Chapter 2508: Chapter 2508
Ye Liuyun attempted to maneuver the Demon-Sealing Stele to crush the golden-armored alien, but the powerful foe detected his move. With a swing of a bone-like weapon, an overwhelming surge of energy sent the stele flying.
The force behind that strike stemmed not only from the warrior’s own formidable strength but also from the strange weapon in his grasp.
The Demon-Sealing Stele, unwilling to back down, prepared to charge again, but Ye Liuyun stopped it with a silent mental command, urging it to conserve energy and grow stronger. Obediently, the stele redirected its fury toward other alien soldiers, smashing through them relentlessly. The golden-armored warrior paid it no further mind, his attention fixed firmly on Ye Liuyun.
Frustrated, Ye Liuyun realized he had no opening for a sneak attack. For now, he had no choice but to focus on ending the battle.
With the combined efforts of the Sky Swallows, war chariots, energy cannons, Ye Liuyun’s army, and the martial cultivators, the alien forces suffered devastating losses—nearly 50,000 Sky Swallows destroyed and close to two million soldiers slaughtered. The battlefield was a gruesome sight, littered with corpses.
Ye Liuyun’s own forces weren’t unscathed. Tens of thousands of his soldiers perished, and the martial cultivators fared even worse—out of the initial 300,000 and the later reinforcements of a million, only 400,000 remained.
His doppelgänger and the beast allies, though sustaining minor injuries, emerged mostly intact. However, half of the captured alien warriors at the third and second tiers of Heavenly Realm were lost. Still, they had slain twice as many elite alien fighters in return.
By all accounts, Ye Liuyun’s side had achieved a resounding victory.
Yet the battlefield was a nightmare. The confined space meant corpses piled three layers deep, and blood soaked the yellow sand several meters underground. Even the demonic vines lying in ambush beneath the earth were overwhelmed—they barely had a chance to fight, too busy devouring the endless stream of fallen bodies.
Eventually, the alien forces erected a defensive formation, pulling their remaining soldiers behind its protection.
Ye Liuyun ordered his troops to withdraw and recuperate while the martial cultivators stayed behind to scavenge the battlefield, with a few Hawks providing cover.
Each scavenger carried three storage rings—one for metal scraps, one for fallen martial cultivators, and one for alien corpses. They left nothing behind, stripping the battlefield bare.
The alien soldiers watched in silent fury, but without orders, none dared to step out and reclaim what had been taken. All they could do was glare as Ye Liuyun’s forces hauled everything away.
The demonic vine had been voraciously devouring and storing food underground. As soon as the battle ended, it retreated into the Mystic Void Stone and dozed off again.
Ye Liuyun immediately ordered his men to sort through the storage rings collected from the battlefield. All the metal was handed over to the Sacred Dynasty to be reforged into Swift Sparrows.
Nearly a hundred of Ye Liuyun’s Falcon-class ships had been destroyed in the battle, but the results were still considered a major victory. He gathered all the wreckage and handed it to his weapon-refining master for repairs, while the damaged vessels were prioritized for immediate restoration.
The corpses of the alien invaders were fed to the demonic vine and the Demon-Sealing Stele, allowing them to continuously absorb energy and boost their strength. Meanwhile, the bodies of human warriors were given to the savage beasts and demonic creatures as food.
The sea beast cores collected by Liu Kui were distributed among the soldiers as cultivation resources to help them grow stronger.
The conflict soon entered a stalemate. The alien forces began constructing bases to fortify their defenses, while Ye Liuyun’s side focused on reorganizing their troops and refining equipment.
Ye Liuyun also contacted the Venomous Scorpion Beast, instructing her to deploy scouts to monitor the aliens’ movements—ensuring none slipped away under cover of darkness to open new battlefronts elsewhere.
At the same time, he dispatched warships and Falcons to blockade the alien base.
This battle had been an eye-opener for warriors who had never witnessed the horrors of war. They realized just how brutal the battlefield could be—how insignificant an individual’s strength was in the face of such chaos.
Many lamented how a single misstep could cost them their lives, with some even dying without knowing how it happened.
Those who survived returned to share their experiences with others.
Yet, despite the grim reality, none of them considered retreating. They all understood that if they faltered now, the world would soon be overrun by corpse demons—a fate far worse than death.
Though their spirits were heavy, their resolve remained unshaken.
Even Xiao Mu’an sent representatives from the royal family to join the warrior squads, leading by example.
To keep everyone informed, Ye Liuyun implemented a daily battlefield bulletin. Updates on the war—including Liu Kui’s progress—were disseminated across the Sacred Lands, ensuring every warrior knew the true state of the conflict.
The purpose of this approach was to involve everyone, boosting their enthusiasm for resisting the alien invaders. This way, when urgent needs arose, mobilization could be swiftly reactivated.
The craftsmen of the Sacred Land worked tirelessly day and night, forging *Flying Swallows*—the most crucial equipment for combat.
Ye Liuyun could have shared the design of the *Hunting Eagles* with them, but the Sacred Land lacked the necessary materials. Handing over the designs would be pointless.
It wasn’t that he was unwilling to provide resources. Rather, Ye Liuyun had come to realize that many regions across the starry expanse were under invasion by the aliens. He might need to aid others in the future, so conserving materials was essential.
Meanwhile, the alien forces were also working frantically to accelerate the construction of their base.
Soon, their formation masters erected a cloaking barrier, concealing the interior from outside observation. However, their concealment was no match for Ye Liuyun’s golden pupils.
Through his vision, Ye Liuyun saw that the aliens had already relocated their altar. The spatial realm of their elite warriors had also been withdrawn, indicating that all the invaders from the secret realm had been fully transferred out.
But the altar had sustained damage during the move and was now undergoing repairs. As long as it remained intact, they could continue summoning reinforcements.
In response, Ye Liuyun dispatched large numbers of martial cultivators to take turns assaulting the aliens’ defensive formations. Even if they couldn’t breach the barriers, they could at least keep the enemy from resting easy.
He refrained from deploying his main army, though. The aliens’ current defensive formation was too compact—his forces wouldn’t have enough space to maneuver, limiting their full combat potential.
The invaders were essentially huddled together within their formation, crammed in tight. They frequently sent out troops in attempts to repel the martial cultivators and expand their defenses. But without the chance to form proper battle lines, they gained little advantage in the chaotic skirmishes.
Whenever they did manage to assemble in formation, Ye Liuyun would mobilize the *Flying Swallows* to strike their ranks. And if the aliens countered with their own aerial units, he would deploy the *Hunting Eagles* to annihilate them.
The invaders struggled to find an effective way to expand their base. Unless they launched another full-scale battle—accepting heavy casualties—they stood little chance of securing more ground.
But if they took that risk, their remaining forces might be too depleted to hold out. Ye Liuyun could then press forward with his full army, unleashing overwhelming firepower to shatter their defenses in one decisive assault.
If they chose inaction, however, the relentless attacks from millions of martial cultivators would eventually wear them down. Day after day, the pressure would mount until their defenses collapsed.
