The allied fleet advanced in a mighty formation toward the planet where Yu Xiaofeng’s forces were stationed.

Even before the warships reached their destination, the commanders who had already decided to surrender had secretly discussed their plans with their subordinate officers and soldiers. After hearing their reasoning, the lower-ranking officers quickly realized that joining the battle would be suicidal, so they unanimously agreed to defect.

Throughout the journey, the five warships stayed close together. The commanders knew that if they were separated, they would be isolated and crushed.

The deputy commanders of the allied forces watched this with smoldering anger, already plotting how to disperse these units upon landing and break their cohesion.

But the moment the allied forces disembarked, the five hundred thousand elite soldiers immediately banded together, swiftly forming a defensive formation. They even hoisted their battle flags upside down—a clear signal of surrender in their military tradition.

Ye Liuyun and Yu Xiaofeng observed the allied forces from a distance. Seeing half a million troops signaling surrender, they were momentarily suspicious of a possible trap.

Ye Liuyun studied the expressions of the five division commanders with his golden pupils for a long while before turning to Yu Xiaofeng. "I think it’s genuine. Here’s the plan—you lead the troops to probe their defenses while I approach them. If their surrender is real, I’ll deploy the demon army to protect them."

"Agreed. But stay alert—this could be a ruse," Yu Xiaofeng warned before swiftly mobilizing his forces for the assault.

The allied forces were thrown into chaos. No one had expected half a million soldiers to surrender the moment they landed. The battle hadn’t even begun, and already half their main force had defected.

The four deputy commanders were stunned.

"Just as we suspected—they’ve betrayed us! This has to be Kuishan’s doing. There’s no way they’d act in unison like this without his orders."

"Send word to the imperial court immediately—Kuishan must be executed!"

"Dispatch our elite martial warriors to eliminate those five division commanders!"

"Deploy the troops and encircle them immediately! Don’t let them escape into enemy territory!"

As realization dawned, they began issuing orders in rapid succession.

By the time Ye Liuyun arrived, the allied forces had already mobilized, moving to surround the fifty-thousand-strong army.

The four martial cultivators at the fourth level of Dominance also charged toward the five legion commanders, intending to eliminate them first before subduing the remaining soldiers.

With no time to waste, Ye Liuyun immediately activated his temporal power, branding the four cultivators with slave seals. There was no room for practice now—capture first, questions later.

Appearing before the five commanders, he cut straight to the point: "I am Ye Liuyun! Do you surrender?"

The commanders had been tense, bracing for the cultivators’ assault and rallying their troops to defend. Suddenly, the attackers vanished, replaced by Ye Liuyun standing before them.

One commander reacted swiftly. "We serve under Grand Commander Kuishan," he said. "We know this battle is unwinnable. We surrender to spare our soldiers’ lives. The five of us are willing to sign soul contracts."

"Good. Time is short—I won’t stand on ceremony. We’ll settle the rest later."

Ye Liuyun activated his temporal power again, branding all five with slave seals. After a quick mental scan confirmed their sincerity, he refrained from fully controlling them.

"Lead your troops and fall back. Leave this to me!" he ordered.

Without hesitation, he positioned his 150,000-strong demon army between the surrendering forces and the advancing allied troops, shielding the former.

Meanwhile, Yu Xiaofeng’s Falcon Fleet had already taken to the skies, charging toward the battlefield. On the ground, mechanical beasts and war chariots spearheaded the assault, followed by rows of soldiers wielding energy cannons. Bringing up the rear, Qin Peng marched forward with 500,000 troops in tight formation.

"Retreat! Fall back now!" The four deputy commanders took one look at the overwhelming force and knew resistance was futile. They immediately ordered a withdrawal.

Their formation was already in disarray, hastily rearranged to confront the surrendering army. Defensive lines were nonexistent.

Ye Liuyun’s demon troops showed no mercy, surging forward to cut down the retreating enemy. Meanwhile, he joined the fray, summoning his Violet Kylin. Together, they wielded temporal power to capture or eliminate the remaining martial cultivators.

The half-million-strong army, under the command of their leaders, retreated toward the direction of Ye Liuyun’s forces, brushing past Qin Peng’s troops. Yu Xiaofeng merely instructed Pei Yong to temporarily relocate them away from the battlefield for settlement, leaving further decisions until after the battle concluded.

On the battlefield, the allied forces began their retreat—some turning to fend off the demon army’s assault, others attempting to hold back Qin Peng’s five hundred thousand soldiers, while the rest fled in disarray.

The allied forces dared not linger. After putting some distance between themselves and the battlefield, they hastily boarded their warships and withdrew. The regiments left behind to cover the retreat were reduced to cannon fodder—most slaughtered, the few survivors attempting to surrender.

But Ye Liuyun, unimpressed by their low cultivation levels, ordered the demon army to wipe them out entirely. When the casualties were tallied after the battle, the losses amounted to roughly two regiments—twenty thousand soldiers. However, their combat effectiveness had been lackluster, far from the elite forces of the alliance.

Yet, to Ye Liuyun’s surprise, two massive hundred-thousand-grade warships soon turned back.

Upon landing, these troops hoisted their banners upside down—a clear signal of surrender. These were elite regiments. Having witnessed the surrender of the five commanders, they realized the futility of siding with the doomed alliance. Better to defect early than face inevitable defeat.

Seizing the moment when no one obstructed their retreat, they reversed course and returned to surrender.

The remnants of the allied forces dared not pursue them, powerless to stop their escape.

Of the alliance’s original two million troops, seventy thousand elite soldiers had surrendered before the battle even truly began, while another twenty thousand ordinary soldiers had been annihilated. Victory was now an impossibility.

The survivors could only think of fleeing back and disbanding on the spot.

Even the four deputy commanders no longer dared to stay, fearing capture by Ye Liuyun. They led their forces in a desperate retreat back to the alliance’s territory.

They pinned the blame entirely on Kuishan, accusing him of inciting mass desertion.

With the alliance’s campaign ending in immediate failure, scapegoats were needed—and Kuishan bore the brunt. Orders were issued for his immediate execution.

Now powerless, Kuishan was guarded only by a few low-level martial cultivators. They publicly declared his crimes and dragged him out for beheading.

Kuishan’s heart sank with bitter disappointment toward the alliance.

*"It seems these kingdoms truly are on the brink of collapse,"* he lamented silently.

Through the Slaving Seal, Ye Liuyun sensed Kuishan’s predicament and swiftly dispatched his doppelgänger. Using the Black Tower’s teleportation, the clone appeared beside Kuishan, then employed temporal power to whisk him away without engaging in combat.

Once the demon soldiers finished clearing the battlefield, Ye Liuyun’s forces withdrew.

Upon returning, Ye Liuyun released Kuishan and entrusted him with command of the seventy thousand surrendered troops—without the slightest hesitation, despite Kuishan’s status as a defector. He even released Qiang Hui to assist Kuishan in leading them.