How long does it take to get the first black belt in shaolin kung-fu?

My style has 7 empty hand forms and 2 staff forms. I have been a student for 7 years. I have learned 5 empty hand forms and no staff forms. It takes 8 to 10 years on average to graduate from being a student and be given a lineage blessing to teach. There are no belts in my system. Even if one graduates at 8 years, the graduates who continue to train are immensely more refined and dangerous at the twenty year and beyond mark. Some of the oldest teachers in the system continue to train and improve beyone their 70's.