The clamor of battle still echoed across the battlefield.

The Falcon Fleet had already formed a perimeter around the combat zone, no longer engaging in the fight to avoid friendly fire. Their sole task now was to prevent any alien stragglers from escaping.

But the outcome was already decided. What remained was merely Ye Liuyun’s forces using the alien remnants for combat practice. Yu Xiaofeng had already dispatched a squad to clear the battlefield.

Lei Ming, the Dragon Maiden, Liang Xue, and others were busy helping capture live aliens for future training. Given their strength, subduing these lower-tier celestial realm aliens was effortless.

Only a few aliens, bolstered by the power of their spatial realms, continued to resist stubbornly, forcing occasional evasive maneuvers.

The Vermilion Bird’s soul power had grown exponentially. Now, even defensive artifacts meant to ward off soul attacks were no match for it. It slaughtered aliens in droves, harvesting their core essences as cultivation resources.

The armored infantry had suffered over three thousand casualties—a significant loss. After the battle, child prodigies like Tong Xin and the Qiong Qi craftsmen would have their hands full repairing damaged armor.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun had already begun refining the third eye harvested from the alien leader.

With this battle concluded, he was already preparing for the next.

Moreover, the spoils from this fight had yielded an abundance of resources—over a thousand intact planetary essences alone.

The golden-armored and silver-armored aliens had been hoarding treasures, each richer than the last.

Especially in the Interspatial Ring of the alien commander, Sangda—aside from its personal wealth, it carried the resources meant for an army of millions. Ye Liuyun wouldn’t face shortages for a long time.

They had even captured plenty of live targets for training. Now, it was time for everyone to focus on cultivation.

Once the battlefield was cleared, the core essences of the alien corpses would be converted into cultivation stones, while the bodies would be fed to the Demon-Sealing Stele and the Demon Vine to strengthen their physical forms.

After the last skirmishes ended, Ye Liuyun emerged to recall all troops into his spatial realm. Then, returning to the sacred land, he briefly informed Xiao Mu’an and Liu Kui before retreating with his clone into his spatial world to cultivate in seclusion.

The spatial world of his doppelganger operated at tenfold temporal acceleration, allowing everyone to train at an unprecedented pace.

Ye Liuyun divided his days meticulously—half spent refining resources to enhance his advance energy energy, while the remaining time was split between sparring with the Violet Kylin and the Demon Vine, and honing his mastery over temporal forces. Through this relentless regimen, his strength grew steadily across all fronts.

Half a year passed in the outside world, but within the doppelganger’s realm, years had flown by. Each day, he would exhaust his advance energy completely before replenishing it, forging an energy purity far surpassing martial artists of the same realm. His grasp of cosmic and spatial forces had also reached astonishing heights. Even before breaking through to the Dominator Realm, he could already hold his own against the Violet Kylin by wielding spatial and cosmic energies.

Then came his long-awaited breakthrough into the Dominator Realm. The moment it happened, Ye Liuyun felt it—an overwhelming surge of power, as if the very heavens bent to his will. An inexhaustible wellspring of energy now pulsed within him.

With this ascension, the Violet Kylin stood no chance against him. A casual strike from Ye Liuyun sent the mythical beast reeling. Spatial manipulation? The Kylin was utterly outmatched. With a mere flick of his wrist, Ye Liuyun could seal the space around it, rendering escape impossible. Gradually, even the proud Kylin lost interest in sparring with him.

What infuriated the beast even more was Ye Liuyun’s newfound ability to manipulate time—freezing it momentarily or opening temporal passages. The Time Halo, now of little use to him, was gifted to Wu Qingcheng for self-defense.

Joining him in the breakthrough were Lei Ming, the Dragon Maiden, and Liang Xue. Feng Hongxiu and the other spirit beasts, however, still lagged behind. To his surprise, even the two youngest—the Songstress and Xiao Lan’er—soon ascended to the Dominator Realm.

As for the others, Wu Qingcheng, Man Shu, and Fyeng Wanru had reached the third tier of the Celestial Realm. Even those less driven by cultivation—Yuer, Jin Yuanhui, Lin Xueying, and A’Xing—had broken through to the first tier. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Moreover, all these individuals had cultivated to the tenth level of the Immortal Realm, with an exceptionally solid foundation.

Even Lan Xin, Qing Yan, Luo Yurou, and the other women responsible for organizing resources had begun cultivating the tenth level of the Immortal Realm.

Even the captured alien warriors they used for sparring—those who had managed to survive this long—had seen their cultivation levels rise.

Mu Lai’s realm had also advanced to the Sovereign level. Though he initially lacked sufficient resources, his frequent sparring sessions with Lei Ming and the others had earned him ample rewards.

After breaking through to a new realm, Ye Liuyun first released the Metal Devourer.

Truth be told, he no longer had enough metal resources to sustain the beast’s growth. Keeping it by his side would only hinder its progress.

He also gave the Purple Kylin Snake a choice. However, staying with Ye Liuyun meant not only abundant resources but also the camaraderie of Lei Ming, Qinglin, and the others. The thought of wandering the cosmos alone no longer appealed to it.

So the Purple Kylin Snake decided to stay, asking Lin Luoyi to refine a Shapeshifting Pill for it. It planned to take on a beast form and remain by Ye Liuyun’s side.

The Nine-Headed Nether Dragon followed suit, preparing to undergo the same transformation.

Among the ordinary soldiers, many had broken through to the first level of the Celestial Realm, and their equipment had been fully replenished. Yu Xiaofeng suggested sending them back into the cosmos for further training.

Ye Tiandao, too, dispersed the elite Blade Corps into over twenty squads, allowing them to venture out independently. Their strength had grown to the point where they no longer needed to operate as a single unit.

Letting them seek their own fortunes might lead to breakthroughs to the Sovereign Realm upon their return.

Ye Liuyun agreed—not just for the soldiers, but also for himself and the women by his side. They, too, would venture into the cosmos for training.

Now, as they traversed the stars, Lei Ming, the Dragon Maiden, Liang Xue, and the others could keep up with Ye Liuyun’s speed. They had mastered spatial power, enabling them to fight alongside him in the void.

Their path led them straight to alien strongholds—wherever they encountered one, they would engage.

To their surprise, after half a year of relentless pursuit, they actually stumbled upon an outpost of the alien race.

This was the very stronghold from which Sangda had once launched his troops. Now, only a handful of alien soldiers remained, though a few formidable warriors still guarded the altar at its center.

When Ye Liuyun and his companions arrived, he didn’t hesitate. From the void of space, he swung his blade downward in a single, devastating strike.

The force of his slash summoned sixty golden war blades, howling through the cosmos as they descended. The sheer power tore sixty-one jagged fissures through the fabric of space itself.

Then came the thunderous impact. The guardians stationed below—along with the altar they defended—were obliterated in an instant, reduced to rubble under the crushing might of Ye Liuyun’s strike.