Chapter 2240: Tempering Through the Fierce Battle

The Purple Flame Divine Lord and other artificers also assisted the half‑beast army, forging many pieces of equipment.

But these half‑beasts do not like relying on equipment; they prefer direct melee.

So Ye Liuyun divided their fifty thousand into squads of ten thousand, letting them face many foes with few.

They took turns launching attacks on different enemy forces.

In this way, since they lacked numerical superiority, they could only use equipment to lessen the pressure.

And once the battle began, Ye Liuyun gave them no rest, keeping them marching and fighting continuously, pressing forward, exhausting these warlike half‑beasts.

He even let them step into the enemy's encirclement, watching them fight to the death.

Thus he tempered their temperament.

Gradually, the half‑beast army suffered heavy losses, and when Ye Liuyun regrouped them, only thirty thousand remained.

This made them realize they must reduce losses.

So in later battles, they followed Ye Liuyun's tactics, maximizing equipment's power, enabling thirty thousand to repel a hundred thousand siege and win.

"Have you learned?

Valiant aggression is good, but only when you have absolute advantage; be bold, not brute‑force.

Otherwise, your tribe will ultimately head toward extinction!"

Ye Liuyun instructed the Tiger King and some Leaders.

After suffering setbacks, these half‑beasts grew wiser, began learning tactics from Ye Liuyun, and fought more smoothly.

Although their numbers have dwindled, their combat power is stronger.

Their own strength is rapidly improving through constant fighting.

When Ye Liuyun felt they were ready, he led them to seize Mineral Vein resources across the lands.

They repeatedly lurked and infiltrated near various Demon Race and Demon Race half‑beast armies, learning to conceal their presence and avoid the enemy's edge.

Even the twenty thousand Demon Race half‑beast slaves accompanying them learned much from Ye Liuyun.

Thus Ye Liuyun's later strategy proceeded smoothly, capturing over twenty Magic Crystal veins, seizing more than thirty cities, and plundering countless resources.

Every city he captured was stripped clean by Ye Liuyun before departing, leaving the Demon Race bewildered.

Often, when their armies returned, the cities had already been razed by Ye Liuyun.

They still could not catch Ye Liuyun's forces.

Even if they caught up, they could not win, only taking the blows.

Gradually, Ye Liuyun first crippled the two Demon Race half‑beast factions, recruiting them under his command to help with mining.

Later, he subdued the entire Demon Race and brought them into submission.

It was then he realized he had unified the Demon Race of the world's Southern Region.

In this Demon Race world, aside from his unified Southern Region, other areas consist of scattered small tribes.

Only the Central Empire possesses the strongest army, and according to the Demon Race, the Central Empire's troops also have armor and high‑quality weapons.

Ye Liuyun had no intention of warring with the Central Empire, so he halted his advance.

However, after the Demon Race Central Empire stopped receiving tributes from the Southern Demon Race, it sent investigators who quickly discovered the South had been seized by Ye Liuyun.

It immediately dispatched two hundred thousand fully armed troops, marching grandly to strike Ye Liuyun.

In fact, Ye Liuyun now commands more than two hundred thousand Demon Race and Demon Race half‑beasts.

Only, Ye Liuyun has not invested effort in equipping them.

Relying on brute‑force would surely be a loss.

So Ye Liuyun ordered a full retreat.

And they withdrew without fighting, luring the Central army deeper into the South.

Whenever the Central army hesitated to advance, Ye Liuyun sent a few thousand of his weakest troops to harass them.

Sometimes this small detachment escaped; if not, it was annihilated by the Central army.

Thus, in the Central army's eyes, Ye Liuyun's forces were utterly unable to withstand a blow.

So they pressed deep into the Southern interior to pursue Ye Liuyun.

That day, they received news that a large Demon Race army was preparing to evacuate a city not far from them.

They immediately dispatched thirty thousand to exterminate it.

When they arrived, they were surrounded by Ye Liuyun's half‑beast legion.

Because both sides numbered thirty thousand, they thought Ye Liuyun's tactics were suicidal, assuming he only wanted to harass them and had made no defensive preparations, yet he struck them by surprise.

Ye Liuyun led his army in a direct charge, catching them off guard.

When they finally reacted, their formation was already in chaos; the commanding general was shot dead by Ye Liuyun with an arrow, and the soldiers could no longer mount an effective counterattack.

In the end, all thirty thousand soldiers were wiped out, and their armor and gear were given by Ye Liuyun to the twenty thousand laborers who stayed by his side.

These twenty thousand laborers had become Ye Liuyun's personal troops.

The remaining over ten thousand sets of armor, Ye Liuyun selected strong individuals among the Demon Race half‑beasts to form a thirty‑thousand‑strong Demon Race half‑beast army.

The Central Empire's army commander, surprised by their loss, personally led a 150,000‑strong army to chase Ye Liuyun.

But Ye Liuyun fragmented the Demon Race, splitting them into five routes, continuing to flee south, drawing the Central army into pursuit.

He, with sixty thousand fully armed soldiers, launched a surprise attack on their main camp, annihilating the defending twenty thousand troops and seizing another twenty thousand sets of equipment.

Then he struck and fled, infuriating the Central Empire's army, which pursued relentlessly.

They were constantly intercepted along the way, usually by ten to twenty thousand troops attacking their rear.

And they would strike briefly then retreat, leaving them exhausted.

Suddenly, they found Ye Liuyun no longer fleeing but holding a high ground, fortifying it; they, despite fatigue, prepared to capture him in one strike.

But they did not expect that this time Ye Liuyun engaged them in an offensive‑defensive battle.

The equipment of the Central Empire's army is indeed much stronger than the weapons of the Southern Region.

But compared to Ye Liuyun, they are still far behind.

Facing Ye Liuyun's repeating crossbows, they suffer heavy losses.

Yet their Leader insists on wiping out Ye Liuyun in one fell swoop, having the soldiers keep charging.

After great effort they managed to rush to the front of Ye Liuyun's army, only to encounter a simultaneous bombardment by dozens of war chariots; at that moment Ye Liuyun also launched a counterattack, the newly equipped fifty-thousand Demon Race beastmen legion following behind the war chariots and charging at them.

The Central Empire's army was routed, utterly defeated.

Ye Liuyun, however, pursued relentlessly, having his own beastmen legion and the Demon Race beastmen alternately encircle their slow‑escaping units.

Meanwhile, squads of Demon Race and Demon Race beastmen kept appearing on the road, constantly intercepting them, and each interception could cause their army to lose thousands of men.