Chapter 2820: Chapter 2820
While cultivating, Ye Liuyun waited for the Demon Vine and the Demon-Sealing Stele to awaken.
He was eager to learn what realm they would reach after their next breakthrough and just how powerful they would become.
However, he didn’t hold much hope for the Demon-Sealing Stele—it had always been tight-lipped, offering him little information. The Demon Vine wasn’t necessarily reliable either. Though it could communicate clearly, it knew too little, so Ye Liuyun’s expectations remained modest.
During this time, he had absorbed a considerable amount of primordial energy, refining his advance energy. The Demon-Sealing Stele was on the verge of breaking through to the Dominator Realm, making him feel his own progress was painfully slow.
In the end, martial prowess came down to individual strength. No matter how formidable his army was, he needed to elevate himself first—otherwise, in the current battles, he wouldn’t even have a chance to act.
Though his mastery of time, space, and soul attacks counted as part of his strength, their limitations were too great. So he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to advancing his cultivation, refining the quality of his advance energy until he reached the mid-stage of the fifth level of the Dominator Realm.
Meanwhile, the others—including the powerful beings of other races—had all been focusing on strengthening their soul power. They had been thoroughly shaken by Ye Liuyun’s army of wraiths, witnessing firsthand the dire consequences of having a weak soul.
When the Demon-Sealing Stele and the Demon Vine finally awakened, Ye Liuyun gained little new insight.
The Demon-Sealing Stele showed no reaction at all—he couldn’t even detect any changes. The Demon Vine, however, cheerfully announced that it had broken through to a new realm. Yet, it had no idea what that realm actually was.
When Ye Liuyun asked how it felt, the vine couldn’t articulate it. So he proposed a sparring match—only to find he couldn’t withstand even a single casual strike from the Demon Vine.
With a lazy flick of its tendril—holding back most of its strength—the Demon Vine forced Ye Liuyun to draw upon the power of his spatial world just to block the attack. Without that, the strike would have shattered him to pieces.
From the Demon Vine’s effortless assault, Ye Liuyun sensed something akin to Mo Tianheng’s ability to harness the power of heaven and earth at will—except this force was far more overwhelming.
The Demon Vine, however, was practically bouncing with excitement, urging Ye Liuyun to attack it without retaliation. Ye Liuyun threw his strongest punch—yet the vine didn’t even bother dodging. Instead, he noticed an immense concentration of natural energy swirling around it, effortlessly neutralizing his strike.
His full-powered blow didn’t even create a ripple.
*"What kind of power is this?"*
Ye Liuyun drew his Demon-Slaying Blade for another attempt. While the blade’s power proved more effective than his fists against the demonic vines, its edge merely left a shallow scratch despite slicing through the vines’ natural defenses.
This was puzzling—the Demon-Slaying Blade was supposed to be the bane of demonic vines. Before, even when white light couldn’t pierce their tendrils, this blade could cleave through them effortlessly. No matter how tough the vines’ flesh was, they had always feared this weapon. That was why Ye Liuyun had never used it in their sparring sessions. Yet now, even with his full strength, he could barely leave a mark.
At first, the demonic vine had been nervous when Ye Liuyun unsheathed the blade, but seeing the lackluster result, it practically jumped for joy. Immediately, it scampered off to find Lei Ming, eager to gloat. After all the times Lei Ming had bullied it, now it was time to turn the tables.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun summoned Broken Horn, Black Mountain, Wen Yuan, and Feng Qiong to inquire about the realms beyond the Sovereign level.
"Do your kind have realms beyond the Sovereign stage?" he asked.
"Yes!" they answered in unison.
Ordinary members of their race might not have known, but these individuals held significant status and were privy to such secrets.
"Not just one, but three!" Wen Yuan added.
Broken Horn and Feng Qiong nodded in agreement. "Exactly three."
"What are they called?" Ye Liuyun pressed.
"We call it the Realm of Enlightenment," Wen Yuan replied.
Ye Liuyun understood that the names of cultivation realms differed between their races, each tailored to their own traditions. So while the otherworlders referred to it as the Realm of Enlightenment, human martial artists likely had a different term.
"Have you heard what it feels like to reach that stage? What changes occur?" he asked, probing for more details.
"They say one must achieve profound insight—comprehending the laws of nature and sensing the very momentum of heaven and earth," Wen Yuan explained.
"I’ve heard that power becomes limitless, the body indestructible like diamond, granting eternal life!" Black Mountain chimed in...
Ye Liuyun knew none of them had actually reached such realms—these were just hearsay, likely exaggerated. For instance, Black Mountain’s claim about an indestructible diamond body was probably an overstatement. After all, he had just managed to leave a scratch on the demon vine with his blade earlier, proving it wasn’t truly invincible. At best, it was a significant improvement compared to the Dominator realm.
"Do you know how many tiers this realm has? Or any other names for it?" Ye Liuyun continued the casual conversation.
The group shook their heads.
Broken Horn was the one who spoke up: "I’ve only heard from other elders that this realm has alternative names. Since so few reach it, many who do end up naming it based on their own insights."
"That makes perfect sense," Ye Liuyun agreed, finding the explanation reasonable.
After all his questioning, this was the only concrete answer he got.
"Guess I’ll just keep cultivating. I’ll figure it out when I get there," Ye Liuyun thought to himself, deciding to keep Black Mountain and Wind Vault by his side from then on.
He instructed Yu Xiaofeng to retrieve the stockpile of alien corpses stored in the Demon-Sealing Stele and the demon vine, handing them over to Black Mountain for cultivation. Black Mountain was overwhelmed—he never expected such generosity from Ye Liuyun. The stash contained hundreds of thousands of alien corpses.
Ye Liuyun simply told him, "I already have beasts by my side who’ve broken through to the Dominator realm. Work hard and strive to reach that level soon—you’ll be of great help to me in the future."
The moment Black Mountain heard Ye Liuyun wanted him to break through to the Dominator realm, his excitement surged. He had never imagined that being captured would lead to such an opportunity.
"Yes!" Black Mountain answered fervently before being taken into his clone’s spatial world for accelerated cultivation.
Ye Liuyun then turned to Wind Vault. "You help us channel the power of thunder and fire, and I’ll supply you with origin energy."
Wind Vault wasn’t at a disadvantage either—Ye Liuyun would replenish any energy it expended from the spatial world—so it readily agreed.
From then on, Ye Liuyun, his clone, Thunder Roar, and the Vermilion Bird frequently had Wind Vault summon lightning and flames to enhance their elemental affinities. As a result, Ye Liuyun’s mastery over these forces progressed rapidly.
Not long after, Fu Yang returned with his team, bringing news of the aliens’ latest movements.
"They’re reinforcing their troops across multiple star systems," Fu Yang reported to Yu Xiaofeng and the other commanders.
