Chapter 2357: Chapter 2357 Competition
Ye Liuyun had deployed his armies into the starry skies not to directly confront the Sanctuary, but rather to explore. In his judgment, the Sanctuary’s strength was not something he could shake at this stage.
Instead of forcing a confrontation, it would be better to allow the armies to undergo tempering through experience, and perhaps even acquire valuable resources along the way.
As for the Sanctuary itself, Ye Liuyun intended to leverage his identity as a member of Stygian to seek out opportunities for gradual expansion.
After dispatching all the armies, Ye Liuyun used the Black Tower to teleport back to Valorcrest.
There, he contacted both Qiong Qi and Mo Tianheng. Mo Tianheng was still aimlessly roaming about.
Meanwhile, Qiong Qi had already captured over fifty highly skilled masters in Weapon-refining, alchemy, and Formations.
Without delay, Ye Liuyun teleported to Qiong Qi’s side via the Black Tower and took those fifty-plus master artisans into his Spatial World. He then assigned them to Ton Xin, instructing her to continue working with them on developing new equipment.
Meanwhile, Qiong Qi resumed his hunt for more targets.
Originally, he had been focused on gathering resources. After capturing such a large number of powerful masters, he realized that plundering people with specialized skills could be just as lucrative.
Thus, he made this his new path of survival, recruiting numerous Divine Souls and strong subordinates as helpers.
Ye Liuyun, on the other hand, returned to Valorcrest. He planned to enter the Songstress into the talent selection competition. Even so, winning the contest was a secondary goal. His true purpose was to infiltrate the Yonglie Mansion, where he could gain access to Wan Weihou and eventually step into the Sanctuary Dynasty’s circle of power.
Since the competition was still some time away, Ye Liuyun could focus on training the Songstress. Meanwhile, his clone stayed behind at Stygian to take on missions in his place.
Both he and his clone had now refined the Third Eye of the foreign race and reached the Omnipotent Level in Divine Soul power. It gave them the strength and security to operate separately.
With this advantage, Ye Liuyun could now push forward on two fronts—through both Stygian and the Sanctuary Dynasty.
He also consulted the Songstress regarding his plan. To his satisfaction, she responded with great enthusiasm. She was eager to challenge herself against the talents of this world and see how far she could still grow in power.
Ye Liuyun personally trained Songstress, going so far as to have every Omnipotent-level expert by his side, including himself, spar with her. This allowed her to gain experience dealing with opponents of various fighting styles and specialties.
He even imparted to her powerful secret techniques like the Fatal Scripture and the Soul-Crushing Tactic, just in case someone tried to trick or manipulate her. Although time was too short for her to master these skills, they were enough to prepare her against underhanded tactics.
When the competition began, Ye Liuyun accompanied the Songstress every step of the way. Using his Golden Phantom Eyes, he observed the strengths of various contestants and offered her insights, helping her devise counter-strategies independently.
Thanks to her talent and effort, the songstress advanced smoothly into the top hundred, attracting attention from every corner. Her young age and formidable strength impressed even Wan Weihou himself, who began to hold high expectations for her.
As the competition heated up, some major powers aiming for top rankings started playing dirty behind the scenes. Ye Liuyun’s clone, operating within Stygian, discovered an assassination task had been placed on the Songstress.
Over the next three days, Ye Liuyun protected her from relentless attacks by hired killers. Fortunately, he recognized most of them and managed to subdue each one as they came. The Songstress remained safe, but Ye Liuyun grew increasingly concerned.
Just as he feared, the bounty on her rose sharply.
Within three days, it had climbed to thirty points.
That level of reward was enough to tempt a wide range of assassins.
Ye Liuyun began speculating on the identity of the employer behind these repeated attacks. Unless he eliminated the mastermind, the attempts on taking Songstress’s life would not stop.
As the competition progressed, the number of contestants had dwindled to fifty. Taking advantage of the situation, Ye Liuyun also subdued a number of local Stygian members to strengthen his hand.
From his analysis, only about ten contestants posed a real threat to the Songstress. However, each of these ten had powerful forces backing them. Without clear proof, Ye Liuyun couldn’t just strike out and destroy all ten factions.
And then, the bounty on Songstress rose again. This time to fifty points.
Worse still, Ye Liuyun noticed that some formidable martial practitioners had begun targeting him directly. He couldn’t determine whether they were external operatives from Stygian or elite enforcers sent by one of the major factions, growing impatient and preparing to strike at the Songstress directly.
After all, once the top ten placements were finalized, killing the Songstress would no longer serve any purpose.
Ye Liuyun and the Songstress stayed at an inn, where Liu Jing had set up an intricate Formation within their room. He instructed the Songstress to remain inside and not to step out, leaving a Phantom Hand behind to guard her.
Ye Liuyun stepped out of the room and made his way to the ground floor. He chose a table and sat down, silently waiting for the experts to make their move.
It didn’t take long before three martial practitioners entered the inn and took seats beside Ye Liuyun, forming a triangle around him.
The one seated opposite him casually tossed an interspatial ring onto the table and issued a cold threat, "Withdraw from the tournament. The resources inside that Interspatial Ring are more than enough for you and your sister to live comfortably for the rest of your lives. Refuse, and neither of you will see tomorrow."
Ye Liuyun picked up the ring with composure and inspected its contents. It was indeed filled with riches, nearly matching the rewards promised to the tournament’s top ten.
He smiled faintly and slipped the ring into his robe.
The three martial practitioners exchanged smug looks, assuming Ye Liuyun had yielded.
But his next words instantly froze the smirks on their faces.
"I’ll take the ring. Now, the three of you should get lost." he said, smiling as if dismissing some trivial annoyance.
"You brat, you dare play us?"
The martial practitoner across from him growled, his expression turning vicious.
The trio unleashed their aura at once, pressing it down upon Ye Liuyun like a crushing tide.
"Just a few mongrels trying to bite." Ye Liuyun said coolly, unfazed by their intimidation.
The martial practitioner across from him flared with genuine energy, preparing to strike. However, the one beside him quickly grabbed his arm to stop him.
Starting a fight in broad daylight would surely draw the attention of the city patrol. If that happened, their involvement would be exposed.
Ye Liuyun deliberately played it cool, fully aware that they wouldn’t dare act in broad daylight.
"Young man, you’ll pay for your arrogance!"
The martial practitioner snapped before dragging his companions away. However, they didn’t go far. Instead, they continued to watch Ye Liuyun from a distance. They were clearly planning to strike after nightfall.
"Looks like they’re from one of the major factions. But these three martial practitioners are stronger than average Omnipotent Level practitioners. I wonder if I can take them head-on."
With that in mind, he summoned his clone to take his place guarding Songstress, while he himself wandered casually toward the outskirts of the city.
These three martial practitioners were stronger than the average Omnipotent Level cultivators. Because of that, Ye Liuyun wasn’t just aiming to subdue them. He also wanted to spar with them, to gauge just how far his own strength had come in comparison.
Although the three martial practitioners realized Ye Liuyun was trying to lure them out, they were confident in their strength and followed him without hesitation.
Once he confirmed they had taken the bait, Ye Liuyun broke into a sprint, quickening his pace to lead them away.
He began by using Spatial Folding to challenge them in speed.
As expected, the trio possessed formidable Spatial Force of their own. They relied on their cultivation level to move swiftly through the void, keeping up with Ye Liuyun without falling too far behind.
