Chapter 2403: War Stalemate

The clone, at Ye Ling's reminder, tried to mobilize the Space World's power to take in that stone mound.

With a single try, it actually succeeded in pulling that stone mound in.

"The Space World's power is still greater!"

Ye Liuyun also marveled at the Space World's effect.

This was still his first time using Spatial Power to affect the outside world.

"Of course! A world's power is far greater than your own power!"

Ye Ling told Ye Liuyun.

After the clone retrieved the stone mound, it also considered whether to set up a Formation here.

The High Priest told him that beneath this Altar lies the world's Primordial Power, an inexhaustible source suitable for arranging a Formation.

But after consulting Qiong Qi, he thought the other side surely also has a Formation Master, so it would hardly have any major effect.

It would be better to let the local tribe handle it themselves, make Xiao Muyu careless, then deliver a one‑hit kill.

Thus, the clone withdrew, erased that segment of the High Priest's memory, and lifted its control over him.

Then it also removed control over the guards here, erased that day's memories, letting them continue to arrange defenses at their own will.

The clone then again left the tribe, boarded a Flying Boat, and observed the changes from Xingkong.

He discovered that Xiao Muyu's squad had already clashed with the local natives.

Although the locals were numerous, their casualties were heavy, and they were no match for this army.

You Ming's Flying Boat was also rapidly approaching here.

However, to the clone's surprise, behind You Ming's Flying Boat was another Flying Boat that had just set out from the Secret Realm's entrance.

"Eh?

Who is this?"

The clone could not see who was inside the Flying Boat, but it was certain that other outsiders had entered the Secret Realm.

The clone surveyed the battle, found no point to intervene, and thus concealed itself within the tribe, familiarizing the terrain near their resource Treasure Vault.

It even went invisible to inspect, discovering that the medicinal herbs and ores here were abundant and of high quality.

The Martial Cultivators here also train using Divine Crystals, so there are many Divine Crystals inside.

However, the locals' forging and pill‑making techniques are poor, lacking high‑grade weapons and pills.

At the Altar, the High Priest also set up a Formation, emptying all the blood in his body.

The Altar instantly became a restricted zone.

The guards patrolled outside the Formation all day, preventing beasts or outsiders from prematurely breaking it.

Tribe members kept gathering, with more people arriving and being sent to the front to resist the invasion.

Yet Xiao Muyu's army kept pushing forward.

Over two hundred strong ones in the tribe had been wiped out by Xiao Muyu's nearby elites, leaving less than twenty percent.

But the tribe's relentless attacks left Xiao Muyu's army exhausted.

Since the war began two days ago, Xiao Muyu's army has had no rest at all.

At first they felt fine, thinking killing the natives was too easy.

But under the natives' wave attack, they had to stay on edge, and the True Essence they consumed was hard to fully recover.

The clone also thought it could help the tribe, so it captured many beasts in the eastern Mi Lin, forming a beast tide that rushed at Xiao Muyu's army, dealing heavy blows together with the tribe.

The tribe initially did not expect the beasts could serve this purpose.

Seeing the beasts aid them, their confidence in resistance grew.

Immediately many went to capture beasts, bringing them into battle, causing considerable trouble for Xiao Muyu's advancing army.

Xiao Muyu also felt his advance too slow, so he sent four Martial Cultivator elites to assassinate the tribal leader.

Although the operation succeeded, the clone's Technique ambush eliminated two of them.

And after the tribal leader was assassinated, the tribe grew even more hostile toward Xiao Muyu's side; those who had considered surrender instantly changed attitude, and the whole group, sharing a common hatred, launched more frequent attacks and raids on Xiao Muyu's forces.

Xiao Muyu finally, helplessly, withdrew a distance temporarily, letting Term (exclude) train to recover.

Those elites patrolled around the camp, killing the natives who came to harass.

Ye Liuyun, taking advantage of the chaos, followed the natives to kill two elites, causing Xiao Muyu great worry.

He feared hidden masters in the tribe might strike a fatal blow.

Therefore he stayed in the army daily, shielding himself tightly.

The Martial Cultivator elites defending the army's perimeter were organized in groups of three to avoid ambushes.

They no longer simply killed the natives, but began having elites use Soul to control them, forcing betrayal of the tribe.

This tactic proved effective; traitors in the tribe multiplied, turning it into chaos.

The clone as much as possible lifted Soul control from some people, also letting them see Xiao Muyu's scheme.

Thus the tribe's elites also began auditing everyone's Soul.

But their use of Divine Soul Power was too limited; they could only detect who was controlled, not erase the Divine Soul Contract, so helplessly they could only temporarily imprison those people.

Yet as the war progressed, the number of detained people kept increasing.

Seeing that helping them was futile, the clone again infiltrated Xiao Muyu's army to poison, killing many Term (exclude).

He did not use Spiritual Soul Attack to control Term (exclude), fearing Xiao Muyu would discover him early.

After days of fighting, beast attacks, and this poisoning, Xiao Muyu's thousand‑person unit now has only half left.

Thus Xiao Muyu could only retreat far back, forming a temporary stalemate with the tribe.

"Never imagined that fighting these natives would cost us so many."

Xiao Muyu couldn't help but sigh.

And the leader of that Imperial Guard unit suspected that outsiders were helping the natives.

Beast tides, poisoning—these don't seem like methods these natives would use.

I suspect that outsiders are secretly helping them.

That Leader said.

You mean those few assassins who came in?

They probably haven't arrived yet!

Xiao Muyu had also long received the notice from the ambush troops at the Secret Realm's entrance, knowing that You Ming and the others had entered, but he just felt the timing was off.

Maybe they have some special treasure that can speed things up!

That Leader guessed.

Well, no matter what, they should be arriving in these two days.

I still think I should send a few people to check.

Xiao Muyu immediately dispatched three Heavenly Human Second Layer Martial Cultivators to go back and check on You Ming and the others' situation.

The clone had been observing nearby; seeing them send three Martial Cultivators over, it immediately had Ye Liuyun and the others get ready.

Ye Liuyun also led the crowd down from the warship and hid far away in the Mi Lin.

That way, the people Xiao Muyu sent would first spot the Flying Boat trailing behind them.