One of the many white scales on Ye Zi's body disappeared, an occurrence that Orochimaru and Manda were unaware of, but the White Snake Sage noticed. Thus, he decisively acted on his thoughts, injecting natural energy into Ye Zi once more.
He wanted to see… how far Ye Zi could go.
It was the first time since merging with the world that he felt a sense of anticipation.
At such a special moment, with such a rare opportunity, how could he not indulge in the excitement that arose? Breaking the rules he had set, what did that matter? Simply put, it was a domineering attitude of "I make the rules."
After injecting natural energy into Ye Zi again, the White Snake Sage ignored Orochimaru's questioning and returned to his seat.
However, before continuing to observe Ye Zi, he glanced at Orochimaru. It was a calm look, yet it caused Orochimaru's body to tremble. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of suffocation.
Unconsciously, a few drops of cold sweat dripped from Orochimaru's forehead. It was the first time the White Snake Sage had revealed such a terrifying side in front of him.
"Watch quietly," the White Snake Sage said calmly.
With that, he quietly focused on Ye Zi.
Manda, seeing Orochimaru being put in his place, was somewhat amused. However, most of his attention remained on Ye Zi.
Having been subtly threatened by the White Snake Sage, Orochimaru had no choice but to compromise and continue watching Ye Zi, hoping that the second injection of natural energy would not cause any disruptions to Ye Zi's training.
Clearly, Orochimaru's thoughts were too naive.
Ye Zi had already been exerting himself to the limit to control the first injection of natural energy. Just as he was barely beginning to manage it, the White Snake Sage hit him with another dose.
This was far more extreme than the proverbial "last straw" that breaks the camel's back.
This wasn't a straw, it was akin to doubling the weight after you had already reached your limit.
Noticing the invasion of another wave of natural energy, Ye Zi's mood instantly soured.
There was no need to guess, this was obviously the handiwork of the White Snake Sage. However, there was no time to dwell on that now; Ye Zi immediately focused on handling the newly injected natural energy, quickly becoming overwhelmed.
What he didn't realize was that his sensitivity to this second wave of natural energy was becoming more acute and distinct.
The White Snake Sage's decision to inject another dose of natural energy before Ye Zi had fully mastered the first dose was a deliberate attempt to forcefully enhance Ye Zi's sensitivity to natural energy.
After all, mastering Sage Mode wasn't easy. Even after overcoming the first challenge, subsequent progress required repeated efforts, second, third attempts, and so on until one could independently sense and absorb natural energy.
Achieving this result was no simple feat. Ordinarily, after Ye Zi overcame the first challenge, the White Snake Sage would have to continue injecting natural energy for him in subsequent attempts.
By changing his approach and injecting two doses at once, if Ye Zi managed to persevere, the benefits would be at least tenfold.
"So, what will your outcome be?" the White Snake Sage mused.
In a sense, this could be seen as helping Ye Zi, but it was also a form of testing his limits.
The motive behind it? Simply the White Snake Sage's anticipation to see his desired outcome, prompting him to break the rules.
After the second injection of natural energy, the white scales on Ye Zi's face and body showed no signs of further growth, this was a good sign.
Noticing this, Orochimaru finally started to revise his opinion of the White Snake Sage's earlier actions.
However, Ye Zi had originally been in the final stages of his training, with the scales on his body beginning to disappear. The sudden intervention by the White Snake Sage threw everything into chaos again.
The sudden second wave of natural energy completely disrupted the balance that Ye Zi had painstakingly maintained. Fortunately, having gained experience from the first wave, he managed, albeit with difficulty, to regain control of the situation.
Gradually, he began to merge all the natural energy and chakra together, reconstructing a balance bit by bit.
The palace was silent, and time passed slowly.
Three pairs of eyes were fixed intently on Ye Zi.
An hour passed, and signs of the white scales disappearing began to appear on Ye Zi's body. At first, it was subtle, noticed only by the White Snake Sage. Orochimaru and Manda remained unaware.
Another hour passed, and the disappearance of the white scales increased, finally catching the attention of Orochimaru and Manda.
"Did he succeed?" Orochimaru couldn't help but wonder. The disappearance of the scales suggested that Ye Zi's snake-like traits were diminishing, indirectly indicating that his mastery of Sage Mode was improving.
As time passed, the white scales covering over 90% of Ye Zi's body began to fade—80%, 70%, 60%, 50%... The speed of disappearance started to slow down.
Although the pace decreased, the progress was still unmistakable.
The disappearance of the white scales signified that Ye Zi's precision in mastering Sage Mode was improving.
Once all the white scales disappeared, it would mark the achievement of perfect Sage Mode. However, whether Ye Zi could accomplish this feat within 24 hours remained uncertain.
With three hours left before the 24-hour mark, the white scales on Ye Zi's body covered only about 20% of his surface, mostly concentrated on his face.
At this stage, the rate at which the white scales faded and integrated into his body slowed significantly, with each scale taking as long as five to seven or eight minutes to vanish.
Orochimaru waited patiently for the outcome. Barring any surprises, Ye Zi had already grasped the key to success. Even if he couldn't perfectly master Sage Mode today, a little more time would likely suffice to achieve perfection.
The White Snake Sage and Manda were also quietly observing.
When the final 30 minutes of the day arrived, only half of Ye Zi's face remained covered in white scales.
The next step was to eliminate the white scales covering half of his face…
By now, Ye Zi was nearly capable of freely generating Sage Chakra. However, complete control still required more practice, though there was no need to rush.
As long as he could refine Sage Chakra, everything else would fall into place. It would just take some additional time and effort to train his control.
As the countdown began, the white scales on Ye Zi's face gradually disappeared. By the time there were only ten minutes left, the final scale vanished!
At that moment, the characteristic markings of Sage Mode appeared around Ye Zi's eyes!
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