't for the previous 60 fights that had allowed his comprehension of the Dao to increase by leaps and bounds, Shun Long was certain that he would have lost against this middle-aged man.
As the last mote of light coming from the middle-aged man's body was absorbed inside his token, Shun Long saw the deep red token by his side changing colors as it slowly turned purple.
''I really had to reach the purple rank to fight against peak Nascent Soul stage opponents. Let's see where my current limits are then!''
...
7 more days quickly passed as well, as the figure of an old man who was dressed in black robes, with short white hair and bony arms and legs soon materialized in the palace hall in front of Shun Long.
Shun Long had a serious look in his eyes as he stared at the old man in front of him who was casually standing at the center of the hall with an easy-going expression on his face.
Even though Shun Long could see that this old man was at the same cultivation level as him inside the palace hall, the early rank 1 of the Heaven grade, it was obvious from the aura coming from his body, that the old man's true cultivation had already exceeded the absolute peak of the Nascent Soul!
Gusts of wind were tightly hugging his body while wind blades seemed to naturally flow around him, looking as if this old man was truly someone who commanded the wind itself with a wave of his hand.
Shun Long immediately understood that there was only one thing that explained the natural flow of wind around the old man's body.
''He is a Dao King realm expert!''
As he came to this conclusion, Shun Long's gaze turned even more serious, as he circulated his 'Monarch's Hourglass' without any hesitation, causing his eyes to instantly turn golden at the same time.
This was the first time that he had to fight against a Dao King realm expert inside the Dao Tower!
During the past week, ever since he had stepped into the purple rank, he had fought with more than 50 peak Nascent Soul stage cultivators, some of whom were even just a step away from entering the Dao King realm.
As long as they could take that one final step forward and comprehend their Dao even further, they could attempt their breakthrough to the Dao King realm at any time.
However, those were also the strongest opponents that Shun Long had faced during this time.
Even with his Dao of Time, Shun Long found himself in a tough spot when he fought against some of those experts who were just a step away from breaking through to the Dao King realm.
Thus, during this past week, he had already realized the difference between a normal Nascent Soul stage cultivator and an expert who was only half a step away from entering the Dao King realm.
Of course, his comprehension of his Dao of Time had also increased even more during the past week, while Shun Long guessed that he was probably at the same level in terms of his comprehension of his Dao of Time, as the average late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.