Chapter 2942: Chapter 2942
"Hold your ground and hold out as long as you can!"
This was Ye Liuyun’s command to the army—to dig in where they stood.
Upon receiving the order, Hei Shan immediately directed the troops to comply. He knew Ye Liuyun’s temperament and understood military discipline well enough not to delay.
Yet, he couldn’t shake his own doubts. After arranging the defenses, he went to Ye Liuyun and asked, "Master, with over a hundred thousand of us, we might stand a chance if we maneuver and fight. But holding a static position—we won’t last long!"
Ye Liuyun glanced at him with a smile, pleased. "You’ve done well. Even with doubts, you carried out my orders. Rest assured, if I’ve chosen this course, I have a plan. I won’t send my own army to die needlessly."
His expression turned resolute as he continued, "I intend to lure them all in—then unleash a devastating weapon to annihilate them in one stroke. For now, I need you to hold until those ancient demons fully encircle us."
He paused, his tone firm yet reassuring. "The ancient demons are numerous and strong. Just do your best to hold out. I won’t push you beyond your limits."
"Yes, sir!"
Though Hei Shan had no idea what this "devastating weapon" entailed, Ye Liuyun’s confidence dispelled his doubts. Having followed Ye Liuyun for so long, he had never seen him lose a battle.
Thus, upon returning, Hei Shan steeled his resolve and commanded the army to fortify their position.
Facing the full assault of five hundred thousand ancient demon cannon fodder, the demon army’s defensive line was under immense pressure. Spirit Cat battleships, war chariots, and puppet beasts dwindled by the minute. Despite Hei Shan’s orders for energy cannons to provide maximum cover, the sheer numbers of ancient demons meant gaps inevitably appeared.
Ye Liuyun had already deployed all available equipment. Aside from a few ordinary weapon-refining master replenishing chariots and energy cannons, the master craftsmen were entirely focused on forging those massive spheres. As a result, reinforcements for the army were scarce.
He also checked the progress of the spheres’ construction and the training of another unit of soldiers. Seeing that the new spheres weren’t yet ready, he ordered the recruits—still in training—to prepare the prototype for battle, using real combat as their final drill.
Meanwhile, his cloaked doppelgänger, hidden in the void of space, observed the other divisions of the ancient demon army closing in. These updates were continuously relayed to Ye Liuyun, helping him determine the optimal moment to deploy the spheres.
Then, abruptly, a Spirit Cat patrol ship near the planet’s perimeter detected a swift-moving skiff. A single blast was fired—yet its defenses held firm.
The avatar immediately turned his golden pupils toward the source and realized it was another squad of Wuxing’s guards. A Spirit Cat battleship was still chasing the flying vessel, relentlessly firing upon it.
The avatar quickly issued an order to the Spirit Cat battleship, commanding it to retreat immediately. However, five guards at the third level of Guiyi emerged from the flying vessel, intercepting the energy beams fired by the battleship.
Upon receiving the order, the Spirit Cat battleship swiftly changed course in an attempt to escape. But the five ancient demon guards instantly employed spatial force, rushing forward and surrounding the vessel. Within moments, they shattered the battleship into pieces—the soldiers piloting it never even had a chance to flee.
Other Spirit Cat battleships soon noticed the skirmish and moved to intercept the flying vessel.
"All of you, fall back! Let them pass!"
The avatar urgently commanded them to retreat, unwilling to let the battleships throw their lives away.
The five ancient demon guards didn’t pursue. Only after confirming that the Spirit Cat battleships had turned and fled did their flying vessel finally land in an area far from the battlefield.
"Keep an eye on them!"
Ye Liuyun immediately ordered his second avatar, cloaked in an invisibility mantle, to take to the skies and monitor the powerful ancient demon guards.
After disembarking, the ancient demon guards showed no urgency. They had already assessed the battlefield situation before landing and knew the critical moment hadn’t yet arrived. Instead, they advanced slowly toward the fray, waiting for the battle to reach its peak before making their move.
By now, the ancient demon army had already clashed with the demon forces.
Hei Shan deployed several squads of soldiers wielding energy cannons, ordering them to fire relentlessly, regardless of cost, to suppress the ancient demon assault. As soon as battle chariots and other equipment arrived, he immediately dispatched them into the heart of the enemy ranks to slaughter more demons.
The ground was already littered with a thick layer of demon corpses and mutilated remains, yet no one had the luxury of clearing the battlefield.
Ye Liuyun released the Demon Vine and the Demon-Suppressing Stele, sending the latter into combat while the vine covertly absorbed the energy cores and essence of the fallen demons from beneath the earth—one strengthening openly, the other in secret.
"These two have absorbed quite a bit already—shouldn’t they be breaking through soon?"
Ye Liuyun was still calculating in his mind. Even though advancing a single level in the Guiyi Realm was difficult, for these two, as long as they had enough energy, bottlenecks were practically nonexistent.
As soon as the Demon-Sealing Stele joined the battle, several ancient demons at the third level of Guiyi turned their attacks toward it. But the stele paid them no mind, smashing down relentlessly, absorbing energy with every strike.
The ground was now completely covered with ancient demons—dead or alive. Each strike absorbed the energy of a massive swath of them.
At the same time, Ye Liuyun received intel from his clone: *"Both flanks are more than halfway surrounded! The ancient demon army already has 1.5 million troops in position, with another 500,000 cutting off our retreat and 500,000 moving to flank us. I suspect they’re waiting for the encirclement to fully form before launching their main assault. They’ll likely attack from all sides at once."*
Heishan had already moved to the front lines of the demon army. The energy cannons were barely holding back the ancient demons’ charge, and now he was preparing for close combat.
*"We’ll probably lose ten to twenty thousand soldiers,"* Ye Liuyun immediately transmitted to Heishan, updating him on the enemy’s movements and how long he needed to hold.
*"Understood!"* Heishan responded firmly, then commanded the melee troops forward while the energy cannons fell back.
**"ROAR! ROAR!"**
The ancient demons and the demon army clashed with deafening battle cries, the force of their voices shaking the very planet beneath them.
The battlefield was thick with swirling black demonic energy, especially at the front lines where the two forces collided. The miasma was so dense that without his golden pupils, Ye Liuyun wouldn’t have been able to see a thing.
Meanwhile, the ancient demon commander inwardly rejoiced. *They didn’t even run!* He sneered at the demon army’s suicidal stand, urging his own forces to hurry and complete the encirclement.
Already, over a hundred thousand ancient demons had fallen in the frontal assault. Casualties were mounting even faster now that close combat had begun. If his troops didn’t finish encircling the enemy soon, gaps would start appearing in their front lines by the time the full assault began.
An hour into the brutal melee, Heishan’s vanguard had already lost more than ten thousand soldiers. The second wave was now rotating in, replacing the exhausted first wave.
*"Almost there. Hold on a little longer!"* Ye Liuyun urged Heishan through the slave mark.
*"Understood!"* Heishan acknowledged, continuing to direct his troops without pause.
