More than two hundred and fifty years later, the second River of Time had shrunk to only ten zhang in length.
Using those less perilous Dao Rivers as waypoints and transit nodes, Yang Kai wove ceaselessly through the Grand Sea Phenomenon.
Day after day, year after year.
At first, Yang Kai had kept track of how much time was passing, but as the years stretched on, he became completely immersed in this unique form of cultivation, entirely forgetting the flow of time as he focused solely on seeking out Rivers of Time.
Each River of Time he harvested and refined brought changes to his Small World, granting him insights into many Daos he had never previously touched upon.
His entire Small World was now filled with traces of all manner of Dao.
In the past, the cultivators within Yang Kai's Small World would find Space, Time, Spear Dao, Alchemy, and the like the easiest Daos to comprehend, provided they had the talent.
But as Yang Kai continued to harvest and refine those Dao Rivers, the types of Dao that the human warriors within his Small World could perceive grew ever more numerous.
The Void Continent was blossoming in martial cultivation like a hundred flowers competing in bloom.
In the Void Dojo, many exceptionally talented warriors had already cultivated to the peak, needing only a single step more to ascend to the Open Heaven Realm.
However, given Yang Kai's own difficult circumstances, there was no way he could release them.
The Rivers of Time in the Grand Sea Phenomenon varied in length—some were thousands of zhang long, while others were less than a hundred. No one knew how they had come into being.
The longer a River of Time, the longer it could sustain Yang Kai's cultivation.
The continuous harvesting of all manner of Dao Rivers had given Yang Kai at least some familiarity with numerous Daos, and in certain cases, his proficiency was far from shallow.
Set after set of resources of varying grades were consumed, and the foundation of Yang Kai's Small World grew ever deeper.
This was an extraordinarily prolonged form of cultivation, and an utterly novel one at that. Since ancient times, it was doubtful that anyone had ever cultivated in this manner for so long.
Until one day, while cultivating deep within a River of Time, Yang Kai suddenly became aware that his Small World was undergoing some kind of extraordinary transformation.
He snapped to alertness at once, focusing his consciousness to investigate.
What he perceived was that his Small World seemed to be experiencing an indescribable sublimation. The territories that had already reached their limit were expanding, and the worldly power within his Small World was continuously condensing and purifying.
The sapling of the World Tree planted within his Small World appeared to resonate with these changes, its leaves rustling as it ceaselessly refined the worldly power.
Above, streaks of dark traces appeared across the sky—not cracks, but manifestations of various Dao marks!
Moreover, in every corner of the Void Continent, a number of heavenly phenomena had begun to appear.
The myriad warriors living on the Void Continent discovered with astonishment that their entire world seemed to have come alive. The Dao had become extraordinarily active, making it far easier to perceive and comprehend. They immediately entered seclusion to cultivate.
A spark of realization ignited within Yang Kai's heart.
He was about to ascend to Eighth-Order!
Years ago, he had witnessed Xu Linggong's ascension to Eighth-Order and had gleaned no small amount of insight from it.
Though his own breakthrough seemed somewhat different from Xu Linggong's.
Any cultivator in the Open Heaven Realm faced extreme danger when breaking through to the next order. The slightest misstep could cause their Small World to collapse, resulting in death and the dissolution of their Dao.
The higher the order, the greater the danger.
Eighth-Order Open Heaven was only a single step from Ninth-Order, meaning the danger of breaking through to Eighth-Order was second only to breaking through to Ninth.
Xu Linggong's breakthrough had appeared relatively uneventful, but the true danger lay within the Small World itself—something others could not easily perceive.
Fortunately, his foundation had been formidable, and that breakthrough had ended without serious incident despite the initial scare.
Some Open Heaven Realm cultivators would encounter insurmountable bottlenecks before breaking through. Unless they shattered those bottlenecks, they would remain stuck forever.
The Madam,
Yang Kai had originally been somewhat worried about whether he would encounter a bottleneck, but it seemed now that his concern had been unnecessary.
He had encountered no bottleneck at all. The foundation of his Small World had accumulated sufficiently, and everything simply fell into place of its own accord.
Perhaps it had something to do with the World Tree's sapling. Having resided in his Small World for so many years, continuously helping him refine worldly power, it had made his worldly power far purer than that of an ordinary Seventh-Order cultivator. The purer the worldly power, the more solid the foundation—and the more solid the foundation, the less a bottleneck could take hold.
Yang Kai could even clearly sense that this breakthrough would carry no danger. Though various phenomena were surging through his Small World, they were merely manifestations of Dao—the crystallization of his cultivation—and would have little impact on the Small World itself.
Everything simply unfolded naturally.
Yang Kai had long wanted to advance to Eighth-Order as quickly as possible, but now that the day had finally arrived, he found his heart remarkably calm, without much of the excitement he had imagined.
He had long anticipated this day. This step was bound to be taken sooner or later.