Ten days later, a sprawling complex of buildings had risen from the original ruins. Since this was meant to be a long-term settlement, the disciples of both Sects had spared no effort in construction, cutting no corners.
The buildings were not particularly elegant, but they were supremely practical. Living inside them felt much like living back in one's own Sect — the only shortcoming was a slight deficiency in the ambient spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
But that was hardly a major problem. If one truly wished to cultivate, relying on Saint Crystals would suffice.
Along the roads of the ruins, night-luminous pearls hung at regular intervals, casting a gentle glow that illuminated the once pitch-black ruins with brilliant, bustling light.
Yang Kai had already relayed the positions of the eight mineral veins he had discovered to Qian Tong and Ye Xiyun. As for how the two Sects would go about mining them, he couldn't be bothered to worry about it — that was naturally Qian Tong and Ye Xiyun's responsibility to manage.
If more manpower was needed, they could draw upon reinforcements from the Dark Star at any time. Yang Kai had already arranged everything for them.
Moreover, once everything here was settled and the disciples had begun extracting minerals, Yang Kai had ventured out alone. Within a radius of ten million li, he set up three more Space Teleportation Formations at different locations!
For the decades to come, these formations would ensure that warriors arriving from the Dark Star could traverse the ten-million-li region with ease and convenience.
One month later, Yang Kai prepared to leave.
After all, his original purpose had been to establish a connection between the Dark Star and the outside world. Discovering this mineral planet had been nothing more than an incidental bonus.
Now that things here were well underway, there was no reason for him to remain.
Standing atop the ruins, Yang Kai called out to the Stone Puppet in his mind.
He had never recalled the puppet, because this place was practically a paradise for it. By devouring various rare minerals, the Stone Puppet could strengthen itself. If it consumed a sufficient quantity of the same type of mineral, it could even develop its own unique abilities.
For instance, its Lava Armor!
That was an ability it had obtained after devouring and refining the Solar True Fire.
Once the Lava Armor manifested, no one could approach within ten zhang. The searing temperature was enough to force even Void Return Stage powerhouses to retreat.
In any case, the mineral planet harbored an enormous quantity of minerals. No matter how much the Stone Puppet devoured, it could barely put a dent in the supply. So during all this time, Yang Kai had largely left it to its own devices.
But when he reached out to call it now, he discovered that the Stone Puppet had ventured deep underground — to a depth of tens of thousands of zhang, no less. It was unclear whether it had found something valuable.
Sensing Yang Kai's call, the Stone Puppet finally made its way up from below at a leisurely pace.
An hour later, the Stone Puppet reappeared before Yang Kai.
But upon seeing it, Yang Kai couldn't help but freeze.
Because something about the Stone Puppet's condition seemed off.
Before it grew larger, the Stone Puppet had always worn a dopey, vacant expression. Its low level of spiritual intelligence was reflected plainly in its outward appearance. But now, it seemed even more dazed than before — the faint glimmer of awareness that had once existed in its eyes had vanished entirely.
Its gait was unsteady, swaying this way and that, as though it were thoroughly drunk.
Yang Kai was alarmed, suspecting that the Stone Puppet had devoured something it shouldn't have and run into trouble. But after a careful examination, he was surprised to discover that nothing was wrong at all — its physical condition was better than it had ever been.
Moreover… Yang Kai detected a peculiar, eerie power within its body.
This power felt familiar. It was much like what he had experienced when he refined the Dark Star's Star Source and became its Star Master — that overwhelming sense of the Heavenly Dao's laws blanketing the entire Dark Star.
"The power of law?" Yang Kai's expression changed dramatically, and he immediately probed more carefully.
After a long while, he withdrew his spiritual sense, his face alternating between light and dark.
He had not been mistaken. There truly was a wisp of law power within the Stone Puppet's body, though it was extremely faint — compared to the Dark Star's laws, it was like the difference between heaven and earth.
But law was law, regardless. It was a domain that even Void King Stage cultivators could not touch!
How had such a power inexplicably manifested inside the Stone Puppet?
Recalling where it had been, Yang Kai's eyes lit up, and a bold guess surged through his mind: "Did you devour and refine this dead star's Source? It actually still had a Source?"
The Stone Puppet raised its hazy eyes to look at Yang Kai, its face utterly blank. Then it lifted one foot, spun in a few circles on the spot, and crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud, sending up a cloud of dust.
Yang Kai didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Sensing that the Stone Puppet was in no danger — merely suffering some discomfort from having difficulty digesting that faint wisp of law power — he stored it in his Space Ring.
Still, this development was far beyond anything Yang Kai had anticipated.
And for a dead star to still retain some remnant of its Source — that was genuinely astonishing.
Dead stars were not supposed to possess a Source. Without spiritual energy, there could be no Heavenly Dao, and without the Heavenly Dao, there could be no Source — much like how a person's body decays and their Dao vanishes after death.