Ye Liuyun temporarily halted his assaults on the alien strongholds, choosing instead to wander through the starry void for a time.

During this period, he devoted himself to honing his mastery over spatial energy. Initially, he had only used it to teleport himself across vast distances. But now, with just a glance from his golden eyes, he could instantly fold space and appear on any island within sight—his speed now incomparable to before.

Whenever he spotted an island occupied by small alien patrols, he would strike using spatial energy. Gradually, he refined his techniques, shifting from direct combat to manipulating space itself, crushing entire islands’ worth of enemies with overwhelming force.

By the time the alien elites realized what was happening, the spatial pressure had already grown too immense to resist. Most of them never even understood who—or what—was attacking them.

Yet, this method had its drawbacks. Often, Ye Liuyun himself lost control, unable to stop until the entire island was pulverized into nothingness, all resources and materials obliterated as if swallowed by a collapsing pocket dimension.

Determined to master this power, he shifted his focus to precision over destruction. Even if it meant fewer alien casualties, or even having his attacks countered by their combined forces, he persisted in refining his control. If necessary, he could always dispatch his army to mop up the remnants.

When he did send troops, it was usually his doppelgänger leading the charge—accompanied by the Demon Vine, the Demon-Sealing Stele, and his trusted beasts—all to sharpen their combat skills.

He himself frequently plunged into frenzied battles, tempering his advance energy and experimenting with greater manipulations of natural energy.

Through relentless training, his blade intent and spirit-infused slashes had grown deadlier than ever. Not only had his connection to the world’s energy deepened, but he could now strike from the void itself, killing without a trace.

Any alien with weaker spatial perception stood no chance against him.

Even an ordinary slash from his blade could tear open a rift in the void, creating spatial fractures. Any devil creature unfortunate enough to collide with these fractures would instantly be cleaved in two, their bodies severed with surgical precision.

Eventually, he no longer needed his blade at all. He could simply manipulate these spatial fractures to bisect his enemies, leaving behind clean, razor-sharp cuts as if made by an invisible blade.

From there, he began experimenting with applying spatial fractures in various combat scenarios, refining his technique through relentless practice.

Once he mastered spatial fractures, he moved on to spatial compression—forcing higher-dimensional space to collapse into lower dimensions.

The spatial forces of the starry void proved especially devastating. With a single compression, he could obliterate entire swaths of alien forces below the Heavenly Realm. The remaining elite warriors became his sparring partners, honing his combat skills further.

Over time, his repertoire of spatial attacks expanded dramatically.

Eventually, he could cleave entire islands into segments with spatial fractures, then bombard each fragment with different spatial forces.

Or he could mimic the collapse of a secret realm, layer by layer, compressing higher dimensions downward until the entire island disintegrated into nothingness.

It struck him suddenly—what had once seemed like an entire world to him, these islands now crumbled like paper under his power.

Looking back, he realized just how far his mastery of spatial forces had come.

Even the Book Demon, notoriously stingy with praise, acknowledged that he had found the right path and urged him to push further.

During this period, Ye Liuyun had his doppelgänger absorb two more islands into its spatial world to expand its domain.

However, unless the absorbed land originated from the Demon Realm, the doppelgänger required demon crystals to convert energy.

Thus, nearly all the demon crystals Ye Liuyun seized from the aliens went to his doppelgänger. Yet, as the demonic beasts within its spatial world grew stronger, even those resources were stretched thin.

"Next time we fight, release some of them," Ye Liuyun suggested.

"Guess that’s the only way now!" The clone sighed helplessly. Neither the space nor the energy could sustain so many demonic beasts anymore.

Ye Liuyun helped by storing powerful creatures like demon lions and demon wolves into his own spatial realm.

Deciding to eliminate more alien outposts for additional demon crystals, Ye Liuyun moved the spatial altar previously taken by his clone into his world. After having the aliens reinforce and repair it, he teleported directly to their territory.

Upon arrival, he immediately released his clone and began slaughtering the aliens using spatial energy. The alien guardians stationed there were caught off guard by his hidden spirit blades, sliced into pieces before they could react.

Ye Liuyun seized all the cultivation resources, leaving the demon crystals for his clone. Then, he summoned the Demon-Sealing Stele, the Demon Vine, and other beasts to join him in purging the remaining aliens.

Now, even against third-level Heavenly Realm aliens, the Demon-Sealing Stele and the Demon Vine could kill almost instantly. However, according to the Demon Vine, it was still far from reaching the Dominator Realm.

The reason they could easily eliminate third-level Heavenly Realm aliens was simply that these foes weren’t strong enough. Ye Liuyun agreed—he, too, could dispatch them effortlessly now. Clearly, the aliens had yet to deploy their true elites.

With his enhanced spatial power, Ye Liuyun grew more confident in facing stronger alien adversaries. Still, he reminded himself to stay cautious when encountering third-level Heavenly Realm opponents in the future.

The strength gap within this realm was vast—warriors of the same level could differ as drastically as heaven and earth. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

After securing the altar, Ye Liuyun sent his forces to sweep the area.

He left the altar unsealed, even eagerly anticipating the arrival of stronger alien reinforcements each day.

The enemies sent by the alien race were growing increasingly formidable.

A blue-scaled alien materialized on the ancient altar, and in the same instant, Ye Liuyun struck from a distance—his blade cleaving through the air, accompanied by twelve ethereal energy slashes that converged from the void.

Yet the alien merely flexed its spatial power, vanishing from the altar in a ripple of distorted space, effortlessly evading every attack. In the next breath, it retaliated with a devastating palm strike, its force so overwhelming that Ye Liuyun knew his own defenses would crumble.

Thinking fast, he manipulated the fabric of space itself, causing the air before him to collapse inward like a the Null, swallowing the destructive energy whole.

But then he sensed it—another spatial distortion, another lethal strike hurtling toward him from the unseen void.

*So, this one wields spatial power too.*

Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun warped space around himself, blinking directly beside the alien and swinging his Demon-Slaying Blade in a ruthless arc. Yet the creature vanished again, reappearing behind him in the blink of an eye.

Back and forth they fought, their battle a dizzying dance of teleportation and destruction, the very fabric of reality fracturing under their relentless assaults.

"This is getting us nowhere," Ye Liuyun muttered through gritted teeth after what felt like an eternity. "Neither of us can land a decisive blow."

Realizing the stalemate, he finally signaled for his doppelgänger to intervene.