Li Yang was used to Soul Crystal's words. He smiled. "It's perfect. The octopus clone can focus on protecting Earth."
As he spoke, he quickly arrived at a certain spot.
With a wave of his right hand, a pebble from the depths of the sea flew into his palm. The pebble cracked open, revealing a Spatial Ring.
Li Yang's World Tree clone was hidden inside this Spatial Ring.
"Li Yang, what are you doing here?" Soul Ink asked, puzzled by his actions.
The words had barely left his mouth when a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
A monstrously ferocious Insect Beast had appeared before Li Yang. The creature was entirely black, with sixteen legs below its abdomen. Its eyes were purple, and faint purple mystical patterns adorned its black body.
It radiated an intensely dark and cold aura, and its very presence seemed to dim the surroundings.
"A Dark Insect King?"
Soul Ink exclaimed in surprise, looking at the Insect Beast that radiated a dark, cold aura.
He sensed its aura for a moment before a thought struck him. "Is this another one nurtured by your World Tree?"
The Dark Insect King, an innate Deity! Upon reaching maturity, it can master the four great mysteries of the Dark Law!
Its life level is exactly the same as that of the Fire Nether Divine Beast and the Time Divine Tree!
"Yes," Li Yang nodded.
A year and a half had passed, and his sixth clone had finally finished gestating. Moreover, his own mastery over the laws of Time, Space, Lightning, and the Fire Element had all broken through to the World Realm!
In terms of strength, this Dark Insect King, gestated for less than a year, could already kill an ordinary Deity!
Soul Ink said nothing, his eyes fixed on the Dark Insect King.
This was Li Yang's third Deity-level clone! And his sixth clone in total!
Clearly, Li Yang was hiding a great secret. Soul Ink had suspected as much when Li Yang created his other Deity-level clones, so he was only mildly surprised now.
'What on earth is his secret? To be able to create one Deity-level clone after another… Could it be a legacy from a Creator Ancestor?'
Soul Ink mused. His own power had once been immense, reaching the Dominator level, yet even he was stunned by Li Yang's secret.
'A mere World Realm existence, a life form that isn't even considered top-tier, is repeatedly violating the laws of the Cosmos to create Deity-level clones.'
While Soul Ink was lost in thought, Li Yang, who had been admiring his Dark Insect King clone, thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Soul Ink, what level of life form is an Ancestral Dragon? I tried to create one before, but the process failed from the very beginning."
PFFFT!!!
If Soul Ink had been drinking anything, he would have spat it all out right then and there.
His expression was incredulous. "What did you just say? You tried to create an Ancestral Dragon clone?"
He looked utterly baffled.
"Mhm, I gave it a shot," Li Yang confirmed with a nod.
'Just a single trace of its bloodline could elevate a being like the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon to the World Realm. The Ancestral Dragon's life level must be incredibly high—it might even surpass the Deities!'
Naturally, Li Yang was intrigued by the prospect.
'What if my World Tree clone actually succeeded?'
'Success or failure didn't matter; he had to at least try. A failure wouldn't have any major consequences anyway.'
But the process had failed right from the start. The World Tree couldn't analyze the Ancestral Dragon's genes at all.
Soul Ink looked at him strangely. "Li Yang, creating an Ancestral Dragon clone… you've got some wild ideas."
He shook his head. "Do you have any idea what tier an Ancestral Dragon actually belongs to?"
"Not really," Li Yang admitted, shaking his head.
'He had his suspicions, but he didn't know the details.'
Soul Ink said, "A Dominator! The Fire Nether Divine Beast and the Time Divine Tree are innate Deities, but the Ancestral Dragon is an innate *Dominator*!"
"An innate Dominator?" Li Yang's eyes widened in shock.
'How powerful was a Dominator?'
The most powerful beings in the entire Cosmos were the Creator Ancestors. However, there were only about ten races in the Cosmos that even had a Creator Ancestor, which meant there were very few of them in total.
Below the Creator Ancestors, Dominators were the strongest.
It was said that once you became a Dominator, you could essentially do whatever you pleased anywhere in the Cosmos.
A race with a Dominator could even stand on its own in the Cosmos!
But becoming a Dominator was incredibly difficult. By Li Yang's own estimation, the entire Human Race probably didn't have very many Dominators.
"That's right. Not many Ancestral Dragons have ever appeared in the Cosmos, but every single one that has appeared was at the Ancestor Realm!"
Soul Ink continued to drop bombshells. "Calling it an innate Dominator is just speculation. Many powerful experts believe the Ancestral Dragon might even be an innate *Creator Ancestor*! But the idea of an innate Creator Ancestor is so staggering that more people are willing to accept the innate Dominator theory."
"Otherwise, why do you think it's called an *Ancestral* Dragon?"
A Creator Ancestor is the absolute pinnacle of existence in the Cosmos! What life form could possibly be born at such a level? It was a preposterous notion, so few believed it.
As for an innate Dominator, while still difficult to accept, it was at least within the realm of possibility.
Li Yang was utterly floored.
'Every single Ancestral Dragon has the power of a Creator Ancestor from birth? Does that mean the Ancestral Dragon might be an innate Creator Ancestor?'
'Born at the apex of the Cosmos? That would make it the Cosmos's most favored child.'
"That's why I said trying to create an Ancestral Dragon is pure fantasy."
Soul Ink said calmly, "Do you really think you can create a clone on the level of an innate Dominator, let alone an innate Creator Ancestor?"
Li Yang fell silent. 'To create even an innate Deity clone,' he thought, 'I have to cultivate the Soul Chapter of the Cultivation Technique from that mysterious little sword and wait for my soul to reach a state of perfection.'
As these thoughts ran through his mind, Li Yang suddenly asked, "Soul Ink, since the Cosmos has creatures like the Ancestral Dragon—innate Dominators, or possibly even innate Creator Ancestors—then there must be others at different levels, right? Like an Innate Emperor?"
'He used to think innate Deities were the limit. But now that he knew about innate Dominators and even potential innate Creator Ancestors, could there also be Innate Emperors?'
'He might not be able to create such a being now, but it could be possible in the future.'
'The higher the tier of the life form he created, the greater the benefits would surely be.'
"There have been Innate Emperors before."
Soul Ink thought for a moment before saying, "But they've only appeared once. It was a creature called a 'Saintfall.' Its level was so high that its brief appearance caused an immense shock throughout the Cosmos. However, the creature vanished as quickly as it appeared, so the major races know very little about it. Later generations of races might not even know it ever existed."
"They really existed?" Li Yang's interest was piqued.
He tried searching for it on his wrist-com, but his clearance level wasn't high enough to yield any results. Moreover, the Human Race's Eternal Saint Hall had no records whatsoever on a creature called 'Saintfall.'"