Chapter 729: Five Hundred Years to Break Through to Semi-Sage

But only a few months had passed when Luo Fu made a wager with Buddhism, changing the quest for the True Sutra into a theft of the True Sutra.

Sun Wukong did not know whether this counted as reversing the Journey to the West, but for him, if he won this wager, his ending would surely be rewritten.

Since it was now about stealing the True Sutra rather than seeking it, Sun Wukong naturally no longer needed to join Buddhism or become Buddhism's Battle-Warrior Buddha.

It was precisely because he thought of this that Sun Wukong could not help but feel excited.

"Just through hard cultivation, five hundred years—even reaching mid-level Da Luo Jinxian would be difficult."

As soon as Sun Wukong spoke, Xingtian harshly doused him with cold water.

Xingtian spoke the truth: cultivation becomes harder the further one progresses, yet Sun Wukong had broken through to Da Luo Jinxian in such a short time.

It was because Luo Fu gave him the blood essence of the Chaos Demon Ape, then, through his battle with the Buddha, placed him in mortal peril and forced rebirth, activating the Chaos Demon Ape bloodline and comprehending the Great Dao of War, that he successfully broke through to Da Luo Jinxian.

Activating the bloodline to trigger breakthrough—there is only ever one such opportunity.

Replicating it is nearly impossible.

For Da Luo Jinxian to break through, time is measured in yuanhui.

One yuanhui is one hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred years.

Five hundred years is barely a fraction of that.

To break through to Da Luo Jinxian peak within such a short span is nothing short of fantasy.

"Master Xingtian, I feel these past few days, under your training, I improve every day—if this training continues for five hundred years, shouldn't there still be hope of reaching Da Luo Jinxian peak?"

Hearing Xingtian's words, Sun Wukong looked at him with hope and doubt.

This was Sun Wukong's genuine feeling.

In these past few months inside the Battle War Small World, Sun Wukong felt he improved daily.

If he continued progressing at this rate, five hundred years would be enough for his strength realm to multiply many times over.

"You're being far too optimistic."

Xingtian looked at Sun Wukong and shook his head as he explained:

"The reason you've been improving these past days is first because you just activated your bloodline—when bloodline is newly activated, strength surges rapidly in the short term, but this surge is extremely limited for a Da Luo Jinxian."

After a brief pause, Xingtian glanced again at Luo Fu before continuing:

"Second, although your former Master taught you profound techniques and divine arts, he never subjected you to any trial. You are naturally attuned to the Great Dao of War, and the Great Dao of War demands the harshest trials of life and death."

"You had never undergone life-or-death trials before, so my hellish training had an unimaginably strong effect on you. But once you grow accustomed to such trials, the gains from hellish training will slow dramatically."

After hearing Xingtian's explanation, Sun Wukong froze slightly, a look of confusion creeping onto his face.

Compared to ordinary Tai Yi Jin Xian, Sun Wukong's lack of transmission was immense—especially regarding realms beyond Da Luo Jinxian, he knew almost nothing.

Although through the Myriad Worlds chat group, Sun Wukong had learned many secrets.

Yet most members of the Myriad Worlds chat group had extremely limited knowledge, even less than Sun Wukong's, and regarding realms above Da Luo Jinxian, they knew even less.

Thus, Sun Wukong still knew very little about cultivation basics for Da Luo Jinxian.

Precisely because of this, Sun Wukong did not understand the difficulty of Da Luo Jinxian cultivation.

His constant progress these past days led him to mistakenly believe that Da Luo Jinxian, like his previous realms, could be advanced through mere diligent cultivation.

He had broken through to Tai Yi Jin Xian peak in less than a few decades, and now he had become a Da Luo Jinxian.

Thus, Sun Wukong mistakenly believed that as long as he kept progressing steadily, five hundred years would be enough to reach Da Luo Jinxian peak.

Unfortunately, the truth was not so.

Sun Wukong had broken through so quickly to Tai Yi Jin Xian peak because he had long accumulated immense inner potential.

Then Buddhism had fed him countless heavenly treasures and earthly essences.

He could eat peaches of immortality at will, and Taishang Laojun's Golden Core pills at will.

Both the peaches of immortality and Taishang Laojun's Golden Core pills were extremely precious heavenly treasures.

With unlimited supplies of these two, his strength realm naturally soared like a rocket.

Now it was different: first, for a Da Luo Jinxian to advance, ordinary heavenly treasures and earthy essences were utterly useless.

The heavenly treasures and earthy essences that could affect a Da Luo Jinxian were extremely scarce and could not be supplied to Sun Wukong in unlimited quantities.

Sun Wukong's strength realm could no longer rise like a rocket.

"Heh, Wukong, don't rush—after all, I'm still here. Since I made the wager, I certainly have a way to let you break through the Ninety-Nine Eighty-One Difficulties."

Seeing Sun Wukong stunned, Luo Fu smiled gently and comforted him.

"Really? Great God Luo Fu, I'm counting on you—I don't want to become a bald monk in Buddhism, but I'm a bit too much trouble for you."

Hearing Luo Fu say he had confidence in breaking the Ninety-Nine Eighty-One Difficulties, Sun Wukong's eyes lit up; he grinned excitedly yet bashfully scratched his head.

"Five hundred years is still too short—ten thousand years would be about right. Time acceleration!"

With a light wave of his right hand, as Luo Fu spoke, countless Dao runes flew toward the Battle War Small World, instantly enveloping the entire realm.

Instantly, Xingtian keenly sensed that the time flow within the Battle War Small World had changed—accelerated by nearly twenty times.

That meant, for every year that passed in the outside world, twenty years passed inside the Battle War Small World.

Thus, five hundred years had effectively become ten thousand years.

"I didn't realize Elder Luo Fu was also skilled in the Time Dao—ten thousand years compared to five hundred certainly provides much more time, but raising Sun Wukong to Da Luo Jinxian peak remains extremely difficult."

Seeing that Luo Fu was not only skilled in the Time Dao but had instantly accelerated the entire Battle War Small World's time flow by twentyfold, Xingtian's eyes flickered with awe.

Luo Fu was simply too profound and unfathomable.

Yet for a Da Luo Jinxian to advance, even pure cultivation required time measured in yuanhui—ten thousand years was still insufficient.

"Xingtian, you are most skilled in the Great Dao of War—what methods do you think could raise Wukong's combat power to the level of a Great Divine Being within five thousand years?"

Luo Fu did not directly reveal how he would help Sun Wukong improve; instead, he posed the question to Xingtian.

To some extent, Xingtian truly understood the Great Dao of War better than Luo Fu.

Thus, Luo Fu also wished to hear Xingtian's advice.

To rapidly deepen one's understanding of the Dao of War, one must engage in life-or-death blood battles.