Chapter 3267: Probing a Strong Assault

On the battlefield, the frantic slaughter left the Imperial Guard Leader in a dilemma; the two armies on his flanks were also very worried that Ye Liuyun still had a follow‑up, so they dared not act rashly.

But if the Imperial Guard could not stop these mad soldiers, they would still have to intervene, and then they feared being ambushed by Ye Liuyun.

If they did not act, their entire front army would have to retreat first. As soon as they engaged, they were driven back by the opponent's lower‑realm soldiers, making those two Leaders look utterly useless.

So at this moment everyone was watching the Imperial Guard, to see whether they could block those soldiers.

Ye Liuyun likewise made no move, merely watching the seventy thousand soldiers charge.

These seventy thousand lower‑realm soldiers, however, relied on their frenzy to clash with the Imperial Guard to a mutually disastrous stalemate. Though the Imperial Guard had higher realms and better equipment, they gained little advantage, needing more than twenty thousand men just to kill thirty thousand of those soldiers.

But the Imperial Guard Leader issued a death order—no retreat in a fight to the death—so with no way out, some Imperial Guard soldiers gradually showed their strength, while Ye Liuyun's cannon fodder suffered mounting casualties; five or six of his men could not take down a single Imperial Guard.

However, the Imperial Guard formation had already been disrupted, unable to exploit its battle array, and both sides fought in a mêlée; otherwise Ye Liuyun's cannon fodder would have suffered even heavier losses.

"The gap in realms is still too great; madness alone can't change the outcome!"

After watching a while longer, Ye Liuyun could already foresee the result, so he took Wu Qingcheng back to the central camp. The remaining matters no longer required their intervention.

In the end, all seventy thousand cannon fodder were annihilated, and of the one hundred thousand golden‑armored Imperial Guard, fewer than forty thousand were killed.

Purely by numbers, the Imperial Guard's first battle counted as a victory, but this Imperial Guard had been thoroughly cowed and no longer dared to continue probing.

And as soon as the fight ended, Ye Liuyun's six thousand black‑armor elite soldiers appeared on the battlefield.

The opposing Imperial Guard, upon seeing this death‑aura‑laden legion, immediately fell back to regroup, unable even to tend the battlefield for fear they would charge straight through.

The two armies on their flanks also grew tense, preparing for combat.

But the black‑armor army only sent a squad to clean up the battlefield.

The opposing armies were baffled, standing in strict formation, fearing Ye Liuyun might have some trick. Yet Ye Liuyun's

side, after cleaning the battlefield, immediately withdrew without taking any action.

"What's going on? Are they really here just to clean the battlefield?"

"What do they mean, sending seventy thousand madmen to die and then calling it a wrap?"

"They clearly were defeated, yet they still sent people to clean the battlefield—how shameless! Are they that poor?"

The opposing Leaders and soldiers all guessed wildly in their hearts, not knowing what Ye Liuyun's side was planning.

Even the two armies that were supposed to press the Imperial Guard were bewildered and dared not probe further. Only after the Fire Seal Dynasty's army was fully in place did Yao Wanhao begin to redeploy.

Now both sides' troop numbers were transparent, each clearly seeing the other, and it remained to see how Yao Wanhao would attack.

Ye Liuyun's side continued to make no move; the longer the delay, the more advantageous it became for them. If delayed further, they would forge more firepower warcars.

After arriving, Yao Wanhao spent several days observing the garrisons Ye Liuyun had on each Xingqiu.

He discovered that the outpost island's standing force numbered 240,000: a Death Legion of 150,000 with realms only at the first or second level, 30,000 of Cui Daoran's bandit soldiers, and two Demon Race armies of 30,000 each.

The central Xingqiu also had 100,000 garrison troops, six thousand black‑armor elite soldiers, and 10,000 of Cui Daoran's bandit soldiers. The other six Xingqiu each had 100,000 garrison troops.

Ye Liuyun had already displayed all his forces, with nothing concealed.

But Yao Wanhao could not believe Ye Liuyun had no follow‑up; seeing Ye Liuyun's overt forces so limited made him even more reluctant to act rashly.

Earlier Ye Liuyun had captured many soldiers, and Yao Wanhao did not know that most of them were used as sparring partners and killed. So he estimated that Ye Liuyun still had at least 200,000 troops.

He also thought the outpost Xingqiu and the central Xingqiu had the largest numbers, and their armor was of a void tier, making them the hardest to defeat.

The other six Xingqiu were clearly filled with Reinforcement Troops, and those Leaders had all been temporarily seized by Ye Liuyun, so they should be easier to attack.

Even if they failed to capture them, they would force Ye Liuyun to reveal his elite units or draw soldiers from the outpost Xingqiu to reinforce.

Thus he arbitrarily selected two Xingqiu each garrisoned by 100,000 Reinforcement Troops and sent the front army to attack. The front

's two columns of 200,000 troops assaulted the Xingqiu, while the remaining six to seven thousand Imperial Guard landed on an uninhabited Xingqiu between them.

It was a small‑scale offensive test, meant to see what response Ye Liuyun's side would have.

When his Warship moved, Yu Xiaofeng, Ye Liuyun and other Leaders already guessed his intention. He only let Cui Daoran take ten thousand soldiers to reinforce that uninhabited Xingqiu, first deploying the nine large spherical firepower warcars as a deterrent.

And Yao Wanhao learned that those nine large spherical units were with the Imperial Guard, and that Ye Liuyun had not sent any reinforcements to the two Xingqiu defended by Reinforcement Troops, which made him even more at ease.

"Since you don't want to reveal your Trump Card, I'll first seize a few of your Xingqiu and see how you respond!"

Yao Wanhao still thought he could easily capture those two Xingqiu, assuming only the Imperial Guard's pressure would be heavier.

He immediately ordered all three columns of the front army to launch a full‑scale attack.

The Imperial Guard Leader inwardly lamented. He had thought it would be easy, but those nine large spherical units had all been placed on his side. He had heard that the Energy Cannon attacks of those large spherical units were extremely powerful.

Previously, his own team had resisted those mad soldiers; now they had to face a heavy‑firepower team again.

He cursed Yao Wanhao in his mind for treating the Imperial Guard as cannon fodder, yet dared not disobey orders; before the assault even began, he recalled the Warships, ordered the soldiers to disperse, and rushed toward the Xingqiu.

The other two flanking armies sent their Warships straight over to land. The three armies simultaneously struck the three Xingqiu.

"Open fire!"

Cui Daoran's nine firepower warcars fired first. The dense fire net made the Imperial Guard hesitant to advance.

But at this moment Yao Wanhao ordered them to charge, forbidding retreat.

These Imperial Guard soldiers were originally all at the Ninth Realm, wearing true‑tier Ninth‑grade armor, so the firepower warcars could only concentrate rapid volleys on a single soldier to wound or kill, far less efficient than attacking a Warship.

When they surged forward, they found the warcars' bombardment was not that terrifying; many soldiers successfully broke through the firecar blockade and landed on the Xingqiu.