Chapter 1291: Obstacles Keep Coming

"How can we fight this? No matter how we fight, we die!" An Earth Sovereign strongman, seeing his turn had come, immediately protested.

The duplicate smiled: "You could just not fight!" "Really?" the bandit asked, a bit skeptical.

But the next moment, a peak Earth Sovereign beast charged forward, swiped him into a puddle of meat mush, then swallowed him whole!

"Really!" the duplicate finally answered slowly.

Then the duplicate looked at the last bandit of Earth Sovereign rank. The bandit, startled, couldn't think, didn't dare, came out, and felt it was a death sentence.

So he moved hesitantly.

"I don't need any treasure to fight you, how about that?" the duplicate asked with a smile.

"Really?" the bandit asked instinctively.

"Really!" the duplicate said again slowly.

The bandit was terrified, cold sweat streaming down his back, fearing a beast would pounce and eat him.

Finally he gritted his teeth, steeled himself: "I'll go all out against you!"

At the same time, he also took the initiative to strike at Ye Liuyun.

"That's the spirit!" the duplicate laughed.

However, the Martial Cultivator hadn't even gotten close to Ye Liuyun before black smoke rose from his body.

Then his whole body began to corrode, flesh rotting and dissolving; within a few breaths, he turned into a puddle of filthy water.

The duplicate nodded satisfied, thinking the poison worked quite well.

At this moment, Ye Liuyun also emerged from the Space World, looking for someone to practice his palm technique with.

"You didn't leave even one for me?" Seeing that the mid-stage Earth Sovereign Martial Cultivators were all gone, he couldn't help feeling a bit regretful.

"The rest are yours!" the duplicate said, and went back to cultivation.

He feared staying too long would expose his identity.

The remaining matters were all left to Ye Liuyun to handle.

Ye Liuyun also began practicing his palm on the higher-ranked bandits; at first, a few lucky ones managed to withstand three of his strikes.

Though they were seriously wounded, they at least kept their lives.

Ye Liuyun sent them aside to recover their injuries and await further handling.

But thereafter, the others were not so fortunate.

As Ye Liuyun's palm technique grew more proficient, its power increased steadily.

Meanwhile, the later bandits, whose realms were lower and lower, could no longer withstand a single palm strike.

Yet every time Ye Liuyun eliminated a dozen bandits, he had to return to Xuan Kong Shi, cultivate Mysterious Origin with his duplicate, replenish Storage Yuan Stone, and then go out to fight again.

His palm style, being not yet mastered, consumed a large amount of Mysterious Origin.

During this time, Long Nv and Liang Xue went to battle opponents of the Zao Hua Realm.

Within the Zao Hua Realm, Long Nv was almost invincible. Even Martial Cultivators of the Ninth Level couldn't defeat her.

Liang Xue was a bit weaker. After all, helping Ye Liuyun run the business of the merchant guild did affect her cultivation.

Yet with her Sixfold Creation realm, she could easily defeat Martial Cultivators of the Eighth Fold. Only when facing Ninth Fold would the opponent's strength matter.

Lei Ming, once his True Essence recovered, would go out for a fight, and after spending his True Essence, return to cultivation.

They took turns like this, slaying the bandits until only six remained.

Those six, all victorious, should have been let go.

But Ye Liuyun directly ordered the beasts to wipe them out.

"Big brother, you don't keep your word!" Lei Ming called out, puzzled.

"With these bad guys, you don't have to keep promises! If I let them go, they'll keep robbing others and spread the news. Then we'd be in trouble!" Ye Liuyun explained to Lei Ming.

From the start, Ye Liuyun never intended to release these bandits. They had already harmed countless passersby in this area; dying a hundred times would be just punishment enough. Since Ye Liuyun encountered them, he would never let such scourges live.

Saying that winning lets you release them is merely giving them a sliver of hope, letting them try their best.

That's just like what he said before. He set the rules, so he can change them.

This is the fundamental rule of the martial world!

Ye Liuyun and his group delayed here for over a day, and the Underworld God naturally drew nearer.

Ye Liuyun had the beasts clean the battlefield, scoured the supplies, then immediately boarded the Flying Shuttle and pressed on.

Yet their journey was far from smooth, taking far longer than expected.

Every time they advanced a stretch, they encountered a batch of bandits.

At first, Ye Liuyun didn't pay attention.

Liang Xue also said, "These bandits were driven here by you!"

He referred to Ye Liuyun and Lan Ruo Bing. Within their domains, no one dared cause trouble. Most of these bandits were expelled by them.

But when Ye Liuyun received Xia Tianqiong's message, doubts arose.

Xia Tianqiong told Ye Liuyun, "Your news of reaching the Outer Region has already reached the Imperial Family! Zhuge Feiyu asked me to warn you, be careful of hidden attacks."

"These bandits are indeed too many!" he also began to find it odd.

"And don't the bandits have their own communication channels? Knowing it's me, knowing we're strong, they still dare keep intercepting?"

"What to do then? Who's attacking us?"

Liang Xue had never dealt with bandits, knew little about them; hearing this, she also found it suspicious.

"Next time I meet someone daring to block the road, I'll capture a live one for Soul Search!"

Ye Liuyun could only use this method to probe the bandits' situation.

However, what they didn't expect was that their next obstacle turned out to be a patrol warship of the Great Xia Empire.

Encountering a warship wasn't strange, but a warship blocking them forced Ye Liuyun to think further.

Xia Tianqiong had explicitly told him that the Imperial Family already knew about his departure from Zhongyang Dalu.

"Could Zhuge Feiyu be warning me to be careful of the Imperial Family?" Ye Liuyun stopped the Flying Shuttle, without a mask, and appeared directly in front of the Warship.

"Prince Ye!"

The Leader of this Warship was rather courteous.

"Why are you blocking me?"

Ye Liuyun couldn't get angry directly, so he swallowed his temper and asked the Leader.

"Yes, Prince Ye, I am intercepting all passing vessels here by imperial command. The imperial court is conducting anti‑bandit operations ahead, and all ships are prohibited from passing," the Leader replied respectfully, his attitude beyond reproach.

"Oh? Anti‑bandit?" Ye Liuyun examined the Leader for a moment and found no sign that he was lying.

"Yes, Prince Ye!" the Leader echoed.

"How far must we detour? How long will it take you to lift the blockade?" Ye Liuyun asked.

"The detour will take about twenty‑plus days, not very far. As for how long the blockade can be lifted, I have no idea; we can only wait for orders from above!" the Leader replied respectfully.