Chapter 3168: Chapter 3168
The Pantheon Alliance was mustering its strongest to brace for the coming foe, and at that very moment Ye Liuyun received word that the five hundred martial cultivators sent to intercept Jiang Yunyang had already struck.
Acting on Jiang Yunmo’s orders, they had cut off Jiang Yunyang’s subordinates and, in the process, uncovered the Fire-Seal Dynasty’s army lying in ambush nearby.
Ye Liuyun used slave seals to seize control of the captives and drove them to fight to the last man. Under the seals’ compulsion, none could think twice; every mind burned with a single thought—throw their lives at Jiang Yunyang’s men.
Five hundred was no small number. Though individually weak, once driven to frenzy they whittled half of the two hundred elites Jiang Yunyang had dispatched. In the end the dynasty’s troops never needed to lift a finger; the five hundred martial cultivators perished to the last. The watching army sighed in awe, muttering that anyone under Ye Liuyun must be mad.
Thus the Fire-Seal Dynasty chose not to move against Ye Liuyun again. Jiang Yunmo, for her part, was well pleased that he had stalled so many of Jiang Yunyang’s men.
Ye Liuyun himself shrugged it off; it had only ever been for show.
Now he and his avatar raced the clock each day, seeking out ninth-realm experts to drill spatial power and soul force—learning while sparring, asking, refining.
Especially those whose soul strength was weaker than his yet surpassed him in scouting and detection—he sought them out with genuine humility. Their techniques were distilled from years of reconnaissance, and under their guidance his own soul perception sharpened swiftly.
Once he improved, he stepped out of his inner world to test it; inside that realm a single thought revealed everything, so real practice had to happen outside. Yet his progress was rapid—bit by bit he widened his range, hunted for finer details, honed his senses.
His spatial power followed the same arc; he had used it sparingly and timidly before. After days of training he realized that if he dared imagine it, he could almost certainly do it, and his attempts grew bolder by the hour.
Time, however, was short; there was none left to refine Heaven-and-Earth energy, so those two arts took priority.
Jiang Yunyang arrived faster than expected—twelve days to the rendezvous. Yet Ye Liuyun’s people and every allied contingent had already replenished their true essence and stood ready for battle. Even the ninth-realm soldiers had been refitted in black armor.
Every scout Jiang Yunyang sent ahead was sniffed out and slain by the demon beasts, but the man pressed on regardless, determined to land.
He judged the Fire-Seal star cluster a poor place to corner Ye Liuyun; once Ye changed his face, he could vanish without trace. Here, among savage beasts, there was nowhere to hide—never mind that Ye could just as easily take the shape of a beast.
Yet Jiang Yunyang had not lost his wits to rage or a thirst for vengeance.
Ye Liuyun still held vast stores of resources.
Jiang Yunyang’s own stockpiles were nearly exhausted; without them his army would collapse. Ye Liuyun had become indispensable.
And the landing site he chose was that same plain.
“Heh, the fool’s come to die—same method, same grave.”
Ye Liuyun, Yu Xiaofeng, and the others shook their heads, smiling.
To march in without even studying the last defeat was suicide in all but name.
Ye Liuyun swept the incoming host with his golden pupils. The remaining ninth-realm soldiers were noticeably weaker; clearly the best had been sent back to deal with Jiang Yunmo. Against local forces they might still intimidate, but against him they were paper tigers.
He promptly tucked his own ninth-realm elites into his inner world, ordering them to join the fight: first annihilate Jiang Yunyang’s experts, then aid the beasts—yet he quietly warned them not to kill Jiang Yunyang himself.
The beasts cooperated perfectly. The instant the enemy set foot on shore, several small packs hurled themselves at the descending troops. Jiang Yunyang’s men were cautious at first, forming defensive lines the moment they landed.
After repelling a few light attacks and finding no real danger, they relaxed.
Only to discover the packs were endless; fresh waves kept charging, again and again.
“Let’s just start the fight and sharpen the troops!”
Ye Liuyun checked with Yu Xiaofeng, who agreed; after all, it was all training, and this time the vicious beasts were even better coordinated.
So Ye Liuyun issued an all-out-attack order to the beasts, then vanished from the peak, first releasing the Devil Vine and both of his clones.
The moment the surrendered soldiers relaxed, several small beast packs suddenly charged like mad. Moments later the Beast Kings appeared, unleashing nearly a hundred thousand beasts that surged toward them like a tide.
This horde was even larger than last time; the Beast Kings had had more time to rally beasts, and none were weaker than the surrendered soldiers.
The sudden beast army made Jiang Yunyang frown. Just as he considered sending reinforcements, Ye Liuyun struck.
His forces were stronger than last time, so he launched a three-pronged assault without needing to split up and mop up afterward.
Second Clone first released Cui Daoran’s and Xiao Heng’s units, smashing straight into the early-Unity ranks, while Second Clone himself followed with the women for live practice.
First Clone unleashed two columns of demon armies; one thrust tore open their formation and plunged deep into their ranks.
Ye Liuyun used spatial power to teleport above the elite troops and dropped all four hundred ninth-level soldiers in black armor. Their appearance alone stunned Jiang Yunyang’s army.
Then the Devil Vine, the monster beasts, and Tang Xinyao’s squad all joined in, and Ye Liuyun himself began slashing.
This time he had no need to capture ninth-level prisoners, nor did he intend to seize Jiang Yunyang; he left those ninth-level soldiers to hone their skills while he freely cut down seventh- and eighth-level troops, sharpening his saber intent, spatial power, and world energy without expending much divine essence.
Jiang Yunyang was rattled by this full-frontal onslaught from the start. He realized Ye Liuyun’s strength rivaled his own—especially those high-level soldier elites.
The moment they appeared they plunged into his army. Though he had greater numbers, his formations couldn’t bring their advantage to bear. The Devil Vine alone could throw the elite formation into chaos.
Every one of his forces was under simultaneous attack, each too busy to help the others; there were no troops left to redeploy.
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