The major powers of the Fire-Seal Star System kept their own people on a tight leash. To wrest control of martial cultivators and harvest information, Ye Liuyun decided to start with the planetary governors’ mansions and the garrison commanders posted in every city.

He discovered that the Fire-Seal Dynasty itself didn’t seem overly concerned about those garrison commanders or governors. As for the other great powers, he could only post watchers on their peripheries.

Ye Liuyun contacted Qiong Qi to ask how things were going. Learning that Qiong Qi had already infiltrated the Myriad Transformation Sect and was thriving there, he let the man stay put. There was no rush; whether he captured array masters or studied arrays inside the sect, the outcome would be the same.

His first avatar took the captive Chen Piaoran, two Chen-clan martial cultivators, and an assassin from the Fire-Seal Dynasty’s killer squad, then hurried toward the He and Chen clans. Their mission: scout every mining planet belonging to the He clan, then set up spy networks near both clans.

The twin demonic flood dragons and the demon legion trained at accelerated speed inside the avatar’s spatial world. Ye Tiandao’s squad of women followed the same regimen. Even without real battles outside, they could spar with the demon legion.

The second avatar took one assassin and three Virtual-Dan Sect experts to investigate the Fan clan’s medicinal-planet cluster and the area around Virtual-Dan Sect, seizing informants along the way. Inside his spatial world, the soon-to-demonize snow wolves and five commanders including Yu Xiaofeng cultivated quietly.

Ye Liuyun himself traveled with an assassin, a junior imperial-guard commander, two of Jiang Yunhan’s bodyguards, and a late-Ninth-Order Cold-clan expert, subjugating governors and garrison commanders city by city.

The beast horde and Tang Xinyao’s squad stayed in his spatial world so they could be teleported to the Fiend-Beast World for live combat drills whenever needed.

All three parties altered their appearances completely; every flying shuttle had its exterior refitted. When they struck, they used the power of time to avoid drawing attention.

Xia Tianqiong and Xia Lingshuang offered tactical advice. They had experience building intelligence networks and could tell Ye Liuyun whom to abduct, how to hide, and how to extract information—letting everyone work with clear targets.

After their slaughter in the Desolate Sea World, martial cultivators there had thinned out. The three teams tore through the void at full speed, skirting populated areas, so no one noticed their departure.

Their first stop after leaving the Desolate Sea was a ring of nearby planets. Ye Liuyun had both avatars skip ahead while he released the Demonic Lion and Chilian to scout with him.

The Demonic Lion excelled in spatial power; Chilian could sense the blood-qi of everyone nearby, alerting him to lurking assassins and experts. The lion disguised itself as a kitten, cradled in the arms of Chilian in human form.

Unwilling to become a demon beast, the lion had never undergone demonization. In battle it swelled into a towering, demonic form wreathed in fiendish qi; at rest it reverted to a harmless kitten—two utterly different states, impossible to recognize.

The planets Ye Liuyun chose were the he’d previously targeted their garrisons and governors. He swept each city in turn and spotted Ninth-Order Unity cultivators in several larger towns. All had suppressed their auras and wandered about.

Ninth-Order Unity experts on the Desolate Sea’s fringe were common enough, but once Ye Liuyun locked onto them they grew visibly uneasy.

None had any apparent business or fixed residence; they lodged in taverns and inns. From their vigilance and behavior Ye Liuyun concluded they were assassins.

He questioned the killer he’d brought along, but members of the squad always wore masks; apart from partners on joint missions, few recognized one another by sight.

After several names, one finally rang a bell. That alone confirmed these were royal assassins.

With their traits identified, Ye Liuyun relaxed. Hidden, such killers posed some threat; once exposed, they were far less dangerous.

He picked a strategically placed planet—and found it was the former seat of the Cold clan.

“Convenient to everywhere. Big clans really know how to pick real estate,” he mused. The dynasty’s ambush points were always well-located major cities.

Before entering the planet he had already located the royal assassin. He spent several days in the void locking onto the man, letting him grow accustomed to the surveillance, while also observing the governor’s mansion and local garrison.

The new governor and garrison commander rarely ventured out—likely lying low—so Ye he set his sights on the mansion’s steward.

The steward often left to make purchases and gather street gossip; abducting him would also open a path to the governor. Perfect.

When the steward next exited the mansion, Ye Liuyun entered the planet, engineered a chance encounter on the street, and planted a slave seal in a single glance.

His soul attacks now used spatial power to slip directly into the target’s sea of consciousness, utterly undetectable. Still, to be safe, he froze time for an instant while planting the seal, then rifled the man’s memories.

The steward, Liu Sheng, was close to the governor; every decree from the dynasty was discussed with him, and he knew every detail of city affairs.

“In this case, there’s no need to control the governor himself!” Xia Tianqiong advised.

Ye Liuyun agreed. Information was all he needed; owning a governor served little purpose. He left Liu Sheng in place, quietly feeding him intelligence, then exited the city.

But the royal assassin had spotted him. A man arriving with a maidservant, doing nothing, then turning to leave at once—suspicious. The assassin followed and sent a voice talisman ordering gate guards to intercept Ye Liuyun.

“I didn’t want trouble, but you insist on courting death,” Ye Liuyun noted, his divine sense catching every move.

He contacted Liu Sheng to fabricate a suitable identity, then strolled on toward the gate. The guards stopped him for questioning.

He claimed to be an alchemist seeking a friend from the Cold clan, only to find the clan annihilated and its location taken over. After asking around, he’d learned the truth and decided to leave.