Xiao Yan couldn’t help but try to dissuade Ye Liuyun once more: "Master, this will provoke countless attacks against us! Especially the beast and demon clans—they’ll think you’re deliberately humiliating them!"

Ye Liuyun merely chuckled. "Exactly. That’s precisely the point. Let’s go!"

With that, he led his peculiar "entourage" into the trade planet.

Xiao Yan trailed behind with a grimace, silently praying his master could handle the fallout. His eyes darted nervously, and his spiritual senses remained on high alert, scanning for any signs of impending hostility.

From a distance, Ye Liuyun had already taken in the layout of the trade planet. It resembled a sprawling marketplace, with vendors haphazardly setting up stalls. Yet, each maintained a respectful distance from the others, their spaces varying in size. Some, like the towering demon clans, occupied vast areas with piles of raw ores.

Many of the larger factions stationed formidable guards near their stalls, allowing them to display abundant goods without fear. Around these major vendors, independent cultivators clustered, peddling their wares while paying a small tribute to the dominant powers for protection. Though these lone warriors were only at the third level of the Dominator Realm, they were confident in their ability to flee if outmatched.

The entire market was essentially a patchwork of vendor clusters, though they hadn’t completely overtaken the planet—just a significant portion of it.

After a quick assessment, Ye Liuyun noted about twenty major trading groups, indicating that roughly twenty different factions inhabited the nearby star systems, most of them human.

Goods were openly displayed for browsing, each clearly marked with fixed prices—no haggling required. Only barter transactions required negotiation with the stall owners. A casual glance revealed plenty of valuable items.

"Let’s head to your clan’s stall first," Ye Liuyun commanded the red-maned lion through the slave mark, steering their group toward the beast clan’s trading area.

The beast clans primarily dealt in meat, pelts, beast cores, and rare bones. Blood Dragon Fruits were particularly popular, sold in bulk alongside other exotic medicinal herbs.

Even before their arrival, Ye Liuyun’s unusual procession had already drawn murmurs and sidelong glances from onlookers. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Unfazed, Ye Liuyun patted the red-maned lion’s head, flashing an infuriatingly smug grin.

"Grr... growl..." The surrounding beasts let out low, menacing snarls, their discontent and hostility palpable. Many couldn’t comprehend why a crimson-maned lion would stoop to serving as a human’s mount. A few sharper beasts, however, guessed the truth—the lion had been enslaved by Ye Liuyun.

Yet precisely because Ye Liuyun had subdued the lion, the creatures regarded him with wary caution.

"Shut your traps! If you’ve got a problem, come fight me one-on-one!" Ye Liuyun taunted, his voice dripping with arrogance.

Five hot-tempered beasts immediately lunged at him, their claws bared.

"Only five?" Ye Liuyun clicked his tongue in disappointment, unimpressed by both the meager numbers and their paltry cultivation—mere second-level Dominator realm beasts.

Without even needing to tap into his temporal powers, he swiftly branded each with a slave seal. Enslaving beasts and demons was far simpler than humans—their mental defenses were laughably weak.

The display made it clear to every watching creature: Ye Liuyun had launched a soul attack. The crimson lion’s enslavement was now undeniable.

A thunderous roar erupted from the area’s beast king, and instantly, every creature unleashed their oppressive auras, all directed at Ye Liuyun. Unlike humans, beasts stood united—they’d never allow their king to be captured as some human’s steed.

The commotion drew more beasts from nearby, their numbers swelling rapidly. A quick mental scan told Ye Liuyun there were now over two hundred—a count that brought him immense satisfaction.

Meanwhile, cultivators browsing the market hastily retreated to safer distances, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. A small group of giant demons, who’d been puzzling over why two of their kind trailed behind Ye Liuyun, now had no chance to investigate as the beasts prepared to strike. They could only watch from the sidelines.

Ye Liuyun summoned his doppelgänger, concerned his temporal energy alone might not suffice against so many foes. If needed, his clone could take over mid-battle.

A third-level Dominator ironhide bull and a blue-furred soulfox took the initiative, charging at Ye Liuyun while the other beasts formed an impenetrable ring around them.

The bull came crashing forward—even Ye Liuyun’s crimson lion mount couldn’t withstand its armored bulk. Simultaneously, the soulfox launched a mental assault, having sensed earlier that Ye Liuyun’s soul force paled in comparison to its own.

But the moment the fox’s consciousness invaded Ye Liuyun’s sea of awareness, golden light from the Ten Thousand Gods Decree engulfed it without Ye Liuyun lifting a finger.

After branding the fox’s soul, Ye Liuyun immediately commanded it to attack the bull. His own consciousness, alongside the fox’s, then surged into the bull’s mind.

Iron Ox’s spiritual power was formidable, yet no match for the cunning Fox Hunter. In an instant, he was overpowered and branded with a slave seal by Ye Liuyun.

"Too easy! I didn’t even need to use time manipulation!" Ye Liuyun was pleasantly surprised to have subdued two Dominator-level beasts of the third tier so effortlessly.

But Iron Ox, unable to halt his momentum, kept charging toward the crimson-maned lion beneath Ye Liuyun. With a swift command, Ye Liuyun made the lion leap aside, narrowly avoiding the collision.

Immediately, Iron Ox came to a stop behind Ye Liuyun, standing motionless, no longer a threat. Moments later, the Fox Hunter also approached, taking his place beside Iron Ox.

The sight left the surrounding beasts and onlooking martial artists utterly stunned.

"That man’s a soul cultivator! His spiritual power surpasses even the Fox Hunter’s!"

Everyone assumed Ye Liuyun’s strength lay solely in his spiritual prowess.

The beasts exchanged growls before reaching a consensus—they would attack together, swarming Ye Liuyun in a coordinated assault.

With three Dominator-tier beasts now under his control, the remaining creatures knew they stood no chance unless they united.

But to their shock, Ye Liuyun and his doppelgänger began alternating the use of time manipulation, methodically branding each beast with slave seals. Within moments of freezing time in succession, they had subdued over fifty beasts.

Then, Ye Liuyun ordered the crimson-maned lion, the Fox Hunter, and Iron Ox to unleash their auras, intimidating the remaining creatures into submission.

"Go back to your stalls and behave!" Ye Liuyun chuckled, waving them off.

The newly enslaved beasts obediently returned to their posts, while those still free hesitated in confusion.

Torn between rescuing their three strongest allies and fearing defeat, some even tried rallying the retreating beasts to resume the fight against Ye Liuyun.