If he could fully digest the gains from this trip to the Returnless Gate, Yang Kai believed his strength would undergo a tremendous leap.
Familiarizing himself with his Dragon Body's power required little mental effort—it was merely a matter of accumulation and settling in.
Yang Kai devoted far more of his attention to comprehending the Daos of Time and Space.
The remarkable advancement of both Daos had given him a faint glimmer of enlightenment.
Space was the Dao he primarily cultivated. Time, perhaps due to his bloodline, had always been a separate path—the Dao of Space was the Dao of Space, the Dao of Time was the Dao of Time, and the two had little connection.
Even though he had once created the Sun Moon Divine Wheel, a technique of tremendous power, that had been the product of fortunate coincidence rather than deliberate insight.
But looking at it now, Space and Time had always been inseparable, fundamentally intertwined.
Space could not exist independently, and neither could Time.
Past and present made up the Universe, while the four cardinal directions and the vertical axis comprised the Cosmos—it was the interweaving of Time and Space that created this vast, boundless, and resplendent world.
The Sun Moon Divine Wheel had combined the Daos of Time and Space, but that had been Yang Kai's subconscious creation. Looking at it now, it was riddled with flaws and had enormous room for improvement.
Faintly, Yang Kai seemed to have seized upon a flash of inspiration. If one day he could perfectly fuse the Daos of Time and Space, then the Sun Moon Divine Wheel would see its power increase enormously—even with his current Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivation, unleashing this technique to slay a Mo Race Domain Lord was not out of the question.
But merging two Daos was an impossibly difficult task. As Yang Kai rushed onward, his mind churned with shifting spiritual thoughts, yet he never managed to succeed—something always felt like it was missing.
This feeling—knowing the direction, with the goal right before his eyes, yet unable to break through that final membrane—was utterly exasperating and easily made one's mind restless.
This was why, throughout the ages, so many cultivators suffered Qi Deviation during their seclusions. They thought too much, harbored too many distracting thoughts, and when their goals proved unattainable, they turned to self-doubt, causing their Daos to collapse.
Those who came before were lessons for those who followed, and Yang Kai had no intention of bringing about his own Qi Deviation. So whenever his mind grew restless, he would empty his thoughts and focus on experiencing the changes brought by his growing Dragon Body.
Through such regulation, he kept himself safe and steady.
Several months passed in the blink of an eye, and the Dayan Pass came into view.
Yang Kai reined in his thoughts, withdrew his Dragon Body, and gazed ahead. Only when he saw the numerous bustling figures atop the Dayan Pass walls did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
He had genuinely feared he would return too late and miss the Human Race's great expedition.
It seemed the expedition had not yet begun—which made sense. His round trip to the Returnless Gate had taken nearly a year, and he had spent several more months there, so it had been less than a year and a half since his departure.
The Human Race's army likely wasn't ready yet either.
Under the fluctuations of his Space Laws, a few spatial shifts brought him to the front of the Dayan Pass in no time.
The garrison soldiers had long sensed the disturbance, but upon recognizing Yang Kai's face, they promptly let him through without hesitation.
Returning to Dayan and looking around, he found the soldiers within the pass moving about in a hurry, giving off the feeling of an army preparing for war.
If the expedition began now, Yang Kai wasn't sure how other war zones would fare, but here at Dayan, morale would be sky-high. Riding the momentum of their previous great victory over the Mo Race, supplemented by the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear, capturing the Royal City should pose no problem.
As for whether they could kill the Mo Race King, that would depend on Ancestor Xiaoxiao and those Eighth-Order masters.
A spiritual sense suddenly surged toward him from somewhere—that was the Ancestor's.
It touched and withdrew in an instant.
Yang Kai didn't hesitate and shot toward the source of that spiritual sense.
Before long, he arrived at the Ancestor's private chambers. In the garden, Ancestor Xiaoxiao lounged lazily in a chair. She scanned him from head to toe and spoke: "How was the journey?"
Yang Kai replied respectfully, "The gains were considerable."
Ancestor Xiaoxiao nodded slightly and teased, "Didn't put your name in the Dragon Register?"
Yang Kai was taken aback. "You know about the Dragon Register, Senior?"
Ancestor Xiaoxiao curled her lip. "It's hardly a secret. What's so strange about knowing?"
She knew because of her status as a Ninth-Order Supreme—an ordinary person would never have heard of something like the Dragon Register. Even Yang Kai had only learned of it after arriving at the Returnless Gate and purifying his bloodline.
"The Dragon Clan wanted me to register my name, but I refused."
"Mm." Ancestor Xiaoxiao responded casually. Had Yang Kai truly registered his name in the Dragon Register, he would never have returned to Dayan.
Yang Kai's brow suddenly furrowed. "You've been injured again?"
He had noticed it a moment ago—Ancestor Xiaoxiao's complexion was slightly pale. He had initially attributed it to her previous injuries not yet fully healing, but upon closer observation, something seemed off. The Ancestor's aura was clearly somewhat unstable.
This was not something that could be explained by lingering wounds.
The only possibility was that Ancestor Xiaoxiao had been injured once more.
"I've been making more frequent trips to the Royal City lately," Ancestor Xiaoxiao replied nonchalantly.
Yang Kai said with exasperation, "Harassing them would have been enough. Why did you have to fight the King head-on?"