Chapter 3158: Chapter 3158
Ye Liuyun branded the remaining nine-layer martial cultivators with slave seals and swept them all into his spatial world. The strong ones he could throw into battle later; the weak ones he’d keep as sparring partners.
Then he moved away from those cultivators, restored the normal flow of time, and released the demonic vine to devour the remaining eighth-layer experts.
His two avatars, after freezing time, rushed in and killed the Imperial Guard commander with a burst of white light, then prioritized capturing the strongest guards. With their improved temporal power they had plenty of time left, so they branded every last guard and locked them inside the spatial world as well.
By now Jiang Yunmu had realized the old man was out of control and was trying to contact him.
Taking advantage of the moment while the vine was still slaughtering cultivators, Ye Liuyun released the old man so he could speak with Jiang Yunmu.
“I’m Ye Liuyun. Want to cooperate?” he asked bluntly.
“Ye Liuyun? You destroyed my subordinate forces and now you want to talk cooperation? Release my people and return my resources at once, or I won’t let you off!” Jiang Yunmu threatened.
“What I swallow, I don’t spit back out. You can feed me information so I can wreck other people’s forces. That way you princes stay evenly matched—otherwise what leverage do you have?”
“You’re trying to stir up infighting among us?” Jiang Yunmu caught on immediately.
“Hah, as if you weren’t already at each other’s throats,” Ye Liuyun sneered. “I’m just giving you a chance to turn the tide. Think it over—call me when you’re ready.”
With that he ignored Jiang Yunmu, stuffed the old man back into the spatial world, and cut off all contact.
When the two avatars arrived, they left the remaining Imperial Guards untouched, recalled the demonic vine, and used the black teleportation tower to return to their main base.
“That bastard!” Jiang Yunmu cursed into the sound-transmission talisman, face flushed with rage. After a while he calmed down and began weighing Ye Liuyun’s offer.
Back home, Ye Liuyun started sorting the spoils.
He had stripped more than sixty planets of their key resources—enough wealth to start his own Holyfire Chamber of Commerce.
Every Imperial Guard was ordered to shed their armor and join the second avatar’s elite squad, swelling its ranks to one hundred and fifty. The weaker hundred-plus guards were set aside for sparring.
The old man was tasked with picking out several of Jiang Yunmu’s resource-rich subordinate forces; once the demonic beasts recovered, they’d raid them.
Resources the demon legion could use stayed with them; the rest Ye Liuyun collected.
The vicious-army bandits and Xiao Heng’s legion each handed over half their haul—whatever remained was theirs to keep. Prisoners were first culled by them; the leftovers Ye Liuyun took for training fodder.
In this single campaign they’d captured several hundred prisoners of varying levels—enough for everyone to practice on.
Then everyone entered cultivation; those on the verge of breakthrough began pushing for the next realm.
Ye Liuyun was about to cultivate when Jiang Yunmo sent a message: “You struck the Imperial Guard?”
“Of course. Without manpower, how am I supposed to intercept Jiang Yunyang’s people for you?” he shot back.
“You fool! The Imperial Guard are Father’s troops. You killed their commander—Father is furious and intends to move against you!” Jiang Yunmo scolded.
“Can he even find me?” Ye Liuyun didn’t care. If King Huoyin could locate him, he’d have acted long ago.
Jiang Yunmo knew the dynasty couldn’t track Ye Liuyun for now, but still warned, “Don’t underestimate the court’s strength. There are plenty of capable people. Even if he can’t find you today, he will eventually. Make preparations and don’t linger in one place.
And stop targeting the Imperial Guard—otherwise Father will throw the full weight of the dynasty at you. You can’t stand against that.”
Ye Liuyun agreed aloud, yet inwardly acknowledged the risk of staying put too long.
He believed Jiang Yunmo’s claim about the dynasty’s hidden talents; the true power of the Huoyin Dynasty was far greater than what he’d seen.
At once he gathered everyone, had Wu Xiang dismantle the arrays, then teleported via the black tower to the Desolate Sea. Longnu escorted them underwater back to the old blue-whale lair. Once inside, Wu Xiang set up new defensive formations, and the place became their new headquarters.
He also sent the Dragon Girl and the Demonic Flood Dragon out to subdue a swarm of sea beasts and station them as sentries along the trench.
The Blue Whale’s lair had always been a hidden realm. He’d chosen it as his stronghold precisely because, even if someone discovered it, breaking in would be nearly impossible. The drawback was that every round trip through the black teleportation tower burned an alarming amount of energy.
Barely a day after Ye Liuyun and the others left, the spot they’d vacated was encircled by the Imperial Guard. Two array masters arrived with them.
But when they reached the site they found nothing—only faint traces that a formation had once been set up.
Jiang Yunmo didn’t rush to inform Ye Liuyun. He only learned of the Guard’s fruitless raid later, from the inn’s waiter and steward.
Afterward Jiang Yunmo explained to Ye Liuyun that she hadn’t leaked the location; the dynasty had dispatched the Imperial Guard in secret, sealing the news beforehand.
Ye Liuyun didn’t doubt her. Their contract still bound her—at least for now she had no reason to harm him. Besides, after Jiang Yunmo left, she had no idea he’d stayed behind.
“So there was a powerhouse tailing me the whole time? Someone from the dynasty? Did they move because I killed those Imperial Guards? Then why wait until now?” Ye Liuyun pondered for ages but found no answer.
He simply reminded himself to be more careful and began building several new hidden bases so no one could corner him again.
Then he settled down for a stretch, leading everyone in quiet cultivation. While refining his divine essence, he also extracted the blood essence of a hundred true dragons and, together with his two clones, refined it once more to strengthen their bloodlines.
Among the demonic beasts, the Dragon Girl was first to break through to the sixth level of Unity. The others followed one after another; then Tang Xinyao and the rest reached Unity Six as well.
Soon the five commanders under Yu Xiaofeng all advanced into the Unity realm. Even the women like Wu Qingcheng who rarely fought stepped into Unity in droves.
In no time, every Unity-realm cultivator Ye Liuyun had kept for sparring was exhausted. The supply of Unity Seven and Eight opponents for the beasts ran short, and only a handful of Unity Four and Five cultivators remained for the women who joined the battles.
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