After clearing up the misunderstanding with Youming, Ye Liuyun discreetly dispatched a team of scouts to assess the strength of the foreign invaders.
At the sa ti, he sent mbers of the Black Killers—such as Lone Star and Beard—to various regions of the Sacred Dynasty, tasking them with gathering intelligence on resources and hidden realms. Ti was of the essence, and Ye Liuyun wasted none of it.
His thods were bold, sotis even deploying troops outright to seize resources swiftly before withdrawing, leaving no trace for the Sacred Dynasty to follow.
Most of these resources were hidden within secret realms, which the Sacred Dynasty had largely overlooked. What they truly coveted were Ye Liuyun's treasures and equipnt.
Upon receiving reports of his movents, the Sacred Dynasty devised an elaborate trap tailored for him.
Soon, rumors spread like wildfire across the land—a new hidden realm had erged. Warriors who ventured inside returned with bountiful resources, and they all spoke of the realm's breathtaking beauty, describing it as a paradise untouched by ti.
When word reached Ye Liuyun, he naturally seized the opportunity without hesitation and made his way there.
But sothing struck him as odd. Unlike previous hidden realms, which were tightly controlled by major factions, this one had no guards, allowing warriors to co and go freely.
Instead of rushing in, Ye Liuyun lingered at the periphery, observing.
After a while, he noticed sothing amiss.
Many of the warriors entering in small groups didn't behave like ordinary cultivators. Their disciplined deanor, their lack of casual chatter—it all suggested military training, a stark contrast to the free-spirited nature of typical martial artists.
Around the entrance, other warriors loitered, seemingly idle—so sitting, others standing. Yet, whenever soone entered the realm, their eyes would flicker with scrutiny.
"So, it's a trap," Ye Liuyun realized.
Ye Liuyun imdiately sensed sothing amiss upon seeing this.
However, these few soldiers were clearly no match for him. This made Ye Liuyun wonder—why set up such a trap in the first place?
"This trap is way too simple. I could wipe out these soldiers effortlessly."
Unable to figure out the motive, Ye Liuyun decided against charging in recklessly. Instead, he donned his invisibility cloak and observed the secret realm from a distance.
That very night, he noticed a group of martial artists filing out of the secret realm, their heads hung low in dejection.
Ye Liuyun quietly trailed them all the way to a nearby military camp outside the city.
The mont they arrived, soldiers promptly escorted them inside, issued them uniforms, and pressed them into service.
"Is this how the Sacred Dynasty recruits troops?"
Suspicious, Ye Liuyun infiltrated the camp, seized a soldier, and probed his mind for answers.
But the soldier only knew that these were martial artists who had entered the secret realm. After being forcibly bound by master-servant contracts, they were sent here to serve as soldiers.
As for why this was done, the soldier had no clue.
So Ye Liuyun captured one of the newly arrived martial artists and directly searched his mories to uncover how they had been captured.
What he discovered sent a chill down his spine.
These martial artists had been controlled the mont they stepped into the secret realm, completely at the rcy of their captors. Refusing to sign the soul contract ant instant execution.
To them, it was as if they had entered soone else's pocket dinsion—trapped with no way out.
Ye Liuyun imdiately realized that Satellite Island was Liao Yunyang's spatial domain. He had absolute control over everything on that island.
The only reason it had beco an ungoverned territory was that Liao Yunyang had accepted the royal family's bribes and relinquished his authority over it.
If Liao Yunyang could pull this off, then surely other martial cultivators from the Sacred Dynasty could do the sa.
The purpose of this secret realm was now crystal clear. The mont anyone entered, they would fall under soone else's control. Even if he himself wasn't lured in, the Sacred Dynasty could still capture plenty of martial cultivators to bolster their army.
"What a vicious sche! Killing two birds with one stone!"
After slaying the martial cultivator, Ye Liuyun quickly distanced himself from the military camp and turned to Ye Ling.
"If I accidentally enter soone else's spatial domain, is there any way to counter it?"
Ye Ling didn't hesitate. "That's far too dangerous! Once inside another's domain, you're completely at their rcy. You wouldn't even be able to move—how could you possibly fight back?"
"What if you connect with the world's origin energy and let absorb it into my own spatial domain?" Ye Liuyun pressed.
"Technically, yes—but there wouldn't be enough ti. The mont you try to link with the origin energy, the domain's owner would sense it imdiately and stop you." Ye Ling shook her head. "It's not a viable plan."
She added, "Unless your spatial domain is far more powerful than theirs, they wouldn't be able to control you. But the energy drain would be enormous. Unless it's a life-or-death situation, I wouldn't recomnd trying it."
Ye Liuyun considered another idea—absorbing the origin energy and then escaping with the Black Tower's teleportation.
But Ye Ling still thought it was too risky. After all, no one would attempt sothing like that unless they were truly desperate. In the end, Ye Liuyun abandoned the thought of gambling his way in.
A single source of origin energy wasn't worth such a trendous risk.
"That was close. One careless move, and I would've walked right into their trap!" A chill ran down his spine at the thought.
However, the Sacred Dynasty had resorted to such ruthless tactics against him—if Ye Liuyun didn't retaliate, he'd feel downright indignant.
But with no way to enter the secret realm or access the primordial energy, even Ye Ling was powerless.
Then, in a flash of inspiration, Ye Liuyun thought of the tal Devourer.
That creature had nearly drained an entire secret realm of its tallic essence by now. Perfect timing to unleash it and give the Sacred Dynasty a taste of their own dicine.
The colossal tal Devourer could extend just one claw into the realm's entrance—safe from the spatial master's control inside and immune to attacks from the outside.
Cloaked in invisibility, Ye Liuyun watched from a distance. If the assault grew too fierce, he could simply teleport the beast away in an instant.
With a decisive motion, he released the tal Devourer and directed it toward the secret realm.
The disguised soldiers guarding the entrance recoiled in shock at the monstrous sight.
Most had no idea what this creature was. Weapons drawn, they hastily ford ranks and launched their assault.
The tal Devourer paid them no mind, utterly unfazed.
Yet their armor and blades soon crumbled to dust. Even their storage rings were devoured, their contents spilling across the ground—every scrap of tal swiftly absorbed by the ravenous beast.
Slowly, lazily, the tal Devourer lumbered to the realm's entrance. It thrust one massive claw inside and began siphoning the tallic energy within. Then it sprawled flat on the ground, motionless, utterly indifferent to the soldiers' futile attacks.
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