If it weren’t for Ye Liuyun’s Energy Storage Stone, he would have been no match for that three-eyed alien.

The alien only had one energy core, so theoretically, its true energy reserves shouldn’t have surpassed his. Yet, Ye Liuyun had already burned through half of his supplemental profound energy just to neutralize the alien’s white light.

"This proves that my energy efficiency is far inferior to that creature’s!"

Ye Liuyun closed his eyes, reflecting on the battle. His vision was still searing with pain from overuse. He quickly swallowed a drop of Life Spring Water to recover, and the discomfort gradually subsided.

"That was too close. Any more, and my eyes might’ve been ruined!"

With that thought, he summoned his doppelganger to bring him the corpse of the three-eyed alien. His plan was to refine another third eye to enhance his ocular endurance.

To his delight, the alien’s spatial ring contained two additional eyes—likely spares it had prepared for its own refinement. The only problem was, Ye Liuyun couldn’t tell whether these eyes emitted white light or black light.

"First, I’ll refine this three-eyed alien’s eye. The rest can wait."

Without hesitation, he began the refinement process. Thanks to his prior experience, the task was now effortless. In no time, he assimilated the alien’s eye into his golden pupils.

The moment the third eye was refined, Ye Liuyun immediately sensed his golden pupils growing stronger—a sensation eerily similar to physical enhancement.

Though the process came with its share of agony, the results were undoubtedly worth it.

Afterward, Ye Liuyun proceeded to refine the other two eyes as well. To his surprise, both of them emitted black beams.

He surmised that the three-eyed alien had been attempting to modify its own eyes to alternate between black and white beams.

Still, since this enhancement could benefit his own eyes, it wasn’t a bad outcome. Having already refined them, Ye Liuyun wasted no time absorbing their power.

The refinement and absorption process went remarkably smoothly this time. In just over ten days, he had fully integrated the newly refined eyes with his own.

When he emerged from the Profound Void Stone, even his doppelganger noticed the difference.

"Your golden irises are noticeably brighter than before!" the doppelganger remarked.

Ye Liuyun himself realized that not only had his eyes’ endurance improved, but the penetrating vision of his golden pupils had also advanced significantly. He could now see through thicker layers of earth and perceive objects at much greater distances.

Testing his abilities further, he fired both black and white beams simultaneously from his eyes. To his delight, the attack required less energy yet reached farther than before.

"This method actually works!" Ye Liuyun exclaimed excitedly to his doppelganger.

Both of them were thrilled by this discovery.

However, their excitement soon gave way to sobering realization.

"No wonder three-eyed aliens are so rare on the battlefield," Ye Liuyun mused. "If the golden-armored aliens also knew about this method, they’d be hunting down three-eyed aliens themselves, refining their eyes to enhance their own powers."

"Exactly," the doppelganger agreed. "If even this three-eyed alien knew to collect others’ eyes, the golden-armored aliens must be aware of it too. That means they likely have elites with even stronger ocular abilities."

"Even if the golden-armored aliens can’t acquire this power directly," Ye Liuyun added grimly, "they’d probably cultivate powerful three-eyed aliens just to harvest their eyes."

After discussing the implications, both of them felt the weight of the challenge ahead.

After all, the alien race had monopolized this resource, leaving them at a disadvantage.

Eventually, they reached a conclusion: whenever they encountered the three-eyed aliens in the future, they would strike first to avoid being preempted by stronger opponents—otherwise, they’d be the ones in trouble.

Ye Liuyun immediately took off his double-layered soft armor and had the Qiong Qi refine the broken bone club he had seized into the armor. It might not be much, but it could at least help block some of the white light attacks.

Just then, Ye Liuyun’s golden pupils detected a massive surge in the Vermilion Bird’s soul power. It must have absorbed a considerable amount of spectral energy during the battle.

Now, its soul power had even surpassed Ye Liuyun’s—and not just by a small margin.

A thought flashed through Ye Liuyun’s mind, and he checked the slave mark he had placed on the Vermilion Bird. To his relief, it was still intact.

Curious, he asked why the Vermilion Bird hadn’t erased the mark. Given its current soul strength, it was more than capable of doing so.

But the Vermilion Bird explained, "Ever since I started following you, my abilities have kept improving. Why would I erase the mark? You’ve never mistreated me!"

"Besides, with aliens running rampant everywhere, nowhere is truly safe. Even if I could survive for a while on my own, who knows what dangers I might face later? Staying with you is the safer choice."

The Vermilion Bird knew its limits. It understood that Ye Liuyun possessed the Divine Decree—no matter how strong its soul power became, it could never overpower him.

In a direct fight, it stood no chance. Ye Liuyun’s flame power far surpassed its own, his cultivation level was higher, and the quality of his true essence was superior. Victory was simply impossible.

Moreover, during this time, it had grown close to the other demon beasts around Ye Liuyun. Their camaraderie was strong, and it had no desire to leave.

Most importantly, its power boost and transformation into a demon beast were all thanks to Ye Liuyun. Even out of gratitude alone, it wouldn’t abandon him.

Though Ye Liuyun had placed a slave mark on it, he had never abused or oppressed it.

From every angle, there was no reason for the Vermilion Bird to leave.

This was precisely why Ye Liuyun had never detected any signs of rebellion or attempts to erase the slave mark from it.

With a satisfied nod, Ye Liuyun turned to the Vermilion Bird and said, "If you ever wish to leave, just say the word. You and the other demonic beasts have already done more than enough for me. I won’t stand in your way."

"I know!" The Vermilion Bird had witnessed Ye Liuyun releasing numerous demonic beasts in the Chaotic Beast Mountains before, so it trusted him completely.

In high spirits, Ye Liuyun gathered everyone for a feast of roasted beast meat, allowing them to unwind and rest.

The soldiers, having participated in the battle, were also recuperating. Most of them hadn’t engaged in direct combat, relying instead on war chariots, energy cannons, and the Hawks for their attacks. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Only toward the end of the fight had some soldiers charged forward to test their skills. As a result, casualties were minimal.

Ye Liuyun recalled them all into his spatial world, preparing to head toward the next headquarters of the alien race.

Meanwhile, his doppelgänger took Ye Ling to harvest the world’s origin energy. Afterward, they brought back Ye Tiandao and the two thousand elite warriors under his command.

These two thousand fighters were reorganized into the Vanguard Regiment, once again led by Ye Tiandao.

Among the remaining alien forces, one formidable warrior and over a dozen at the second level of the Celestial Realm were still alive. Not one to waste resources, Ye Liuyun captured them all, reserving them for future battles.

These captives were well aware of Ye Liuyun’s intentions. During combat, they deliberately preserved their opponents’ corpses to use as cultivation resources.

Thus, after this battle, the surviving aliens would only grow stronger.