Chapter 2814: Chapter 2814
The Golden Tiger Legion of the alien race acted unusually this time—instead of pursuing Ye Liuyun head-on, they chose to lay an ambush in advance.
Leading the Golden Tiger Legion were two elders from their council. One was Wen Yuan, a renowned master of formations among the aliens. The other was Feng Qiong, a powerhouse often paired with him, rumored to command the elements—summoning storms, calling down thunder, and unleashing celestial fire. With the added enhancement of Wen Yuan’s formations, their combined might was even more formidable.
Meanwhile, the black-armored alien Hei Shan, who fought alongside the red-armored commander Enke, possessed physical strength rivaling even the demonic vines. Thus, the entire Golden Tiger Legion was a perfectly balanced force.
This time, however, Wen Yuan had prepared a grand celestial formation spanning an entire galaxy, using the planets themselves as its nodes—with the core planet serving as the formation’s heart.
The entire galaxy was now a vast anti-teleportation array. Once activated, Ye Liuyun and his forces would find their spatial abilities completely sealed—even their agile Spirit Fox battleships would be unable to perform dimensional jumps.
Feng Qiong would then unleash a devastating assault, likely wiping out at least half of Ye Liuyun’s army. Meanwhile, Hei Shan would lie in wait outside the formation with half of their elite Ninth-Level Dominator warriors, ensuring no escape.
To remain undetected, they had concealed themselves within the spatial realms of Enke and a few other aliens of Dominator Seventh or Eighth Level.
Confident in their well-laid trap, they waited with unwavering certainty for Ye Liuyun to take the bait.
Ye Liuyun, for his part, dared not venture deeper into alien territory without first eliminating the Golden Tiger Legion, lest he be caught in a pincer attack. Instead, he skirted the fringes of their domain, striking sporadically—until, inevitably, he reached the very galaxy where the ambush awaited.
It didn’t take long before he arrived.
Unversed in formations, Ye Liuyun failed to recognize the celestial array. The orderly arrangement of planets struck him as unusual, but he dismissed it as mere coincidence—perhaps the aliens had simply preserved them that way.
From a distance, he assessed the enemy’s strength and, deeming it a winnable battle, summoned his commanders—Yu Xiaofeng, Broken Horn, and others—to devise an attack plan.
Meng Qingyin, who had some knowledge of formations, grew increasingly uneasy as Ye Liuyun relayed the planetary layout. While he briefed them on the alien forces’ distribution, she scrutinized the pattern, her suspicion mounting.
"Don’t you think these planets are *too* symmetrical?" she interjected. "They may not align on the same plane, but they’re clearly arranged in balanced orbits around the core world."
Her observation drew the others’ attention. Meanwhile, Fu Yang described Wen Yuan and Feng Qiong’s appearances to Ye Liuyun, asking if he had spotted them.
"Logically speaking, if the Otherworlders were to send Wen Yuan and Feng Qiong against you this time, it would make perfect sense!" Fu Yang analyzed, describing the distinctive traits of Wen Yuan and Feng Qiong to Ye Liuyun.
Ye Liuyun had kept tabs on all Otherworlder leaders at the eighth or ninth level of mastery. While he had noticed one who bore a striking resemblance to Enke, he hadn’t caught even a glimpse of Heishan.
However, now that doubts had been raised, Ye Liuyun wasn’t about to gamble with his soldiers’ lives. He immediately summoned Qiong Qi and the other formation masters to study the layout of this star system. At the same time, he sent his avatar to scout the perimeter of the system once more for any overlooked details.
At a glance, Qiong Qi and the other formation experts spotted irregularities and raised numerous specific concerns. Ye Liuyun directed his avatar to investigate further while he explained the situation to the group.
Eventually, Qiong Qi and the others confirmed it—an anti-flight formation, and one masterfully crafted by a true expert in the art.
"That must be Wen Yuan’s handiwork! But Wen Yuan usually operates in tandem with Feng Qiong," Fu Yang affirmed.
Yet by then, Ye Liuyun’s avatar had already circled the entire star system aboard the Spirit Cat battleship without spotting any trace of Wen Yuan or Feng Qiong. This time, however, the avatar scrutinized more carefully—and noticed Enke, his appearance altered.
Enke had used a treasure to disguise his true features. But the avatar wasn’t just examining physical appearances now—it also observed the auras of the Otherworlder elites, cross-referencing them with their outward forms. The discrepancy in Enke’s case was unmistakable.
"It’s definitely Enke!" Fu Yang confirmed to Ye Liuyun.
Soon after, the avatar identified the soldiers around Enke—those who had shed their golden armor. These warriors, rigorously trained, carried themselves differently from ordinary Otherworlders, their stance, gait, and combat posture betraying their true nature.
Ye Liuyun flushed with embarrassment, inwardly chastising himself for nearly leading everyone into an enemy trap by overlooking such critical details.
Meanwhile, Yu Xiaofeng turned to Qiong Qi and the others. "Does this anti-flight formation target only us, or does it affect them as well?"
"Natural formations like this can’t distinguish friend from foe. Adding such a feature would require extensive manual adjustments—far too obvious to conceal," the formation masters agreed, dismissing the possibility outright.
"Then we have nothing to fear. Let’s engage them right here!" Yu Xiaofeng declared without hesitation.
"Agreed," Yuan Hao nodded. "If the formation hinders both sides equally, it’s as good as nonexistent."
Qin Peng voiced his concern, "But if something unexpected happens, retreating would be difficult for us."
"Exactly! My abilities would be limited too," Ye Liuyun admitted without explicitly mentioning his time manipulation powers. Without spatial abilities, getting close to the alien forces would be a challenge, and escaping afterward would be another problem.
Factoring in the time needed to approach and retreat, his temporal powers would be stretched thin.
Yet capturing multiple alien warriors at the ninth level of dominance could significantly sway the outcome of the battle. So, finding a way to utilize this strength was absolutely crucial.
"What about assassinating Enke directly?" Broken Horn asked Ye Liuyun, knowing he was the only one capable of such a mission.
Ye Liuyun shook his head. "Enke’s location is protected by defensive formations. We can’t assassinate him. Besides, he’ll likely release the Golden Tiger Corps from his spatial world when the time comes."
Ordinary formations like these were still detectable by his doppelgänger. He had already considered this approach when he first saw Enke. But the Golden Tiger Corps’ defenses were meticulous—they had long prepared against any surprise attacks on their leader.
"What if we launch a conventional assault first, then have the Demon Vine destroy their formations afterward? That shouldn’t delay things too much, right?" Xiao Yunfang suggested.
Ye Liuyun immediately summoned the Demon Vine in its humanoid form and asked how long it would take to absorb the core’s source energy.
After sizing up the planet, the Demon Vine estimated it would need nearly half an hour.
Qiong Qi then warned the group, "Once the Demon Vine starts absorbing the source energy, the formation’s power will weaken, alerting the aliens. They might send forces to attack it."
