The doppelganger, accompanied by Thunderclap and the Dragon Maiden, set their sights on the merchant guilds within their own territory first, aiming to establish a monopoly.

Originally, the plan was to alter their appearances and strike directly. However, the Phantom Lion caught wind of the scheme and volunteered to take on the task. Intrigued, Ye Liuyun decided to let the beast loose to see how it would perform—and the results were astonishing.

True to its notorious reputation as the "Thieving Cat," the Phantom Lion cleaned out an entire merchant guild in one fell swoop. Not a single resource was left behind—neither those stored in the manager’s spatial ring nor those locked away in the guild’s vault. Only the common goods displayed openly on the shop counters remained untouched, simply because too many eyes were watching. But those scraps were hardly worth stealing anyway.

"Not bad for a thieving furball!" Thunderclap praised, thoroughly impressed. He even offered to take the Phantom Lion under his wing. Knowing Thunderclap’s close ties to Ye Liuyun, the cunning beast immediately fawned over him, eagerly accepting the role of sidekick. From then on, it perched shamelessly on Thunderclap’s shoulder like a permanent fixture. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With one obsessed with robbery and the other with theft, the pair became an unstoppable force. Ye Liuyun couldn’t help but feel that resources would never be in short supply again.

Sure enough, within a month, the duo had looted and pillaged their way through every occupied planet, driving several merchant guilds straight into ruin. Seizing the opportunity, the Lingyun Merchant Guild swiftly rose to fill the void. Though suspicions arose that Lingyun was pulling the strings behind the scenes, no one could prove it. Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun’s doppelganger and the elite Blade Corps stood guard over the guild, ensuring that anyone who dared to challenge them faced swift annihilation—followed by another round of plundering.

Before long, Lingyun Merchant Guild had firmly established itself, gradually squeezing out the remaining competitors. Once operational, the guild’s cash flow surged, eliminating any resource shortages. Ye Liuyun even dispatched Feng Hongxiu, Xia Tianqiong, and Xia Lingshuang to organize a security force to safeguard the guild’s operations.

With these women in charge, the guild’s safety was gradually secured. Though the current revenue couldn’t yet sustain an army of a million, expansion was inevitable. Ye Liuyun instructed them to consolidate their foothold before spreading into other dynasties, eventually building the largest chain of merchant guilds. By then, funding the military would no longer be an issue.

Meanwhile, Xuanyuan Ling integrated the resources from the Silver Fox Star System’s merchant guilds and those within Ye Liuyun’s spatial world, using teleportation arrays to facilitate rapid circulation. However, certain military-grade resources—such as Energy Storage Stones, Energy Exchange Stones, and War Falcons—remained tightly controlled to prevent local cultivators from acquiring them and turning them against Ye Liuyun.

Once the guild was up and running, Ye Liuyun left again with Thunderclap, the Dragon Maiden, and the Phantom Lion, venturing into other dynasties in search of more resources while leaving his doppelganger behind to oversee their domain.

They would directly harvest resources from uninhabited planets they encountered along the way. For inhabited planets, the Demon Lion would sweep through, clearing out all the merchant guilds there. If anyone dared to question them, Lei Ming would strike them down. And if they were outnumbered, Ye Liuyun would step in, using his temporal powers to extricate them from trouble.

Moreover, their journey was swift. With the improved strength of the Falcon, their flight speed increased dramatically, making it impossible for anyone to catch up.

After the alliance’s negotiation team returned, they relayed Ye Liuyun’s demands to the various dynasties. Of course, the alliance had no intention of meekly handing over an entire dynasty to him. After much deliberation, they decided to mobilize their forces while continuing negotiations with Ye Liuyun.

The likelihood of Ye Liuyun retreating was slim—unless Kuishan could lead an army to repel him. Their goal was to at least confine him to a few planets on the fringes.

However, the alliance’s mobilization and deployment wouldn’t happen overnight, giving Ye Liuyun ample time to plunder resources. By the time the alliance officially launched its campaign, most of their merchant guilds had already been looted by Ye Liuyun.

As Ye Liuyun moved through their planets, he naturally caught wind of their recruitment and impending military campaign, prompting him to accelerate his operations.

As for the merchant guilds—especially the chain guilds—they began tightening security. But the Phantom Cat’s skills only grew sharper. No matter where the resources were hidden, it slipped in and out effortlessly.

Some guilds even set traps in their treasuries, yet the cunning cat never fell for them. It simply stole what it wanted and vanished, completely unscathed.

Eventually, the guilds had no choice but to station elite guards inside their treasuries to watch over the resources. But the Phantom Cat was too quick—once it got inside, it would swipe vast amounts of goods before anyone noticed, then flee the moment the guards raised the alarm.

If anyone dared to give chase, they’d be captured by Lei Ming and Ye Liuyun for "training" and never seen again. The guilds were utterly tormented, many pushed to the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile, the Lingyun Merchant Guild had stabilized its own territory and began expanding outward. Ye Liuyun continuously sent stolen goods back, while Xuan Yuanling sold them first within their own domain, then used the proceeds to acquire new resources for their expanding stores. This way, even if suspicions arose, no trail led back to them.

Yu Xiaofeng, on his end, was rigorously training soldiers. With ample resources, their strength steadily improved. Ye Tiandao, meanwhile, led the elite Blade Corps, honing their skills within the spatial world of Ye Liuyun’s avatar.

The new recruits were already formidable—elite martial artists from the Taurus Galaxy—and after intensive training, they quickly became qualified Blade Corps soldiers.

Ye Liuyun even had Ye Tiandao lead them on several missions, assisting the merchant guild in eliminating rivals and seizing resources, all of which they executed flawlessly.

Seeing that everything was running smoothly on the home front, Ye Liuyun wasn’t in a hurry to return. Even when the alliance finally dispatched two million troops—along with five thousand martial artists at the second and third levels of Dominance and another five thousand at the first level—he remained undeterred, continuing his raids with the Phantom Cat and Lei Ming.

He was certain the allied forces wouldn’t dare act rashly this time. With his doppelganger present, even if they sent scouts to gather intelligence, they wouldn’t gain any advantage. There was no hurry—he could always teleport back using the Black Tower when they finally launched their attack.

The doppelganger had also deployed Phantom Hands and Xenocide operatives to monitor the allied forces’ movements. There were no signs of any impending assault on the coalition army.

Thus, upon arrival, the allied forces set up camp on the planet opposite them. Kuishan, unfamiliar with the Death Legion’s true strength, predictably hesitated to take the initiative. Yet every scout they dispatched never returned, forcing them into a stalemate while awaiting negotiation outcomes.

The allied forces had mobilized a substantial number this time, consuming vast resources daily. Compounding the issue, many merchant guilds had been thoroughly looted by Ye Liuyun, leaving the dynasties to deplete their treasuries without replenishment.

The dynasties paid little attention to the merchant guilds’ troubles, dismissing it as temporary resource shortages. For them, the gravest threat remained Ye Liuyun’s Death Legion.