Chapter 2772: Chapter 2772
Yu Xiaofeng, Qin Peng, and Yuan Hao were the three commanders Ye Liuyun held in highest regard, each possessing exceptional leadership skills that he deeply respected. Pei Yong excelled at training troops but fell somewhat short in actual combat.
Yuan Hao’s command style was the most similar to Ye Liuyun’s—bold, aggressive, and full of surprises. Qin Peng, on the other hand, complemented Ye Liuyun perfectly, excelling in coordination. As for Yu Xiaofeng, he was the steadiest, ideal for overseeing the bigger picture.
Before Ye Liuyun could even finish reorganizing his forces and appointing new commanders, Emperor Liu Qiang sent envoys to negotiate peace.
Upon receiving news of his army’s total annihilation, Liu Qiang realized his reign was effectively over. His only option was to seek terms with Ye Liuyun.
At the same time, he had already prepared an escape plan. If Ye Liuyun left him no way out, he would simply flee. After all, he still had 20,000 Golden Armor and 100,000 Silver Armor guards under his command—more than enough to carve out a new kingdom in a weaker star system. And since his forces were relatively small, the resources stored in his spatial ring could sustain them for a while.
If Liu Qiang hadn’t sent envoys, Ye Liuyun might not have even thought of dealing with him. But now, calculating the emperor’s dwindling forces, Ye Liuyun realized Liu Qiang had little left—just the meager resources in his spatial ring.
With that in mind, Ye Liuyun had Liang Xue use her Thousand Illusions technique to impersonate him and negotiate with Liu Qiang’s envoys. Meanwhile, he turned invisible, took his thieving cat, and slipped back into the imperial capital, looking for an opportunity to strike. Those resources in Liu Qiang’s ring were too tempting to ignore.
During the negotiations, Liang Xue didn’t push for excessive demands. She merely asked for some resources, along with 5,000 Golden Armor and 50,000 Silver Armor guards, in exchange for leaving the Star Disk Empire. The terms gave Liu Qiang pause—was it worth accepting?
After all, Ye Liuyun’s current strength far surpassed his own. Whether he handed over the troops or not wouldn’t change the outcome. And if Ye Liuyun simply left, Liu Qiang wouldn’t have to flee. The remaining forces might even be enough to hold the empire together.
Liu Qiang immediately gathered the royal family to discuss the offer. Most agreed the terms were reasonable and worth accepting.
But while they were busy debating, the thieving cat struck again. Amid the chaotic discussions, it quietly emptied Liu Qiang’s spatial ring of all its treasures.
Liu Qiang didn’t notice a thing. After the meeting, he even ordered the Golden and Silver Armor captains to select the troops for transfer. It wasn’t until he returned to his cultivation chamber and reached for his resources that he realized his ring was completely empty.
And the cat hadn’t stopped at him—several key members of the royal family had also been robbed. Just as Liu Qiang stood there in shock, reports flooded in about their missing resources.
Ye Liuyun, meanwhile, wasn’t idle. While the Golden and Silver Armor guards assembled, he used his temporal powers to secretly plant slave seals on both of their captains.
All members of these two special guard units had signed collective loyalty contracts, so if one person was controlled, it wouldn’t invalidate the contract, and no one would notice immediately.
Ye Liuyun, using slave marks to control them, altered Liu Qiang’s orders—instead of handing over only a portion of the Gold and Silver Armored Guards, they were now instructed to surrender both forces entirely to Ye Liuyun.
Acting swiftly, Ye Liuyun commanded the Silver Armored Guard captain to open the imperial city gates, allowing the two units to march out and surrender without delay.
The soldiers, unaware of the situation, simply obeyed orders. As soon as the gates swung open, they filed out in full formation.
Ye Liuyun, cloaked in invisibility, followed them out of the city. Once outside, he revealed himself and immediately began reorganizing the army, forcing them to sign new collective loyalty contracts.
Meanwhile, his doppelganger, accompanied by two alien warriors at the eighth level of Dominance, hovered above the imperial palace, stalling for time with Liu Qiang.
After issuing his commands to the Gold and Silver Armored Guards, Liu Qiang was already overwhelmed by the sudden disappearance of resources from his Interspatial Ring. The unexpected appearance of Ye Liuyun and the two powerful alien warriors only heightened the tension among the palace’s martial cultivators.
"Ye Liuyun, here to steal our resources again?" Liu Qiang, now bereft of his stockpile, steeled himself for a desperate fight. Every royal family member within the palace also braced for battle.
"Don’t be so hasty," the doppelganger replied smoothly, stroking the thieving cat in his arms while standing confidently under the protection of the two aliens. "I did take your resources, but I might just return them."
"Oh? Return them?" Liu Qiang’s eyes narrowed. "What’s your condition?" Seeing room for negotiation, he pressed for terms—while also hoping to buy time until the Gold and Silver Armored Guards arrived.
His communication talisman was missing from his Interspatial Ring, leaving him unable to contact the two guard units.
"I’ll be leaving soon," the doppelganger continued, dragging out the conversation. "For battles in the cosmos, I need strong martial cultivators as reinforcements. You tell me—how many can you spare? As for the resources, I’ve already got plenty. Yours aren’t indispensable. Returning them isn’t out of the question."
In truth, he had no intention of giving anything back. Liu Qiang’s Interspatial Ring contained not only vast amounts of primordial energy but also enough resources to sustain an army of 300,000 for years. Once in Ye Liuyun’s hands, there was no way he’d let them go.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun’s true self had already successfully taken control of the Gold Armored Guards outside the city, stashing them away in his spatial world. But with the Silver Armored Guards, he ran into some unexpected trouble.
He had only managed to control the captain of the Silver Armor Guards. The vice-captain, who commanded fifty thousand of those elite soldiers, had been trying to contact Liu Qiang all along. But Liu Qiang’s communication talisman was lost, making it impossible to receive any messages.
Unable to reach Liu Qiang, the vice-captain grew suspicious and refused to surrender with his fifty thousand troops. As a result, Ye Liuyun only managed to take fifty thousand Silver Armor Guards under his control.
If Ye Liuyun tried to dominate the vice-captain now, it would undoubtedly raise suspicions among the others. So, he had no choice but to back down.
"Fine," Ye Liuyun said with a dismissive wave. "If you don’t believe me, go ask Liu Qiang yourself. But I won’t wait around for you. Once you get your answer, report to my camp on your own."
With that, he turned and strode away without another glance.
The vice-captain didn’t dare stop him. Ye Liuyun now commanded not only fifty thousand Silver Armor Guards but also twenty thousand Golden Armor Guards—far more than he could handle. Moreover, Ye Liuyun’s unshakable confidence made him question whether the order was truly fake.
Cautious, the vice-captain ordered his troops to hold their position while he took a small detachment back to the imperial palace to seek Liu Qiang’s confirmation in person.
Once Ye Liuyun saw that the man had actually gone to verify the order, he immediately doubled back. Without hesitation, he unleashed Tian Dao’s elite vanguard unit, surrounding the remaining Silver Armor Guards. Together with Zhu Que, he worked swiftly to subdue as many as possible. Even if they couldn’t capture them all, at least they wouldn’t leave them for Liu Qiang.
