This unique race, the Small Stone Clan, was nothing short of an immense treasure to him.
Even those fearless Small Stone Clan members, each and every one of them, now looked utterly endearing in his eyes.
To achieve his goal, he would need to migrate a sufficient number of Small Stone Clan members into his own Small World.
Yang Kai didn't hesitate. He set to work immediately.
The Small Stone World was home to quite a few Small Stone Clan members, with populations varying from clan to clan—large ones numbering in the tens or even over a hundred thousand, while small ones might only number a few hundred.
The one Yang Kai had previously absorbed into his Small World was among the smaller clans.
Over the following month, Yang Kai traveled to every corner of the Small Stone World, collecting Small Stone Clan after Small Stone Clan into his own Small World.
By the time the month had passed, the Small Stone Clan members settled within his Small World numbered close to ten million.
Only then did Yang Kai stop. Not because he didn't want to collect more—ideally, he would have liked to take every last one of the Small Stone Clan from this world into his Small World. But if he did that, then the Small Stone World, this exceptional cultivation haven, would lose its very foundation.
Such benefits shouldn't be monopolized by him alone.
What remained to be solved now was how to expand the Small Stone Clan's population.
The growth of the Small Stone Clan depended primarily on the Stone King's reproduction, much like ants. Yang Kai had personally witnessed the Stone King consume all manner of ordinary minerals—and even the broken bodies of its own clan members—to gain the power to reproduce.
Judging by this, the Stone King's dietary requirements weren't particularly demanding. If even ordinary minerals would do, what couldn't it consume?
But what if it were given cultivation resources of various grades? Would that grant the Stone King even greater reproductive power?
The Small Stone World must once have had cultivation resources of its own. However, due to the existence of the Small Stone Clan, those resources had long since been eaten clean. That was why Yue He and the others had found nothing of note during their earlier exploration, discovering only this peculiar race.
Within his Small World, Yang Kai projected a divine sense avatar and stood in the original nest of the Small Stone Clan. With a thought, a piece of faintly golden ore appeared in his hand—a Grade Three metallic cultivation resource of modest value.
He had simply wanted to test whether the Small Stone Clan showed any interest in cultivation materials. But the moment he produced the ore, the entire nest erupted into a commotion.
Countless Small Stone Clan members seemed to have caught some scent and all turned their attention in his direction. Even the guard squads patrolling around the Stone King halted their steps and looked his way.
The bloated Stone King, so fat it could barely move, let out strange sounds from its mouth—utterly frantic.
Yang Kai's brows shot up. This reaction proved his hypothesis was correct.
In the next instant, a dense tide of Small Stone Clan members surged in from every direction, surrounding him so thoroughly that not even a drop of water could slip through within the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai quickly dropped the resource in his hand.
There was remarkably little scuffling. One Small Stone Clan member happened to reach up and catch the roughly fist-sized ore, then immediately bolted toward the Stone King without pause.
Moments later, it arrived before the Stone King and, like an offering, held the resource high above its head, presenting it to the Stone King's fanged maw.
The Stone King bit down. A series of crunching sounds followed before the ore was swallowed whole.
Yang Kai watched the Stone King's changes with rapt attention.
The effect was practically instantaneous! After consuming a single Grade Three metallic resource, the Stone King began to tremble—just as Yang Kai had previously observed, straining with all its might. A moment later, accompanied by a soft plop, a stone egg dropped from the Stone King's suspended tail.
A Small Stone Clan member waiting below caught the egg and carefully placed it in a designated chamber.
The Stone King showed no signs of stopping. Its body continued to shudder ceaselessly, its corpulent frame swelling and contracting. After the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, another stone egg was produced from its tail.
This continued unabated until, after a full two hours, the Stone King had deposited a full thirty to forty stone eggs before finally ceasing.
Yang Kai watched with delight, his spirits soaring. Cultivation resources of established grades truly had an enormous impact on the Small Stone Clan's reproduction!
This had been only a single Grade Three resource, and it had already prompted the Stone King to produce thirty or forty stone eggs. Grade Four or Grade Five resources would likely yield even more.
Subsequently, Yang Kai presented the Stone King with one Grade Four and one Grade Five resource each to consume.