Chapter 1041: Keeping It for Fishing

Right after Ye Liuyun shifted his position, the spot he stood on was smashed by a venerable, whose palm formed a massive pit.

At the same time, the other two venerables: one was pierced outright by the Vajra Divine Bow, and the other, though equipped with a Defense Artifact, had weak protection and suffered a chest blast.

The middle venerable relied on the artifact on his chest to block Ye Liuyun's arrow.

Ye Liuyun's Golden Pupil swept, pulling the soul of the just‑pierced venerable toward him; after Soul Search, he confirmed that the middle venerable was Cheng Yudu.

At this moment Cheng Yudu began to charge desperately toward Ye Liuyun, rushing toward the clone's position.

"One‑horned Rhino!"

Ye Liuyun called out, and the One‑horned Rhino immediately ceased its attacks on the other shadows and blocked Cheng Yudu.

Earth rose up in a series of soil walls, trapping Cheng Yudu inside.

Ye Liuyun seized the chance, took out a Storage Yuan Stone, filled his Yuan Pill, and then used Void Translocation to pass the Storage Yuan Stone to his clone.

When the Yuan Pill was full, Ye Liuyun immediately shot an arrow at the injured Divine Rank Martial Cultivator, killing him outright, then shifted position and fired three consecutive arrows at Cheng Yudu, draining the Yuan Pill once more.

Immediately, he moved another Storage Yuan Stone over and continued absorbing.

At this point the clone also cleared all surrounding shadows, leaving only Cheng Yudu.

Now Cheng Yudu was trapped by the Earth Sovereign's fifth‑layer One‑horned Rhino, unable to break free despite frantic thrashing.

"Ye Liuyun, I know it's you! Do you know who I am?"

Seeing that he could no longer defeat Ye Liuyun, Cheng Yudu began to threaten.

Ye Liuyun sneered inwardly: "If I didn't know you were a disciple of the Cheng Clan's main line, I wouldn't have singled you out!"

But he gave Cheng Yudu no reply.

At this moment Cheng Yudu had no idea where Ye Liuyun was. He only saw that the clone's bow and arrows were Ye Liuyun's prize, and mistakenly thought the clone was Ye Liuyun himself.

After the clone also absorbed the Mysterious Origin, Ye Liuyun and the clone nocked their bows together, shooting at Cheng Yudu in succession.

Ye Liuyun, worried that he possessed a Defense Artifact, fired two arrows in quick succession to test whether his artifact could hold.

Simultaneously, Ye Liuyun summoned the One‑horned Rhino to assist; after the two arrows, the Rhino thrust its horn forward.

Boom, boom, bang!

After the two blasts, a muffled thud followed.

Cheng Yudu was knocked sideways by the Rhino's horn and flew away.

Cheng Yudu's Defense Artifact activated repeatedly, blocking Ye Liuyun's and the clone's two arrows, but eventually ran out of energy and failed to stop the Rhino's assault.

Facing the Earth Sovereign's fifth‑layer attack, Cheng Yudu bore it alone and of course sustained serious injuries.

His Defense Artifact was also shattered and rendered useless by the Rhino.

When Cheng Yudu was slammed away, he had already lost consciousness.

Ye Liuyun's eyes were swift, his hand quick; without giving him a chance to recover, another arrow followed.

"Boom"—a blasting sound.

Ye Liuyun's arrow pierced a huge hole through the fallen Cheng Yudu, gouging a massive pit in the ground as well.

Cheng Yudu's battered body was flung upward again.

The clone promptly pulled Cheng Yudu's soul into the Creation Realm for Soul Search.

Their coordinated assault managed to break through Cheng Yudu's Defense Artifact.

Ye Liuyun siphoned Cheng Yudu's Storage Ring and Defense Artifact.

"Now that's like a scion of a great family!"

Seeing what was inside, Ye Liuyun couldn't help but laugh.

The Storage Ring held plenty of valuables; just the premium Spirit Stones were stacked in over ten piles, each likely worth billions, Ye Liuyun estimated.

There were still two Broken Patriarch Pills, over thirty Divine Rank weapons and treasures, and various other pills and resources—more than the Cheng Clan's branch line...

Its wealth level was approaching Ye Liuyun's own.

"These must be the shadow's resources," Ye Liuyun suddenly thought; these items were probably from the shadow organization.

Otherwise, even a disciple of a great clan couldn't be so affluent.

The only regret was that his Defense Artifact had been shattered by the three of them working together, rendering it useless.

"What a pity!"

Ye Liuyun casually used Golden Crow Holy Fire, incinerating Cheng Yudu's corpse into ash.

The clone immediately produced a Transmission Talisman to send Qiong Qi a message, informing him that the Cheng Clan was contesting a mineral vein with the Feng Clan.

It is said to be a dragon vein on the Zhongyang Dalu.

As for the exact type of vein, its location, and how many guardians it has, Cheng Yudu was not very clear; he only knew the general direction.

"It seems this dragon vein must be extremely important!"

Upon hearing this, Qiong Qi immediately took interest and agreed that Ye Liuyun would speed over.

Later, Ye Liuyun stored the One‑horned Rhino away, letting it return to recuperate.

The earlier hard clash with the Defense Artifact left the Rhino dizzy, but it suffered no serious injury.

Returning to the Xuan Kong Shi to rest briefly, it would recover quickly.

The clone and Ye Liuyun began to study how to deal with Cheng Yudu's soul.

Besides the dispute between the Cheng Clan and the Feng Clan, he also uncovered a major secret.

That the Cheng Clan and the Daxia Chao had long been monitoring the shadow.

Cheng Yudu, the Crown Prince, and the Fourth Prince were all ordered to infiltrate the shadow to investigate its hidden mastermind.

However, Cheng Yudu learned the Crown Prince's and Fourth Prince's objectives through family intel, while they knew nothing of Cheng Yudu's purpose.

The Fourth Prince didn't even know Cheng Yudu's true identity.

Of course, these individuals also had their own aims and all sought to use the shadow to expand their influence.

Apart from sending people to distribute rewards each month, the Shadow Leader had always been in sole contact with Cheng Yudu via Transmission Talismans.

But Cheng Yudu discovered that the people sent to distribute rewards were all at the fourth or fifth level of the Earth Sovereign realm. Although they concealed it well, their bodies exuded an evil aura.

He suspected it was an organization controlled by the Alien Evil Artifact.

After several rounds of surveillance and probing, he had roughly pinpointed the Shadow Leader's location, but he dared not startle the snake.

Those sent to hand out rewards are so high‑ranked; there must surely be even stronger experts there.

He merely reported the information to the Cheng Clan, letting the Cheng Clan decide.

"If Cheng Yudu's soul is wiped out, this Transmission Talisman will be useless."

"Mm! Keep him, use him as bait!" Ye Liuyun and his clone shared information, their thoughts were in sync, and they immediately made the same decision.

They also wanted to find an opportunity to scout the Shadow Leader's location.

Next, Ye Liuyun continued wearing the Invisibility Cloak, speeding toward the central region.

By the time Ye Liuyun and his group arrived at Battle Dragon Hill, Liang Xue and her group were already there.

Qing Lin, having nothing to do, went off to catch fierce beasts in the vicinity for fun. Being a Tianzun Realm cultivator, subduing a few Earth Sovereign‑level fierce beasts was child's play for him.