One day later, Yang Kai and Mo Xiaoqi opened their eyes one after the other, each radiating bright spiritual light, clearly having made a full recovery.
Mo Xiaoqi recalled her several demon beasts while asking Yang Kai, "Brother Yang, now that we've reached the third layer, we can't just let the benefits here go to waste. Shall we stick together or go our separate ways?"
Yang Kai thought for a moment and countered, "What do you think?"
Mo Xiaoqi giggled. "If we want to play it safe, I think it'd be better to stick together. But if we want more rewards, we should split up. Brother Yang, you don't know this, but the real treasures inside the Five-Colored Pagoda aren't the natural treasures that grow in here, nor are the Artifacts left behind. The real prizes are the broken Laws of Power and the Stellar Essence drifting between heaven and earth!"
"I've heard about that before, but I've never actually seen any. What's going on?" Yang Kai frowned.
Mo Xiaoqi smiled. "That's because the first and second layers don't really have much of it. But the third layer is different. And right now, it's just the two of us here—there's no one competing with us. If we could get our hands on some broken Laws of Power and Stellar Essence, it would be a tremendous help for our advancement to the Dao Origin Realm."
Yang Kai nodded and smiled. "It sounds like you'd prefer to split up, then?"
Mo Xiaoqi stuck her tongue out sheepishly. "Well, even if we do run into something good while we're together, we'd have to split it two ways… Brother Yang, it's not that I don't want to share equally with you, it's just…"
"I understand. Since you're confident in yourself, let's split up." Yang Kai interrupted her with a smile.
"Then Brother Yang, you have to be careful. There are Dao Origin Realm demon beasts in the third layer."
"You too." Yang Kai nodded.
In truth, Yang Kai wasn't particularly worried about Mo Xiaoqi. With her methods and the Artifacts she carried, even if she truly encountered an eleventh-rank demon beast—a Dao Origin Realm one—she wouldn't be in serious danger. If she couldn't handle it, she could still protect herself.
As for himself, he wasn't afraid either. In the worst case, he could release the Insect Mother. As long as he didn't run into a swarm of eleventh-rank demon beasts attacking all at once, Yang Kai was confident he could remain safe on the third layer. He could even take this opportunity to refine his Blood Beasts.
The Blood Beast army he'd condensed back in his home star domain was essentially useless in the Star Boundary now. It was high time for an upgrade.
Once the two had reached an agreement, they quickly set off in separate directions.
They moved in opposite directions, confident that even when the Five-Colored Pagoda's time limit expired, they wouldn't cross paths again. This way, there would be plenty of space for each to seek out their own opportunities.
One day later, Yang Kai stood in an open clearing, his hands opening and closing as wave after wave of Moon Blades surged forward.
Not far ahead, the snow-white Insect Mother wielded both swords in tandem, trailing arcs of purple and cyan light as it brought the full power of the Purple Cyan Twin Swords—a Void King-grade superior Artifact—to bear.
A frigid Glacial Intent radiated outward from the Insect Mother, carrying the force of freezing Laws that transformed the earth within a hundred-zhang radius into frozen ground.
Its opponent was an eleventh-rank Green Flame Thunder Jackal—a demon beast resembling a cross between a wolf and a jackal. It was not large in stature but extraordinarily agile, born with mastery over both fire and flame. It was an exceedingly difficult foe.
The Insect Mother could currently exert power at the second level of the Dao Origin Realm, yet after battling it for the better part of a day, it still hadn't managed to kill the creature. This spoke volumes about the jackal's exceptional abilities.
Yang Kai didn't dare intervene rashly in their battle. Instead, he stood at a distance, continuously using spatial techniques to disrupt the Green Flame Thunder Jackal's movements.
As time passed, more and more wounds accumulated on the jackal's body. And as the Insect Mother's Glacial Intent continued to spread and seep inward, its opponent grew progressively slower.
This was the terror of Glacial Intent—it could erode an enemy's perception and speed in utter silence, leaving them sluggish without their even realizing it, until they ultimately lost their lives.
Two more hours passed, and with a piercing howl of anguish, the Insect Mother's Purple Cyan Twin Swords finally pierced the creature's vitals, drawing a great spray of crimson blood. The jackal's death throes forced the Insect Mother to retreat again and again.
But this was nothing more than a futile struggle.
A moment later, the light faded from the Green Flame Thunder Jackal's eyes, and it collapsed to the ground, never to move again.
Only then did Yang Kai step forward.
The Insect Mother opened its mouth, swallowed the Purple Cyan Twin Swords, and then curled up at Yang Kai's feet, nuzzling against him affectionately.
An ordinary Blood Beast would be utterly incapable of such behavior, but the Insect Mother already possessed its own nascent intelligence, so a touch of sentience in its actions was understandable.
Crouching before the dead Green Flame Thunder Jackal, Yang Kai considered for a moment before deciding to refine it into a Blood Beast. He forced a strand of Golden Blood Thread from his fingertip and drove it into the jackal's corpse. Settling into a seated position before it, he began forming spirit seals, processing it according to the Blood Beast refinement method.
Half a day later, the once-dead Green Flame Thunder Jackal swayed and rose to its feet once more. But its eyes were now dim and vacant, devoid of any trace of awareness. Over its entire body, a faint aura of bloody light emanated—the most distinguishing characteristic of a Blood Beast.
Yang Kai probed it briefly with his spiritual sense and confirmed that the new Blood Beast's strength hadn't dropped to the Void King Realm but was maintained at the Dao Origin Realm. He couldn't help but feel quite satisfied.