Within Mu's River of Time and Space, Yang Kai's form was wrapped inside his own Spacetime River, driving its power to greedily devour everything around him.
The waters of the river were the manifestation of the Great Dao's power — every undercurrent, every cresting wave was a surge of the Dao. As time passed, the river belonging to Yang Kai grew ever larger in volume, while Mu's river continuously shrank.
Though it was a matter of fortunate coincidence, there was no denying that Yang Kai and Mu had embarked upon the same path — and it was precisely because of this that Mu's countless years of waiting and bitter vigil had finally found meaning.
Because of the Gate of Mysterious Feminity she had opened all those years ago, Mu's river had become incomplete, its forward path severed, making it impossible for her to glimpse the mysteries of higher levels of martial cultivation.
So she had left her hope to those who came after.
Among the contingencies she left behind, her own Spacetime River was the final gift.
But converting such a gift fully into one's own strength required time.
She likely never imagined that Yang Kai would earn the recognition of so many Silhouettes.
Under normal circumstances, among those Three Thousand Worlds, if the Mo's power held absolute dominance in a given world with no hope of sealing its origin, there would have been no need for Yang Kai to waste time in that particular universe.
But throughout his earlier journey, Yang Kai had sought out every surviving Silhouette he could find, driven by the earnest wish to help them escape their suffering, and led them out of their respective worlds.
Every Silhouette that vanished represented a Mu from that specific point in time acknowledging Yang Kai.
Having traversed two thousand seven hundred worlds — not an enormous number, but no small feat either — Yang Kai had gained the recognition of at least two thousand Silhouettes. That was a staggering quantity.
This had caused his efficiency in devouring and refining Mu's Spacetime River to skyrocket.
His own river's ever-growing volume allowed Yang Kai's attainment across the myriad Daos to rise rapidly. All manner of profound insights surged through his mind, one after another, colliding and sparking fiercely.
Yang Kai was immersed in it all, almost unable to pull himself free.
This thrill of glimpsing the Great Dao was a lethal temptation for any martial cultivator.
The Dao was the supreme truth of heaven and earth, the ultimate goal that cultivators ceaselessly pursued. To become completely lost in it risked forgetting everything, being assimilated by the Dao's power.
So Yang Kai's current situation was far from ideal. On one hand, he had to resist the Dao's pull upon his being. On the other, he needed to devour and refine as much as possible to elevate his own mastery.
He struggled to maintain the balance — maximizing his refinement efficiency while guarding the clarity of his mind, carefully ensuring he did not succumb.
At some moment, his consciousness suddenly trembled, and a peculiar sensation arose, as if clouds had parted to reveal a clear sky — as though a barrier that had been blocking his path to greater power had finally been broken through.
He understood instantly: his attainment in the Dao of Time had ascended to the Ninth Level!
Throughout history, the strength of martial cultivators had been classified by the rank of their realm — the nine grades of the Open Heaven Stage, each grade surpassing the last, simple and clear at a glance.
But this system of classification had a serious flaw: cultivators of the same grade of Open Heaven often possessed vastly different levels of actual strength.
Such disparities arose from the length of their cultivation, the depth of their Small World's foundation, and… their comprehension of the Great Dao.
The Open Heaven Stage already involved the contemplation of the Dao's very bedrock. The deeper one's attainment in a particular Dao, the greater one's strength.
Yet since ancient times, no one had been able to provide a definitive answer as to how to classify the levels of Dao attainment.
Yang Kai had, based on his own growth, divided Dao attainment into nine tiers:
Touching the Surface, First Glimpse of the Path, Entering the Hall, Handling with Ease, Thorough Mastery, Outstanding Excellence, Peerless Skill, Reaching the Summit, and Shaking Antiquity!