Chapter 2765: Chapter 2765
Just as Ye Liuyun was about to strike, a sudden thought crossed his mind—if the alien race were completely annihilated, the empire would likely turn its full attention toward him.
After a moment’s consideration, he altered his strategy. Instead of wiping them out, he decided to focus on destroying the alien altar and capturing their strongest warrior, the one at the Dominator Eighth Level. As for the rest of the alien forces, he would leave them untouched, allowing them to continue clashing with the empire and keeping its armies occupied.
This way, the Elder Council led by Moran could continue their slow but steady encroachment on the empire’s southern star systems.
With this new plan in mind, Ye Liuyun released only the Dominator Eighth Level alien, directing it to attack the altar.
The moment it struck, the remaining Dominator Eighth Level alien warrior had no choice but to intervene. Seizing the opportunity, Ye Liuyun’s avatar acted, harnessing the power of the spatial realm to slam the alien down with a single devastating blow before branding it with a slave seal and taking it captive. The altar was shattered in the process.
Terrified, the remaining alien warriors braced for total annihilation—only to find that Ye Liuyun vanished after eliminating their two strongest leaders, leaving them unharmed. He deliberately withheld this information from Liu Haotian, ensuring the two armies remained locked in a slow, grinding stalemate.
Meanwhile, the alien forces wasted no time in selecting a Dominator Seventh Level warrior, pooling their resources to elevate it to Dominator Eighth Level as quickly as possible.
With his objectives achieved, Ye Liuyun withdrew from the battlefield, informing Liu Haotian that he was recalling his forces. The empire was no longer at a disadvantage, and he saw no reason to risk further involvement—especially when the empire might exploit the situation to wipe out his army entirely.
The battle had cost him just over twenty thousand Wolf Hunters and fewer than ten thousand demon soldiers—a relatively light toll—but the spoils were immense.
He gathered all the alien corpses and fed them to the Demon-Sealing Stele, knowing that while the Demon Vine could absorb other resources, the stele currently relied solely on these remains. With over a million alien bodies absorbed, Ye Liuyun estimated the stele’s power would soon rival that of the Demon Vine.
As for the Demon Vine, he promised it several planets as compensation, allowing it to expand the spatial realm’s power. Satisfied, the vine agreed.
The rest of the soldiers were rewarded with resources tailored to their needs—Ye Liuyun never let his men bleed for nothing. With resources now in abundance, he made sure none of them went unrewarded.
Meanwhile, Tong Xin and Qiong Qi led a team of weapon-refining master in crafting a new class of warships—the Spirit Panthers.
Larger than the original Falcon-class vessels by several times, these ships boasted enhanced propulsion, stealth capabilities, and firepower. Each Spirit Panther required a crew of sixteen, operating in shifts to maintain relentless combat readiness.
Their defenses were formidable enough to withstand a full-force strike from a Dominator Seventh Level cultivator. In battle, their attacks could blanket entire areas, obliterating clusters of enemies—up to seven or eight at once—and even slaying Dominator Sixth Level warriors with ease.
However, the number of these advanced battleships wouldn’t be as plentiful as the previous Falcon-class vessels. The damaged Falcon ships that couldn’t be repaired were completely scrapped and smelted down as raw materials for new warships. Those with minor damages that remained operational were gathered and sold off, ensuring no resources went to waste.
For his return journey, Ye Liuyun didn’t use the teleportation towers. Instead, he traveled with the Thieving Cat, pilfering resources along the way. The two alien experts at Dominator Level Eight had become his most formidable enforcers. Whenever powerful adversaries attacked, Ye Liuyun would have the two don their invisibility cloaks and strike, terrifying their pursuers into retreat.
If he encountered any planets that displeased him, Ye Liuyun would unceremoniously help the Demon Vine harvest them into his spatial world, showing no mercy to the Star Disk Empire.
The empire dispatched martial experts to track them down, but every operative sent ended up captured by Ye Liuyun and handed over to Ye Tiandao as fresh recruits for his forces.
Meanwhile, Mo Ran had drawn the empire’s attention due to his continued expansion efforts. Fortunately, Ye Liuyun’s timely return cleared the obstacles—capturing the imperial experts who had been targeting Mo Ran.
During soul-searches of these experts, Ye Liuyun discovered they all belonged to an elite imperial guard unit. This covert force carried out the empire’s most clandestine missions, engaging in unsavory operations.
After uncovering information about this imperial guard, Ye Liuyun struck several of their strongholds, helping Ye Tiandao capture over two hundred martial experts at Dominator Levels Six and Seven in one sweep.
This time, however, he faced retaliation. The imperial guard swiftly retaliated by annihilating two mercenary groups Mo Ran had established.
Ye Liuyun responded in kind—without hesitation, he stole the core energies of two planets, causing them to collapse completely.
Dealing with the imperial guard proved challenging. Operating in the shadows, they were elusive and unpredictable. Ye Liuyun couldn’t possibly soul-search every strong expert he encountered, making their detection difficult.
But once he spotted them, escape was impossible. The two Dominator Level Eight aliens under his command were nearly invincible in combat, unmatched by any martial expert.
Eventually, Ye Liuyun realized that developing mercenary groups was becoming increasingly difficult. The empire had infiltrated many mercenary ranks with disguised praetorian, even assassinating several elders. Some mercenary groups disbanded as a result, suffering significant resource losses.
Frustrated, Ye Liuyun recalled the remaining elders and switched tactics—open plundering. He directly seized the core energies of over a dozen planets before things temporarily quieted down.
Once again, the Star Disk Empire found itself powerless against him, having lost track of his whereabouts. Even their imperial guard couldn’t locate his trail.
After a brief period of quiet, Ye Liuyun struck again, only to be ambushed by the praetorian. Unfortunately for them, their ambush backfired, costing them several martial artists in repeated failed attempts.
Meanwhile, Liu Haotian was locked in a fierce back-and-forth battle with the alien race, with both sides suffering losses. However, there was no longer a commander like Ye Liuyun, capable of infiltrating the alien stronghold to gather intelligence. If they had such a leader, a full-scale assault could have driven these invaders out for good.
The aliens, on the other hand, were rapidly training their own elite warriors while dispatching numerous infiltrators into human settlements. There, they cultivated vast armies of undead abominations to replenish their dwindling forces.
Liu Haotian faced his own struggles—recruitment was increasingly difficult as the empire’s influence waned. Many commanders no longer fought wholeheartedly for the empire, instead prioritizing their own survival.
Meng Wenxiang and Han Qiao, in particular, conserved their strength, rarely engaging in battle unless necessary. Liu Haotian shielded them as well, ensuring they wouldn’t fall victim to the empire’s schemes again.
