Chapter 2824: Chapter 2824
Unexpectedly, the young man sneered arrogantly and declared, "Hmph! We are certainly not outsiders! This is the hunting ground of the Snowfrost Empire! And I, Liao Xuesong, am the Crown Prince of this empire.
Any martial cultivator who dares trespass into our imperial hunting grounds shall be executed without mercy! The only reason I haven’t killed you all outright is because I sense you possess the power of frost. If you kneel before me now, swear your loyalty, and sign a contract of servitude to become my slaves, I might spare your wretched lives!"
This Prince Liao Xuesong was already at the eighth level of the Dominator Realm. The silver-armored soldiers surrounding them were no weaklings either, each at the fourth or fifth level of the Dominator Realm.
Behind him stood a minor commander at the ninth level of the Dominator Realm, followed by two additional squads of soldiers. Clearly, they didn’t see Ye Liuyun and his group as any sort of threat.
"How did you know we all possess frost power?" Ye Liuyun ignored the prince’s demands and instead voiced his own question.
"How dare you address His Highness so boldly! Have you lost your mind?" The commander behind Liao Xuesong immediately barked at Ye Liuyun.
The silver-armored soldiers raised their spears, all pointed directly at Ye Liuyun, ready to strike at the slightest command.
With a bitter chuckle, Ye Liuyun shook his head. Without hesitation, he activated Time Stillness, branded the commander with a slave seal, and began sifting through his memories.
Through the memory search, he learned that the entire star system was suffused with frost-based origin energy, though its intensity varied from place to place. This planet had the strongest concentration of frost energy, which was why the Snowfrost Empire had claimed it as their exclusive hunting ground.
The planet was home to various ice and snow monsters, which the imperial family often hunted for sport. Naturally, Prince Liao Xuesong had also cultivated frost energy—so much so that even his divine soul had developed a unique ability to gauge the strength of frost power in others.
Powerful figures had detected Ye Liuyun’s group even before they landed. And when Liao Xuesong laid eyes on Wu Qingcheng and the other women, he had immediately wanted them for himself. That was why he hadn’t ordered their execution and had instead led his men here personally.
They had been staying in a massive tent made of ice, built against a cliffside—something Ye Liuyun hadn’t noticed earlier. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have stopped them from landing here. The presence of outsiders was the least of his concerns.
But this Liao Xuesong, for all his noble appearance, was rotten to the core. Not only had he dared to covet Ye Liuyun’s women, but he had also planned to kill Ye Liuyun after figuring out their relationship. There was no way Ye Liuyun would let him off the hook.
Without delay, he summoned Chi Lian to drain Liao Xuesong’s power of bloodline. As for the ninth-level Dominator commander, Ye Liuyun tossed him into his spatial world—he’d make a useful guide later.
The moment time resumed, Liao Xuesong realized his commander had vanished. In his place stood a woman clad in red.
In the brief moment he hesitated, he immediately felt his life force rapidly draining away.
"Now!" Ye Liuyun swiftly sent a mental message to the others, signaling them to act. Chi Lian was primarily responsible for absorbing Liao Xuesong’s life force, while the rest would temporarily fend off the attacks from the others.
The cultivation levels of these silver-armored soldiers were just right for them to practice their skills. Without delay, they launched their assault on the soldiers.
As soon as they engaged, Ye Liuyun’s divine sense detected another silver-armored commander at the ninth level of the Dominator realm emerging from the ice-crystal tent, followed by over a thousand silver-armored soldiers charging toward them.
Seeing this, Ye Liuyun released the demonic beasts and allies from his spatial world, allowing everyone to join the battle. He assigned the ninth-level Dominator commander to the Demon Vine to handle.
The Demon Vine, ever lazy, wasted no time—with a flash of white light, it struck down the commander before ensnaring and devouring him with its vines.
The others, however, were thoroughly enjoying the fight. The silver-armored soldiers’ cultivation levels matched theirs perfectly, making for excellent practice. Even Ye Liuyun and his doppelganger eagerly joined the fray.
Hei Shan focused on eliminating the few silver-armored warriors at the seventh and eighth levels of the Dominator realm.
By now, Liao Xuesong had collapsed to the ground, his power of bloodline completely drained. Initially, he had tried to resist, unleashing his frost energy against Chi Lian, only to be blocked by the combined efforts of Wu Qingcheng and Man Shu. His frost power was indeed formidable—it took both women working together to barely withstand it.
Now, drained of all vitality, he lay curled up like an old man. His soul was devoured by Wu Qingcheng, Man Shu, and Yuer, while his core was dug out by Lei Ming.
In the end, the remaining three hundred or so silver-armored soldiers, realizing they stood no chance, surrendered. With the Demon Vine and Hei Shan present, victory was impossible for them. Yet Ye Liuyun showed no mercy, ordering Chi Lian to drain their blood essence before redistributing their power of bloodline among the group.
Even the soldiers left in the ice-crystal tent were not spared—Ye Liuyun had Chi Lian eliminate every last one to prevent them from reporting back and drawing pursuit.
After the battle, as they cleaned up the battlefield, they discovered that each soldier’s Interspatial Ring contained abundant resources for cultivating frost energy.
Later, they all returned to the doppelganger’s spatial world to refine the power of bloodline Chi Lian had shared with them. The corpses of the silver-armored soldiers were distributed among the demonic beasts and Hei Shan. Only bloodstains remained on the ground—not a single body was left behind.
The silver-armored commander captured by Ye Liuyun had been leading the way for his doppelganger. He knew the exact location of this world’s origin energy.
Normally, Ye Liuyun’s golden pupils could easily detect and absorb ordinary origin energy. But the frost attribute of this particular source was overwhelmingly potent—so much so that neither his vision could penetrate the layers of ice concealing it, nor could he subdue it directly.
Ye Liuyun wasn’t content with merely extracting the origin energy. Instead, he wanted Wu Qingcheng, Man Shu, and the others to claim the entire planet.
Once they located the origin energy, Ye Liuyun summoned Wu Qingcheng, Man Shu, and the rest, tasking them with absorbing the frigid power first. Only after weakening the ice energy to a certain degree could they attempt to claim the source.
As they absorbed the chilling force, they also tried communicating with the origin energy, gauging its willingness to be refined by any of them. However, unless sufficiently weakened, it wouldn’t yield easily.
Meanwhile, the Frost Empire would never let the matter of their crown prince’s death in the imperial hunting grounds slide. They swiftly dispatched several ninth-level Sovereigns to investigate.
Yet these scouts met the same fate—either captured or slain by Ye Liuyun, with none allowed to return. Realizing the gravity of the threat, the Frost Empire mobilized a full-scale military campaign against them, taking no chances despite their formidable strength.
At present, Ye Liuyun had four ninth-level Sovereigns under his command, all deployed to scout the surrounding areas for intelligence.
