Chapter 2497: Chapter 2497
The sudden disappearance of the battleship instantly exposed the hidden assassins lurking behind it. The guards swiftly moved in, engaging the killers with unexpected speed that caught them off guard.
One assassin who had just attempted to strike Ye Liuyun was intercepted and severely wounded by the defending guards. More hidden killers emerged from the shadows, all charging toward Ye Liuyun—except for Mosha and another elder from the Black Killers, who remained motionless.
The elder was there to monitor the battle and report back to Xiao Qiwu, while Mosha had been explicitly ordered by Ye Liuyun not to intervene.
Unfazed by the chaos around him, Ye Liuyun remained focused, meticulously gathering scattered divine crystals from the ground.
Xiao Mu’an smirked, tossing a Formation Flag into the air. Instantly, assassins attempting to conceal themselves in the void were forcibly revealed. Soon after, a guard lunged toward Ye Liuyun.
"Ahh!" Ye Liuyun feigned panic, draping himself in an invisibility cloak and vanishing before the guard’s eyes.
The guard barely had time to register the disappearance before a cold sensation slithered across his neck—Ye Liuyun’s silent dagger had already found its mark.
"An invisibility artifact?" Xiao Mu’an was surprised. He hadn’t expected Ye Liuyun to hide rather than flee. But as long as Ye Liuyun couldn’t escape the formation’s range, he wasn’t worried.
To him, Ye Liuyun was already a rat trapped in a cage.
He immediately summoned several guards to stand by his side. Meanwhile, his divine sense detected that the divine crystals on the ground were still disappearing.
"That greedy fool," Xiao Mu’an chuckled inwardly, paying little attention to Ye Liuyun and instead focusing on the battle against the Black Killers.
Their numbers surpassed those of the Black Killers, and with the prohibition on aerial maneuvers, the assassins had nowhere to hide, putting them at a severe disadvantage in the skirmish.
Yet, as the battle raged on, one of the guards abruptly vanished into thin air.
"Psychic fluctuation!" Xiao Mu’an’s spiritual power was second only to Ye Liuyun’s within this restricted airspace, making him acutely aware of the psychic disturbance caused by Ye Liuyun’s mental assault.
But try as he might, he couldn’t pinpoint Ye Liuyun’s location.
The assassin engaged with the missing guard froze momentarily in confusion, only to be immediately attacked by another guard, forcing him back into the fray.
Then, just like that, another guard disappeared without a trace.
"Damn it!" Xiao Mu’an knew Ye Liuyun was behind this, yet he was powerless to stop him.
"Ye Liuyun! I’m helping you deal with the Black Killers, and this is how you repay me?" Xiao Mu’an shouted into the empty air, his voice laced with fury.
"If you want me to stop, you’ll have to pay the price. Otherwise, who knows—maybe the Black Killers will finish you off before you can eliminate them!" Ye Liuyun’s voice echoed directly into Xiao Mu’an’s mind, careful not to reveal his position.
But Xiao Mu’an seized the fleeting psychic connection, swiftly locking onto Ye Liuyun’s location and launching a counterattack with his own spiritual force.
"Hah! You walked right into this one!" Ye Liuyun’s consciousness laughed within the depths of his mind.
Truth be told, he hadn’t planned on capturing Xiao Mu’an—only targeting powerful martial artists. Yet here the man was, delivering himself straight into his hands.
Now that Xiao Mu’an had uncovered the secret of the Divine Decree within his consciousness, Ye Liuyun couldn’t afford to let him go. Without hesitation, he branded Xiao Mu’an with a slave seal.
Then, he began sifting through the man’s memories, uncovering his entire scheme.
Xiao Mu’an’s mother had once been a royal consort, but she fell victim to palace intrigue, framed and executed by the Sacred King. Consumed by vengeance, Xiao Mu’an had spent years plotting to overthrow the throne.
That’s precisely why he had joined the Black Killers—on the surface, he appeared to serve them, but in truth, he was using them. Now, with his influence steadily growing, he was ready to stir up an even greater conflict between the Sacred King and the Black Killers.
Years of patience and cultivation had allowed him to master a soul-based secret technique, through which he had secretly taken control of numerous factions.
His soul technique was particularly terrifying—it enabled his spirit to morph into a liquid-like substance, enveloping and devouring the souls of others to strengthen his own spiritual power.
The outcome was similar to Ye Liuyun’s soul technique, though the methods differed.
Had it not been for the Divine Decree within Ye Liuyun’s consciousness, which instantly immobilized him, he might not have been a match for Xiao Mu’an’s sinister art.
Ye Liuyun released his soul and, together with his doppelgänger, took control of the Black Killers.
Seven of their assassins had already fallen, and the remaining five were swiftly subdued, bringing the battle to an abrupt end.
Xiao Mu’an then summoned a flying vessel. Ye Liuyun emerged, recalling his doppelgänger, the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, and the Demon Vine before boarding the ship with him.
"Hand over all the warriors under your control," Ye Liuyun commanded. "Keep only ten for yourself—that should be enough to guard against the Black Killers."
"Yes."
Xiao Mu’an had never imagined he would end up in such a position. One by one, he released the warriors under his command, allowing Ye Liuyun to brand them with slave seals.
Even the renowned alchemists and blacksmiths he had painstakingly controlled were stripped away by Ye Liuyun.
By now, Ye Liuyun had amassed a force of forty powerful warriors under his command.
"And your Interspatial Ring!" Ye Liuyun left him nothing—even the majority of the resources within his ring were confiscated.
Only the colossal warship was spared, left in Xiao Mu’an’s possession to avoid arousing suspicion upon his return.
"After you return, you must find a way to reduce the conflict between Black Kill and the Sacred Dynasty, and focus their efforts on dealing with the Evil Creature." Ye Liuyun explained in detail the characteristics of the Evil Creature and their methods to Xiao Mu’an.
He then handed over the captured Outsider named Nolin to Xiao Mu’an.
"Take this Outsider as evidence. Just say you discovered them in the Sacred Land and were tracking them, which is why you didn’t arrest me. As for the specifics, you can fabricate the details as needed."
After giving his instructions, Ye Liuyun erased the memory of Nolin’s capture from the Outsider’s consciousness to prevent any anomalies from being detected.
Now fully aware of the gravity of the situation, Xiao Mu’an immediately took Nolin back to the royal palace.
Liu Kui and the others also received orders to withdraw and retreated without delay.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun summoned the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon and, alongside his doppelgänger, launched an attack on the elder Black Kill had left behind for surveillance.
"ROAR!"
With a single earth-shaking bellow from the demonic dragon, the elder was forced out of hiding. The dragon’s Soulquake technique had now grown powerful enough to injure even formidable opponents.
Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger struck simultaneously. Though he had already captured plenty of strong adversaries, he simply wanted to test his skills against this elder.
Both wielded blades, and their coordinated assault left the elder with no choice but to defend desperately.
Yet, killing him proved no easy task. In the end, after exhausting the elder’s energy reserves, Ye Liuyun implanted a slave seal using his soul power—ensuring no valuable asset went to waste.
Ye Liuyun emerged as the ultimate victor of the chaotic battle. Not only had he amassed a vast quantity of divine crystals, but he had also seized numerous powerful warriors.
With forty-one elite martial experts now under his control, he no longer feared the threats posed by either the Sacred Dynasty or Black Kill.
