Chapter 1419: Rich Resources

"If you don't want to kill them, you could keep them and recruit them into your own army!" Ye Liuyun suggested.

However, Qujing dared not take up the bait. His resources were simply insufficient to sustain such a large number of soldiers.

"Nice words are easy to say; I'll be the villain!" Ye Liuyun self‑deprecatingly remarked.

He also knew that after taking all those resources, he should leave.

He and Qujing were not of the same kind. Qujing's excessive kindness made him fear him.

Ye Liuyun's nature was also good, but he could tell whom to be good to and whom to be cruel toward!

As for those soldiers, their realms were higher than ordinary civilians; once released, without restraints and without survival resources, they would inevitably rampage, looting weaker civilians, burning and killing like a swarm of locusts, causing many deaths.

The sounds of fighting rang on for a long time before gradually subsiding.

Qujing's soldiers stayed within the camp, daring not to venture out to scout.

The Asura, with the Yin Souls, swept a few rounds, confirmed nothing was missed, then returned to the Hundred-Refined Soul Banner.

The ferocious beasts and Kuailei were gathering corpses everywhere as reserves.

Ye Liuyun thought the food reserves were now ample, so he used Demon Qi to hatch a thousand Demon Beast Eggs, hoping they would quickly grow strong while Magic Crystals were available.

The Xuan Kong Shi was already packed with Demon Beasts, so Ye Liuyun had to move the initial thousand Demon Beasts to the Space World to make room for the newly hatched ones.

After Ye Liuyun withdrew the ferocious beasts, Qujing began mobilizing soldiers to go out and collect equipment, taking over the local defenses.

Subsequently, Qujing immediately set about purchasing some condemned prisoners to bolster his defensive forces.

Seeing that everything was in order, Ye Liuyun sprinted alone toward the mineral vein, his mood extremely excited.

These mineral vein resources were enough for him and his companions to cultivate for a long time. With them, they would never have to worry about resources again!

Boom!

In front of the Fire Crystal Mountain Range, another burst of flame erupted, filled with scalding lava.

Ye Liuyun immediately wrapped himself in Golden Crow Holy Fire and plunged headfirst into the lava.

He then followed the lava, sinking continuously; the Demon Qi within the lava grew denser, and the flames turned a black‑red hue.

As he sank, he constantly absorbed both the flame and the Demon Qi.

After about half an hour, he finally settled at the underground Fire Crystal vein. The Magic Crystal vein lay just inside the Fire Crystal circle, not far apart.

Staring at the blazing Fire Crystal vein, Ye Liuyun restrained his exhilaration and began harvesting into the Space World. He then collected some Magic Crystal vein, opening a passage to the Spiritual Stone vein.

Once the vein was opened, a dense aura of spirit energy rushed in.

Ye Liuyun could feel every pore of his body joyfully inhaling the spirit energy.

Ye Liuyun immediately released Liang Xue and the others: "Xue'er, take Long Nv, Heavenly Blade, Kuailei and the ferocious beasts inside to harvest the spirit veins; Lei Ming, with the Demon Beast, harvest the Magic Crystals; I'll take the Fire Wolf to collect Fire Crystal Stone. We'll split the tasks."

The group, seeing the abundant resources, all cheered.

"Now that's better! We'll never worry about resources again!" Lei Ming shouted joyfully.

"Hurry and harvest, lest long nights bring many dreams!" Ye Liuyun instructed them.

Ye Liuyun made a rough estimate; harvesting all the resources would roughly take half a month.

Outside, Qujing had just taken over; his combat strength was weak, making it risky, so the resources had to be gathered quickly.

The group, with Kuailei and the Demon Beasts, set off in high spirits.

Ye Liuyun and his clone also released a Fire Wolf, beginning to harvest Fire Crystals at full force.

Everyone had no time for absorption or cultivation; they prioritized securing the resources first.

Their cultivation realms far exceeded those of ordinary miners; a single strike could break off a large chunk of ore to harvest.

Meanwhile, Xie Tianqi had fled back to the Empire, portraying Ye Liuyun as more terrifying than the Foreign Tribe. Demon Beasts and Yin Souls—a threat of such magnitude that even the Empire dared not take it lightly.

And a force of four hundred thousand was entirely wiped out, illustrating Ye Liuyun's brutality.

The Empire simultaneously escalated the warrant on Ye Liuyun and immediately ordered the cities surrounding Luanfeng He to launch a preemptive attack, denying Qujing's army any respite.

The Empire this time dispatched five hundred thousand Iron Armored Army, along with two hundred Tianzun Realm Martial Cultivators, marching toward Luanfeng He, preparing to seize the entire Luanfeng He region in one stroke.

This Iron Armored Army is renowned throughout the Northern Eagle Empire, virtually unbeatable in battle.

And the commander this time, the Grand Leader, is also a famed Northern Eagle Empire general, the ever‑victorious Marshal Jia Yun.

Jia Yun, after receiving orders, immediately led his troops out. This army not only had superb equipment, but even its warships were the fastest.

Far in Haotian City, Qiang Wudi, upon receiving the information, promptly notified Ye Liuyun.

He only knew the Empire had dispatched troops, but was unclear about their exact strength and numbers.

And the armies around Luanfeng He should arrive soon.

Ye Liuyun was busy here; the forces around him could not be redeployed at all.

So he only sent his clone with the Hundred-Refined Soul Banner to support Qujing, as long as they could hold out until he finished extracting all the resources here.

After the clone departed, it immediately relayed the news to Qujing.

Qujing also promptly used a Transmission Talisman to ask several former friends for information. Some of them told him the truth.

"Five hundred thousand Iron Armored Army!"

Upon learning the news, Wen Chenggang immediately urged Qujing to abandon Luanfeng He. With their current strength, they certainly couldn't hold it.

"We can fight ordinary soldiers using the terrain, but the Iron Armored Army? That's like adults fighting children!"

They all knew the Iron Armored Army's prowess; its equipment and combat power far surpassed theirs.

At minimum, even the lowest‑ranked Iron Armored soldiers were at the Heavenly Gang Realm, while its elite fifty thousand Black‑Armored troops had a minimum realm of the Yin‑Yang Realm.

Just those fifty thousand Black‑Armored troops could rout them completely.

"The Empire is determined to exterminate us this time! They've even deployed the Iron Armored Army! That force has always been elite, fighting the Southern Elephant Empire on the battlefield!" Qujing hesitated in his heart about whether to abandon the position.

"But abandoning this place now, not to mention the Iron Armored Army— even the armies of nearby cities could wear us down along the way!"

Qujing sighed; they now had no retreat.

From the moment he decided to rebel against the Empire, it was already destined that they would face this encirclement.