Ye Liuyun’s two avatars sent their soul sabers spinning back into the minds of Zhan Kong’s opponents and hacked their primordial spirits to pieces. With a casual beckon each avatar claimed a corpse.

The dragon girl had also been released; she closed her eyes and felt for the blue whale.

A moment later the whale answered her call—driven off earlier by the two dead powerhouses, it had been hiding in the distance, waiting.

The avatars swept the starry sky with golden pupils, hunting the flagship of the Star-Pirate fleet.

“Catch them.”

They passed the rough coordinates to the dragon girl; she steered the whale beneath them, using its bulk as moving cover.

Zhan Kong and Wu Ying cloaked themselves in their own secret forces, ready to strike from nowhere.

Only the two avatars, the tyrant dragon, and the dragon girl remained above the waves—four small footprints—yet before they had gone far a ring of cultivators closed in.

Ten-odd fighters of every tier: two at Unity-Seven, two at Unity-Six, two at Unity-Five, the rest Unity-Four.

“Another pair of Unity-Seven. We’ll need to bag a few high-level helpers for the fights ahead.”

The avatar thought it and, without a word, released every Unity-Six captive to engage the enemy while he himself locked his full soul power on the two Unity-Seven leaders, planting slave seals in their seas of consciousness.

The rest were mopped up in moments.

This time he searched a memory. He hadn’t been sure why they were being intercepted; the search told him that once the local fire-source had vanished every nearby cultivator knew it. These groups all knew one another—strangers were stopped and searched on sight.

“Plenty more trouble coming,” Ye Liuyun warned, ordering everyone to slow the pace and net as many high-level recruits as possible.

The next arrival was a single Unity-Eight.

Confident in his strength the man offered no immediate attack—only a command: “Hand over the fire-source.”

The pressure of Unity-Eight was crushing; Ye Liuyun himself had no chance of matching it.

The avatars wasted no words: three soul-forms burst into the man’s mind together and hammered in a slave-seal.

His soul was sturdy and a guardian treasure floated in his sea of consciousness; two souls alone would have struggled.

The moment he was secured they whisked him away, bait for bigger game.

Zhan Kong and Wu Ying exchanged silent nods: “At this rate he’ll actually have the numbers to fight for the treasure.”

Moments ago they hadn’t believed Ye Liuyun could rival either pirate fleet; now his catch-rate threatened to overtake both.

Wave after wave of interceptors followed. Each time the Unity-Six foot-soldiers were thrown into battle while the avatars concentrated on bagging Unity-Seven and Unity-Eight prey. Any Unity-Six with unusual talents was scooped up as well; the ordinary ones no longer interested him.

In less than two days he had netted three Unity-Eight, twelve Unity-Seven, and four standout Unity-Six cultivators—twenty-two top-tier fighters in all.

“Much safer hitting the vault now,” Ye Liuyun murmured, confidence rising.

His own power hadn’t grown, nor had he sharpened his combat edge, but the next time a powerhouse came knocking he would meet a wall of slaves.

Once they moved far enough from the fire-source the ambushes ceased.

The avatars changed tactics on the spot: Zhan Kong, Wu Ying, and every captured expert were tucked back into the inner world to wait in full battle-readiness, while only three ordinary Unity-Six guards strolled visibly at their sides.They closed the gap on the First-Star Bandit Gang in a single day, then deliberately stopped a day’s sail away.

As Li Qingyang had warned, the treasure vault was still out of reach; Ye Liuyun saw no reason to rush in and join the circus.

What he hadn’t expected was that, once again, the golden eyes of his clone picked out Leng Qingxiao and Leng Qingyao.

After pocketing the “road toll” from the First-Star crew, the siblings had doubled back and fleeced the Dragon-Head Bandits as well—yet still weren’t satisfied.

Now they were trailing both gangs from a safe distance, waiting for the moment the real prize surfaced.

It didn’t take them long to notice Ye Liuyun’s little flotilla.

At first they dismissed the newcomers—too low-level to bother with.

Then they spotted the colossal blue whale gliding beneath the hulls, neither attacking nor fleeing, simply... guarding.

The sight made the Leng pair’s eyes light up. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

If they could lay hands on a method that tamed sea beasts, the whole Savage Sea would become their private playground.

“Hey, you lot—what’s the story with that whale?”

Leng Qingyao couldn’t tell who was in charge; the one up front radiated the aura of a leader, yet his cultivation was the weakest of the group.

While she spoke, the two clones were already conferring.

“Screw the Leng clan—we’re not from around here. The more they send, the more we bag.”

“Exactly. Let’s empty the hold; ground their wyverns too, or the lizards’ll fly home and fetch reinforcements.”

Neither clone answered.

Long Nu didn’t know what to say, and the three prisoners kept their mouths shut.

Leng Qingxiao’s delicate brows drew together.

“I asked you a question. Are you deaf? Who’s the leader here?”

Still no reply.

Instead, the first clone flicked his wrist and released the remaining twenty ordinary Unity-Six warriors.

In heartbeat the siblings—and their two wyverns—were ringed by steel.

The Leng pair swept the circle with a glance, openly scornful.

“Kid, do you even know who you’re talking to?” Leng Qingxiao demanded of the first clone.

By now he was certain: the weakest-looking cultivator was the one calling the shots.

The clone answered with a cold laugh.

Together with his twin he released three soul projections that shot straight into Leng Qingxiao’s sea of consciousness.

At the same instant the surrounding warriors struck—some lunging at Leng Qingyao, others at the wyverns.

“Insolent!” Leng Qingyao snapped, trying to send her own soul to her brother’s aid.

But a volley of attacks was already howling toward her, and one warrior’s soul projection arrowed in as well—forcing her to defend herself first.