The expert never expected that before he even showed himself, Ye Liuyun had already sensed the spatial ripples around him.

So Ye Liuyun slipped into the void ahead of time, dodging the incoming strike.

The moment the man appeared and saw Ye Liuyun vanish, he raised a palm and sent a condensed blast of true essence chasing after him.

This time, however, the blow didn’t force Ye Liuyun out of the void; he had layered countless overlapping pockets of space around himself. The attack shattered them one after another, yet never touched his body.

Next, Ye Liuyun froze time and slammed a slave seal into the man’s soul. The fellow’s spiritual strength was mediocre; within moments he was under complete control.

Ye Liuyun immediately signaled the pursuers behind him: the three of them would gang up on the last remaining Unity-Eighth-Heaven foe.

What had been two-on-two became three-on-one, and the lone enemy couldn’t hold out. Hemmed in on every side, he dove toward the sea—only to be blasted back by the expert already enslaved by Ye Liuyun’s first clone. Four-on-one: the man lasted a heartbeat before he was killed outright.

The four Unity-Eighth-Heaven slaves then swept the battlefield, helping wipe out every remaining opponent.

Ye Liuyun personally captured two more Unity-Sixth experts and called it quits. He hurriedly stowed the beasts and Tang Xinyao’s squad inside his spatial world so they could bathe in the life-spring and heal.

Everyone was wounded; they’d fought desperately, many jumping two full realms to face Unity-Fifth foes.

Fortunately, Little Blue Ice’s Soul-Anchoring Pearl had deleted several tough enemies, while Purple Kylin Snake and Vermilion Bird had repeatedly deployed time and soul power to decimate opponents.

Still, White Tiger, Xenocide, Chilian, and two of Tang Xinyao’s soldiers were gravely hurt. The war-beasts had suffered worse: over a dozen dead, including Sky-Demon Wolf, felled by a sneak strike.

Ye Liuyun assigned the surviving beasts to the ancient demon guards for future joint operations.

Half of the captured human experts had also perished, but he’d bagged two extra Unity-Eighth slaves, so the net loss was acceptable. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He released golem puppets to scour the field while his second clone herded the surviving prisoners into the spatial world for recovery.

“The cultivators of the Desolate Sea world are no joke,” he muttered. “Next time we bring the ancient demon guards or we’re at a disadvantage.”

He realized he’d underestimated them; otherwise the casualties wouldn’t have been so steep.

When the puppets finished cleanup, he recalled them and continued alone, baiting fresh prey so he could plant more slave seals and rebuild his force.

Within days his prisoner corps had swollen to fifty, most of them Unity-Seventh or Eighth; any Unity-Sixth he bothered to enslave had to be on the level of Zhankong or Wuying—lesser talents he simply used for live practice.

He now commanded seven Unity-Eighth, thirty-six Unity-Seventh, and seven Unity-Sixth experts—larger and stronger than before.

All wounds were healed; beasts and humans alike, tempered by the brutal fight, began breaking through to new realms.

Ye Liuyun halted again, recalled his first clone and Dragon Girl, and returned to his spatial world to advance.

According to Blue Whale, the coming trench was far deadlier; he wanted one more breakthrough before diving in.

His玄元 had been tempered to the limit and was ready—though after merging with heaven-earth energy it had mutated so strangely he wasn’t sure it still qualified as 玄元; the name stuck for lack of a better one.

The breakthrough itself was safer than when he’d first entered Unity, merely requiring him to draw in greater tides of worldly force.

Once the realm was settled, he sparred with Zhankong to a draw, then tested himself against Wuying—whose command of heaven-earth energy still surpassed his.

He went back into seclusion until both his玄元 quality and worldly energy rose another notch; only then did he follow Blue Whale onward.

“After we finish mapping this trench,” he told himself, “we hit the treasure vault, then stay in the Fire-Seal Galaxy and power-level.”

Battling these elites was accelerating growth for both him and his beasts. Without such pressure, they’d never have felt the gap between them and the truly strong—or found the drive to close it.As for the women, one of his clones could escort them to the Duqiao system first to cut their teeth and gain experience, then bring them back to the Huoyin system to power up in earnest.

That way both squads would find worthy sparring partners and sharpen themselves fast.

Decision made, Ye Liuyun’s mood lifted.

When he stepped out he ran into more high-level bandits. The ones bold enough to come after him now were not only high in realm but genuinely strong.

Some boasted freakish soul force, others overwhelming bloodline might; still others excelled at spatial arts, world-energy, or other niche powers.

He captured every one of them alive for later target practice. Their freakish strengths piled pressure on the rest of the team, showing everyone exactly where they lagged.

So it wasn’t just Ye Liuyun accelerating his growth: once the demon beasts hit Unity Four, the women also started plugging every weakness.

Tang Xinyao and the others gained the most. Cooped up in their clans they would never have met such monsters, never scored these resources, never shot up so fast.

After only a year on the road they’d just broken through to Unity Four—faster than several years of home training. Opportunities like this live-fire tempering simply didn’t exist inside family walls; back home they were already the top dogs.

Ye Liuyun again reminded everyone: after each rise in realm, condense your true essence—don’t race blindly for the next breakthrough.

Many whose essence had once been thin and sloppy now clawed back a lot of lost ground.

Ye Tiandao was back at his side. Her blade intent had finally caught up with his. She’d missed the last few fights and was itching to move.

After pushing her realm to Unity Three inside a time-accelerated chamber, she rushed out to accompany Ye Liuyun—she would use real combat to hammer her true essence into shape.