To Crane Cry’s two disciples, it looked simple: they had only listed the pills they needed and their quantities, met a few elders and disciples, and Jin Chenshan had agreed to hand over eighty drops of Life Spring water.

Then the Second Avatar used the crimson-pupil illusion, making Crane Cry forget every secret plot and remember only what had been openly discussed in front of the disciples. He even signed an equal-trade contract with Crane Cry, setting the exchange for two months later at Void Pill Sect, before leaving with the Devil Vine.

Crane Cry thought everything had gone perfectly. Eighty drops of Life Spring water could restore the vitality of nearly twenty Void Pill Sect elders—an enormous contribution to the sect.

He cheerfully returned to report to the sect master and began preparing the pills for Ye Liuyun.

After leaving the restaurant, the Second Avatar sent the controlled royal guard back to watch Ninth Prince Jiang Yunhan’s dealings with Chen Xing and Liu Yuanyang, then slipped out of the city, changed his appearance, stowed the Devil Vine, and returned to Ye Liuyun’s villa.

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The First Avatar wasted no time either; after snatching two nearby weapon-refining master, he hurried back to regroup with Ye Liuyun.

When the three met, Ye Liuyun passed all the Myriad Transformation Sect intelligence from Yao Feng’s sea of consciousness to Qiong Qi, handing Yao Feng himself over so Qiong Qi could find his own way into the sect.

Ye Liuyun admitted he knew little about arrays; sneaking in would be useless. At most he could help Qiong Qi by capturing a few array masters and disciples.

After careful study, Qiong Qi entered the First Avatar’s spatial world to accelerate his training in the Thousand Illusion Art, preparing to infiltrate the Myriad Transformation Sect. He and Ye Liuyun had obtained the technique together long ago, but he had rarely used it and was far less proficient.

The newly captured weapon-refining master were handed to Tong Xin to supervise and utilize. The pill cauldrons Ye Liuyun had bought were given to Lin Luoyi to distribute; he also told them that the Nine-Dragon River Landscape Cauldron could advance a grade within a month.

Once he grabbed more weapon-refining master, he would craft even better cauldrons; this seventh-grade one could be rewarded to other disciples, while Lin Luoyi and Lin Xiyao would use superior ones.

The spatial puppet and the true-grade-nine flying boat were kept close at hand. All high-end resources they had looted were immediately divided between the two avatars for urgent refining.

The soul with the crimson pupils was swapped back into Ye Liuyun’s own sea of consciousness for focused nurturing and strengthening.

The next day, the controlled guard sent word: the Ninth Prince had invited Chen Xing and Liu Yuanyang to meet that night at the restaurant to finalize the forging plan. He even revealed the exact private room in advance.

Ye Liuyun arrived early, booked the neighboring room, and released his beasts so they could enjoy a rare feast after their long seclusion.

First, he used spatial compression to tear a crack in the ninth-layer void of the prince’s reserved room, just in case. Then he left one avatar to keep the beasts company while he changed his appearance and waited downstairs among the common tables.

Soon the Ninth Prince arrived ahead of schedule with his guards. Ye Liuyun sat below, pretending to eat, while the crimson pupils on his soul cast an illusion: the prince believed he had received a secret order from Fire-Seal King Jiang Yuantang commanding absolute obedience.

The crimson pupils worked fast; a single brush past the prince was enough to ensnare him.

Jiang Yunhan had never been highly regarded by Jiang Yuantang. The four princes the king truly valued had already led troops into the starry sky to seize resources.

Jiang Yunhan intended to use this lull to court major powers and key figures, expanding his faction for a future bid for the throne.

Besides the eight golden-armored guards at his side, he had two Return-to-One Ninth-Heaven experts hidden in his spatial world—more than enough to protect him.

Yet his sea of consciousness bore the royal soul seal; Ye Liuyun could not control him outright and had to rely on illusion. He ordered the prince to leave immediately with his guards, the farther the better, and never return to the palace.

He also told him to move every resource into a Interspatial Ring, then had the Thieving Cat silently siphon it all away, leaving only a voice transmitter, a true-grade-nine flying boat, a bit of origin energy, and some divine crystals—enough for two months.

Jiang Yunhan obeyed without question, boarded the flying boat the cat had left, and raced through the void for two full months before daring to return.

The guards were puzzled by the sudden departure, but since the prince said nothing, they could only follow.

Once aboard, Jiang Yunhan—following Ye Liuyun’s instructions—claimed secrecy and tossed every voice transmitter, including his own and the guards’, out of the flying boat.

After they left, Ye Liuyun exited the restaurant, left the city, found a secluded spot, transformed into Jiang Yunhan’s appearance, and had one avatar become a golden-armored guard. They adjusted their auras and returned to the restaurant. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The staff, seeing the Ninth Prince back so soon—this time with only one guard—assumed the others had been dispatched on urgent business and asked no questions, ushering him straight to the private room and informing him that Chen Xing and Liu Yuanyang had already arrived.

Inside, Ye Liuyun explained that an urgent matter had required him to send the rest of his guards away.

The two weapon-refining master knew the prince had come earlier and left in haste; guessing it had indeed been important, they thought nothing more of it.

Then they all sat down and started talking. While Ye Liuyun went over the forging plans with them, he swept his crimson pupils across each of them, making every one of them believe their very lives now rested in his hands.

In their memories, it was the Ninth Prince, Jiang Yunhan, who had suddenly struck, then used overwhelming soul force to coerce them into signing master-servant contracts. They still clung to the hope that their clans would notice the original contracts had vanished and send help.

In truth, the contracts in their seas of consciousness hadn’t changed at all—they were simply trapped in an illusion.

Following Ye Liuyun’s instructions, they next summoned two more weapon-refining master and several promising disciples, claiming they needed assistance. Given their status and reputation, no one questioned the call; one after another, they hurried over—and, one after another, fell under the crimson gaze.

When enough people had arrived, Ye Liuyun froze time, branded them all with slave seals, erased their previous contracts, then left the tavern, slipped out of the city, changed his appearance, and returned to the inn.