Chen Piaoran’s soft armor, a genuine Void-tier treasure, lived up to its name—it blocked both Xuanwu and Xenocide’s strikes. Yet the sheer force still shattered him inside, leaving him without strength to attack or defend.

He had never imagined they could beat him so badly.

“These people aren’t high in cultivation, but their attacks pack a punch, and their teamwork is flawless. We’re no match for them.”

The relentless assault had scared him stiff. Once he saw the truth, he ordered the Chen disciples to form a protective ring and retreat at once.

“Come when you please and leave when you like?”

Ye Liuyun sneered, leading everyone to surround the Chen disciples and charge.

The battle had barely begun, yet Chen Piaoran was already out of commission, and nearly half the Chen clan lay dead. With no will left to fight, the survivors turned and fled.

Ye Liuyun released his spatial puppet to keep hunting Chen Piaoran.

Two disciples hauled Chen Piaoran between them while another ring guarded against ambush. Suddenly a sword-light ripped from the void ahead and slammed into him with a boom, flinging him backward and toppling the two who carried him.

He had sensed the spatial ripple, but with both arms pinned he couldn’t free a hand to defend. The puppet’s blade struck him squarely. Once again the Void-tier armor saved his skin—no outward wound—yet the cumulative shock knocked him unconscious.

Without Chen Piaoran’s command, the Chen disciples panicked. Some scattered; Ye Liuyun sent Xuanwu and Xenocide to cut them down. The stronger ones were erased by black beams.

Vermilion Bird and Scarlet Refinement charged the interceptors, crimson pupils seizing their minds, devouring souls and power of bloodline.

First Avatar, after topping up his divine essence with a Storage Yuan Stone, loosed two arrows at a time, steadily picking off the guards around Chen Piaoran.

Ye Liuyun and Second Avatar carved straight into the Chen ranks, blades flashing, slicing the formation into ever-smaller pieces.

Little Blue Ice used the Soul-Fixing Bead to freeze a target, then sealed the soul inside a Soul-Sealing Pearl.

Stone Ape never got the chance to transform into his three-headed, six-armed form. Impatient, he barreled into the Chen crowd, petrified skin gleaming, iron staff whirling to smash a few heads just for the thrill.

After stunning Chen Piaoran, the metal puppet turned on his protectors. Chen disciples versed in spatial arts leapt into the void, only to have the puppet lock the space and cleave them apart.

The chase continued; Chen numbers dwindled until barely twenty remained, hemmed in on every side.

The demonic beasts surged forward to claim their share. Thunderclap’s demonic lightning blasted two or three to ash. Nine-Headed Demon Dragon snatched two disciples with separate heads and swallowed them whole. Dragon Girl stayed beneath the sea, guarding against any sea-beasts that might interrupt.

In the end the Chen force was wiped out. Only the unconscious Chen Piaoran remained; Ye Liuyun branded him with a slave seal, forced him to hand over the Void-tier armor, spear, and flying shuttle, and stripped every last resource before tossing him a random spear and dumping him into First Avatar’s inner world to recover.

Only Stone Ape had taken serious damage—several cracks split his stone body when multiple attacks landed at once. Ye Liuyun fed him a draught of life spring and sent him off to heal. Everyone else emerged unscathed.

Ye Liuyun pocketed the spear and armor for Xiao Yunfang and A-Xing, then refined the Void-tier shuttle on the spot so the group could feel its speed.

“Incredible!” they exclaimed. The moment it activated, it had already flashed half a day’s journey away.

Ye Liuyun suddenly realized he could use chasing the shuttle to train his spatial power—though at present he had no hope of catching this Void-tier craft.

He stowed the Void-tier shuttle, told everyone else to restore their yuan, and brought out his own True-tier-ninth-grade shuttle. The metal puppet piloted it while he pursued, pushing his spatial arts to the limit.

Even at full spatial speed—already rivaling a late Unity realm cultivator—he was left in the dust. The shuttle flickered through the void and vanished; only his golden pupils could still track it.

Drawing on insights from spatial intent, he practiced nonstop, using relative spatial distance to shift himself faster.

Days later, though he still couldn’t catch the True-tier-ninth-grade shuttle, his speed had doubled. He had grasped the method, yet his raw spatial power remained limited; each jump through the void covered only so much ground.

Right now, his mastery of spatial force was such that ordinary Unity-realm martial artists couldn’t hope to catch him.

He released the two demonic flood-dragons again to race against them, yet he still couldn’t outrun the pair. Their spatial power was nothing to scoff at; once they channeled true essence while tearing through the void, they surged forward in explosive bursts.

After enough training, he let the two dragons hunt for provisions in the Desolate Sea—so long as they didn’t stray too far. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He himself settled down to refine his own spatial strength, striving to sense a wider stretch of the void and then pierce through it.

Once the two dragons plunged into the sea they showed no sign of discomfort; in no time they swept the surrounding waters clean, slaying every sea beast in sight and stashing the carcasses into storage rings as food. Then they simply lingered beside the Dragon Princess, reluctant to return to the spatial world.

Ye Liuyun allowed them to remain outside as her guardians. The pair practically worshipped the princess and obeyed her every word. Since she had originally taken human form from a black flood-dragon herself, she felt no aversion toward her kin and rather enjoyed their company.

Clad in her Azure-Sea battle armor and wearing treasure gloves over her claws, the princess fought in the ocean with strength barely inferior to the two demonic dragons. She even practiced spatial techniques alongside them, boosting her own speed considerably.

Before long, the beasts’ true essence had fully recovered, and the Stone Ape’s injuries had healed; they all emerged to stretch their legs and prepare for the next battle. The princess and the dragons subdued a sea turtle to serve as an island for everyone to rest upon.

Prince Jiang Yunhan’s airship finally reached the Desolate Sea. He first located Ye Liuyun’s group of beasts among the stars, then led his troops straight at them.

Lei Ming spotted them early and called out to Ye Liuyun. When Ye Liuyun recognized Jiang Yunhan, he couldn’t help laughing. “Wonder what new treasure he’s bringing me this time?”