Chapter 2976: Chapter 2976
"With such weak soul power, you dare threaten us?" Ye Liuyun scoffed disdainfully.
"Haha! You’ve got some nerve. But I’m not alone!"
As his voice faded, over twenty more soul projections surged into their battleship. However, these newcomers’ spiritual energy was noticeably weaker than their leader’s.
Upon entering, these soul projections immediately began leering at Thunderclap, the Dragon Maiden, Tang Xinyao and other women aboard—their vile intentions obvious at a glance.
"What’s wrong? Scared now?" the leader taunted. "You outsiders don’t know who you’re dealing with! We’re the strongest Soulferry Mercenary Group in these parts. Join us, hand over your valuables, and I might spare your lives. Otherwise..."
While the man blustered, Ye Liuyun had already summoned his second avatar to shield the group with spiritual energy. Simultaneously, he unleashed his own soul force to devour the mercenary leader. Thunderclap and others followed suit, each targeting weaker souls they could handle, dragging them into their consciousness seas for consumption.
The remaining mercenary souls, realizing their opponents’ overwhelming strength, attempted to flee—only to be paralyzed by the crushing spiritual pressure radiating from Ye Liuyun’s avatar.
Moving with lightning speed, Ye Liuyun first dragged the leader’s soul into his consciousness sea, leaving the Divine Decree Token to dismantle it, then immediately seized two more souls. While others struggled with single opponents, he’d already captured seven.
In the blink of an eye, every invading soul had been annihilated. Ye Liuyun and his avatar then stormed from the battleship, using soul pressure to immobilize the remaining mercenaries before systematically devouring each one’s spiritual essence.
With a wave of his hand, he collected all the corpses and storage rings—the bodies fed to his demonic beasts, the rings casually tossed to Lan Xin for the women in his pocket dimension to sort through.
This soul battle had been their shortest engagement yet, but also the most perilous.
Unlike physical combat where mistakes might mean injury, the slightest misstep in spiritual warfare meant instant death.
"His soul power has grown this strong?!" Tang Xinyao gasped, remembering Ye Liuyun’s spiritual magnitude from before, astonished by his rapid advancement.
Shortly after, Ye Liuyun stored the battleship away.
"We’re approaching the Ferrybridge Star System. This ship’s too conspicuous for combat," he explained. "Since everyone here survives by plundering, we’ll play pirates ourselves this time!"
"Whoever grabs the resources first, they’re theirs! Everyone, go all out—let’s fight to our heart’s content!" Ye Liuyun declared to the group.
The demonic beasts cheered in response, their excitement infectious enough to stir even the Tang family disciples, who now brimmed with eagerness.
Still, Ye Liuyun reminded everyone to don their armor and equip defensive treasures against soul attacks.
Truth be told, his warning was hardly necessary. After the last battle, the Tang disciples and the weaker-souled beasts had already strapped on their soul-defense artifacts.
"We’ll take the lead! Duqiao Star System, here we come!" Lei Ming was the first to leap forward, roaring toward the distant star system. The thieving cat, Mo Shi, sprang excitedly onto Lei Ming’s shoulder, claws itching for action.
The sight of this duo made Ye Liuyun and the beasts burst into laughter—clearly, the martial cultivators in Duqiao were about to have a very bad day.
Tang Xinyao watched curiously. She had rarely seen the thieving cat in action and wondered what tricks it had up its sleeve.
The cat flashed her a grin, then vanished. When it reappeared on Lei Ming’s shoulder, it said smugly, "Check your Interspatial Ring."
Tang Xinyao swept it with her divine sense—and let out a startled cry.
"Hahaha!" The group erupted in laughter.
A moment later, the cat disappeared again, only to return the stolen items to her ring.
"This..."
Tang Xinyao was speechless. Even if the cat had stolen from her right under her nose, she wouldn’t have sensed how it was done.
Laughing and joking, the group pressed forward, soon encountering other martial cultivators. At first, these stragglers kept their distance, trailing them cautiously. Ye Liuyun and his companions paid them no mind.
But as their numbers swelled, the strangers began closing in, encircling them.
"The numbers are sufficient—we can strike now!" Ye Liuyun noticed their movement and immediately alerted the others to prepare for action.
As the group drew near, they wasted no time with words and launched their attack. Ye Liuyun and his companions responded in kind, cutting them down without hesitation. He even summoned several ancient demon puppets to encircle the enemies, ensuring none could escape.
Among the attackers was a martial cultivator at the third level of Guiyi. Ye Liuyun tested his strength against them using the power of heaven and earth but found himself outmatched. Rather than forcing the fight, he left the stronger opponent to the Dragon Maiden.
He, his doppelgänger, Lei Ming, the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, Tang Xinyao, Tang Hao, and the three Xuanwu demon beasts all eagerly targeted martial cultivators at the first and second levels of Guiyi.
The Purple Kirin, cautious by nature, stuck to picking off lower-realm opponents, unwilling to take unnecessary risks. Ye Liuyun assigned it and the Vermilion Bird to protect Chi Lian while she absorbed bloodline energy, which she then shared with him and his doppelgänger.
The other demon beasts sparred with martial cultivators of comparable strength. The White Tiger and Stone Ape were particularly fierce, capable of taking on multiple Guiyi-level opponents, though they still struggled against those at the first or second tier.
The group made no effort to conceal themselves as they traveled—laughing, chatting, eating, and drinking without restraint.
The martial cultivators in these parts were either greedy or reckless. If their numbers were few, they would gather reinforcements before attacking; if they had the advantage, they would swarm in without hesitation.
As a result, Ye Liuyun and his companions faced one or two battles every day, cutting a bloody path forward.
The closer they got to the Dujiao Star System, the stronger the martial cultivators they encountered—and the more exhilarating the fights became.
With their golden pupils, they could already glimpse the distant Dujiao Star System. Bandit gangs roamed everywhere, and while there were towns, they were little more than strongholds for larger outlaw factions.
Still, reaching the nearest planet would likely take several more days—and many more hard-fought battles.
Just then, Wu Qingcheng suddenly called Ye Liuyun over, excitedly informing him that they had discovered valuable treasures in the storage rings of the slain martial cultivators.
Ye Liuyun immediately returned to his spatial world to inspect the findings. Wu Qingcheng had recently been gathering resources when Lan Xin mentioned the recent windfall, prompting her to notify Ye Liuyun before he overlooked anything valuable.
What she showed him was a ten-thousand-year-old Blood Spirit Root and a multicolored crystal containing the essence of Five-Colored Heavenly Thunder.
Ye Liuyun recognized the thunder essence immediately—it symbolized the divine punishment of the Five-Colored Heavenly Tribulation. As for the Blood Spirit Root, it was no ordinary find either.
Its shape had even begun to resemble a human foot, a sign that it was on the verge of gaining sentience. Using such a treasure to enhance one’s bloodline would undoubtedly yield extraordinary results.
