The 'Heaven swallowing vine' was constantly filling the 'Stone of Time' with its pure qi, while Shun Long was greedily absorbing as much as his body could handle.
At the same time, in the 'Monarch's Hourglass', the 81 balls of qi were being compressed again and again.
Shun Long's aim was to compress them all into one ball of qi that would contain even more power than the 81 balls combined.
Shun Long was surprised to find out that, the pure qi from the vine was even more potent than what he had originally estimated.
Little Black also listened to Shun Long as he too started to absorb the qi from the 'Heaven swallowing vine' around him.
After 3 hours, little Black had absorbed nearly one-third of the pure qi inside the 'Stone of Time', until he finally started his breakthrough to rank 4.
In reality little Black was close to breaking through even without the 'Heaven swallowing vine', however, it would have taken him at least 2 more months to reach that point.
Meanwhile, inside Shun Long's body, the 81 balls of qi had been compressed down to just 3. The energy inside these 3 balls of qi was so powerful that Shun Long was finding it hard to keep them under control as he tried to merge them into one.
Sweat had started dripping from his head as he had now reached the most crucial phase of his breakthrough.
His mind was entirely focused on merging the 3 balls of qi into one.
This process required absolute focus and every second felt like an eternity. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes slowly turned into hours.
Almost one full day had passed and inside the 'Stone of Time', above Shun Long's head, there weren't 3 white balls of qi in the 'Monarch's Hourglass' anymore. Instead only a small, silver-white ball was left in their place.
This was the ball of qi made with the help of the pure qi from the 'Heaven swallowing vine', as well as the 81 balls of qi of the qi condensation stage.
And yet, Shun Long didn't seem to have any intentions to stop, as his body started absorbing the qi around him even more greedily.
A day later, there seemed to be 2 identical silver-white balls of qi in the 'Monarch's Hourglass'.
Shun Long's cultivation was rising non-stop and 10 days later he had already reached the peak of rank 1 in earth grade.
And yet, although the qi inside the 'Stone of Time' had started to thin, Shun Long didn't stop cultivating and a few days later he had already reached the early rank 2.
Early rank 2... Middle rank 2... Peak rank 2... Early rank 3!
Half a month went by and Shun Long was now just a step away from the middle rank 3 in earth grade.
But what horrified Shun Long was the incredibly high requirements of the 'Monarch's Hourglass'. With every minor rank that he advanced, the 'Monarch's Hourglass' required more and more qi.
Finally, 5 days later another popping sound was heard from his body as his cultivation reached the middle rank 3.
Little Black who had long ago finished his breakthrough was staring at Shun Long with eyes shining brightly.
''Nearly a month has passed and master has already reached the middle rank 3 in earth grade. However, it seems like the qi from the 'Heaven swallowing vine' has almost all been s.u.c.k.e.d dry by master.''
A few hours later, Shun Long's cultivation had already stabilized at the middle of rank 3 in earth grade as he opened his eyes.
However the moment that he opened his eyes, Shun Long felt a stinging pain while the 'Stone of Time' started rotating inside his spiritual space.
Shun Long almost felt as if needles were piercing his eyes and yet he couldn't even close them, while little Black could only look at him horrified without having any way to help him.
It took almost an hour for the pain to start subsiding and yet, there was still a numbing feeling in his eyes.
Turning his head to look at little Black inside the 'Stone of Time', Shun Long noticed that the black dragon was looking at him tongue-tied.
Little Black watched the entire process as Shun Long's eyes had turned into a golden color, while they were also emitting a faint blue light.
As Shun Long turned to look at little Black, a scene suddenly appeared in his mind where the black dragon stood in front of him and said
''Master! Your eyes- their color...''
Five seconds later, Shun Long's eyes had turned back to normal, only to notice that little Black was looking at him, repeating the exact same words after just a few seconds later
''Master! Your eyes- their color...''
Shun Long was stunned as a feeling of deja vu overcame him before he felt something akin to a small explosion coming from his spiritual space.
It was at this moment that the 'Stone of Time' had stopped rotating, and it radiated a horrifying suppressive aura that made even Little Black who had just experienced a major breakthrough feel like he was just an ant.
Scene after scene flashed by Shun Long's eyes, as they had unknowingly turned back to that golden color again.
A bit more than an hour later, Shun Long woke up and sent his consciousness back to his body before he sat up from his bed.
Little Black who saw that he had finally woken up then asked
''Master, what happened to your eyes earlier? Are you okay?''
Although Shun Long's eyes had turned back to normal now, little Black wouldn't forget that they had changed colors earlier.
Shun Long was ecstatic as he thought of his new ability and explained to little Black
''Don't worry, I'm okay. I just didn't expect that the 'Stone of Time' would have such a gift for me as soon as I advanced to the earth grade.''