Chapter 2884: Chapter 2884
After subduing An Ran, Ye Liuyun promptly stored all three Unity Realm experts into his spatial world to prevent them from being accidentally killed in the chaotic battle.
While fighting, he questioned the three of them, "None of the cultivators here use soul-defense treasures or set up protective measures in their consciousness seas?"
He found it astonishingly easy to control them—they had virtually no defenses against soul attacks.
"It’s not that they don’t exist, just rare," An Ran replied. "Our souls are considered quite strong. We never expected anyone to target them directly."
Tang Xiao added, "Only the Expeditionary Forces are required to carry artifacts that defend against soul attacks."
*"And they call this strong?"* Ye Liuyun thought to himself but didn’t press further, focusing instead on eliminating the remaining cultivators.
Details about the Underworld Star System and their Expeditionary Forces could wait until after they finished here.
On the opposing side, the Unity Realm experts had already been wounded and captured by Li Daoyuan, handed over to Ye Tiandao for control. As for the remaining Dominator Realm cultivators, not a single one was spared—they were all swiftly executed.
Ye Liuyun, his clone, and Ye Tiandao barely had a chance to test their skills this time, as the Unity Realm experts they unleashed made quick work of the enemies.
Soon after, Ye Tiandao commanded the captured Unity Realm fighters to hunt down and eliminate the remaining cultivators scattered across the planet.
Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun summoned Wan Congshan and had him dismantle the planet’s defensive formations. He then entered, attempting to commune with the planet’s origin energy using his power of Buddhist Light.
Though his Buddhist Light was formidable, it still paled in comparison to the origin energy, which naturally resisted his advances.
Unfazed, he sat down and began absorbing it. As his Buddhist Light grew stronger, so did his absorption rate. A month later, the origin energy finally surrendered, allowing itself to be refined—likely fearing complete depletion if it resisted any longer.
Once Ye Liuyun fully refined the origin energy, he stored the entire planet into his spatial world.
A few scattered foreign cultivators, hidden across the planet while scavenging for treasures, had already fled into the void when they felt the planet tremble. The moment the planet vanished, they found themselves staring at one another in the empty expanse of space.
"Kill them all—leave none alive!"
Ye Liuyun immediately issued the command to his men. Li Daoyuan, leading the group of Unity Realm experts, chased after the fleeing martial cultivators, slaughtering them one by one to ensure no word leaked out.
Soon after, Ye Liuyun summoned the Spirit Cat Battleship and set off with Li Daoyuan and Ye Tiandao toward the next target planet.
The next planet was under the control of the Zhou Family. Upon arrival, Ye Liuyun employed the same method—subduing Zhou Xiang, the strongest martial cultivator in the Zhou Family’s ranks—before launching a systematic purge.
This time, his doppelganger did not join the fight, instead focusing on accelerating its cultivation of Heaven and Earth energy. Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun himself continued refining his advance energy.
Only after exterminating every martial cultivator they encountered did Ye Liuyun finally summon his doppelganger to claim the planet.
The golden light crystals surrounding the origin energy were distributed among Li Daoyuan, Lei Ming, and Hei Shan. After absorbing the golden light-infused energy cores, both Lei Ming and Hei Shan developed traces of Buddhist Light energy, though it remained weak. As demons, they still couldn’t endure direct exposure to the origin energy.
So Ye Liuyun instructed them to first absorb the golden light crystals until their Buddhist Light energy grew stronger before attempting more.
From then on, Ye Liuyun and his doppelganger worked much faster in claiming planets. The more they seized, the swifter they became—no longer needing extensive time to commune with the origin energy after each battle.
But after successively claiming five planets each, they had to pause and consolidate their gains.
Ye Liuyun suspected that the Four Great Families would soon realize the disappearance of the planets. Though they had eliminated all witnesses, secrets never stayed buried for long. Moreover, martial cultivators visiting those planets later would inevitably spread the news.
Seizing the opportunity, Ye Liuyun decided to return to the Qin Family to fulfill his promise to Qin Mengxi before making his final departure.
He took the Spirit Cat Battleship back to the Qin Family’s planet, first stopping in a herb-rich region. There, he dispatched his Unity Realm subordinates to gather medicinal plants and slaughter numerous savage beasts—both as a cover and to avoid drawing suspicion toward the Qin Family.
Meanwhile, the Four Great Families had already confirmed the disappearance of the planets. They immediately ordered a thorough investigation and sealed off the entire star system’s space.
Fortunately, Ye Liuyun had already returned to the Qin family’s planet by then—otherwise, he would have been stranded in the void of space.
It was only through Qin Mengxi that he later learned the starry expanse had been sealed off.
"They say it’s because several planets were taken away. Our Qin family even sent some elders to help enforce the blockade!" Qin Mengxi told him.
"What? Blockaded? Does that mean I can’t leave?" Ye Liuyun hadn’t expected the four great families to act so ruthlessly.
They had mobilized martial cultivators from various planets to encircle the surrounding starry skies, barring all ships and cultivators from entering or leaving. Worse, any cultivator caught in the void would be detained and subjected to soul-searching. Only after being cleared would they be released.
"It’s fate keeping you here with us a little longer!" Qin Mengxi said cheerfully.
Ye Liuyun could only laugh bitterly and resign himself to waiting for the blockade to lift. If it dragged on too long, he’d have no choice but to carve his way out by force.
His Black Tower teleportation array didn’t have coordinates set near this star system. If he tried to escape using it now, he’d be instantly whisked back to the Ironhorn Galaxy.
"You mentioned before that you had something for me—what was it?"
Remembering this, Ye Liuyun turned to Qin Mengxi.
She immediately produced a Interspatial Ring filled with resources for cultivating Buddha Light energy.
With a smile, she said, "I used my own savings to buy these cultivation materials for you. That way, even after you leave, you can keep training in this power. At least if you ever run into demons, this energy might save you!"
Last time, when they’d visited the merchant guild together, she’d noticed Ye Liuyun only purchasing small amounts of each resource. Assuming he was short on spirit stones, she’d quietly gathered these supplies for his future training.
"This girl..." Ye Liuyun didn’t know whether to call her foolish or too kind.
Still, he accepted the gift with repeated thanks.
Then, he retrieved a large number of feral beast his subordinates had hunted and offered them to Qin Mengxi as a token of gratitude.
"These are some of the beasts we took down while gathering herbs. Keep them for meals!" he told her.
He even showed her the medicinal plants he’d collected, letting her pick out any she needed.
