Chapter 2812: Chapter 2812
Ye Liuyun wasn’t just altering the marching route of his army this time—he was completely overhauling their training approach, shifting towards an elite soldier model.
"Let’s expend all four million of those alien troops to forge your assault corps and elite legions. Against true powerhouses, those common soldiers are utterly useless!"
In the end, Ye Liuyun resolved to focus entirely on nurturing elite alien warriors, abandoning the idea of amassing vast numbers of disposable troops. Carrying such a burden had nearly cost them dearly—those last two hundred thousand soldiers had almost trapped them for good.
He even summoned commanders like Yu Xiaofeng and ordered another round of troop reductions, paring their forces down to just one million. Every available resource would then be poured into honing these remaining soldiers into the finest warriors.
Trimming the alien ranks was straightforward—their excess troops were simply fed to the stronger warriors. But downsizing the human cultivators proved far trickier. They had to be carefully reassigned to prevent unrest from brewing among the disgruntled.
Pei Yong spearheaded the demobilization, disbanding reserve units and relocating them across the various planets within Ye Liuyun’s spatial realm. Yu Xiaofeng then funneled the phased-out soldiers to Pei Yong, ensuring his command maintained a standing force of one million while gradually phasing out the rest.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun threw himself into a frenzied training regimen, sparring daily with alien warriors at the Dominator Level Six. Previously, he had clashed with Dominator Level Seven opponents, but now, wielding his blade was out of the question—even Dominator Level Seven aliens couldn’t withstand its edge. Restricting himself to his Xuan Yuan combat techniques, he deliberately downgraded his opponents.
Dominator Level Six aliens turned out to be the perfect match for him. With each battle, Ye Liuyun grew sharper, eventually taking on the strongest among them. Against weaker foes, he’d fight two at once. His physical resilience was absurd—even direct hits from Dominator Level Six aliens failed to leave a scratch.
His commanders followed suit, training relentlessly with alien adversaries. The Dominator Level Nine alien elites sparred with the golden-armored aliens Ye Liuyun had captured, allowing the entire command staff to collectively analyze their weaknesses and devise counterstrategies.
Eventually, the commanders realized that against such formidable foes, tactics mattered little—raw power was the only deciding factor. This was especially true against the impeccably balanced Golden Tiger Corps. Only extraordinary, overwhelming strength could tear through their assaults.
At present, only a select few possessed such unique capabilities: the Demon-Suppressing Stele, the Demon Vine, the Vermilion Bird, the Purple Kylin Snake, Ye Liuyun himself, and his doppelgangers.
The Demon-Suppressing Stele could suppress alien energies, while the Demon Vine’s near-indestructible physique rendered it immune to most attacks—even ordinary white energy beams couldn’t harm it. Even if an exceptionally powerful beam managed to damage a few vines, so long as its core remained hidden, the losses were negligible.
The Vermilion Bird’s soul attacks and flames could both slay the alien elites. However, its soul attack could only target one enemy at a time, and its flames weren’t powerful enough.
The Purple Kirin relied solely on its temporal powers.
Ye Liuyun and his doppelganger excelled in soul attacks, blade intent, and flames, but they too couldn’t engage multiple enemies simultaneously. His black-and-white light beams were formidable, but the enemy possessed them as well—albeit weaker. Still, even a glancing hit would devastate his current physical form.
Temporal manipulation was naturally his forte, but the alien forces remained unaware, placing it beyond the scope of the commanders’ discussions.
"If only I could use the Golden Crow Sacred Flame to wipe out hordes of alien elites, or the Nether Ghostfire to annihilate their souls en masse!" Ye Liuyun pondered the dilemma.
Yet, despite both the Golden Crow Sacred Flame and the Nether Ghostfire having developed their own fire spirit, they were far from capable of mass slaughter. As it stood, even killing a single alien elite required supplementary attacks.
His Buddha-Demon power was also insufficient. Though his doppelganger had absorbed numerous demonic realms, granting it far greater Buddha-Demon strength, overdrawing from those spatial worlds would cause irreversible depletion. Even slaying ten thousand aliens would push him to the limit—and those demonic realms, once exhausted, would be nearly impossible to replace.
Just as Ye Liuyun and his commanders agonized over countering the Golden Tiger Legion, Wu Qingcheng offered a suggestion.
"Don’t you still have the underworld wraiths? Can’t they launch large-scale soul attacks?"
Her words struck Ye Liuyun like lightning.
"Of course! The underworld—how could I forget them?"
Overjoyed, he swept Wu Qingcheng into his arms, planting two fervent kisses on her cheeks until she flushed crimson with embarrassment.
"Everyone’s watching! Have some decency!" She squirmed free from his embrace, flustered.
Without delay, Ye Liuyun summoned the Black Tower of Teleportation and returned to the underworld.
The moment he stepped into the grand hall, the aura of the Underworld Sovereign’s return instantly alerted Zhuge Feiyu, Xiu Luo, and the others. They rushed back to the palace at once.
"Ha! What a rare guest!" Zhuge Feiyu boomed with laughter as he welcomed Ye Liuyun.
Even Luo Xiu, usually so stoic, cracked a faint smile at the sight of him.
"Come on, don’t say that!" Ye Liuyun chuckled in response. "I’ve just been swamped with things outside—that’s why I haven’t had time to visit!"
"So, what’s your current cultivation level?" Zhuge Feiyu fired off questions eagerly. "Lately, I’ve been sensing Netherworld wraiths reaching even Dominator Ninth Heaven! Was that your doing?"
As the Lord of the Netherworld, Ye Liuyun’s aura was unfathomable, like an abyss. The wraiths could only sense its overwhelming depth, never truly grasping his real strength.
"Not that fast!" He sighed regretfully. "I’m only at Dominator Fifth Heaven. But those foreign invaders—yeah, that’s probably my fault. How many Dominator Ninth Heaven ones have shown up here?"
"Not too many, just a few dozen, and they arrived recently." Zhuge Feiyu gestured for Ye Liuyun to sit, joining Luo Xiu in catching up with him.
"Did their arrival cause any chaos in the Netherworld?"
Judging by Zhuge Feiyu and Luo Xiu’s relaxed expressions, it didn’t seem like anything too dangerous had happened.
"Not bad, actually. They didn’t come all at once, and we were well-prepared," Zhuge Feiyu explained. "We mobilized a massive number of wraiths in advance to subdue them. Been busy with that lately!"
Luo Xiu chimed in, reporting dutifully, "With the recent surge in foreign invaders, I’ve been recruiting them into the Netherworld Army. But you’ve been too efficient—we’ve already got nearly thirty million of them!"
Ye Liuyun had never kept count of how many invaders he’d slain, but that number sounded about right.
"Can this wraith army be deployed now?" he pressed urgently.
"What’s wrong? Running into trouble?" Zhuge Feiyu immediately deduced that Ye Liuyun must be facing a crisis—otherwise, he wouldn’t be here asking for reinforcements.
Meanwhile, Luo Xiu looked practically itching for action. "Ready to march anytime. The Netherworld’s been way too quiet lately!"
