After focusing his mind for a moment, Yang Kai reopened the wooden box and retrieved the superior-grade World Fruit from the subsidiary World Tree.
The fragrance hit his nostrils, making his mouth water.
He had consumed a mid-grade World Fruit from the main tree before, which had allowed him to leap directly from the Fifth Order to the Sixth Order. He naturally remembered the taste vividly.
After examining the fruit briefly, Yang Kai popped it into his mouth. The fist-sized fruit slid past his lips, and the moment his tongue flicked and the rind broke open, a burst of sweetness flooded his entire mouth.
A warm sensation slid down his throat and settled in his belly. In the very next instant, within his Small World, winds rose and clouds churned as a massive, dense surge of Heavenly Power materialized out of thin air. Even the World Tree transplanted inside his Small World began rustling vigorously.
This power that had appeared from nowhere carried no ill effects whatsoever for Yang Kai, nor did it contain the slightest impurity. It was pure beyond description — something anyone could easily refine and absorb.
Such was the wonder of the World Fruit.
Yang Kai guarded his mind and silently circulated his Grand Art. With each undulation of his Small World, his foundation deepened ever so slightly, making the Heavenly Power within his Small World richer and more solid.
This process continued for more than ten days, and it was not until nearly half a month later that Yang Kai finally felt the medicinal effects of the World Fruit had been fully refined.
At that point, he turned his gaze inward to examine his Small World, and a faint look of surprise crossed his face.
Though he had already known that a single superior-grade World Fruit would not be enough to push him directly into the Eighth Order — it would merely strengthen his foundation and save him considerable effort in Cultivation — the actual result still exceeded his expectations somewhat.
His Small World's foundation had grown by at least twenty percent compared to before. That might not sound like much, but a twenty-percent increase in foundation would have required at least three to five hundred years of painstaking Cultivation to achieve on his own.
In other words, a single superior-grade World Fruit from a subsidiary World Tree had saved him three to five hundred years of hard Cultivation.
That was no small benefit.
Three to five hundred years of Cultivation would have been enough to significantly solidify his Seventh Order realm and bolster his strength considerably.
Indeed, because progression through the Open Heaven Realm was notoriously slow, with each leap often measured in centuries, millennia, or even tens of millennia, people had long proposed that each Order within the Open Heaven Realm be subdivided into early, middle, and late stages to better gauge a cultivator's true strength.
By that classification, Yang Kai had previously been only at the early stage of the Seventh Order. After consuming this World Fruit, he remained at the early stage of the Seventh Order, but his improvement was far from trivial.
However, this kind of classification was considered too cumbersome and was never widely adopted, eventually fading into obscurity.
Still, this explained why two cultivators at the same Order within the Open Heaven Realm could possess such vastly different levels of strength.
A newly promoted Seventh Order cultivator was merely at the early stage, while a veteran Seventh Order cultivator like Feng Ying was undoubtedly at the late stage. The gap between them represented at least two to three thousand years — or even more — of Cultivation, and their foundations differed enormously. In a real fight, the outcome was never in doubt.
If a single superior-grade World Fruit could save him three to five hundred years of Cultivation, what would happen if he consumed several more?
Yang Kai couldn't help letting his imagination run wild.
But he knew that was impossible. Setting aside the fact that only a dozen or so superior-grade World fruits had been harvested from the subsidiary World Tree — and that his share had been earned through his many previous contributions — the Azure Cloud Pass had plenty of upper-grade Open Heaven cultivators. Others had certainly made great merits as well. These fruits would serve perfectly as rewards. Even the Eighth-Order Commanders and Corps Leaders could benefit significantly from consuming them.
Moreover, consuming the same treasure multiple times would inevitably result in diminishing returns. If one superior-grade World Fruit could save him three to five hundred years of Cultivation, the second might only save half that, and by the third or fourth, it might have no effect at all.
This was a common trait shared by all rare and precious treasures.
Regardless, the gains from a single superior-grade World Fruit already left Yang Kai thoroughly satisfied.
The sudden surge in his foundation and strength, however, left him rather unaccustomed, so he quickly composed himself and set about consolidating his gains.
It took a full month before Yang Kai finally let out a long breath. While he still felt somewhat unaccustomed to his newfound power, the adjustment was largely complete. Even if he were to face a powerful enemy right now, he would be able to bring his full strength to bear.
After resting briefly, Yang Kai produced a set of Seventh Order resources and began refining them with his power.
Previously, when he Cultivated, he had been refining Sixth Order resources. But now that he had reached the Seventh Order, he naturally qualified to refine Seventh Order materials.
Refining resources at the same grade as one's own realm had always been the fastest and most coveted method of Cultivation within the Open Heaven Realm.
However, for upper-grade Open Heaven cultivators, almost nobody could afford such extravagance.
Setting aside everything else, Seventh Order Yin and Yang element resources were extraordinarily rare. Even within the major Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands, they were treated as strategic reserves and not deployed lightly. Who would be willing to spend them on personal Cultivation?
Yang Kai was different. Within his Small World, piles of yellow and blue crystals lay heaping like mountains — of all the resources he had, elemental Yin and Yang materials were the last thing he would ever lack.
He had also stockpiled large quantities of Five Element resources, more than enough for his Cultivation needs. And here on the Ink Battlefield, rapidly improving one's own strength and Order was the foundation of survival. Using Seventh Order resources for Cultivation was a luxury he felt no reluctance about whatsoever.