Ye Liuyun faced four ninth-realm powerhouses at once. Bloodline pressure, saber intent, spatial force, and the might of heaven and earth all erupted together. He cleaved one early ninth-realm cultivator in half, but he took plenty of hits in return—every wound soaked up by his bare flesh.

Far away, the first clone worked with the second. Another arrow drilled through a guard beside Jiang Yunhan. From time to time the Demon-Hunting Bow even locked onto Jiang Yunhan himself, just to rattle him.

The second clone had already used his crimson pupils to enslave one of Jiang Yunhan’s guards and tucked him into the spatial world. Vermilion Bird and Red Refinement each used their own crimson gaze to sway another guard who tried to intercept them, then devoured soul and power of bloodline in passing.

“Stop them! Kill that archer below!” Jiang Yunhan retreated while ordering the guards around him to deal with Ye Liuyun’s two clones.

Ye Liuyun was already going all-out. Golden Crow Sacred Flames blocked two cultivators; a sudden bolt of lightning blasted another; then a spatial slash sent a saber straight into the last foe’s body, killing him instantly.

The two remaining enemies were too strong, so he simply trapped them with crimson-pupil illusions and sealed them inside the spatial world. Then he rushed with the first clone to reinforce the second.

Under the first clone’s bow-threat, Jiang Yunhan lost focus for a heartbeat—and Ye Liuyun was on him again.

“All of you, take those three down first!” he commanded every nearby guard.

He had seen it clearly: Ye Liuyun and his two clones were the strongest. Cut them down and the beasts would lose their command.

By now, Leiming and White Tiger, who had been tangling with the soldiers, could no longer break through. They began mowing men down with white light, and the slaughter accelerated.

The dozen or so guards left beside Jiang Yunhan surged toward Ye Liuyun and the clones. The first clone loosed two more arrows, but the guards’ armor turned them aside; only injuries, no kills.

Ye Liuyun stepped in front of the first clone, blocking every other cultivator. Two were seized by crimson pupils; the rest he met with pure saber intent.

Several cultivators charging the second clone were erased in an instant—two by Vermilion Bird and Red Refinement, two more enslaved by soul-level crimson pupils, who immediately turned on the soldiers around Jiang Yunhan. Vermilion Bird and Red Refinement plunged into the ranks and began reaping at will.

The second clone used spatial force and appeared right in front of Jiang Yunhan.

Jiang Yunhan’s heart pounded; so many experts around him were nearly gone. Seeing the second clone appear, he knew he was outmatched. He released the Poison Soul Flower from his sea of consciousness, sending it straight into the clone’s mind.

He had no idea the clone had already refined a Poison Soul Flower of his own; the toxin had no effect. Worse, the flower he unleashed drifted into overlapping voids inside the clone’s sea of consciousness, unable to locate the clone’s soul at all—trapped, unable to escape.

The second clone smiled and used soul-level crimson pupils to make Jiang Yunhan believe every last guard was dead, that he was completely surrounded, that surrender was the only way to avoid instant execution.

Jiang Yunhan surrendered at once and handed over every resource he carried.

“Haha, this guy really is loaded! Another fat delivery!”

When the second clone scanned the Interspatial Ring, he found plenty of good things:

A pitch-black crystal whose soul pressure could condense the soul—excellent for cultivation

A Soul-Refining Grass that did the same when eaten

A large block of already-refined bloodline essence

Two chunks of white-gold for body tempering

Two rare metals for artifact forging

Ten galaxy origin crystals, plus piles of origin energy and divine crystals

There was only one Void-grade treasure: a flame-shaped red crystal containing a powerful fire-spirit soul. It was a defensive artifact against soul attacks. Had Jiang Yunhan not tried to trick Ye Liuyun into attacking his sea of consciousness with a low-grade defensive item, wearing this treasure would have let him resist Ye Liuyun’s crimson pupils.

“This treasure holds a fire spirit’s soul; it can fend off any illusion. My royal father gave it to me to guard against mental attacks!” Jiang Yunhan even explained every item’s use to Ye Liuyun. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The second clone chuckled inwardly—Jiang Yuantang must have given him this specifically to prevent another illusion enslavement, yet the fool hadn’t used it.

The clone stowed everything, not even leaving the True-grade-nine flying shuttle in Jiang Yunhan’s hand.

Ye Liuyun stopped fighting as well. With a sweep of crimson pupils he enslaved every remaining guard and ordered them to turn on the soldiers.

“These soldiers’ gear is top-notch; they’re tough to kill,” he mused, then led both clones into battle, adding saber intent and spatial power to help the beasts cut the soldiers down.

Once they, Vermilion Bird, and Red Refinement joined the fray, the soldiers fell even faster. Soon only five hundred remained, clustered around Jiang Yunhan and the wounded commander.

The commander had regained consciousness and was directing the survivors to hold Ye Liuyun’s group back with crossbow volleys.

Ye Liuyun and his clone once more wielded spatial power, folding the incoming arrows into overlapping pockets of void. In the same breath, every captured guard was flung into the midst of the soldiers, where they promptly tore the formation apart.

One of the guards slashed a palm across the commander’s neck, knocking him senseless, then tossed the unconscious body to Ye Liuyun

Ye Liuyun branded the man with a slave seal and had the clone store him away to recover at leisure. Then he led the demon beasts in another charge.

In the end, not a single soldier was left alive—Ye Liuyun refused all surrender. Of Jiang Yunhan’s guards, only two mid-Ninth-Order warriors remained; the rest had perished. When these soldiers fought with their backs to the wall, their combat strength was indeed formidable.

After refining the dragon corpses, the beasts’ bodies had grown noticeably tougher. Coupled with black-and-white light and crimson pupils, they could avoid serious injury as long as they weren’t surrounded.

Only Jiang Yunhan was left. The second clone erased a portion of the memories that controlled him, crushed his voice-transmission talisman, and let him go—no slave seal applied.

“Feel free to come kill me again!” Ye Liuyun called after him, hoping the next encounter would yield even more resources.

Jiang Yunhan didn’t dare reply; he simply fled without looking back.

Ye Liuyun chuckled and set the beasts to cleaning the field. Every soldier’s armor was stripped off and handed to Tong Xin and the others for forging—excellent materials, all of it. The corpses were gathered in one place and stored away.

The cultivators who had been watching from the shadows, having seen two thousand elite guards wiped out, finally grasped their true strength. They withdrew at once, abandoning any thought of further schemes.