Ye Liuyun knew he couldn’t beat the demonic flood dragon in a straight fight. To keep the beast from striking first, he had no choice but to launch a pre-emptive attack. He froze time with his temporal power, then sent his own soul straight into the dragon’s sea of consciousness and branded it with a slave seal.

The flood dragon never expected that, despite its overwhelming strength, it would be subdued by Ye Liuyun in an instant. It didn’t even register how the move had been executed.

Its soul force was no stronger than Ye Liuyun’s, and the human’s mastery of time had grown far beyond what it once was. Thus, the dragon’s soul had been locked in complete stasis, unable to react at all.

Once the creature was under control, Ye Liuyun had his First Avatar tuck it into his spatial world. The beast truly was formidable—high cultivation realm, potent soul power.

Back when it refined the body of a true dragon, the dragon core had still contained a draconic soul. With the help of several other flood dragons, it had managed to devour and absorb that soul.

Ye Liuyun deemed the creature a vicious beast blessed by great fortune; rather than kill it outright, he intended to keep it as an ally.

Through it, he learned that the flood dragons had rallied numerous beast kings for a final ambush.

He paused, waited until both avatars had strengthened their soul force, then had Thunderclap, Dragon Girl, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon ready for battle before marching toward the flood-dragon stronghold with his two puppets in tow.

From that point on, they encountered no more powerful beasts. The Second Avatar came out to practice his crimson pupils; any ordinary beasts that dared block the way were caught in illusions and cleaved apart with a single slash. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The carcasses were tossed into the spatial world to feed the captive flood dragon—better to have it well-fed and ready for the coming fight.

A day later, Ye Liuyun’s golden pupils spotted the intercepting horde: dozens of beast kings and hundreds of flood dragons.

There were over fifty beasts at the ninth level of Unity Return, and more than five hundred flood dragons at the seventh or eighth level. Clearly the beasts formed the main force, while the dragons played support.

Thanks to the captured dragon, Ye Liuyun already knew the swarm still held reserves in check, so he didn’t rush the beast into action. Instead, he released both avatars, Thunderclap, Dragon Girl, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon, and charged together.

This time, White Tiger and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon spearheaded the assault, followed by Ye Liuyun and his avatars, with Thunderclap and the others behind. The metal and space puppets focused on protecting Dragon Girl.

The beasts roared in warning the moment they were spotted, then surged forward as one.

Ye Liuyun’s group charged in grim silence. When they closed the distance, White Tiger and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon let out twin thunderous roars—sonic attacks laced with soul-shaking waves—blasting the beasts’ minds first.

While the beasts reeled, the two unleashed beams of white light, sweeping through the front ranks and felling a swath of ninth-level beasts.

Next, Ye Liuyun and both avatars called down lightning. Savage heavenly thunder, thick with annihilating aura, crashed upon the beasts. Ye Liuyun’s bolts were strongest, leaving every creature in their radius half-dead and charred. His avatars’ lightning was slightly weaker, yet still left the beasts smoking and howling.

Immediately after, three Golden Crows were released into the herd. The beasts already battered by lightning had no strength left to resist; they were reduced to ash. Others, reeling from thunder, were finished by the crows’ sacred flames.

White Tiger and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon vaulted over the remnants, leaving them to Ye Liuyun and the avatars, and resumed their white-light barrage against the flood dragons behind.

Ye Liuyun and his avatars swept in, Demonbane, Heaven-Eater, and the golden saber flashing in unison—every strike driven by pure saber intent, carving through the remaining beasts without pause.

Thunderclap, Dragon Girl, and Vermilion Bird followed, crushing the flood dragons with sheer pressure before beginning the slaughter.

Ye Liuyun advanced alongside Dragon Girl. Both avatars hung back with bows ready, keeping watch.

The flood-dragon swarm was already stunned by the successive onslaughts.

The annihilating white light, the ruinous heavenly thunder, the all-consuming Golden Crows—none could be withstood.

Where White Tiger and the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon swept their beams, dragons fell dead or maimed. Thunderclap’s lightning followed, smaller in scope yet no less devastating. Then a blazing Vermilion Bird descended, torrents of flame engulfing everything.

Barely into the fight, the five hundred flood dragons were shrieking and scattering, courage shattered.

Ye Liuyun released the Snow Wolves to hunt the stragglers, then used spatial power with his two puppets to chase them down. White Tiger, the Nine-Headed Demonic Dragon, Thunderclap, and Vermilion Bird ringed the fleeing dragons and, with Dragon Girl, wiped them out.

The avatars never moved forward; they stood guard at the rear, arrows nocked, ready to drop any beast that tried a sneak attack.

Once the last flood dragon fell, the avatars immediately pulled everyone back into the spatial world.

To their surprise, even after Ye Liuyun returned with the puppets and the snow wolf, the Demon Flood Dragon clan never sent another expert to ambush them.

Ye Liuyun hadn’t actually chased far—after killing a few dozen flood dragons he turned back at once, and the two other puppets did the same. The snow wolf had also slaughtered twenty or thirty flood dragons, all of which it handed over to Ye Liuyun for disposal.

Only then did they see a vast column of demonic qi rise in the distance and streak farther away. Both Ye Liuyun and his doppelgängers’ golden pupils caught sight of the clan’s strongest warriors among the fleeing horde, escorting flood dragons of every rank—clearly the entire race was in full retreat.

“They actually ran! At least they know their limits.”

Ye Liuyun exhaled in relief; he had never been determined to wipe the flood dragons out, so their escape suited him perfectly—it saved everyone trouble.

He ordered the two puppets to scout ahead, while he and his three doppelgängers followed them toward the Demon Flood Dragon stronghold.

The snow wolf was stowed away to keep it safe from sneak attacks.

They advanced cautiously, yet even after reaching the valley that housed the demon clan’s lair—and even after sighting the Dragon Clan burial ground—they encountered not a single flood dragon.

After sweeping the area with their golden pupils and having the puppets comb every corner, Ye Liuyun and his doppelgängers found neither flood dragons nor any other beasts. Though the valley brimmed with demonic qi, it didn’t hinder their vision in the slightest.

“They really did flee.”

In the end, they all agreed: the valley was now completely empty of flood dragons or any other ferocious creatures.