Ye Liuyun concealed the Gold-devouring Beast within his battleship as he prepared to engage Sanda’s vessel head-on.

Meanwhile, his doppelganger and Mu Lai, both cloaked in invisibility, stood ready by his side.

From a distance, Sanda observed Ye Liuyun’s composed demeanor, hesitating over his next move. He couldn’t gauge how many elite fighters might be lying in ambush aboard that ship. Sending his men risked walking into a trap, yet holding back might allow the Gold-devouring Beast to slip away.

Finally, he resolved to take the gamble. Summoning several aliens with formidable soul power, he instructed them to launch a soul attack the moment they spotted the beast.

While Ye Liuyun monitored the battlefield, his doppelganger kept a close watch on Sanda. Through his golden pupils, he noticed Sanda assembling a group of powerful soul cultivators. Immediately, he signaled Mu Lai to approach the Gold-devouring Beast, preparing to strike at the opportune moment.

Soon, the defensive formations on both the ship carrying the Gold-devouring Beast and the alien vessel disintegrated.

Thousands of Swallow fighters swarmed the alien ship, riddling its already weakened hull with holes.

Before long, both vessels collapsed into ruin. From Ye Liuyun’s ship, only a handful of ordinary soldiers emerged.

Simultaneously, the rest of Ye Liuyun’s colossal battleships swiftly retreated from the scene.

"Now!"

Sanda barked the order, and the six elite soul cultivators he had positioned surged forward from a small hatch on his ship.

But by then, the alien forces were already under relentless assault from the Swallows, scattering in chaos. With no need to spare the Gold-devouring Beast—immune to their attacks—the alien soldiers found no opening to close in for a soul strike and could only flee in disarray.

Meanwhile, the doppelganger stealthily approached a nearby vessel, planning to infiltrate unnoticed.

Sanda’s ship housed too many formidable warriors, making detection a real risk. Thus, Ye Liuyun decided to whittle down the alien forces first before launching another surprise attack on their fleet.

Though Sanda remained vigilant, his gaze fixed on Ye Liuyun, he had overlooked the invisible doppelganger lurking in the shadows.

The Gold Devourer wasn’t just absorbing metallic energy this time—it also joined the fray by slaughtering the alien invaders. Its massive, iron-hard claws swung relentlessly, crushing numerous unarmored enemy soldiers into pulp.

Amid the chaos of fleeing alien troops, the six elite warriors sent by Sanda managed to close in on the beast.

Suddenly, a streak of white light shot through the air, piercing clean through the skulls of two alien elites in a single strike.

Then, a black beam followed, extinguishing the soul of another.

From a distance, Ye Liuyun made his move—his Demon-Slaying Blade flashed once before he vanished into the void.

"Fall back! It’s an ambush!" Sanda immediately barked orders to recall the six elites.

He had guessed that the hidden assailant was Mulai, but with Mulai’s ability to shift positions freely while invisible, there was no chance for his warriors to counterattack.

Before the words fully left his mouth, several golden blades of energy slammed into the remaining three elites with thunderous force—*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

One was cleaved in half instantly. The other two suffered grievous wounds—one barely clinging to life, the other slashed open in multiple places but not fatally.

Mulai struck again, a black beam finishing off another. The last surviving elite was too weakened to flee, and Mulai crushed him with a single palm strike.

Just then, the Gold Devourer abruptly disappeared. The alien army had already scattered in disarray, and with its metal quota fulfilled and the diversion of enemy elites accomplished, the beast had no reason to linger.

"Damn it all!"

Sanda’s fist smashed into the nearby table with a resounding crash. Once again, Ye Liuyun had outmaneuvered him. But what he didn’t realize was that the trap wasn’t over yet.

The one who had teleported the Gold Devourer away wasn’t Ye Liuyun—it was his doppelgänger.

Meanwhile, the real Ye Liuyun had already withdrawn Mulai into his spatial realm, leaving behind nothing but a feint to mislead Sanda.

Meanwhile, the doppelgänger infiltrated another alien warship with the Gold Devourer in tow. The Swift Falcons darted through the skies, cutting down enemy soldiers, though a few were occasionally shot down.

Yet this was the perfect moment for the sacred Swift Falcons to strike—they wouldn’t let the opportunity slip. Only when the remaining aliens fled into other warships for cover did the falcons finally withdraw on command.

Ye Liuyun, unfazed, openly dispatched a few alien prisoners to clean up the battlefield, deliberately provoking Sanda.

Sanda merely glared at him coldly, his warship charging ahead at full speed.

Unbothered, Ye Liuyun mounted his Nine-Headed Nether Dragon and skimmed past the enemy fleet. The alien warships attempted to blast him mid-flight, but the nimble dragon effortlessly dodged every attack.

"Leave him be. Full speed ahead," Sanda ordered, refusing to rise to Ye Liuyun’s taunts.

Once the battlefield was cleared, Ye Liuyun swiftly caught up again—this time with twenty thousand hunting falcons in tow, bombarding the alien warships relentlessly.

"Hmph! Seems he’s run out of ideas," Sanda sneered, convinced Ye Liuyun had no real strategy left.

But then, the commander of another alien warship suddenly reported to Sanda—their vessel was inexplicably turning to sand. No sooner had the words left his mouth than the ship’s defensive arrays collapsed.

The doppelgänger, familiar with the dreadnought’s inner workings, had slipped straight into its energy control room. After slaying the elite alien guards, he swiftly seized the energy core.

Then, he unleashed the Gold Devourer to feast.

As the doppelgänger summoned demonic beasts to aid his assault, he wielded spatial magic and curses to cut down the enemy.

The moment the warship’s energy failed and its defenses crumbled, Ye Liuyun’s hunting falcons descended upon it in a merciless storm.

"This is beyond outrageous!" Sandar’s fury finally erupted.

Ye Liuyun had repeatedly resorted to trickery, ambushing three of his battleships in succession. If this continued, he’d soon have no forces left to command. Now, he had no choice but to strike back.

He dispatched a thousand alien warriors, each at the third level of the Celestial Realm, ordering them to slay the Gold-Devouring Beasts, eliminate the enemy Hawks outside, and escort the remaining battleships all the way to the landing at the Holy Dynasty.

It was then that Ye Liuyun finally opened negotiations with the Purple Kylin Snake.

"I’ve got a thousand Celestial Realm monsters on my hands. If you help me take them down, I’ll give you the essence power of twenty intact planets. What do you say?" Ye Liuyun proposed.

"Just me alone?" The Purple Kylin Snake hesitated.

"I can pay you upfront with three essence orbs. You can use your time powers while fighting—wipe them out in no time. No need for time reversal; just freezing time will do. Saves resources too. And if your time powers aren’t up to the task, I’ll step in to save you, of course!"

Ye Liuyun knew the Purple Kylin Snake’s temperament well—provocation always worked like a charm.

The beast pondered for a moment. The essence of three planets was more than enough to cover its energy expenditure.

"Who says my time powers aren’t practical?" it snapped immediately. "Today, I’ll show you. Just stand back and watch—I don’t need your help. Hand over the essence first!"