In the blink of an eye, the two figures clashed in a furious melee.
Every strike Yang Kai delivered was an eruption of the power of the Great Dao. He had to expel the energy he had accumulated within his body; otherwise, he risked being torn apart from the inside.
His savage onslaught forced Mo to take the fight seriously. Dense Mo power churned and surged, constantly annihilating the Great Dao forces that bore down on him.
Throughout the battle, Yang Kai never stopped devouring the River of Time and Space. Behind him, a colossal vortex swirled as the river's waters poured into it, flooding into his body and vanishing without a trace.
As the process of assimilating the Dao into his body progressed, the strength he could bring to bear grew ever greater — and his attacks grew ever more ferocious.
After a dozen or so exchanges, Yang Kai took a blow from Mo and was sent hurtling into the river behind him.
But he burst out of the river almost immediately, lunging at Mo once more.
Though he had been knocked back, there was no trace of discouragement on his face. If anything, his fighting spirit blazed even brighter.
In their two previous encounters, Yang Kai had been sent crashing into the river after a single exchange. Before Mo, this Ninth-Order peak cultivator had scarcely been able to mount any resistance at all.
But now he could hold his own for several exchanges.
This was the result of assimilating the Dao into his body, and of seizing control over more of the river's power.
He could do better still! Yang Kai was certain of it. If he could bring every last shred of the river's power under his command, he would have the strength to stand against Mo!
He charged again and again, and was knocked back again and again.
The mass of the River of Time and Space shrank with each passing moment, but Yang Kai's aura grew ever more domineering.
As time wore on, the duration he could withstand Mo's onslaught increased — from a dozen or so rounds at first, to twenty, then thirty, and finally nearly a hundred exchanges without being pushed to a disadvantage.
Mo seemed to have grown genuinely furious. His strikes became impossibly sharp, his killing intent overwhelming.
Although he had suffered having over thirty percent of his origin sealed by Yang Kai through the Gate of the Profound Female, drastically weakening his power, and had then been further diminished by his battle with Zhang Ruoxi, he had previously corrupted a vast amount of the river's power — more than enough to offset the losses from that fight.
It was fair to say that Mo, at this moment, was even stronger than when he had first awakened.
For Yang Kai to have gone from being completely outmatched to barely holding his own in such a short span of time was already his absolute limit. As for completely destroying Mo — that was out of the question.
Still not enough! Far from enough!
Even if he brought every last remnant of the river's power under his control, it probably still wouldn't be enough to kill Mo.
As long as this source, Mo, remained alive, the calamity afflicting this world would never end.
Using the Gate of the Profound Female to seal him was undoubtedly a good approach — the long journey they had undertaken had already proven the gate had the ability to seal Mo. But against such a powerful being, how could one hope to seal him without first defeating him?
To resolve all of this, it seemed the only path was to break through the shackles of the Open Heaven Method and ascend to a higher realm of martial cultivation.
Yet for Yang Kai, this was equally an impossible task.
How many years had it been since he had advanced to the Ninth Order? True, with the aid of the cradles of two Open Heaven masters and the power of his own River of Time and Space, he had been able to grow rapidly — but that growth was limited to the Ninth Order. To even glimpse the realm beyond the Open Heaven was far beyond his reach.
Countless heroes and geniuses throughout all of history had been constrained by the shackles of the Open Heaven Method, unable to break through. Only Mu had caught a faint glimpse of the mysteries of a higher realm of martial cultivation.
But her River of Time and Space had ultimately been incomplete, and that meant she could not cross that threshold into that wondrous realm.
What Mu and countless human predecessors before her had failed to accomplish — even if Yang Kai had now received Mu's gift, he could hardly achieve it in such a rushed manner.
He didn't even have the slightest insight into the next realm.
To break through the shackles of the Open Heaven Method, one at the very least needed to be thoroughly familiar with one's current power, along with the accumulation and tempering of a vast stretch of time.
Unable to break through the shackles of the Open Heaven Method, he would have to find another way.
Amid the battle, Yang Kai dared not let his attention waver for even an instant — especially against an opponent like Mo, who threatened him with the deadliest of attacks at every turn.
Knocked back again and again, sent crashing into the river again and again — Yang Kai looked utterly wretched, but in truth, his situation was slowly improving.
The mass of the River of Time and Space behind him had already shrunk to roughly thirty percent of its original size. Once Yang Kai succeeded in assimilating every last drop of the river's power into his body, the strength he could unleash would far surpass what he had been capable of before.
While this titanic battle raged in full fury, the distant void battlefield was no less intense.
The Mo race army was simply too vast. The allied forces of the humans and the Stone Clan were already showing signs of collapse. Without outside intervention, the alliance would likely be annihilated before long. When that happened, even Ninth-Order cultivators might not escape — only the two Great Spirits might manage to withdraw safely.
This was an outcome the human race simply could not accept.
And just as the battle hung in the balance, a brilliant light came streaking in from the depths of the void.
The seemingly familiar sight sent the human army's morale soaring, for they realized who had arrived.
Zhang Ruoxi, having received Yang Kai's orders, had rushed toward this battlefield at top speed. The instant she arrived, her form transformed into a streak of light that wove back and forth across the battlefield several times.
The streak of light cut like a blade, slaughtering vast numbers of the Mo race while simultaneously tearing their once-cohesive formation to shreds.