Chapter 2509: Chapter 2509
After several days of probing, Ye Liuyun’s golden eyes finally discerned that the alien forces were preparing for a major offensive.
The remaining four million alien troops had begun assembling in battle formations, their movements signaling an imminent assault.
"It seems they’re doubling down!" Ye Liuyun muttered under his breath.
Without hesitation, he mobilized the two-million-strong army of the Sacred Dynasty, positioning them behind the martial cultivators who were currently assaulting the enemy’s defensive formations. Simultaneously, twenty thousand Swiftwings—the Sacred Dynasty’s elite aerial units—took to the skies, poised for action.
The moment the alien army surged forward, the martial cultivators swiftly retreated. The Swiftwings swooped down, raining destruction upon the invaders, while the Sacred Dynasty’s ground forces unleashed a relentless barrage of arrows, cutting down the advancing horde.
The aliens pressed forward despite the heavy casualties, using their warships as shields against the Swiftwings’ relentless assault. The skies became a graveyard of falling vessels—both alien warships and Swiftwings plummeted in flames.
In a desperate move, the aliens even deployed their colossal flagship, sacrificing it to blunt the Swiftwings’ attacks. Their soldiers trampled over the corpses of their fallen kin, closing the distance until they finally clashed with the Sacred Dynasty’s forces in brutal close combat.
From the rear, the golden-armored alien commanders roared furiously, driving their troops forward to expand their foothold.
Seeing this, Ye Liuyun immediately ordered all martial cultivators to join the fray. Over ten million warriors surged behind the main army, waiting for the moment the enemy’s formation shattered before charging in to deliver the killing blow.
The battlefield descended into chaos once more—blood sprayed, limbs flew, and the air trembled with the cacophony of war cries.
Meanwhile, the alien elites focused on shielding their formation masters, who worked tirelessly to expand their defensive barriers outward.
Reacting swiftly, Ye Liuyun sent his doppelgänger charging toward them, wielding the Demon-Sealing Stele alongside the strongest martial cultivators, their target clear: the formation masters must fall.
At the same time, he occasionally released the Gold-Devouring Beast, allowing it to feast greedily amidst the enemy ranks before swiftly recalling it just as their elite warriors arrived.
Wherever the beast had passed, the armor and weapons of the alien forces vanished without a trace. The battlefield was littered with corpses, so many that even the Demon Vine struggled to keep up—storing some while devouring others.
Similarly, the Demon-Sealing Stele expanded to the size of a small mountain before crashing down, crushing countless enemy cultivators with each strike and absorbing vast amounts of energy in the process.
With the battle now at close quarters, the falcons were all withdrawn. Those that had been shot down were retrieved by suicide squads of cultivators dispatched by Ye Liuyun, determined to reclaim every last remnant.
The enemy’s formation masters, under relentless assault from Ye Liuyun’s doppelgänger and elite warriors, found their progress slowed, frequently forced to dodge attacks just to stay alive.
Ye Liuyun kept a watchful eye on the alien commander and noticed he was preoccupied with repairing the altar, paying no attention to the battlefield. Seizing the opportunity, he drew the Great Desolation Bow and began targeting the formation masters.
But the moment he took down two of them, the alien commander—who had been secretly observing him—struck without warning, instantly killing three elite warriors.
The doppelgänger immediately lunged at the alien, while the Demon-Sealing Stele, sensing his presence, hurled itself toward him first.
The alien swung his bone club once more, sending the stele flying—though this time, it didn’t go far and quickly recovered, charging back at him. Meanwhile, the alien seized the chance to strike again, felling three more warriors with brutal efficiency.
As the doppelgänger closed in, a beam of white light shot forth. Startled, the alien raised his club to block, but the light melted a large chunk of the weapon. The residual beams that slipped past pierced straight through his body, leaving two gaping holes.
"What kind of bone is this club made of?" Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger both thought in shock. "It didn’t even shatter under that light!"
At that very moment, the Demon-Sealing Stele came crashing down once more. With a thunderous *boom*, it pinned the devil creature beneath its weight. Simultaneously, the clone witnessed the creature’s bone staff finally give way, snapping clean in half.
Meanwhile, the Demon Vine had already entangled itself in combat with the golden-armored commander, ensnaring him tightly within its coiling tendrils. Bit by bit, it drained his strength while also absorbing the scattered corpses of fallen aliens nearby to replenish its own energy.
Ye Liuyun wasted no time. He dashed forward, joining his clone in launching a soul attack that subdued two alien elites and a formation master.
*"Woo—!"*
A silver-armored alien let out a piercing howl before retreating toward the defensive barrier. Instantly, the remaining alien warriors and soldiers turned and fled in disarray.
Ye Liuyun noticed that the alien’s formation had expanded outward by several layers. Within the newly covered area lay countless mutilated alien corpses—remnants of the initial charge, cut down by Feiyan and the archers. At least they wouldn’t have to bother collecting the bodies.
As for the golden-armored commander, the Demon Vine had already torn him in half and was now devouring his remains. It seemed he had issued the retreat order with his dying breath.
The Demon-Sealing Stele still pressed down on the alien elite, indicating it hadn’t finished absorbing its energy. Ye Liuyun, meanwhile, pocketed the broken bone staff for later study.
The martial cultivators of the Sacred Dynasty pursued the retreating aliens relentlessly, driving them back into their defensive formation before being halted by the barrier.
The two alien elites and the formation master, now branded with Ye Liuyun’s slave mark, slipped back among their ranks unnoticed.
*"Martial cultivators, continue assaulting the defensive formation! Soldiers, fall back to the city and regroup!"*
This time, Ye Liuyun didn’t rush to scavenge the battlefield. Instead, he ordered the martial cultivators to maintain their relentless assault on the barrier.
Only then did he deploy his army of 500,000 to clean up the battlefield.
Once the battlefield was cleared, the massive force encircled the alien formation, relieving the martial cultivators. War chariots, energy cannons, puppet beasts, and hunting falcons took over as the primary attackers against the defensive barrier.
The sheer firepower of this army was no less formidable than that of the martial cultivators.
Although the martial cultivators were numerous, their tight formation limited their combat effectiveness. Moreover, having just emerged from battle, most had nearly exhausted their remaining true essence.
The alien race immediately dispatched all their formation masters to reinforce the defensive arrays, desperate to prevent their hard-won expanded perimeter from being breached again.
Ye Liuyun retrieved both the Demon-Sealing Stele and the demonic vines, but by then, only six of the elite martial cultivators around him remained standing.
Fortunately, under the protection of his doppelgänger, his own retinue—both human and beast—had survived unscathed.
Without hesitation, he deployed another five hundred thousand troops, rotating the siege equipment while encircling the area in two dense rings to ensure no alien could escape.
The relentless bombardment of the defensive arrays by Ye Liuyun’s forces placed immense pressure on the alien defenders, forcing their formation masters into ceaseless, frantic repairs.
With a sweep of his golden pupils, Ye Liuyun assessed the situation inside. The alien forces had dwindled to fewer than two million, their equipment nearly depleted. Even their colossal flagship had been reduced to wreckage.
He then ordered his own side to tally their losses. The once two-million-strong army of the Sacred Dynasty had been whittled down to a mere twenty thousand. Over three million martial cultivators had perished, though the losses among the Swift Sparrow airships were comparatively light—only three thousand destroyed.
Yet even Ye Liuyun’s own forces had suffered heavily, with more than three hundred of his prized Falcon-class vessels lost in the battle.
