The divine soul within the heart was still arguing with Ye Liuyun. "What are you doing? I never meant to harm you! How can you repay kindness with betrayal? I was only testing the strength of your divine soul—how else could I pass on my legacy to you?"

By then, Ye Liuyun had already plunged the Demon-Slaying Blade into the ancient demon’s chest, just a hair’s breadth away from piercing its heart.

"I don’t have time for your nonsense," Ye Liuyun said coldly. "Hand over all the resources from this ancient demon’s spatial world, and I’ll spare your life. Otherwise, I’ll destroy you right here."

"How can you—" The ancient demon tried to protest, but Ye Liuyun pressed the blade deeper, its tip piercing the heart. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Though the strike didn’t fully penetrate, the Demon-Slaying Blade’s innate power against demons forced the divine soul to surrender instantly.

"Fine, fine! I’ll give you the resources—just pull the blade back!" the divine soul shrieked in panic.

Ye Liuyun withdrew the blade slightly, but the damage was already done—a deep gash marred the heart, one that would never fully heal thanks to the weapon’s demon-slaying properties.

Terrified of further delay, the divine soul within the heart immediately seized control of the ancient demon’s consciousness and began transferring the resources from its spatial world.

Meanwhile, the divine soul trapped in Ye Liuyun’s consciousness had already been nearly half-dissolved. Only then did Ye Liuyun begin extracting its memories, uncovering its origins.

His suspicions were correct—both divine souls had once belonged to the heart’s original owner. A slain ancient demon had preserved its heart and divine soul intact, hoping for resurrection.

In its prime, it had been a Dominator of the Seventh Heaven. But with insufficient energy to sustain the heart, its cultivation and divine soul had steadily deteriorated.

When it encountered this powerful ancient demon, it lured the creature into refining its heart. But the demon, realizing the divine soul sought to take control, chose to burn its own soul to ashes rather than submit.

The reason was simple—the heart’s divine soul had intended to use the demon’s body to rule the entire ancient demon race. But before self-immolating, the demon placed a restriction on its core, rendering the heart powerless to refine resources or control it—leaving it as helpless as a paralyzed man.

So the heart bided its time, waiting for another host. Yet it drifted too far into the void, never encountering another ancient demon.

When it finally crossed paths with Ye Liuyun, it planned to use his body to seek out the demon race. But its only remaining power lay in its divine soul, forcing it to lure Ye Liuyun close before striking.

It had assumed its divine soul was powerful enough to easily overpower Ye Liuyun, but never expected to encounter such a freak. After one of its souls was subdued, the other dared not charge into Ye Liuyun’s consciousness again.

Ye Liuyun conducted another search and learned about the ancient demon’s spatial world. To his delight, it held abundant resources—well worth the risk he had taken.

Without hesitation, he commanded the Ten Thousand Gods Token to completely annihilate the captured soul, turning it into nourishment for his own divine soul. Keeping it would be pointless; better to make use of the scraps.

Meanwhile, the remaining soul outside, after retrieving a number of items, suddenly stopped.

"That’s all. I’ve brought everything out!" it declared.

"Oh really?" Ye Liuyun sneered. With a swift flick of his Demon-Slaying Blade, he carved a deeper gash right beside the previous wound.

"Ah! Stop! Let me check again!" the soul shrieked in panic and hastily resumed pulling out more treasures.

Tired of its games, Ye Liuyun coldly listed everything he knew about the ancient demon’s spatial world and threatened, "Hand over every last item. If even one is missing, I’ll erase you on the spot!"

The soul stammered in agreement, "I’ll give them, I’ll give them! But... what did you do to my other soul?"

Realizing Ye Liuyun had already extracted its memories through soul-searching, it knew deception was futile and dared not withhold anything further.

"Destroyed it," Ye Liuyun replied bluntly. "Did you think I’d spare something that attacked me?"

"Fine, fine! You’re ruthless!" the soul muttered resentfully but continued emptying its hoard, even transferring several smaller demonic worlds nested within the ancient demon’s realm.

Ye Liuyun’s mood soared as he absorbed the essence of over six thousand new worlds. These demonic realms were particularly well-developed, making them valuable additions.

He immediately assigned one each to his clone, Leiming, and the Nine-Headed Netherdragon, then claimed the remaining three for his own spatial world.

Distracted by the flood of riches, Ye Liuyun grinned from ear to ear, momentarily overlooking the heart and the lingering soul. He had intended to dispose of them later to eliminate any future threats—but for now, his focus was on reaping the rewards.

This ancient demon’s soul was truly malevolent. Its past deeds were even more heinous than those of alien races—it showed no mercy even to its own kind.

Yet when Ye Liuyun finished collecting all the resources and turned back, he found the Demon-Slaying Blade still embedded in the demon’s heart—only to realize both the heart and its soul had vanished without a trace.

Frowning, Ye Liuyun activated his golden pupils and expanded his divine sense, scanning the surroundings, but found nothing.

"Strange... Where did it go? How did it escape?" His expression twisted in disbelief. The heart had been reduced to mere soul energy—how could it have slipped away unnoticed right under his nose?

"How did it disappear?" He even questioned the Demon-Slaying Blade, inspecting its interior, yet detected no anomalies.

The blade’s consciousness responded clearly, though just as clueless: "It just... vanished all of a sudden!"

With a frustrated sigh, Ye Liuyun retrieved the blade and set the demon’s corpse ablaze, ensuring no future complications. He then released his falcon, scouring the area once more, but the heart remained elusive. Reluctantly, he departed.

Only after Ye Liuyun had gone did the heart reappear—now weakened, its soul energy diminished to the size of a mere divine realm fragment.

"Damnable human... I won’t forget this!" the soul hissed venomously. "If not for my unique technique, I’d have been finished by your hand. Mark my words—those who dare strike me will pay dearly!" With that, it withdrew into the heart, falling silent.

The heart continued to pulse faintly as it drifted... straight toward the Silver Fox Galaxy.

Days later, a cutting-edge Falcon-class warship detected the throbbing organ and veered toward it. To any observer’s surprise, the figures disembarking were none other than Mo Tianheng, Mo Shaowen, and Liu Yang.

Ever since Ye Liuyun developed the new Falcon model, they had each secured one for themselves, eager to explore the cosmos. Though their cultivation barely reached the first or second tier of the Heavenly Realm, their restless spirits thrived on adventure.