Chapter 2946: Chapter 2946
After being struck, the skeletal puppet still tried to continue the fight, mustering another surge of demonic energy to block Ye Liuyun’s second palm strike.
From a distance, Ye Liuyun unleashed a rapid succession of palm strikes, ensuring at least one landed squarely on the puppet while neutralizing most of its counterattacks.
With his mastery of spatial power, the energy of heaven and earth, and the radiance of Buddhist light, Ye Liuyun barely expended any of his own essence. This allowed him to attack without pause, far outpacing the puppet’s sluggish rhythm.
In contrast, every punch the puppet threw devoured a massive amount of demonic crystals, not to mention the energy it wasted eroding the golden light. It had to draw power from its core again and again, depleting its reserves with each strike.
Ye Liuyun had specifically chosen this puppet because he had already noticed its energy reserves were the lowest among the group—likely a result of prior use without full replenishment.
Sure enough, after a relentless barrage, the puppet suddenly froze mid-motion before collapsing under Ye Liuyun’s final blow. He swiftly wiped away the lingering consciousness imprinted on it and stored the puppet in his spatial world.
"Roar!"
The puppet’s master let out an enraged bellow, clearly displeased.
But Ye Liuyun merely chuckled. "This puppet is my spoils of battle. And since you’re about to surrender to me anyway, isn’t it only natural I take it?"
The guard stiffened, then turned to glance uncertainly at Xenocide Sand.
Still recovering from his shock, Xenocide Sand met Ye Liuyun’s gaze before nodding at the guard. Ancient Demons generally honored their promises—they weren’t ones to go back on their word lightly.
"Blackrock, go seal his true essence and bring him in," Ye Liuyun commanded immediately.
He reopened the formation barrier, allowing Blackrock to step out and escort the subdued guard inside. Though visibly dejected, the guard offered no resistance, abiding by the agreement.
Without hesitation, Ye Liuyun launched a soul attack, branding the guard with a slave seal.
These puppets and wraiths were ultimately under Wu Xing’s control—their words held no real weight. Even Wu Xing hadn’t anticipated Ye Liuyun defeating one of the puppets outright. So when Ye Liuyun challenged another, the remaining puppets froze in place, clearly acting on Wu Xing’s refusal.
Ye Liuyun was well aware that challenging the Ancient Demon guards head-on would be a losing battle. Though these demons were straightforward in nature, their combat experience was vast—nothing like the rigid predictability of puppets. Against opponents at the third level of Guiyi, he had little confidence in victory.
Moreover, his goal was to capture these forces alive, not to slaughter them outright. Otherwise, he could have simply used the White Light or Black Light to obliterate them without all this effort.
With a smirk, Ye Liuyun turned to Shayin and the others. "Since you’ve broken the rules and denied me a fair challenge, I’ll call in reinforcements. Let’s make this a free-for-all, shall we?"
Shayin quickly clarified, "Reinforcements are fine, but the numbers must be equal—and that giant sphere doesn’t count!"
Ye Liuyun nodded. "Agreed. I’ll only use them if you go back on your word again."
"Good! Release your allies, then!" Shayin urged, eager to lock in the terms before Ye Liuyun reconsidered.
In its mind, even if Ye Liuyun included Heiyan and the others, numerical parity would still give them the upper hand.
But Ye Liuyun’s lips curled into a faint smile as he summoned his doppelgänger, Zhuge Feiyu, and the Asura. Unbeknownst to the demons, his doppelgänger had slipped away during the earlier skirmish to fetch them from the Netherworld—specifically to counter the wraiths.
The moment the wraiths caught sight of Zhuge Feiyu’s Soul Banner and the Asura’s Netherblade, the oppressive aura of the underworld sent shivers through them.
Shayin, however, noted that Zhuge Feiyu and the Asura’s cultivation levels were unimpressive and dismissed them as threats. It hadn’t expected Ye Liuyun to command wraiths of his own. As for the doppelgänger, matching Ye Liuyun’s own strength, it hardly raised an eyebrow.
With a wave, Ye Liuyun dispelled the formation entirely, stepping forward with Heiyan and his thirty-one guards in tow.
"Is that all?" Shayin pressed, scrutinizing the numbers.
"I don’t need more. Two extra will suffice—and they’ve already arrived. Shall we begin?"
As Ye Liuyun spoke, he gestured upward. The Demon-Sealing Stele descended from the heavens, expanding rapidly as it hurtled straight toward Shayin.
"ROAR!"
With a roar, Shaying signaled his own forces to attack.
Ye Liuyun waved his hand, instructing Heiyan and his men to hold off the skeletal puppets. Zhuge Feiyu brandished the Soul Banner, summoning the wraiths to return to the underworld, while Xiuluo wielded the Nethergod Sword to intimidate the spirits, compelling them to enter the banner.
The wraiths exchanged glances before charging toward the Soul Banner without hesitation, allowing themselves to be absorbed. They recognized the Soul Banner and the Nethergod Sword—treasures of the underworld—and knew they stood no chance against them.
Ye Liuyun swiftly pulled Zhuge Feiyu and Xiuluo into his spatial realm, shielding them from the shockwaves of battle.
Shaying, pressed down by the Demon-Sealing Stele, immediately sensed the oppressive aura emanating from the stone slab and realized it was his natural counter.
His heart pounded in alarm as he desperately sought a way to break free from the stele’s suppression. But before he could act, he discovered, to his horror, that all the wraiths had been captured by the two spirits Ye Liuyun had released!
Shaying and his guards were stunned. In a single move, Ye Liuyun had wiped out nearly a third of their forces.
Then, without warning, the demonic vines lurking beneath the ground shot upward, coiling around Shaying’s legs and yanking him downward. Together with the Demon-Sealing Stele, they dragged him underground.
The two entities—the stele and the vines—had absorbed an immense amount of ancient demonic power, allowing them to ascend another tier in strength. The Demon-Sealing Stele had broken through midair, soaring into the starry void, while the demonic vines remained rooted in the earth.
Ye Liuyun had long prepared for this confrontation with the ancient demon guards. To prevent them from sensing the breakthrough auras of his two companions, he had concealed their presence during their ascension.
Now, working in tandem, they were more than capable of suppressing Shaying.
With a thunderous *boom*, the Demon-Sealing Stele slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Shaying was forcibly dragged beneath the earth by the demonic vines.
Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger immediately activated their temporal powers, freezing time. They then released their divine souls, planting a slave seal on Shaying before methodically subduing the remaining guards. Only then did they allow time to resume its flow.
The demonic vines and the Demon-Sealing Stele turned their attention to the skeletal puppets, restraining some and draining others of their energy until they were rendered powerless.
The remaining battle saw two or three guards ganging up on a single puppet, holding them off until the stele and vines could finish them off, leaving the puppets for Ye Liuyun to deal with.
Heiyan and Shaying were tasked with protecting Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger—though their intervention was hardly necessary.
With the battle concluded, Ye Liuyun withdrew both his doppelgängers into his spatial realm and prepared to depart for the next planet.
