This middle-aged man was Shun Long's 48th opponent.
During the past 24 hours, Shun Long had actually managed to win 48 battles in a row! This was a terrifying number that very few people could achieve in the Dao Tower in one go.
In these past 24 hours, his token had also changed from the original white color to a deep orange one, and it seemed to be just a few fights away from having its color turn red.
After reaching the yellow rank, Shun Long had to fight against opponents whose Dao comprehension had reached the level of an average peak Heaven grade cultivator or a newly advanced Spirit realm.
Of course, in front of Shun Long's Dao of Space that was just a step away from reaching the standard of a newly advanced Nascent Soul stage cultivator, none of them could actually last for more than a couple of minutes.
However, after reaching the orange rank, the opponents that Shun Long had to face became even stronger, as every single one of them had reached the standard of a normal middle or late-stage Spirit realm cultivator, causing Shun Long to feel much more pressure fighting them while sitting cross-legged on the ground.
As for the robust middle-aged man that Shun Long had just faced, his Dao comprehension was just a step away from breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage as well.
In this fight against the middle-aged man, Shun Long had actually failed to block some of his attacks as well, causing him to suffer pain similar to what he would have felt in the real world from them.
And yet, despite being hit in the chest 3 times and being placed in this situation of immense stress, Shun Long's eyes lit up as he looked at the unmoving body of the man in front of him.
At the same time, as the middle-aged man's body started to disappear, a few of the motes of light coming from his body were absorbed by Shun Long's orange-colored token, bringing it one step closer to red.
After a moment of hesitation, Shun Long closed his eyes and cut off the connection between himself and his orange-colored token.
His surroundings quickly changed as he suddenly felt himself disappearing from the large palace hall, before he returned back to his dark room of the Dao Tower barely a moment later.
Although Shun Long was confident that he could probably reach the red rank after a few more fights using only his Dao of Space, despite the fact that the difficulty of the opponents that he had to face had already increased exponentially, after 24 hours of non-stop fighting and after this last fight with the robust middle-aged man, an intense feeling had started to appear deep inside him, as Shun Long could feel that his comprehension of space had started to change.
He knew that this was his chance to breakthrough to the early fifth stage in his 'Monarch's Eternal body'.
The moment that he cut off the connection between himself and his orange token and felt himself returning back to the room, Shun Long heard the familiar rumbling sound coming from behind him, as the heavy black door started to open by itself.
Without wasting any time, Shun Long walked out of the room directly, as he returned back to the ground floor of the Dao Tower a few moments later.
Walking past the enormous building's entrance, Shun Long wandered around the Holy city as he started to look for an inn.
Thankfully, he didn't have to search for a long time, as the Holy city was actually filled with plenty of inns, most of them belonging to the powerful clans and families that resided in the city.
After all, as the city located directly below the Holy mountain, it was only natural that many of the powerful clans and families that lived in the Holy sect's territories would not only have their own businesses in the Holy city such as pill shops, formation master shops, and inns and restaurants, but some of them would even choose to relocate their entire clan in the city as well.
Of course, only the strongest families and clans would dare to do something like that since the Holy city was a huge pie that everyone wanted to share but only the strongest would do so in the end. Additionally, those families and clans who dared to send their main forces in the Holy city didn't mean that they wouldn't control any other cities either. After all, the more cities they have under their control the more businesses they will also have, meaning the bigger their profits would be.
After choosing a random inn near the center of the city that belonged to the Qiao clan and paying 200 middle-grade spirit stones to rent a courtyard for the next 2 days, Shun Long entered his room and without wasting any time, he sat cross-legged on his bed and closed his eyes, as he simulated himself returning to the foggy space in the 'Stone of Time'.
Sitting in his usual seat, Shun Long waved his hand, causing a single bottle filled with bright red pills to appear in front of him, as well as 100 stalks of rank 5 'Dragonblood grass'.
This was the last bottle of top-grade 'Dragonblood tempering pills' that Shun Long still had, and he had kept it for himself instead of selling it to Wan Zu in the Golden Treasures Hall for sect points because he was preparing for this breakthrough to the fifth stage of body refinement.
The moment that he opened the bottle, the sweet fragrance of the 5 'Dragonblood tempering pills' instantly filled the air around him with their intoxicating scent.
After taking a few breaths to calm himself down, Shun Long held the 5 red pills in his hands, before placing them all in his mouth at the same time.
The 5 top-grade rank 5 'Dragonblood tempering pills' instantly turned into a gentle stream of energy that melted in his mouth, but as soon as the energy went down his throat a familiar pain assaulted Shun Long, causing his eyes to widen in the process under the extreme pain, while his spiritual sea inside his spiritual space had started to split apart.