Chapter 2378: Chapter 2378 Self-awareness
Wan Weihou’s apparent lack of interest in gaining control of the garrison commander’s post made Lord Zhenxing rather pleased.
"Wan Weihou has no troops under his command. It can’t be him!" he thought to himself, convinced that the Wan Weihou was incapable.
"Very well! Since you haven’t found a qualified candidate, I’ll arrange for someone to take over immediately."
Lord Zhenxing promptly agreed.
While Ye Liuyun was taking some time off to reorganise his troops, he re-equipped his Empyrean Legion according to their previous standard.
With the arrival of war chariots, puppet beasts, Crystal Cannons, Storage Stone, and Exchange Stone, the Empyrean Legion’s combat strength would be significantly enhanced.
Having already proven their grit in battle, the army’s prowess was undeniable. Pei Yong had not only trained the main unit but also nurtured a reserve unit, intensifying the training of new recruits.
After all the necessary equipment was fully assembled, Ye Liuyun launched his next attack. He seized a major city under Jin Qianghou’s domain and plundered its riches.
Aside from that, he also seized Martial practitioners, weapon-refining masters, alchemists, and Formation masters.
Meanwhile, Lord Zhenxing had already appointed a new commander for Wan Weihou’s garrison. The newly appointed commander swiftly mobilised his forces to join Jin Qianghou’s forces for a pincer attack against Ye Liuyun.
Wan Weihou instantly alerted Ye Liuyun when the merging force started to make their move.
"What would happen if I annihilated all two hundred thousand of the soldiers?" Ye Liuyun asked Wan Weihou.
"Lord Zhenxing’s position would be in grave danger," Wan Weihou replied with a delightful tone. "And Jin Qianghou would undoubtedly become the scapegoat!"
"Great! Then let’s show them a battle they will never forget," Ye Liuyun declared, firm in his decision.
Yet he knew full well that Wan Weihou hadn’t disclosed to him all the possible consequences.
Things were certain to escalate after this battle. The Sanctuary Dynasty would surely send a huge army to annihilate them, and not even Lord Zhenxing could control it.
By then, Ye Liuyun would have been gone.
Even if he did not leave the place, Wan Weihou would act and silence him permanently.
Naturally, Ye Liuyun understood the dynamic of his relationship with Wan Weihou. Once the Sanctuary Dynasty intervene, He would be a liability, one Wan Weihou would eliminate without hesitation.
Ye Liuyun, having braced himself for the situation, commanded his soldiers to first attack Wan Weihou’s forces.
The newly appointed commander had yet to fully control his army. His inexperience would inevitably lead to tactical blunders, making them easier to defeat.
Furthermore, a few hundred elite troops who had previously served in that fortress were part of Ye Liuyun’s ranks. They were well familiar with its flaws.
Confident in his advantage, Ye Liuyun launched the assault with a devastating barrage. He sent war chariots, puppet beasts, and crystal cannons to tear through the enemy lines, instantly throwing them into chaos.
He exploited the situation by splitting his armies into groups to surround the confused soldiers. The new commander was slain on the spot.
Once Pei Yong had subdued the surrendering soldiers, Ye Liuyun swiftly stowed them away in his Spatial world before turning his army toward Jin Qianghou’s forces.
News of the battle had already reached the Jin Qianghou’s troops, leaving them stunned by the formidable Empyrean Legion.
They dug in defensively, assuming Ye Liuyun’s troops must be worn out from the previous battle and had run out of genuine energy. They intend to wear them down before launching a counterattack.
However, they had miscalculated their strategy. Ye Liuyun’s army was equipped with Storage Stones. Energy depletion was the least of their worries.
The anticipated counteroffensive never came. Instead, Ye Liuyun crushed them decisively, capturing over fifty thousand of their troops as war prisoners.
However, the victory was not without a price. Almost ten thousand of his troops fell. Most of them were inexperienced new recruits.
However, Ye Liuyun did not halt the advance of his army. He immediately led his troops to attack Jin Qianghou’s territory, forcing Jin Qianghou to flee in panic to Lord Zhenxing’s residence ahead of time.
Ye Liuyun utilised the Black Tower to return straight to the God Realm after looting a significant number of resources, martial practitioners, and divine masters. He didn’t bother to bring Wang Weihou with him.
Wan Weihou, meanwhile, had already made plans. He intended to make Ye Liuyun return to Volacret City after the battle so he could take advantage of the chance to kill him and gain command of his army.
Wang Weihou even briefed Wang Wei on his strategy and ordered him to gather reinforcements to confront Pei Yong’s army.
However, before he could act on it, Ye Liuyun had struck first, annihilating his entire army.
Wan Weihou could only grit his teeth in frustration upon receiving the news. "Humph! He is much difficult to deal with than I expected."
As for Wang Wei, his admiration for Ye Liuyun only grew.
"Bold yet strategic, knowing when to retreat at the best moment!" That was his evaluation of Ye Liuyun.
After the battle, Ye Liuyun had seized 120,000 surrendered soldiers and vast amounts of resources and talents.
As for where Ye Liuyun had disappeared to, neither Wan Weihou nor Wang Wei could guess.
Ever since then, Wan Weihou has been haunted by a lingering threat. One that he was powerless to do anything about.
When Ye Liuyun returned to the God Realm with his loot, he ordered Pei Yong to reorganise the army. In addition to over two hundred thousand troops and resources, the weapon-refining masters, alchemists, and other experts were among his most prized possessions.
For the time being, Ye Liuyun kept them all in his spatial world, assigning Ton Xin, Lin Luoyi, and others to learn from them in improving their skills.
Meanwhile, he returned to the Sanctuary Dynasty to retrieve his clone before stowing him into his Spatial World. Then, he headed to Stygian’s Secret Realm within Lord Zenxing’s territory to continue taking on more assassination missions.
Celestia, Griffin, and the other Stygian members followed Ye Liuyun to coordinate with him.
All the meantime, Ye Liuyun’s numerous armies made great strides forward. In particular, the group under the command of Ye Tiandao and Yuan Hao fought in many decisive engagements, ultimately vanquishing three major armies of the Sanctuary Dynasty and taking in numerous captives.
They even managed to annihilate two reinforcement armies of the Sanctuary Dynasty in the void of space, relying solely on Riftblade.
They had amassed so much loot that a single battleship of the 100,000-ton class could hardly contain it all. Hence, Ton Xin and his team provided them with two additional battleships of the 100,000-ton class and all the ancillary equipment.
Some of Ye Liuyun’s armies found rich resources, while others captured formidable martial practitioners, but all of them made great progress.
Ye Liuyun and his alliance army continued to expand and grow.
Meanwhile, the Sanctuary Dynasty was plagued with headaches from its unending defeat. Their dispatched armies were repeatedly wiped out, yet they still had no idea who their enemy was.
To make matters worse, the dire situation of the Volare Dynasty could no longer be concealed, sending shockwaves through the Sanctuary Dynasty. Immediately, they deployed a million-strong army, along with numerous martial practitioners experts, into the territories controlled by the Lord Zhenxing to search for Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liyun worried that Wan Weihou might eventually leak his identity. Hence, he obtained a few forged identity tokens from Stygian so no one could trace back to him.
However, his alias within Stygian remained unchanged. Even so, no one could link between the two names to the same person.
Moreover, under the alias of ’Liuyun’, he had already risen to the seventh rank within Stygian, surpassing the status of most assassins.
Soon, a chain reaction erupted within Lord Zhenxing’s domain, leading to massive upheavals. Suspicion spread among major factions, and Stygian found themselves inundated with an increasing number of missions.
