Chapter 3254: Relentless Pursuit

It was because of this delay that Jiang Yuantang finally escaped the attacks of those two Kuailei beasts and ran into the Imperial Guard. However, his protective shield was not taken down, fearing that the two stealthy Xuanwu ferocious beasts would ambush him.

Ye Liuyun halted the group, but the First Clone went out and released Cui Daoran's band of bandit soldiers of the 44,000‑strong Ninth Realm. Moreover, as soon as it emerged, it had already formed a formation.

"Kill!" Cui Daoran did not hesitate; with a single command, he ordered the army to charge forward.

The opposing Imperial Guard had not yet completed its formation, but the Leader still commanded the soldiers, and the whole force counter‑attacked.

The Fire Seal King was among his troops, a chance for him to prove himself. If he cannot protect the Fire Seal King, his future will not be good.

However, once the two sides clashed, the Imperial Guard Leader found that they were no match at all.

The Fire Seal King also realized that even fifty thousand Imperial Guard could not stop Ye Liuyun's opponent.

"This kid's Space World is actually this big!"

He had originally planned to have this Imperial Guard hold out until other reinforcements and Martial Cultivators arrived, but now it seemed impossible.

He sighed, swallowed another Healing Elixir, took a squad of Imperial Guard to protect himself, and continued to flee.

But both flanks were already sealed off by Ye Liuyun's elite soldiers, so he could not get out and could only keep running forward.

"Chase!"

Ye Liuyun did not hesitate, leaving the First Clone and a Xuanwu ferocious beast here to wait for Cui Daoran, while he took the Second Clone to skirt around the battlefield and continue the pursuit.

He also deployed a virtual-level Flying Boat, carrying the group to accelerate the chase. On the Flying Boat he replenished the two virtual-level Kuailei beasts with some Primordial Power, released them again, and continued to pursue Jiang Yuantang.

Earlier he had sent out two thousand elite soldiers, arranged as five hundred per virtual-level Flying Boat, to guard the flanks and follow the chase.

While pursuing, they used the Flying Boat's attack function to bombard the Imperial Guard squad trailing Jiang Yuantang. Combined with the attacks of the two Kuailei beasts, Jiang Yuantang could not get far before he was surrounded again.

The two Kuailei beasts quickly caught up with Jiang Yuantang, continuously assaulting him; at this point, a ring of virtual-level Warships had already surrounded him.

Jiang Yuantang also stopped at once. He was now fated to be unable to run away. If these Warships…

…were to bombard him, he would surely be finished instantly.

Ye Liuyun immediately deployed Warships, ordering the two Kuailei beasts to cease their attack.

"Open your protective shield, surrender to me, and let your dynasty send a ransom to buy you back!" Ye Liuyun said directly.

"I am the God King of the Fire Seal Star System; you want me to surrender?" Jiang Yuantang felt conflicted inside. He hadn't expected to be beaten so badly.

Although he knew he was no match for Ye Liuyun, as a God King he felt surrendering to Ye Liuyun would be too humiliating.

"Then you just keep holding on!"

Ye Liuyun waved his hand; this time he didn't even use the Kuailei beasts, and several Warships bombarded him together.

"Boom, boom, boom"—the bombardment startled Jiang Yuantang, who immediately deployed several Defense Array Plates and defense light spheres.

He was wounded and could not block the Warships' bombardment. Yet Ye Liuyun's barrage was so fierce it was essentially a killing blow.

While setting up defenses, he shouted at Ye Liuyun, "Are you trying to kill me?"

Ye Liuyun sneered, "Just like your son Jiang Yuntian, you don't know the times! Do you think I wouldn't dare to kill you?"

As soon as he finished speaking, black‑armored soldiers emerged in Warship formations, surrounding him tightly and jointly attacking the Defense Artifacts he had set up. The bombardment from so many powerful foes quickly tore through Jiang Yuantang's defenses layer by layer.

Ye Liuyun remarked coldly, "In my eyes, the only difference between you and an ordinary Martial Cultivator is that you hold more resources. If you can't trade resources, keeping you is useless!"

Jiang Yuantang, seeing Ye Liuyun's icy gaze, finally felt guilty. Yet he asked Ye Liuyun, "Will you promise to release me?"

Ye Liuyun simply shrugged, gave no answer, and reminded him, "You have no right to ask me! Recognize your current situation; your life or death is in a single thought of mine."

The defenses in front of Jiang Yuantang were down to two layers. The soldiers' and Warships' bombardments showed no sign of stopping.

He was truly worried; if the formation were breached, he would be hit by these attacks. Then his injuries would worsen, making recovery even harder!

With a "boom", another layer of the formation was shattered.

"Good! I surrender

Jiang Yuantang, startled into clarity, immediately decided to surrender.

Only then did Ye Liuyun lazily wave his hand, ordering the soldiers to cease fire. Just as the final layer of defense was shattered, some residual blast struck Jiang Yuantang, breaking his Protective True Origin.

If he had delayed his surrender a bit longer, the bombardment might truly have hit him.

Ye Liuyun did not hesitate, immediately releasing Magic Vine to entangle him.

"Do not resist!" he told Jiang Yuantang.

But Jiang Yuantang instinctively activated True Essence Body Shield. As a result, the Magic Vine, following Ye Liuyun's instructions, ignored his defense; the vines whipped up and flung Jiang Yuantang away. Severely wounded, he could not withstand the Magic Vine's attack.

The once‑magnificent God King was beaten to a horrific state, spitting blood. The wound on his back chest, previously torn open, ruptured again, worsening his injuries.

The Magic Vine immediately coiled around him, beginning to siphon Jiang Yuantang's energy. It sucked aggressively, indifferent to his realm dropping.

Luo Yu, inside the Warship, stared in amazement. She had never imagined a God King could be beaten so miserably.

"Ye Liuyun really can act! Could it be that he truly doesn't take the God King seriously?" she muttered to herself.

Ye Liuyun only instructed Jiang Yuantang: "You may take out a Healing Elixir to eat. I don't want you to die. Dead bodies can't be exchanged for resources!

Then take out your Transmission Talisman, first cancel the forbidden void formation here, so that all your armies and Martial Cultivators halt, and no one may approach.

Then have someone bring resources to ransom you. I won't ask for much; your ransom is three times Jiang Yuntian's, reasonable, right?

"My realm is about to drop!" Jiang Yuantang shouted anxiously.

Ye Liuyun simply stared at him, coldly saying, "Do as I say, or you won't even preserve the Return to One realm!"

He never stopped the Magic Vine, until it caused his realm to truly fall to the Return to One Nine Layers Late Stage.

"You…" Jiang Yuantang, furious beyond control, tried to speak to threaten Ye Liuyun.

But seeing Ye Liuyun's icy gaze, he swallowed the words back.

Ye Liuyun nodded with satisfaction, then stopped the Magic Vine, and told Jiang Yuantang: "If I don't receive resources for a day, you will drop a minor realm."