He had achieved Open Heaven! After everything he had been through, all the dangers he had faced along the way, he had finally taken this crucial step.
Yang Kai's thoughts churned as memories of the past flooded his mind. Unable to contain himself, he let out a long howl, releasing the joy in his heart. The sound rolled outward, shaking the void!
Only now did he have the time to examine what his Small World actually looked like. With a shift of his consciousness, the entire landscape of the Small World imprinted itself upon his mind.
The first thing Yang Kai saw was an enormous, towering ancient tree. Its massive canopy spread open like an enormous umbrella, covering a vast expanse of sky. An incredibly dense vitality emanated from every corner of the tree, suffusing the entire Small World with endless life force.
Yang Kai realized with clarity — this was unmistakably the manifestation of his Great Evergreen Secret Art within his Small World.
The Great Evergreen Secret Art was derived from the power of Wood, and the power of Wood had been refined from the essence of the Tree of Immortality. Naturally, the scene manifested by this secret art bore a connection to the Tree of Immortality.
Beneath the tree lay cool shade. Yang Kai paused briefly, and when he looked up, he saw a brilliant golden sun hanging high in the sky, radiating dazzling light. From within the sun came bursts of piercing cries, and he could faintly make out a strange three-legged bird frolicking within it.
The shade of the great tree was cast by the sun's radiance.
This was the manifestation of the Golden Crow Forging the Sun Aspect!
Yang Kai's eyebrows rose. He had not expected his Small World to contain such a wondrous sight.
More than that, further insights surged through his mind.
With a mere thought, time within the Small World accelerated. The golden sun, hanging high and illuminating all directions, swiftly sank behind the western mountains. From the opposite side, a full moon rose, its silvery light pouring down like water, blanketing the entire Small World in a layer of silver frost. The sight was so beautiful it seemed almost illusory.
A golden wolf stood atop a mountain peak, howling at the moon!
And across the sky, scattered stars glimmered with a faint, luminous glow.
The full moon was the manifestation of Yang Kai's Water-Attribute power. The golden wolf was the manifestation of his Metal-Attribute power. And the countless stars across the sky were the result of the Yin-Attribute power from the Heavenly Yin Sand he had just refined.
As his thoughts shifted, the sun vanished and the moon rose, then the moon set and the sun appeared again...
A wondrous feeling suddenly surged through Yang Kai's heart. In that instant, his comprehension of the Time Laws had undergone an enormous leap forward.
All this time, he had barely scratched the surface of the Time Laws. That much was entirely thanks to the Time Flies Seal he had cultivated previously — without that technique, he wouldn't even have been able to take his first step.
But even now, he had only just entered the door. His attainments in the Time Laws were not particularly deep. He had devoted the majority of his energy to comprehending the Space Laws.
For one thing, he had no particular natural advantage in the Time Laws, and forcing his comprehension would yield half the result for twice the effort. For another, the old saying held true — of three thousand waters, one only drinks a single ladle. Of ten thousand Great Daos, one can only pursue a single path. To bite off more than one could chew was to master none.
But in this moment, the Time Laws seemed like a generous benefactor, throwing open their doors to him and bestowing all their secrets, elevating his comprehension of the Time Laws by several tiers in an instant.
The reason lay in the formation of his own Small World.
Yang Kai did not know what other people's Small Worlds were like, but his own Small World now contained the sun, the moon, and the stars. Within the cycle of the sun rising and the moon setting, time flowed forward, and the entire Small World was saturated with a rich presence of the Time Laws. This was what had granted him such an inexplicably enormous benefit.
This was nothing short of a delightful surprise.
With a shift of his consciousness, Yang Kai peered deep into the Medicine Garden and saw Mu Zhu and Mu Lu, the two little wood spirits, sitting side by side on the branch of a spirit tree. Their heads leaned together, their little feet dangling as they gazed up at the star-studded sky with dreamy eyes. When the stars twinkled, they twinkled back.
Mu Lu said, "It's so beautiful!"
Mu Zhu said, "It really is — so, so beautiful!"
The old Small Mysterious Realm had been a world unto itself, but it had never possessed scenery this beautiful. Now, everything had completely changed. Since the two little wood spirits had moved into the Small Mysterious Realm with Yang Kai, they had not seen such a gorgeous night sky. The sight before them inevitably brought back memories of their days growing up together in the Star Boundary — countless nights where they had sat just like this, gazing at the enchanting night.
Yang Kai withdrew his divine sense, a contemplative look settling on his face.
Judging from Mu Zhu and Mu Lu's situation, his Small World could also accommodate living beings. This went against common knowledge.
Throughout the entire Three Thousand Worlds, only the Small Worlds of Upper-Grade Open Heaven cultivators could transition from illusory to real, becoming indistinguishable from a true world.
Yang Kai had achieved nothing more than Fifth-Grade — a full two grades below Seventh-Grade.
Do not underestimate those two grades. They represented an obstacle that countless cultivators could never cross in their entire lifetimes. Even for those who could slowly accumulate and cultivate, it required an immense span of time and effort.
Yang Kai was not surprised by this outcome in the least. Had he advanced through the conventional process, his Small World would surely have been no different from anyone else's. But at the moment of his successful advancement, in the instant his Small World first took form, he had also fused the Mysterious Realm Pearl into it. That made all the difference.