Chapter 2588: Chapter 2588
Currently, the only region where the alien races still have a chance to infiltrate spies is the eastern territories.
In the east, there are two major human tribes resisting the alien invaders. These tribes have a complex relationship—sometimes united, sometimes divided. When the aliens launch large-scale attacks, the two tribes join forces to fight them off.
The alien armies, numbering in the millions, sent to the east were ultimately crushed by the combined efforts of these two tribes. Though each tribe fought independently, their coordination was seamless.
However, in peacetime, the two factions are riddled with conflicts, constantly at odds with each other. So when the remaining million or so alien soldiers retreated, neither tribe pursued them. Even five or six of the alien overlords managed to escape unscathed.
Soon after, the two tribes reverted to their usual standoff.
Realizing brute force wasn’t working, the aliens shifted tactics. They dispatched their overlords to secretly cultivate puppet agents within the tribes.
This time, they didn’t just corrupt a few powerful warriors with their sinister energy—they also bound several individuals with soul contracts. One of them, Zhou Qiang, was the son of a tribal chieftain.
Additionally, they took control of two tribal elders and several key warriors. To ensure Zhou Qiang’s rise to power, they even helped eliminate his rivals.
Several of Zhou Qiang’s cousins mysteriously died in battles against the opposing Jin Tribe, fueling the Zhou Tribe’s growing hatred for the Jin.
The aliens adjusted their assault patterns to aid Zhou Qiang’s ascent. In one coordinated strike, they concentrated their forces to kill the old Zhou chieftain.
Conveniently, Zhou Qiang was "coincidentally" engaged in battle elsewhere, unable to intervene. Thus, he smoothly assumed the mantle of leadership, taking control of the Zhou Tribe.
Afterward, the aliens focused their attacks on the Jin Tribe, occasionally even sacrificing some of their own forces to let Zhou Qiang claim victories and solidify his authority.
Of course, the aliens had also planted spies within the Jin Tribe, feeding intelligence to the Zhou Tribe and steadily weakening the Jin’s strength.
The method of using soul contracts to control human warriors was actually learned from humans themselves—the aliens had little natural affinity for soul-based attacks.
But now it was gradually spreading, even beginning to be adopted among the other races.
The other races believed that Ye Liuyun would eventually march eastward, so this was a preemptive move on their part.
By the time Ye Liuyun arrived in the east to form alliances, their Three-Eyed Golden Armor warriors would be fully trained. Then, they could coordinate with the humans in the east to ambush and eliminate Ye Liuyun there.
That was why, even though they could have wiped out these two tribes by now, they held back. Instead, they continued to push Zhou Qiang to unify and strengthen them, secretly cultivating martial practitioners loyal to Zhou Qiang, waiting for Ye Liuyun and his allies to take the bait.
The other races’ schemes in the east were nothing short of meticulous. All the eastern tribes had ceased their offensives, focusing their efforts on enhancing their strength.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun and the alliance were busy clearing out the other races’ strongholds in the south, harvesting resources while also striving to improve their own power.
Ye Liuyun estimated that by the time all the southern strongholds were destroyed, Wu Qingcheng and the others would likely break through to the Dominator Realm. With resources in abundance, all they needed now was more combat experience.
Ye Liuyun himself rarely took action anymore, only sparring with his doppelgänger to burn off excess energy. Meanwhile, Lei Ming, Liang Xue, Feng Hongxiu, and others were honing their skills against Dominator-level warriors of the other races.
Only Wu Qingcheng and her group remained out in the field, slaying the other races to sharpen their abilities in all aspects.
As time passed, more than half of the remaining southern strongholds of the other races were seized by Ye Liuyun, while the alliance’s three-million-strong army wiped out the rest.
When the Demon Vine returned with the other races’ captives, it handed over all the origin energy to Ye Liuyun. In turn, Ye Liuyun distributed the stockpiled resources from the other races between the Demon Vine and the Demon-Sealing Stele, allowing them to absorb as much as they pleased.
Ye Liuyun wanted to supply them with ample resources to see when the Demon Vine might break through to the next realm—hoping to use it as a reference for himself.
But the two of them showed no signs of progress, leaving Ye Liuyun at a loss. At the same time, he worried about his own breakthrough, uncertain when it might come.
Lately, he had absorbed and refined vast amounts of origin energy, yet there was still no significant movement. The quality of his energy had improved slightly due to constant combat training, but his realm showed no signs of an impending breakthrough.
Qin Peng also returned with the reserve army, delivering all the origin energy to Ye Liuyun. The energy cores from the other races’ corpses had already been used by the soldiers for cultivation, while the bodies themselves were given to the Demon-Sealing Stele and the Demon Vine.
They set out with one hundred fifty thousand men, now reduced to seventy thousand. Yet they had already developed the formidable aura of the Death Legion, ready to be integrated into the main army.
The only limitation was their cultivation level, held back by insufficient resources.
Though Ye Liuyun had absorbed their origin energy, he compensated them fairly by exchanging it for fragments of minor world origins and divine crystals, returning these resources to them. He instructed them to cultivate within his avatar’s spatial realm to swiftly enhance their strength before joining the main forces.
Meng Qingyin’s original force of ten thousand had also dwindled to three thousand, a testament to the brutal battles they had endured.
Yet their power and presence had undergone a dramatic transformation. Having mastered most of the Death Legion’s training methods, Meng Qingyin decided it was time to return to the alliance and train their armies.
Before parting, she made a point to bid farewell to Ye Liuyun.
When he saw her, he noticed the newfound determination in her eyes and the hardened aura around her. He couldn’t help but praise, "Seems like the training paid off—you’ve got the look of the Death Legion now."
"Of course," she replied with quiet confidence. "After all this time, it’d be strange if nothing changed. Your methods are truly remarkable." She was thoroughly convinced now.
"Good to hear. Did you need something?" Ye Liuyun asked casually.
"I’m heading back to the alliance. I plan to use these training methods there—hope you don’t mind?" There was a hint of concern in her voice, as if fearing he might disapprove of sharing their techniques.
"Not at all," he reassured her. "The whole point of letting you train with us was so you could learn and pass it on. I don’t have time to train every army personally—those who want to grow stronger can take inspiration from us."
"Mm." She nodded, then fell silent, unsure what else to say.
When she didn’t continue, Ye Liuyun prodded, "Anything else?"
"Well... not really. I just wanted to thank you," she admitted, a touch awkwardly.
"Heh, didn’t you already do that before? Fine, consider your thanks accepted. No need to stand on ceremony from now on," he chuckled.
"You—!" Meng Qingyin huffed in frustration, stamping her foot.
Ye Liuyun merely shrugged, completely oblivious to what she was trying to convey.
