After securing victory against the alien invaders with the help of Sheng Yuan Academy, its disciples became increasingly arrogant, acting as if they were above the law and doing whatever they pleased.

Many of the male disciples had already preyed upon innocent women from respectable families. Yet the local dynasty lacked the power to rein them in, forcing them to endure the situation for the time being.

Ye Liuyun decisively placed a slave seal on one of the Sheng Yuan Academy disciples, commanding him to assist Wu Qingcheng and the others. He also instructed Wu Qingcheng’s group to take the academy’s soft armor to Tong Xin and Qiong Qi for evaluation of their forging techniques.

"Mediocre at best," Qiong Qi remarked after inspecting it. "Not as refined as our current forging methods. The defensive capabilities don’t even come close to our double-layered soft armor."

With that assessment, Ye Liuyun dismissed the matter. He simply told Wu Qingcheng and the others to inform him if they encountered anyone else from the Tianhong World in the future.

He had come to accept that scoundrels like Cui Xinghe existed on every planet. One rotten apple shouldn’t overshadow the entire world’s efforts in resisting the alien invaders. If the opportunity arose, he still hoped to form an alliance with the Tianhong World—after all, the fight against the invaders was the priority. Joining forces would only strengthen their chances of victory.

But he wouldn’t force the matter. If the chance came, they would cooperate; if not, so be it.

Wu Qingcheng and the others didn’t dwell on it either. They continued extracting the essence energy before resuming their exploration of the area.

Unbeknownst to them, however, Cui Xinghe had already used a treasure to escape back to one of their occupied strongholds. There, he falsely accused Wu Qingcheng’s group to the academy elders, painting himself as the victim of a brutal robbery while depicting Wu Qingcheng and her companions as ruthless, unreasonable bandits.

When the elders at the stronghold heard that one of their own—a Dominator-level elder—had been killed, they didn’t bother verifying Cui Xinghe’s claims. Immediately, they began assembling a force to ambush Wu Qingcheng’s group.

Meanwhile, Wu Qingcheng and the others were unknowingly heading in the same direction Cui Xinghe had fled. They hoped to encounter others from the Tianhong World, giving Ye Liuyun a chance to negotiate with them.

But before they had traveled far, they were met with a hostile Sheng Yuan Academy contingent.

Leading the group were three Dominator-level elders, backed by over two hundred disciples—most of whom had reached the third level of the Heavenly Human realm.

Realizing the situation had turned dire, Wu Qingcheng immediately alerted Ye Liuyun, who promptly emerged from his clone’s spatial realm.

Upon seeing that the intruders were a few academy elders, Ye Liuyun thought it might be possible to reason with them peacefully.

However, the academy elder in charge had a notoriously short temper. The moment he laid eyes on Ye Liuyun and his companions, he barked orders for an immediate attack.

"Don’t you even want to hear the truth?" Ye Liuyun frowned, addressing them directly.

"Whoever you are, whatever your reasons—if you dare kill one of our academy elders, you *will* pay the price! There’s nothing to discuss. We’ll settle this with force first!" The elder was utterly unreasonable, a clear sign that the Shengyuan Academy had long been accustomed to throwing its weight around in the Tianhong World.

With a resigned sigh, Ye Liuyun summoned his clone, the Violet Kylin, the Nine-Headed Netherdrake, the Vermilion Bird, Lei Ming, the Dragon Maiden, Liang Xue, and the others, along with two half-beast stone puppets and the invisible Mu Lai.

"Everyone, attack at will," Ye Liuyun instructed. "Kill if you must, capture if you prefer—hold nothing back!"

He knew all too well that with these arrogant types, negotiation was impossible unless they were thoroughly beaten into submission. Only when outmatched would they consider peace talks.

Not that Ye Liuyun underestimated their strength, but the small force before him hardly warranted concern. His spatial realm still held fifteen thousand armored soldiers, while his clone’s spatial world contained a hundred and fifty thousand demonic troops and numerous other combat-ready forces.

The clone, Lei Ming, and the Dragon Maiden each charged at a Dominator-level elder, leaving Ye Liuyun free to oversee the battlefield without lifting a finger.

For those who had reached the Dominator realm, dealing with these martial cultivators was child’s play. The Songstress and Xiao Lan’er, in particular, carved through the enemy ranks with terrifying efficiency—each strike claiming a life.

The Nine-Headed Netherdrake tore into its prey, devouring them whole, while the Vermilion Bird feasted on lingering souls, its flames engulfing over a dozen martial cultivators at once.

Even Mu Lai joined the fray, slashing through several martial cultivators with his claws before storing their bodies in his spatial realm as sustenance and cultivation resources. Meanwhile, the two half-beast puppets guarded the perimeter, cutting off any escape attempts.

The clone was the first to finish. The moment he struck, he froze time, instantly branding the lead elder with a slave seal. In the same breath, he launched a soul attack on the other martial cultivators, devouring the souls of five or six of the strongest before stepping back to spectate.

Ye Liuyun, too, made sure to absorb the soul energy of the fallen before his companions could finish them off—waste not, want not.

Lei Ming and the Dragon Maiden were also engaged in a fierce battle with the two elders. They were deliberately stalling for time, prolonging the fight. Even when opportunities arose to kill them, they merely wounded the elders instead, forcing them to continue fighting.

Only when the two elders were completely exhausted did they ask Ye Liuyun to step in and devour their soul energy.

Wu Qingcheng and the others, having not fought human martial artists of their own level in a long time, were thoroughly enjoying themselves. As a result, most of the enemy cultivators were swiftly slain.

Cui Xinghe, however, still attempted to flee—only to be violently slammed back by a punch from the half-beast zombie puppet. The speed-boosting treasure he had relied on was confiscated by Ye Liuyun, who casually tossed it to Tong Xin and Qiong Qi to see if they could reverse-engineer it and create an even faster warship.

Despite wearing armor, Cui Xinghe was still beaten half to death by the half-beast zombie puppet, which drew power from the spatial realm. He collapsed unconscious on the spot, and the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon seized the moment to devour his soul before gulping down his body whole.

Many martial artists who weren’t from Shengyuan Academy began surrendering in droves.

"We’re not disciples of Shengyuan Academy! Spare us, please!"

"Kill them," Ye Liuyun ordered coldly, unwilling to waste time on spineless cowards. He rejected their surrender and commanded his group to execute them on the spot.

Only a few stubborn academy disciples who fought to the end were spared—branded with slave marks by Ye Liuyun and handed over to Wu Qingcheng and the others.

"Next time we face danger, let them take the hit first," he instructed before recalling Lei Ming and the others into his spatial realm to resume cultivation, leaving Wu Qingcheng’s group outside to continue honing their skills.

Now with an extra Dominance Realm slave and several Heaven Tribulation Third Layer servants, Wu Qingcheng’s team was not only safer but also had extra hands for menial tasks.

"Go clean up the battlefield," she ordered immediately, directing them to gather all the resources from the storage rings before distributing the corpses to the demonic beasts and Mu Lai.

"Just who are you people?" asked one of the enslaved elders, bewildered by how their overwhelming numbers had led to such a crushing defeat. His curiosity got the better of him.