The Purifying Light had repeatedly proven its critical importance over the years. As the power of the Grand Formation gradually weakened, the Ink Clan gained more freedom and grew ever stronger.
Every beam of Purifying Light that Yang Kai unleashed inflicted damage and suppression upon her, hindering her recovery.
She had long since come to despise Yang Kai to the bone. Had she not yet fully regained her freedom, this wretched little cage would never have given him a moment's peace.
Her two-thousand-zhang dragon body was riddled with wounds of every size. In many places the dragon scales had already fallen away, leaving Yang Kai's dragon form looking utterly wretched.
Even with strength comparable to Seventh-Order Open Heaven, he was still no match before an Ink Royal.
Yang Kai endured in silence, calculating.
At the beginning, under the sealing power of the Grand Formation, twelve chains had pierced through the Ink Clan's body, locking her firmly within the cage so that even moving a muscle was an impossibility.
But as the Grand Formation's power weakened over the years, ten of those chains had snapped one after another, and now only the final two remained functional, restraining her movement.
The day those last two chains vanished would be the day the Ink Clan broke free.
Several days later, yet another chain fractured on its own. The Grand Formation's power had been eroded to its absolute limit.
The Ink Clan suddenly fell silent.
After countless years of imprisonment, freedom was finally at hand—yet her reaction was peculiar. She stopped launching sneak attacks against Yang Kai, treating him as though he simply didn't exist inside the cage. Even her ceaseless rambling had ceased.
She was gathering strength! Yang Kai understood this perfectly well.
She also knew that once the Grand Formation was shattered, she would have to face the powerhouses from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands. So during these final moments, she was accumulating as much power as she could.
Yang Kai enjoyed a rare period of safety.
At a time like this, he should have done everything possible to weaken the Ink Clan's strength. Only that way would she not be too formidable when she finally broke free.
But he quickly abandoned that thought.
He needed to accumulate power as well! Otherwise, the moment the Ink Clan escaped, he would likely meet his end. He had to save himself first.
Under these circumstances, the only way to possibly survive was to advance to the Seventh Order as quickly as possible. Although Yang Kai had spent these years locked in a standoff with the Ink Clan with no time to cultivate, the countless living beings harbored within his Small Universe had been ceaselessly bolstering his foundations.
His foundations should have been sufficient by now. All he lacked was the right catalyst for breakthrough.
He carefully reverted to his human form, remaining vigilant for any movement from the Ink Clan and ready to transform into his dragon form at a moment's notice to counter any killing strike.
Fortunately, his fears proved unfounded. The Ink Clan truly had become still, making no hostile moves against him.
He did not let his guard down, however. While staying alert, he quietly searched for the trigger that would allow him to advance.
The Madam had spent several hundred years in seclusion at Void Land before breaking through from Sixth-Order to Seventh-Order Open Heaven. Her talent was hardly lacking, and yet even she required that much time—one could imagine how difficult the Seventh-Order breakthrough truly was.
In truth, the gap between Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order was the difference between heaven and earth. Sixth-Order was nothing to scoff at, placing one among the elite of the Open Heaven Realm, but the Small Universe remained illusory. The Seventh Order was different—there, the Small Universe transitioned from illusory to real, a qualitative transformation.
Throughout the ages, countless Open Heaven cultivators had been stuck at this threshold, unable to advance a single step further.
It wasn't as though those who had directly entered Fifth-Order Open Heaven were guaranteed to eventually reach the Seventh Order—only that they had the possibility. The breakthrough from Sixth to Seventh carried enormous peril. If one's accumulation was insufficient or their comprehension lacking, forcing the advancement would risk one's very life.
Yang Kai felt that his accumulation should have been enough. Several hundred years ago, he had already contemplated entering seclusion to attempt the Seventh-Order breakthrough, but various matters had delayed him.
Now, under the threat of the Ink Clan, he was forced to strive toward a goal he had never managed to complete back then. Yang Kai could only sigh at the fickleness of fate and the whims of destiny.
The result, however, left him disappointed.
He simply could not sense the catalyst for breakthrough!
With the Ink Clan watching him like a tiger eyeing its prey, capable of delivering a killing blow at any moment, how could Yang Kai possibly devote his full concentration to a breakthrough?
He barely felt the passage of time, but when that familiar sound rang out, Yang Kai snapped to awareness in an instant—several years had passed.
The Grand Formation had been completely broken, and the Ink Clan had truly regained her freedom.
The most dangerous moment had arrived. He felt the massive power she had hurriedly gathered surging back to life, her vast will instantly recovering from its slumber to its absolute peak, causing the entire cage to tremble.
A single moment's hesitation meant the difference between life and death.
The cry of the Golden Crow rang out abruptly as the blazing sun leapt into the sky, its radiance illuminating heaven and earth. Right behind it, a cool full moon rose gracefully, its silver light cascading downward like a beauty's flowing hair, seeping into every crevice.
Sun and moon shining together! The Laws of Time flowed outward.
The Laws of Space were simultaneously channeled, merging and intertwining with the Laws of Time, fusing into an entirely new and profound power.
The sun and moon hurtled past each other, spinning like tops, and hurtled directly toward the spot where the Ink Clan stood.