Chapter 1983: One Arrow, Two Hawks

After returning to the City of Death, Ye Liuyun left the Vermilion Bird, Ox Lion, Demon Wolf (all at Sixth Tier Late Stage), the Lion‑Tiger Beast (mid‑stage of the Sixth Layer), and the Barbarian Ox (early Sixth Layer) to Ye Tiandao and He Lian Xiu.

He also left a large number of Fifth Layer mid‑late stage Demon Beasts to guard the City of Death.

He himself, with great fanfare, led a squad of soldiers rushing to the Chen family to meet Chen Taihe as scheduled.

Information from the border battlefield spread extremely quickly.

Many people would sell intelligence for money.

Ye Liuyun's City of Death was no exception.

Therefore, Ye Liuyun's movements were immediately reported to the Eastern Dynasty.

"This is the chance—kill their leader outright!"

Marquis Dongling immediately dispatched ten Fifth‑ and Sixth‑Layer Martial Cultivators, along with the highest‑ranked Seventh‑Layer strong cultivator, to hunt Ye Liuyun.

He had not anticipated that Ye Liuyun would dare to provoke them.

Moreover, in almost a single night, his peripheral forces were all wiped out.

His own army also lost half its strength.

Logically, he should have asked the dynasty for aid.

Yet Ye Liuyun neither pressed the advantage nor dared to occupy the conquered territory.

This made him think that Ye Liuyun might also be wary of the Seventh‑Layer masters on his side.

And a direct assault on the City of Death would force Marquis Dongling to face tens of thousands of troops.

Even if he has strongmen, they could fall amid the chaotic army.

Therefore, killing Ye Liuyun outright is the best method, and might even allow him to capture Ye Liuyun's army.

"It looks like they deliberately left us a chance, trying to lure us out!"

The Seventh‑Layer Martial Cultivators also cautiously voiced their opinions.

Marquis Dongling didn't deny: "It's possible."

"If you bring ten Fifth‑ and Sixth‑Layer Martial Cultivators together, even if there's a trap, you can all retreat unscathed!"

Marquis Dongling also analyzed for that strong cultivator: "Ye Liuyun is merely a mercenary leader who rose from the bottom; he certainly doesn't have many powerful Martial Cultivators nearby, which is his fatal weakness."

"Now his pet beasts are all defending the city; he can't muster any more power."

The strong cultivator thought it over and agreed that Ye Liuyun likely has no additional strength.

Within the border battlefield there are only a handful of Seventh‑Layer strong cultivators; if Ye Liuyun had Seventh‑Layer allies, he could have acted long ago and wouldn't have waited until now.

So he also set out with his men immediately.

But by the time they arrived at the Chen family, Ye Liuyun had already arrived earlier and met Chen Taihe.

Ye Liuyun's force appeared sizable, but in reality it consisted only of him, Wu Qingcheng, Lin Luoyi, Huo Wu, and Hua Xiangyuan—four women—and a hundred ordinary city‑guard soldiers, possessing virtually no combat power.

Yet their display was impressive, and Chen Taihe did not dare to underestimate them.

Moreover, Wu Qingcheng and Lin Luoyi were representatives of the Spirit Cloud Business Association.

Additionally, Lin Luoyi answered questions about the association fluently, and Wu Qingcheng clearly understood its affairs; their aura alone showed they were no ordinary people, so Chen Taihe naturally did not dare to slight them.

Wu Qingcheng and Lin Luoyi got straight to the point, without idle talk, and began negotiating business directly.

While they were engrossed in talks, the Eastern Dynasty's Martial Cultivators barged in, explicitly demanding to kill Ye Liuyun.

They assumed the Chen family lacked Seventh‑Layer Martial Cultivators, so they rushed in to eliminate Ye Liuyun, believing the mission accomplished.

To prevent Ye Liuyun's army from arriving as reinforcement.

Unexpectedly, Chen He had already, per Ye Liuyun's instructions, gathered all the Chen family's Martial Cultivator masters, claiming it was to protect Chen Taihe but actually to deal with these intruders.

"They deliberately came to sabotage the cooperation!"

Ye Liuyun then explained to Chen Taihe.

The soldiers Ye Liuyun brought naturally charged first, but many were quickly slain by the Eastern Dynasty's Martial Cultivator elites.

Chen He also sent men to surge forward, entangling the other Martial Cultivators.

At the sight of blood, both sides went on a killing spree.

Chen Taihe wanted to clarify the situation, but now that chaos had erupted, he had no choice but to let the Chen family's masters fight.

Otherwise, those masters would have easily slaughtered the Chen family's Martial Cultivators.

The Eastern Dynasty's people hadn't expected the Chen family still had Seventh‑Layer masters, and the two sides fought with great vigor.

Meanwhile, Ye Liuyun, with Wu Qingcheng, Lin Luoyi and the other women, as well as a few of Chen Taihe's guards, kept their distance to avoid the battle's aftershocks.

Suddenly, a white butterfly fluttered into view behind the guard.

Yet they were all nervously watching the fight ahead and didn't notice.

Hua Xiangyuan and Huo Wu each cast illusion arts, and the three of them combined to control Chen Taihe and those guards.

Chen Taihe ripped the Defense Artifact hanging around his neck and handed it to Wu Qingcheng.

Ye Liuyun and his invisible clone immediately released Soul, surged into Chen Taihe's Sea of Consciousness, and placed a Slave Seal on him.

Afterwards, Wu Qingcheng returned the artifact to him to wear again.

Chen He, accompanied by the Administrator, stood between them, blocking the Seventh‑Layer strong cultivator's sight.

Moreover, he was engaged in combat and paid little attention to Chen Taihe.

Then the clone also joined the fight, launching a two‑sided kill, all using Spiritual Soul Attacks as surprise strikes.

He killed Eastern Dynasty Martial Cultivators while also taking out Chen family's Martial Cultivators that Chen He couldn't control.

And he used the opponent's own hands to eliminate the target, striving to act unseen.

After the numbers dwindled, Ye Liuyun, with Huo Wu and Hua Xiangyuan, approached the battlefield, first using illusion to affect the Eastern Dynasty's Seventh‑Layer Martial Cultivator, then his clone and he launched a Soul attack to devour its Divine Soul Power, after which the master Chen Taihe brought down killed it.

Afterwards, he went on to kill the Eastern Dynasty's other Martial Cultivators, which was much easier.

Ye Liuyun immediately sent a Transmission Voice to Ye Tiandao and He Lian Xiu, ordering them to march straight into the Eastern Dynasty's territory to capture Marquis Dongling alive.

He, however, continued to stay at the Chen family, controlling Chen Taihe and acting together with him.

Once the business talks were basically concluded, both sides set up a banquet to prematurely celebrate a pleasant cooperation.

During the banquet, Hua Xiangyuan played the zither, Wu Qingcheng performed a dance, using illusion techniques to bewilder that Seventh Layer expert, after which Ye Liuyun and his avatar simultaneously struck, also implanting a slave seal on him.

"It's really not easy!"

After the success, Ye Liuyun finally sighed.

With this one move, he achieved two goals: not only did he eliminate the Eastern Dynasty's martial cultivator expert, he also took the opportunity to subdue Chen Taihe and a Seventh Layer martial cultivator, with good results.

Moreover, it seemed that the Eastern Dynasty's Divine Crystal Vein and territory would also soon belong to him.

Next, Ye Liuyun had Chen He clear out the unrelated personnel, while he himself discussed with Chen Taihe, Chen He, and that Seventh Layer expert how to seize control of the Chen family.

Chen Taihe decided to make an excuse, first gathering a batch of Chen family elders and strongmen to come here to guard the vein, then later bring them back to seize power.

Ye Liuyun thought this idea was not bad, so he let him handle it.

He, meanwhile, took Wu Qingcheng and the others, rushing to the route where the East Ling Marquis might flee, getting there ahead of time to cut off his retreat, and also had that Seventh Realm martial cultivator go ahead to intercept.