"It seems Dian Qing hasn’t intervened much!"

Ye Liuyun surmised that Dian Qing was also using this opportunity to temper these martial cultivators. After confirming with Sang Han, his suspicions were proven correct.

Dian Qing had refrained from taking action himself, instead standing aside to direct their battles, even pointing out each individual’s shortcomings in cultivation.

*I should ask Dian Qing for guidance when I get the chance.*

Ye Liuyun felt that he, too, could learn much from Dian Qing. After all, Dian Qing had broken through to the Sovereign Realm far earlier than he had, and his wealth of experience could help Ye Liuyun avoid many pitfalls.

Their swift capture of six alien strongholds sent shockwaves through the enemy ranks.

During the last battle, before Hong Guang had been subdued, he had already relayed the news back. Now, the aliens knew that Ye Liuyun and Dian Qing had joined forces against them. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

If they allowed this momentum to continue, the strongholds in the western warzone would soon fall, just as they had in the north.

These strongholds allowed the aliens to instantly transport troops to the frontlines via teleportation altars. But now, if they wanted to reinforce their positions, even the travel time of their warships would be too slow.

The loss of their northern strongholds had already made their offensive in that region far more difficult. If they now lost the west, not only would their assault on the Tianhong World take longer, but Ye Liuyun and Dian Qing could continue pushing south, dismantling even more of their bases.

The Golden-Armored Alien chieftain and elders convened, deciding to dispatch forces to intercept Ye Liuyun and Dian Qing—this time with greater strength, aiming to crush them separately in one decisive strike.

As a result, the powerful warriors stationed in the strongholds near Ye Liuyun and Dian Qing began withdrawing, regrouping further back. Vast alien armies also retreated, leaving only skeleton crews behind to buy time for their interception forces to assemble.

Once Ye Liuyun’s clone had recovered, he immediately had it absorb the last demonic realm into his spatial world before sending it back to refine the energy. Meanwhile, he pressed forward with his forces.

Dian Qing, however, had temporarily halted his advance. His group was busy constructing teleportation arrays and establishing new strongholds to ensure that future resource supplies could be delivered swiftly.

This time, they weren’t just replenishing two thousand Swiftwing Battleships—they were also reinforcing their ranks with a million soldiers to aid in exterminating the alien forces. The resources for these troops were all converted from the aliens’ own energy cores.

They also needed time to use the cauldron forged from Transmutation Stones to convert the alien cores into energy.

So Ye Liuyun informed Dian Qing that he would take the initiative to clear out a few more alien strongholds in the meantime.

To their surprise, the next few alien outposts fell with unexpected ease.

"Are we wiping the aliens out for good?" Wu Qingcheng and the others asked Ye Liuyun excitedly.

Ye Liuyun shook his head cautiously. "Given their reproductive rate, the number we’ve eliminated so far is nowhere near enough to eradicate their kind."

Helian Xiu, with her military experience, immediately grasped the implication. "The aliens are pulling back to consolidate their forces—they’re preparing for a counterattack!"

Ye Liuyun nodded in agreement. "Exactly. We’ll sweep through a few more planets and then withdraw. Pushing further now would be unwise. The next major battle will see the aliens deploy even stronger forces, as they’ll have to contend with both me and Dian Qing. But this actually gives us an opportunity to coordinate with him."

Next, Ye Liuyun had Long Nü, Liang Xue, Zhuque, and Feng Hongxiu each absorb an entire world to expand their spatial realms, instructing them to refine the energies within their avatars’ dimensional spaces.

He also advised Feng Hongxiu and the others to remain in their spatial realms until after their breakthroughs. If they needed combat practice, they could spar with the alien prisoners he had captured earlier.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun continued his reconnaissance alone.

He reasoned that if the aliens were truly gathering forces to confront him and Dian Qing, simply withdrawing fighters from four outposts wouldn’t be enough. He needed to scout ahead, pinpoint where the aliens planned to intercept them, and identify which strongholds had been left vulnerable.

Pressing forward, Ye Liuyun single-handedly eliminated six more undermanned alien outposts. He allocated these conquered territories to Ge Nü, Lan’er, Wu Qingcheng, Fyeng Wanru, Manshu, and Ye Tiandao respectively.

Ye Tiandao, in particular, was specially summoned via the Black Teleportation Tower before being sent back afterward.

Only then did his golden pupils finally locate the aliens’ gathering point.

After carefully assessing their strength, he reached out to Dian Qing.

"I’m afraid the troops you’ve gathered won’t be nearly enough!" Ye Liuyun informed Dian Qing.

"What’s happened? Have the alien reinforcements arrived?" Dian Qing asked with evident concern.

"Five Golden-armored Alien Elders, twenty Golden-armored Sovereign realm experts, forty Silver-armored Sovereign realm warriors, a thousand aliens at the third level of Celestial Being, ten thousand more at the first and second levels, and ten million regular soldiers." Ye Liuyun rattled off the numbers without hesitation, even specifying their exact positions to Dian Qing.

"This..." Dian Qing was rendered speechless.

Their current forces stood no chance against such overwhelming odds. Worse still, they had no retreat options—unlike Ye Liuyun, who could fall back to the northern territories. If they didn’t strike first, these aliens would undoubtedly march straight into Tianhong Realm, ensuring its total annihilation.

"I’ll head over immediately to discuss our options with you!" Without further explanation, Ye Liuyun channeled his spatial powers to rush toward Dian Qing’s newly established stronghold.

Meanwhile, Dian Qing promptly reported the situation to both the academy and the royal court. After urgent deliberations, they reached a unanimous decision: they must secure Ye Liuyun’s assistance at all costs, even if it meant compensating him with resources. Without his help, their doom was certain.

The moment Ye Liuyun arrived, Dian Qing cut straight to the chase. "We’re prepared to offer divine crystals, ores, medicinal herbs, and elixirs—all the spoils of war will be yours. Name your terms, as long as you join this fight."

"How many forces can you commit?" Ye Liuyun asked bluntly, needing to gauge the scale of reinforcements required.

After consulting with the academy and the royal court, Dian Qing laid out their full strength: "Nineteen Sovereign realm cultivators—that’s all we have. We can muster two thousand more at the third level of Celestial Being. The academy can deploy three thousand at the first and second levels, while the court scrapes together another five thousand. As for troops, we currently have three million standing soldiers, with another three million possible through emergency conscription."

Ye Liuyun nodded approvingly. These numbers were decent—Tianhong Realm wasn’t entirely defenseless.

"What about the Swift Falcons? How many can you field in half a month?" he pressed.

"Four thousand remain from your previous sale. Even with all our weapon-refining master working around the clock, we’d be lucky to produce two thousand more in fifteen days. They’re still unfamiliar with the craft—progress will be slow at first," Dian Qing admitted, his voice tinged with worry.