Chapter 2598: Chapter 2598
After taking Luan Ping as his disciple, Ye Liuyun kept only a few assassination experts—Phantom Hand, Xenocide, Harmony, Songstress, and Little Lan—by his side. The rest were sent back to the alien outposts by his clones using the Black Tower of Teleportation.
They split into two teams again, continuing to raid alien strongholds and hone their combat skills while pushing eastward, all to mislead the enemy. The aliens, believing Ye Liuyun was still advancing east and hadn’t yet reached the Zhou Clan’s territory, refrained from making any major moves.
Ye Liuyun had already deduced that the aliens’ arrangements here were likely targeting him and his alliance. Thus, he couldn’t afford to reveal his true presence.
Meanwhile, both the aliens and Zhou Qiang suspected that Ye Liuyun might have arrived—otherwise, how could such a formidable force they had dispatched vanish without even sending back a single message?
But when Ye Liuyun and the Demon Vine’s teams suddenly resumed their attacks on alien outposts, their suspicions faded. They began to assume the resistance still had hidden reserves of strength.
As a result, the aliens shifted their focus away from the Zhou Clan’s affairs, leaving only Zhou Qiang to deal with the rebels.
Zhou Qiang, now completely under alien control, mirrored their indifference. He delegated the task of suppressing the resistance to a few elders under his command.
The elders, in turn, merely dispatched small squads of low-ranking soldiers to scour the land for traces of the rebels. These soldiers lacked the skill to uncover the resistance’s hideouts, so their efforts yielded nothing.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun, accompanied by Phantom Hand, Songstress, and the others, made his way back to the Zhou Clan’s territory, leaving Luan Ping to train diligently on his own.
He had also placed a slave mark on Luan Ping—not to control him, but to facilitate communication. If Luan Ping ever faced danger or encountered difficulties in his cultivation, he could reach out to Ye Liuyun at any time.
As time passed, the incident involving Meng Wei faded into obscurity. Though people occasionally mentioned it, the tribe’s order had largely returned to normal.
The resistance had arrived ahead of Ye Liuyun. Through their existing connections, they had secured cover identities and safehouses—some had even infiltrated the guard corps and the military.
Now, only Ye Liuyun remained. But he assured them not to worry and soon located a martial artist corrupted by the aliens—a minor powerhouse from the Zhou Clan named Zhou Tong.
He was similar to Meng Wei, spending his days secluded at home in cultivation, rarely making public appearances. However, his influence wasn’t as strong as Meng Wei’s, so he had fewer guards protecting him.
Ye Liuyun marked him as a target, using a soul attack to subdue him before stashing him away in his spatial world. His few guards were swiftly eliminated by Huan Shou and the others using dark beams. Afterward, Ye Liuyun employed the Thousand Illusions technique to assume Zhou Tong’s form, adopting his identity for future operations.
From then on, Ye Liuyun and the rebels began acting separately.
The rebels still needed to verify their targets to avoid killing the wrong people. But Ye Liuyun had it much easier—his golden pupils could directly discern the state of a martial artist’s core, allowing him to strike without hesitation.
Moreover, those assisting him were the most skilled assassins among his followers, so they quickly eliminated seven or eight Sovereign-level experts, drawing the attention of the Zhou Clan’s elders.
The tribe soon intensified patrols and launched widespread searches. When the inspectors reached Zhou Tong’s residence, Ye Liuyun simply released the real Zhou Tong to send them away.
Powerful figures also began scanning the tribe with their divine senses, keeping a constant watch on any moving martial artists. After all, Ye Liuyun and his team hadn’t restricted their operations to nighttime—even during the day, he, the songstress, and Lan’er would don their invisibility cloaks and strike as usual.
Given the Zhou Clan’s heightened vigilance, the rebels advised Ye Liuyun to lay low for a while. Even Ling Xiao personally warned him, "The Zhou Clan’s elders are still formidable. It might be wise to avoid confronting them head-on for now."
Ye Liuyun agreed outwardly, but inwardly, he saw this as the perfect opportunity to lure out the tribe’s elders.
Ling Xiao and the others didn’t know the extent of his strength, so their concern was understandable. But he was confident in his ability to handle these martial artists.
Under the cover of night, Ye Liuyun once again draped himself in his invisibility cloak and set out to hunt down foreign spies. This time, however, he didn’t bring any of his companions.
Though the invisibility techniques of Huan Shou and the other Vespera beasts were flawless, any action they took would surely alert the tribe’s elders.
Besides, Ye Liuyun’s goal wasn’t just to assassinate a single spy—it was to draw out the elders afterward.
Along the way, he encountered numerous divine sense sweeps, but with his current mastery of spatial and soul power, evading detection was effortless.
Everything went smoothly—until the moment he struck. He didn’t use dark beams, light beams, or even his blade. Instead, he immobilized his target with spatial power before delivering a single, fatal palm strike.
The massive disturbance immediately drew the attention of powerful figures, who rushed to the scene. The first tribal warrior to arrive met the same fate—controlled by Ye Liuyun’s spatial power before having his head cleanly severed with a single slash.
In an instant, Ye Liuyun became the prime target of the tribal elders. Two overwhelming auras surged toward him. Without hesitation, he bolted toward the city outskirts, deliberately leaving traces of spatial fluctuations to ensure the two pursuers wouldn’t lose track of him.
The two chasing him were elders of the Zhou Clan—Zhou Yuan and Qian Hai—both key figures within the tribe, their minds already enslaved by the alien invaders. Though not as formidable as the golden-armored elders like Hong Guang, they far surpassed ordinary Dominator-level martial artists. Confident in their abilities, they dismissed other warriors who attempted to follow, believing the two of them were more than enough to handle the situation.
For Ye Liuyun, however, they were nothing more than perfect sparring partners. He deliberately led them deep into the wilderness before finally stopping, removing his cloak of invisibility, and turning to face them.
During the pursuit, Zhou Yuan and Qian Hai had already sensed the strength of Ye Liuyun’s spatial power and his incredible speed, putting them on high alert. Now, seeing him boldly preparing to take them both on, they hesitated, wary of a potential ambush.
"Who the hell are you?" they demanded, eyeing his altered appearance—one they didn’t recognize. As elders of the Zhou Clan, they were familiar with nearly every notable warrior in both the Zhou and Jin tribes. Yet this face was undeniably an outsider.
Ye Liuyun smirked. "Did you really think your little schemes could escape our clan leader’s notice? He sent me into seclusion in the mountains long ago, just to deal with the likes of you." He spun a quick lie, claiming to be a hidden ace planted by the Jin Clan’s leader.
Zhou Yuan and Qian Hai exchanged uneasy glances. It wasn’t impossible—the Jin Clan leader might indeed have made such preparations.
