The Demon Flood Dragons had never imagined that Ye Liuyun would not only possess the fire-wagon treasure but also wield such terrifying personal strength.

One of their own—an expert at the eighth level of the Return-to-One realm—had watched from afar and noticed that Ye Liuyun and his two avatars were constantly drawing on stored-energy stones. He guessed they were replenishing their true essence and reported it up the chain.

The clan therefore pooled every fighter it had left for one relentless surge, determined to drain the three humans—and their treasures—of every last scrap of energy. The assault would cost countless juvenile flood dragons, but trading them for a true dragon was a bargain.

Besides, by now every sea clan in the Desolate Sea knew the battle was raging. If the Demon Flood Dragons lost, their standing among the oceanic tribes would be finished.

Ye Liuyun spotted the all-out mobilization early. Even hidden in the abyssal dark, the black mass on the seabed was impossible to miss through his golden pupils; he knew this was no minor probe.

The Sealing Monument was already itching in his sea of consciousness, straining to join the fight.

“Easy. I’ll reserve the strongest one for you,” he soothed it, afraid it would burst out too soon.

Arooo!

The clan chieftain’s roar rolled across the water, and every flood dragon charged Ye Liuyun and his two avatars.

Ye Liuyun’s gaze locked on the chieftain; the avatars fixed on the two eighth-level elders flanking it.

But the three leaders hung back, content to watch the opening clash.

A sweep of his golden eyes told him the first wave was mostly low-level cannon-fodder, peppered with a few stronger ones—classic bait-and-ambush tactics.

He smiled, flicked two more fire wagons into existence, and spatial-shifted them straight into the flood-dragon column. The wagons opened fire on all six sides at once, shredding swaths of demons and scattering their charge.

At the same instant Ye Liuyun vanished. The chieftain and the two elders tensed; a ripple of space overhead warned them he might strike with the white light of his pupils—close enough to kill, but also close enough for them to hit back.

They blasted upward together. Their demonic qi met not Ye Liuyun but the rapidly expanding Sealing Monument, which absorbed the barrage and bore down on them.

In truth, Ye Liuyun had slipped into a fold of time. Instead of going for the leaders, he reappeared behind the fire-wagon breach and executed the stronger flood dragons that had just broken through. The monument’s drop was only a spatial feint to pin their attention.

The three elders caught the falling stele and held it, straining; the artifact alone couldn’t overpower their combined might. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Then Second Avatar froze time, darted in, and fired three white beams straight through their skulls. A sweeping fourth beam scythed several seventh-level flood dragons lurking just below the surface, and he snapped back to his original spot the next heartbeat.

THUD!

With the three top experts dead, the monument smashed their corpses into the sea and gorged on their essence.

Chieftain and elite guard gone, the flood-dragon ranks broke. Two fresh fire wagons were still chewing up the center; dragons at the rear wheeled and fled for the nest, while those trapped between the wagons died no matter which way they turned.

After draining the three powerhouses, the monument hurled itself into zones the wagons hadn’t scoured. Ye Liuyun ignored it; he tore open the void and raced straight for the flood-dragon lair.

Both avatars advanced, shepherding three wagons forward; the remaining two wagons also began a steady push toward the nest.

When stronger flood dragons realized Ye Liuyun might be heading home, they spun about to reinforce—but Ye Liuyun told his avatars to stay the course. Between time-stop, white-light blasts, and soul attacks he could slaughter plenty on his own. He poured on speed, determined to cull as many juveniles as possible before the fleeing adults could regroup.But he still couldn’t outrun a Unity Seventh-realm expert. Before he even reached the demon-jiao lair, several Unity Seventh-realm demon-jiao caught up.

He didn’t dodge—he froze time, blasted their souls, devoured their spiritual power, tossed the corpses into his spatial world, and kept storming toward the lair.

The nest was a hollow beneath a seamount, like diving into an underwater cave. Only a hundred-odd demon-jiao had fled back, all below Unity First-realm. Ye Liuyun swung the Demon-Slayer Blade in wide arcs; in mere minutes every last jiao lay dismembered.

Carcasses were flung into the spatial world one after another.

The moment the slaughter ended he sprinted to their resource cache, sweeping every last item into his storage.

Exiting, he wrapped himself in time power—insurance against an ambush.

Sure enough, two demon-jiao had crept up outside, masters of spatial stealth; he hadn’t sensed their arrival at all.

He struck again—souls devoured, time resumed—then burst out of the lair.

The instant he cleared the entrance he ran into more stragglers. High-realm ones died to a flash of white light; weaker ones became live practice dummies.

On the main battlefield the fire-chariots had already obliterated the bulk of the force.

The demon-jiao’s all-out assault had been a self-inflicted extinction.

Only two hundred-odd remained, hemmed in by the chariots’ barrage. His two avatars had spread out, joining Devil Vine to seal three directions—no escapees allowed.

Ye Liuyun raced back, tightening the ring; they would wipe every last demon-jiao off the face of the sea.