Under the illusion’s control, the Rat-Hunter’s courage had indeed ballooned

Yet the pressure from the demonic flood dragon was still formidable, so its every move remained cautious. Ye Liuyun had deliberately used the flood dragon to scare it, fearing the little beast might grow careless.

Underground, the creature pushed spatial power to its limits; aside from a faint ripple in space, not a sound escaped

It secured the dragon corpse with uncanny steadiness—no tremor, no disturbance. The dragon soul inside the core continued its slumber undisturbed. Then, clutching the Interspatial Ring, it slipped back in total silence.

Resisting the dragon aura’s oppressive might had cost it dearly, so Ye Liuyun rewarded it with a barbaric bear to feast on at will.

He then drew the souls of both avatars into his own sea of consciousness, stowed the avatars and puppets inside his spatial world, and only then drew the Demon-Slaying Saber to dig out the dragon core

As he worked, his golden pupils stayed locked on the dragon soul, terrified it might suddenly awaken. The instant the core came free, he shrank it and pulled it straight into his sea of consciousness.

Only then did Ye Liuyun allow himself a small sigh of relief.

The dragon soul, still cloaked in the golden light of the Myriad-God Seal, had not roused immediately. By the time it did, the seal had already eroded a good portion of its essence.

“Roar!”

A thunderous roar burst forth as the soul tried to break free of the golden cage, but the struggle was futile; it was consumed to nothing.

Ye Liuyun and the six souls of his avatars began devouring the released soul power at once. Their soul strength skyrocketed; the avatars’ souls instantly matched the original.

After this surge, they entered the Soul Tempering Secret Realm to compress their power, then swallowed the soul-refining pills concocted by the Void-Pill Sect. Only then did they release the Rat-Hunter again to steal another dragon corpse.

This time the soul woke faster, regaining awareness the moment the golden light touched it. The outcome, however, remained unchanged: it could not escape the Myriad-God Seal.

Corpses and cores alike were tucked into a dedicated Interspatial Ring for later cultivation.

Once the second soul was absorbed, Ye Liuyun’s souls cultivated for a while, consolidating their gains. After the Rat-Hunter had rested, it was sent out again.

After devouring four dragon souls in succession, Ye Liuyun reached his limit. The earlier battles had already stuffed him with soul power, and each new dragon soul was stronger than the last—each one nearly doubling what he already possessed.

His soul strength was now three times that of a peak Unity-realm expert. And with this leap came an abrupt, wondrous clarity: he could sense the very information of heaven and earth.

He let his soul drift outside his sea of consciousness. This roaming of the void felt different—he could perceive far more of the world’s forces

Not just the power of heaven and earth, but every type of energy and strength within it, flowing in patterns he could now trace with perfect clarity.

To his soul, the entire world seemed laid bare; omniscience beckoned. The sensation was so intoxicating his soul almost refused to return, longing to wander the cosmos forever.

By his prior experience, his soul had broken through another major boundary, surpassing the standard of the Grand Void realm. With his current soul strength, obliterating Long Tao’s soul would be effortless.

“My soul has broken through first again,” Ye Liuyun murmured.

“Don’t worry,” an avatar laughed. “With these dragon corpses, our bloodline and physique will catch up soon.”

“What about the remaining dragon souls?” The avatars were reluctant to abandon such resources.

Dragon bodies were treasure troves—especially these Grand-void true dragons; scales and tendons were rare refining materials.

At that moment, his War God armor spoke to him, saying it could absorb dragon scales to boost its defenses. Sensing Ye Liuyun’s newly strengthened soul and the thick draconic aura, it had decided to remind him.

“Of course we’re taking everything!” Ye Liuyun produced a Soul-Sealing Orb and studied how to trap the remaining souls.

Without securing the souls first, he dared not collect the corpses; if all the souls woke at once, he would be overwhelmed.

“Let’s try it!” Ye Liuyun made up his mind, drew the Soul-Sealing Orb into his sea of consciousness, and had every one of his soul fragments brace themselves.

Then he released the Rat-Hunter again, and it stole back another dragon corpse.

He used the same method as before—extracted the primordial core and tucked it into his sea of consciousness. The instant the core entered, Ye Liuyun’s souls unleashed a Soul-Shock Wave, jolting the dragon soul awake and forcing it out of the core. All six soul fragments struck together, dragging the dragon soul straight into the Soul-Sealing Orb.

As soon as the dragon soul was sealed inside, the Myriad-God Token withdrew its golden light. The orb was Ye Liuyun’s artifact; any souls imprisoned within were automatically his, so the Token would never attack them.

“Perfect! The trick works!” His souls buzzed with excitement.

Ye Liuyun fed the Rat-Hunter until it was fully recovered, then sent it out once more.

These dragon souls had slumbered for ages; unless something truly earth-shaking happened, they simply wouldn’t wake. And the Rat-Hunter, timid by nature, moved with extreme caution every time, never careless. So everything went smoothly.

But the dragons were enormous; barely a hundred souls had filled the orb to the brim. Ye Liuyun hurried off to find Old Ancestor Skyfire and asked whether he could refine another Soul-Sealing Orb.

Without even lifting his eyes, the old man asked casually, “What grade do you want?”

He was busy improving Ye Liuyun’s Heaven-Swallowing Cauldron, and every ounce of his attention was on selecting materials.

“Same as this one.”

Ye Liuyun produced his orb for inspection.

Skyfire gave it a passing glance, indifferent—until he spotted the dragon souls inside. His eyes lit up.

He immediately asked, “Can you spare me one of these dragon souls?”

“No problem.” Ye Liuyun figured that if the old man’s soul power rose, it would only help him forge better artifacts, so he agreed at once.

“Good. Just have Huo Yang refine it for you. A mere ninth-grade True-tier Soul-Sealing Orb? He can handle that,” Skyfire said with a grin.

“Uh...” Ye Liuyun felt conned. He silently cursed the old man: This geezer won’t lift a finger and still robs me of a dragon soul!

So he went to Chen Huoyang.

“Can you give me one of those dragon souls?”

Chen Huoyang, just like Skyfire, opened with the same demand.

Are all weapon-refining master this shameless, or is it just the Chen family? Ye Liuyun grumbled inwardly.

But when he thought of Qiong Qi, he decided Skyfire and Chen Huoyang were actually rather polite by comparison!