None of the planets in the Huoyin system had teleportation arrays. Even if the imperial warships were fast, by the time they arrived, Ye Liuyun would already have slipped back to the Ferrybridge system and hidden himself inside the demon army to cultivate and recover.

When the Imperial Guard finally showed up, they sealed off the starry sky and searched everywhere, but in the end they found no trace of Ye Liuyun.

This time, when Ye Liuyun returned to the demon army, he was stunned by how much their cultivation had risen.

Hei Yan and Sha Ying had both broken through to the sixth level of Unity, and the entire Ancient Demon host had advanced one full tier—most now stood at Unity Four.

The regular demon army was even more exaggerated: Black Mountain and the Tiger-Head Beast King had both reached Unity Four, and every single demon soldier had jumped two whole levels.

These demons had devoured mountains of corpses; once they had enough resources, their realms soared without the slightest instability.

They had already conquered six planets. With their current strength, even if martial cultivators surrounded them, they could no longer be trapped. Their stockpiled resources were so abundant that even if they stopped fighting now, it would still be enough for another breakthrough.

Among the women, only Ye Tiandao had recently advanced to Unity Five; the others had only just broken through and were merely refining their true essence, not yet ready for another leap.

Ye Liuyun cultivated among the demon army for a while. Once everyone’s true essence had recovered, he set out for the planet where the women were stationed, intending to move them into his clone’s internal world for another large-scale rest and another tier-up before they re-emerged.

But before he could reach the planet where Ye Tiandao and the others were, he spotted patrol shuttles circling the periphery—clear evidence that the surrounding starfield had been blockaded.

Sweeping with his golden pupils, he saw those shuttles hovering directly above Ye Tiandao’s group; an ambush was being prepared.

Ye Tiandao and the others were trapped inside a city, besieged by over a thousand bandits. Outside, several large bandit legions waited, each harboring experts at the sixth or seventh level of Unity, poised to strike.

Those bandits were still some distance away, so Ye Tiandao’s side had not yet sensed the danger. Demon Lion and Demon Vine were both present, and the women were focused on clearing the bandits already inside the city.

Seeing so many powerful foes, Ye Liuyun guessed that Ferrybridge had spawned a new bandit king who was now organizing a hunt for Ye Tiandao and her companions.

With an ambush on this scale, even Demon Lion and Demon Vine might not be able to keep the women safe.

So Ye Liuyun immediately recalled his shuttle, tore through the void, and appeared just outside the city walls—he feared being too far away to rescue them in time.

Right then, the bandits struck. Every outlaw rushed the city at once. The sixth- and seventh-level experts rose into the air and hurled full-force bombardments toward the city.

“Release the experts!”

Ye Tiandao reacted instantly, releasing the Unity Nine expert from her spatial world. The other women followed suit, summoning the remaining two Unity Nine powerhouses.

Each of the three peak experts took one side, blocking the incoming attacks. Demon Vine and Demon Lion joined forces to shield the fourth side, barely weathering the first wave.

Any strikes that leaked through were greatly weakened; Tang Xinyao and the others, grouped in trios, intercepted them together.

“We’re ambushed!”

Ye Tiandao, Xiao Yunfang, and Meng Qingyin all had command experience. Realizing the trap at once, they prepared to break out in one direction.

But by then the outer bandits had arrived, sealing every side airtight.

The intercepting shuttles in space also plunged into the planet, stationing themselves above the city to prevent any escape.

Seeing that the women could still hold, Ye Liuyun did not intervene immediately; he let them struggle on their own to see how they would cope.

The three Unity Nine experts immediately charged in one direction. Demon Lion vanished into the void, assassinating incoming warriors to cover the women’s retreat, while Demon Vine lashed out with its tendrils, shielding the other three sides as they pulled back.

“Charge!”

Ye Tiandao took the lead, flanked by Songstress and Little Lan’er. Xiao Yunfang and Meng Qingyin guarded the flanks, following the three peak experts outward. Tang Xinyao brought up the rear, coordinating linked strikes to stop any stray attacks.

But bandits pressed in from every side, all striking together, making defense grueling. They had barely exited the city when two hundred bandits ahead launched a combined blast that drove the three Unity Nine experts back inside.

The bandits were every bit as savage as their reputation—willing to be blasted apart by the three powerhouses rather than retreat a single step, they hurled themselves forward and forced the trio back.

Seeing this, Ye Liuyun had no choice but to act.

He released his puppets and demonic beasts, sending them charging into the surrounding bandits. At the same time, he summoned two clones: one pair went straight for the bandit leader, while Ye Liuyun himself swept his saber toward the sky-boats overhead. A few slashes later, every flying vessel was cleaved clean in two. The martial cultivators inside who failed to dodge in time were obliterated by the saber intent that flooded the cabins.

The bandit chief had indeed just been elected head of the united bandit groups; after absorbing several large factions with covert backing from the Fire-Seal Dynasty, he’d immediately targeted these women for practice before moving on to the demons.

He never expected the women to have reinforcements—let alone ones this powerful.

Ye Liuyun’s two clones stepped out of the void right beside him; by the time he sensed them, it was too late. The second clone instantly released its soul force and branded him with a slave seal, while the first clone’s single saber arc cut down every elite guard around him.

To Ye Liuyun, martial artists at the sixth or seventh level of Unity were already easy prey; he had no interest in taking prisoners, so he simply killed them outright.

The second clone performed a soul-search on the spot and confirmed the man was the Fire-Seal Dynasty’s newly appointed proxy. Rather than kill him, they kept him alive to feed false information back to the dynasty.

Everyone else was expendable. The two clones went all-out, slaughtering without restraint. The sudden appearance of so many top-tier experts caught the bandits completely off guard.

Realizing Ye Liuyun had arrived, Ye Tiandao and the others immediately rallied, launching a counterattack out of the city. Once outside, they wheeled and charged back in, driving the bandits toward the city together with the demonic beasts, turning the tables and encircling the enemy.

The clones ordered the beasts to cooperate, herding every last bandit into the city for a concentrated annihilation.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun used saber intent to cut down the cultivators fleeing the ruined sky-boats one by one. Whether in raw power or spatial mastery, none of them matched him; escape was impossible.

He left no survivors. Locking the entire area with spatial force, he sealed every exit. Anyone who tried to surrender was killed first. In short order, every bandit who had been holding the skies was erased.