This time, when Ye Liuyun wiped out the demon flood-dragons, he left far less mess than during the mer-folk campaign—practically no stragglers.

None of the flood-dragons scattered in panic; they either died on the battlefield or fled straight back to their lair, where Ye Liuyun hunted them down.

The entire bloodline was erased.

As soon as the fighting ended he stowed the Demon-Sealing Stele and the fire-powered war chariots, then released the ancient-demon puppets to scour the field. Flood-dragon corpses, sea-beast cores, and huge chunks of carcass were flung nonstop into his pocket world.

The women inside spotted the returning chariots and knew the battle was over; when storage rings packed with sea-beast remains followed, they realized clean-up was in progress.

The blue whale that had trailed them cruised in to scavenge stray cores along the edge of the battlefield. Ye Liuyun deliberately left that sector for it, ordering the puppets not to touch it.

Only then did he reopen the link to his pocket world and send a voice transmission.

“Lei Ming, you and the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon split the flood-dragons—use the cores for cultivation and stock the bodies as rations.

Dragon Girl, come out; have the whale guide us to the next resource.”

The women delegated Liang Xue to apologize on their behalf, admitting they shouldn’t have disturbed the fight.

Ye Liuyun’s anger had burned out with the last flood-dragon, so he took the offered face-saver: “Tell them that when any of us is in combat, stay quiet unless it’s critical.”

Liang Xue agreed and passed the word.

Dragon Girl emerged next to apologize. Drifting wreckage and shredded corpses carpeted the sea; her heart lurched.

“Fully healed?” Ye Liuyun skipped recrimination and checked her with his golden pupils; only when he saw every injury closed did he relax.

Then came the lecture: “Our cultivation is still low, our enemies strong. One lapse and we die. Carelessness or curiosity can cost us our lives.

The people—and sea beasts—here are brutal; mercy to them is cruelty to ourselves. We can choose not to kill, but we must never ignore their intent to kill us.”

He told her how the flood-dragons had planned to seize her and how they’d controlled local sea beasts.

“I understand.” She realized her kindness to the flood-Dragon Clan had been one-sided and apologized sincerely.

“Good. I’m not angry anymore. Go ask the whale where we head next.” He refused to harp on it; the mistake was owned, the matter closed.

Relieved, she shifted to her true form and glided over to the whale. It crooned happily at her recovery.

Lei Ming popped out next, clutching Ye Liuyun’s arm, eyes brimming. He sighed, scolded her for losing focus mid-fight—how it endangered everyone—then hugged her back before escorting her inside.

He summoned every woman and Devil Beast for a briefing.

“We’re camping in bandit territory. No restraint, no pity.

Every enemy outranks us; fight full-force, stay sharp. If your concentration slips, pull out—dying alone is bad enough, don’t take friends with you.”

He drove the point home to the beasts: unleash your savagery, hold nothing back.

“Anyone not us is an enemy—even temporary allies.

That includes the whale, Dragon Girl. Keep your guard up.”

Only when every face showed he had drilled the danger in did he dismiss them.

The talk had been necessary: recent smooth victories had bred sloppiness, and in chaotic melees he couldn’t shield them all. Dragon Girl’s near-death had rammed the lesson home—if the strongest among them could almost fall in a single exchange, no one could afford a single careless breath.Ye Liuyun was pleased to see that, after his reminder, everyone’s reaction was positive.

Having fought through this latest battle, his Profound Prime had been tempered enough; it was time to devote himself to real cultivation.

He sent the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon, Xuanwu, and the Dragon Maiden out on perimeter duty, ordering them to steer clear of these waters for now. Once they’d sorted through the haul they’d taken from the sea clans, he’d divvy it up and let everyone cultivate before moving on.

They’d seized several sea-clan stockpiles in a row, and the take was considerable—it all needed proper organizing. Lan Xin and the other women set to work at once, separating the spoils by type.

This time the loot included a fair number of items laced with demonic qi, among them a whetstone that radiated the same dark aura. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

His first avatar had grown used to wielding Heaven-Swallow; he’d long摄 branded it with his own divine sense, turning it into his life-bound weapon, and had no wish to swap it out. So Ye Liuyun handed the demonic whetstone to the Nine-Headed Demon Dragon—now the creature had a weapon tailored to its nature too.

Inside the Demon Jiao patriarch’s storage space lay a great white boulder thick with spatial intent. Ye Liuyun guessed the jiao’s blinding speed came from using this stone to boost their mastery of space.

A treasure like that was too good to waste; he placed the boulder inside his avatar’s inner world so everyone could train their spatial force together.

Among the jiao’s other treasures was an unremarkable little bead whose energy swirled in sooty gray. Ye Liuyun couldn’t identify its origin, but the demonic qi and primordial aura within were of frightening purity.

It felt like the planetary source-stone of some ancient demon world—only far more condensed.

He pocketed the bead for his own cultivation. With energy this refined, he could shave years off his training time.