Chapter 2416: Chapter 2416
"Attack!"
Ye Liuyun’s crimson eyes glowed as he seized control of one of the monstrous creatures, compelling it to turn on its kin.
With a guttural roar, the beast lunged, sinking its fangs deep into another monster’s neck and tearing viciously. The victim let out a piercing shriek of agony. Still under Ye Liuyun’s command, the controlled beast unsheathed its razor-sharp claws and slashed open the other’s belly, spilling entrails across the ground in a gruesome heap.
The surrounding monsters froze for a split second—then descended upon the steaming offal in a frenzied scramble.
"Find us a way out—now!" Ye Liuyun swallowed hard, urgency sharpening his voice as he barked at Qiong Qi.
"Can’t pinpoint one. We’ll have to send more men to test the paths!" Even Qiong Qi seemed uneasy witnessing the creatures’ savagery.
Inside the secret realm, Ye Liuyun had captured numerous prisoners of war—untrained, deliberately kept as expendable pawns. Without hesitation, he unleashed two thousand soldiers. A thousand split into four squads, charging toward different stone bridges, while the remaining thousand tightened their defenses.
"Slaughter them!"
His command sliced through the chaos, and the soldiers surged forward.
The monsters answered with thunderous howls, their grotesque forms barreling toward the human ranks. Though matched in strength, their numbers were endless, crawling up from the abyss below in a relentless tide—so many that even Ye Liuyun couldn’t gauge their full force.
Undeterred, the thousand pathfinders pressed on, battling through the monstrous onslaught as they stormed the four bridges.
"Ahhh!"
A soldier let out a blood-curdling scream as one of the monstrous creatures seized his legs and yanked him out of formation. With a single savage bite, it tore away a massive chunk of his body, flesh and bone alike.
The scent of blood sent the beasts into a frenzy. Some clawed at the soldiers’ feet from beneath their shields, while others leaped straight into their ranks, slashing and biting wildly.
Seeing this, Ye Liuyun swiftly dispatched several squads of Feiyan—swift-flying aerial units—to rain arrows down on the creatures from above.
But one of the Feiyan flew too low. A monster suddenly sprang up, smashing into it with terrifying force and sending it crashing into the ravine below.
"Higher! Now!" Ye Liuyun barked into the comms, ordering the Feiyan to gain altitude immediately. Only then did they escape the monsters’ reach.
Once safely out of range, the Feiyan unleashed a relentless barrage, suppressing the creatures and easing the pressure on the ground troops.
Ye Liuyun then commanded one of the Feiyan to attempt a daring dive into the mist-shrouded hall. But the swirling fog proved too dense—it repelled the craft with an unseen force, hurling it back into the sky.
Meanwhile, three of the four squads advancing across the stone bridges found themselves ambushed by the same horrors. The monsters scaled the undersides of the bridges, attacking the soldiers’ legs with terrifying precision, leaving them no room to defend.
Yet one squad managed to push through unscathed. Strangely, as they crossed, even the mist seemed powerless against them.
Qiong Qi and Ye Liuyun watched intently until those soldiers reached the opposite bank and stood before the grand hall. Only then did they order their own troops to advance toward that very bridge.
Once they secured the bridgehead, Ye Liuyun and Qiong Qi charged across the stone span themselves. They dashed to the hall without encountering a single attack.
Ye Liuyun activated his golden pupils, scanning the interior of the hall—and his jaw dropped in stunned disbelief. "We’ve hit the jackpot!"
"Huh? What do you see?" Qiong Qi perked up, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"All top-notch treasures!" Ye Liuyun’s eyes were dazzled by the array of precious resources before him.
"Send two soldiers to open that gate!" Ye Liuyun immediately ordered his men to approach the Di’an Gate.
At the entrance stood two bronze statues wielding massive axes. Suspecting they might be enchanted constructs, Ye Liuyun hesitated to act rashly.
His caution proved justified—the moment the soldiers stepped forward, the bronze figures sprang to life, attacking with terrifying force. Their colossal strength cleaved through the soldiers’ armored shields in single strokes, rendering defenses useless.
"Attack together!" Ye Liuyun commanded his troops to strike as one, but the bronze warriors showed no fear, neither dodging nor defending.
"Burn them! Melt them down!" Qiong Qi urgently suggested, unleashing scorching flames toward one of the metal figures.
Ye Liuyun frowned. "That’ll take too long!"
Without hesitation, he summoned Xiao Binglan, Manshu, Wu Qingcheng, and Yuer. Together, they unleashed a surge of frost energy, instantly encasing one bronze warrior in ice—before Qiong Qi’s flames could even take effect.
"Fine, you handle it then!" Qiong Qi promptly withdrew his fire, leaving Ye Liuyun’s group to freeze the remaining statue.
"Toss them into the ravine," Ye Liuyun ordered, and the soldiers heaved the immobilized figures over the cliff.
With the statues gone, Ye Liuyun sent men to finally push open the hall doors.
But as the gates swung wide, two ghostly murals on the inner panels suddenly exhaled a chilling miasma. From within, two powerful wraiths surged forth, slaughtering the soldiers in their path.
These spectral foes were formidable—Ye Liuyun guessed they had once been warriors at the second-tier Heavenly Realm in life. Without hesitation, his golden pupils flashed with dark light, swiftly obliterating the vengeful spirits.
"You sure have a lot of tricks up your sleeve!" Qiong Qi remarked with admiration from the side.
Ye Liuyun surveyed the soldiers before him—only twenty remained. Fortunately, he had plenty of captives under his command, or else they wouldn’t have been enough to hold the line.
On the other end of the bridge, monstrous creatures continued their relentless assault on the soldiers. The troops on the other three stone bridges had already been wiped out, though no beasts had yet crossed from those directions.
To be safe, Ye Liuyun summoned another thousand soldiers to fortify their position before ordering the remaining twenty to enter the grand hall.
But the moment those soldiers stepped inside, they collapsed, poisoned.
"It’s poisoned!" one of them managed to warn before succumbing.
"I’ll go," Ye Liuyun said, recalling Wu Qingcheng and the others into his spatial realm as he strode toward the hall.
"I’m coming too!" Qiong Qi wasn’t about to let him face the danger alone.
Once inside, they immediately sensed the thick, lingering miasma of poison—clearly a deliberate trap.
While cultivating the Ten Thousand Toxins Heart Sutra to counteract the poison, they cautiously approached a door deeper within the hall.
"It’s filled with weapons and treasures," Ye Liuyun informed Qiong Qi, motioning for him to open it. His golden pupils had already detected the formation inscribed on the door.
Qiong Qi set to work dismantling the formation. After some effort, the barrier broke, and the door swung open on its own.
"Haha, there’s no shortage of good stuff here!" Qiong Qi grinned ear to ear at the sight of the treasure-packed chamber.
Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun swept the entire room’s contents into his spatial world.
"Next one!" he urged. Across the bridge, soldiers were still locked in combat. Though they were all prisoners, Ye Liuyun had no intention of letting them all perish.
"Honestly, what’s the harm in letting me take a good look?" Qiong Qi grumbled, but his hands moved swiftly nonetheless as he immediately began deciphering the next door’s formation.
"Once we’ve collected everything, you can stare to your heart’s content back in the spatial realm!" Ye Liuyun chuckled.
One by one, the doors swung open. Pills, medicinal herbs, ores, divine crystal marrow, and primal energies—all were systematically gathered by Ye Liuyun and his companions.
A few rooms even contained ready-made equipment: soldiers’ armor, starry sky battleships, and more.
