Under the stimulus of vast resources and food, the two demon legions advanced at a shocking pace. After this round of rest and consolidation, most had reached the fifth or sixth tier; fourth-tier cultivators were now rare.

Yet once Black Rock and Sand Xenocide hit the sixth tier, their progress slowed dramatically. No matter how many corpses they devoured or how much demonic origin energy they refined, the gains became almost imperceptible.

Ye Liuyun figured that after reaching the sixth tier of Unity, every further step demanded exponentially more energy, so advancement would take far longer.

Even the Devil Vine had gorged on corpses this time, yet its cultivation still hadn’t pushed into the mid-stage of Unity Ninth Tier.

For the moment, Ye Liuyun stopped refining the true-dragon resources; he sensed his body couldn’t absorb much more and decided to wait.

“Time to move out! Since cultivation has slowed, let’s temper ourselves in real combat before coming back to advance.”

He issued orders for everyone to prepare for battle.

This time, Ye Liuyun struck first at the major powers Jiang Yunmo had pointed out. He led the demonic beasts in the initial assault, then his second avatar released the assassins to finish off the experts inside each faction.

They wiped out key clan members and powerhouses, seized all resources, and withdrew without lingering.

With ample loot, Ye Liuyun used the black teleportation tower each time; even if the dynasty dispatched troops, they couldn’t catch up.

Next, they began hitting garrisons. They no longer deployed top-tier experts—sometimes the demon legion annihilated a garrison in a flash and vanished, sometimes the ferocious bandits and Xiao Heng took the field.

Xiao Heng actively captured surrendering soldiers, swelling his own force to over three hundred men.

Ye Liuyun didn’t interfere; he wasn’t footing the bill for those troops, so Xiao Heng could do as he pleased.

Occasionally he released the beasts and the women for practice, but every strike ended with an immediate retreat. By the time reinforcements from surrounding cities arrived, they were already assaulting the next garrison.

The Fire Seal Dynasty dispatched experts to hunt them, yet never managed to catch up. Then Ye Liuyun’s entire force vanished again.

This time they didn’t withdraw to their main base; instead they slipped into the Tianmen Star Cluster, altered their appearances, and blended in to gather intelligence.

Tianmen held more than sixty planets—not vast, but sizable for a Fire Seal forward cluster.

Three great clans ruled here; there was no standing army. According to Jiang Yunmo, all three clans answered to Jiang Yunmu. Every profitable venture—trading guilds, consortiums—lay in their hands, forming Jiang Yunmu’s financial lifeline.

Ye Liuyun didn’t care whether Jiang Yunmo spoke truth; he simply observed the clans’ strength, calculating whether they could be taken and how to maximize gains.

After days of study, he decided: seize the three clans’ headquarters first, then plunder their branch guilds.

He split his forces: each avatar led a demon legion, while he himself commanded the beasts and bandits. Top-tier combatants were divided evenly so all three strikes launched simultaneously, preventing any clan from escaping once word spread.

The clans’ cultivators weren’t highly ranked—about the same as the bandits on Duqiao. Yet each family kept several Unity Ninth Tier guardians; whether Jiang Yunmu had planted them or the clans had secretly nurtured them was unclear.

Regardless, they were no match for Ye Liuyun’s group, so he struck with absolute confidence.

The clans were caught completely off-guard. In Tianmen they were virtual emperors; the idea of an assault had never crossed their minds.

The moment the attack began, their Ninth Tier experts rushed out to defend, only to become live training dummies for Ye Liuyun and his avatars.

All three surrounded their Ninth Tier elites, then fought them one by one—win, and you lived.

In the end, Ye Liuyun culled them all. The strong were captured, the weak executed outright. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The beasts and demon legions fought to their hearts’ content. Each clan fielded thousands of cultivators able to spar with them, and reinforcements streamed in from nearby cities.

The demon legions rotated five battalions of three thousand to wipe out a single clan.

The beast side was smaller but far deadlier. Besides the beasts themselves, Tang Xinyao’s squad, the ferocious bandits, and Xiao Heng’s troops joined in; Ye Tiandao led the women against lower-tier cultivators.

Even Ye Liuyun, commanding two puppets, threw himself into the fight until every last wisp of true essence was burned away; only then did they barely crush the great clan.

The bandit gang and Xiao Heng’s troops each lost nearly half their men, but they bagged plenty of prisoners—enough to replenish their own ranks.

After looting the clan’s wealth, Ye Liuyun dragged off a fresh batch of captives to serve as future sparring partners for his people. The leftovers were simply fed to the Devil Vine. His two avatars also helped round up a good number of early-to-mid Unity realm prisoners.

The moment the battle ended, Ye Liuyun recalled everyone for rest and recovery, then released the Demonic Lion to roam and gather resources, guarded by the two puppets.

The Demon Legion, meanwhile, kept marching nonstop with the troops that hadn’t fought, storming city after city.

Both avatars boarded Void-tier flying boats and, escorted by elite martial cultivators, began raiding merchant guilds wherever they could.

When Jiang Yunmu got word, he knew any rescue attempt was already too late. These great clans had been painstakingly cultivated by him; now Ye Liuyun had wiped them out in one sweep.

But he was well-informed—he’d heard that Jiang Yunmo had lately been using Ye Liuyun’s crew to strike at Third Prince Jiang Yunyang—so he contacted Jiang Yunmo at once.

“Yunmo, He said bluntly, “I’ve never crossed you. Why did you sic Ye Liuyun on my forces?”

Jiang Yunmo didn’t deny exploiting Ye Liuyun, but she told Jiang Yunmu, “I merely nudged him into helping me deal with Jiang Yunyang. I had no idea he going after your factions. Which one did he hit?”

“You really don’t know?” Jiang Yunmu shot back, disbelief dripping from every word.

“How could I? I can’t even reach him! His men showed up at our guild, so I tossed him some perks to get him to move against Jiang Yunyang. Without benefits, he wouldn’t lift a finger!” Jiang Yunmo shrugged it all off, refusing to admit any further involvement.