Chapter 3385
Only after the more than three hundred thousand remaining demon soldiers surrendered did they learn from the demon army that their clan leader had already been killed. They were therefore even more shocked by the strength of Ye Liuyun's army.
The various armies on Ye Liuyun's side also began tallying their casualties. Jiang Yuanhai's army had suffered more than seventy thousand casualties.
Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan's armies had suffered roughly the same number of casualties, so their two forces were simply reorganized and merged into a single army of one hundred thousand.
After this battle, only a little over sixty thousand members of the Death Legion remained. About six thousand female soldiers were left. Even the black-armored elite soldiers had been reduced to just nine thousand.
Including the casualties suffered by the demon legions, they had paid a price of roughly three hundred thousand people to wipe out the demon army's seven hundred thousand troops and capture another three hundred thousand.
This result was actually quite good. However, their forces had been small to begin with, and if they continued fighting like this, they would eventually be wiped out.
This time, even Commanders Yu Xiaofeng and the others felt that the casualties were too high and that the army should be given a proper rest. In the battles to come, the demon army would serve as the main force.
Thus, the Death Legion and the female soldiers all returned to the spatial world of the second avatar to cultivate at an accelerated pace. Ye Liuyun also helped them refine the soul power within the Sealing Demon Orb into soul sources, which they could take back and distribute.
They had Xuanyuan Ling exchange all the resources they had acquired for the resources they needed, allowing them to raise their realms more quickly.
The remaining human army focused on using firepower chariots and giant crossbows in the battles that followed, preserving their strength as much as possible. The black-armored elite soldiers were responsible only for protecting the central command tent; unless absolutely necessary, they would no longer be sent into battle.
Black Mountain began reorganizing the eight hundred thousand demon troops and allocating resources in preparation for the battles ahead. The firepower chariots of the Death Legion were also temporarily lent to the demon legion.
News of the demon clan leader's death had not yet reached the Sacred Demon Star System, so this was the perfect opportunity to catch them off guard.
By asking the captured demon soldiers about the situation, they learned that the army that had previously withdrawn was still concentrated on several planets at the edge of the Sacred Demon Star System, waiting for orders rather than dispersing.
The target Ye Liuyun and Yu Xiaofeng had chosen for their attack was to fight their way back into demon territory.
Half a month later, Ye Liuyun's army finished resting and boarded the warships. Black Mountain led the eight hundred thousand demons in front, while Jiang Yuanhai and the others followed with nearly four hundred thousand troops.
They deliberately bypassed the ten-million-strong garrison and headed straight for the demon stronghold in the Sacred Demon Star System, drawing the garrison back in batches to reinforce it.
Even when they encountered small groups of demon soldiers blocking their path, they eliminated them with ease, giving them no chance to escape.
There were not many powerful experts left at the demon stronghold, and they were even less capable of stopping Ye Liuyun and the demonic beasts he brought with him. Thus, Ye Liuyun's forces easily seized it and occupied the most central planet in the Demon-Expelling Star System.
After Ye Liuyun arrived, he also had the demonic beasts enter the Demon God Hall to test it, but none of them obtained any inheritance.
He therefore ordered the demon army to continue sweeping the surrounding planets while he took Lei Ming and the other demonic beasts to excavate the origin power of this core planet and plundered quite a few resources from various places.
The ten million demon troops stationed there learned that their stronghold had been attacked. At first, they did not dare make any rash moves and sent only a million demon troops to reinforce it.
Only after receiving word that the stronghold had been overrun, its origin power excavated, and Ye Liuyun's demon legion had begun attacking the surrounding planets did they send another two million troops as reinforcements.
During this time, they also kept trying to contact Ao Feng, asking him whether the entire army should march toward the stronghold. However, without a reply from Ao Feng, most of their forces still did not dare act rashly.
Those who returned to reinforce the stronghold were all bold commanders who were not afraid of punishment.
Unfortunately for them, they returned in separate groups. The first million-strong army to arrive was intercepted by Jiang Yuanhai's forces. After being bombarded by firepower chariots for half a day, the remaining soldiers were surrounded by Black Mountain and the demon legion. In the end, more than four hundred thousand of them were captured.
Black Mountain assigned the Tiger-Headed Beast King to reorganize the surrendered troops. He himself once again moved to meet the two million troops arriving afterward.
The strategy was the same this time. Jiang Yuanhai's army used firepower chariots to intercept them, forcing the demon army to suffer heavy losses.
However, the two-million-strong demon army had a considerable numerical advantage. Several times, they used waves of soldiers to forcefully break through Jiang Yuanhai's defensive line, but each time Xiao Heng and Li Zhaoyuan led tens of thousands of elite soldiers, while Ye Liuyun led the demonic beasts, to drive them back.
The two sides remained locked in battle for a day. The demon army lost more than half its forces, and its commander was crushed to death by the Sealing Demon Stele. Jiang Yuanhai's army also lost more than fifty thousand men.
𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Just as the demons were exhausted, Black Mountain led eight hundred thousand demon troops in a pincer attack from behind. They could no longer hold out and ultimately surrendered. This time alone, nearly seven hundred thousand prisoners were taken.
"That's too many!" Even Ye Liuyun felt that the demon legion had too many people.
He could not even gather enough uniforms for so many people anymore. Once these demon soldiers had no uniforms, it would be impossible to distinguish which side they belonged to when they fought the demon army again.
Thus, Ye Liuyun had the Tiger-Headed Beast King reorganize the newly surrendered army of one million one hundred thousand. Afterward, they went around collecting planets, preparing to withdraw.
They soon occupied more than twenty planets and had the first avatar collect them into the spatial world. They then brought the more than one million demon troops into the spatial world as well, where they could be reorganized.
The eight hundred thousand-strong demon legion began advancing in one direction, continuously collecting the planets of the Sacred Demon Star System. Jiang Yuanhai's army provided security from behind, intercepting any demons or demon armies that came after them.
The demon martial artists were certainly no match for these armies. And without orders from their clan leader, the demon armies did not dare act rashly. In the end, some commanders could no longer wait and privately led their own forces in pursuit.
However, with each army numbering one hundred thousand, they instead became targets for Jiang Yuanhai's forces to hone themselves against. Jiang Yuanhai and Xiao Heng no longer used firepower chariots. The three hundred thousand troops took turns fighting, tempering the soldiers through close combat with the demons.
After more than ten battles, Jiang Yuanhai and Xiao Heng's forces had been reduced to one hundred and fifty thousand before they finally returned to the spatial world of the second avatar to recuperate. The rest were handed over to the demon army led by Black Mountain.
Black Mountain also began selecting elite soldiers through battle after battle. In the end, he chose three hundred thousand demon elites, about sixty thousand of whom were veterans from before whose realms had not yet reached the ninth level of the Return-to-One Realm. However, all the surrendered troops they had recruited were above the ninth level of the Return-to-One Realm.
They used resources to focus on cultivating these three hundred thousand elite soldiers, allowing them to recover and build up their strength. The remaining five hundred thousand were used for battles and attrition.
Even the one million one hundred thousand troops that the Tiger-Headed Beast King had just finished reorganizing were brought out by Black Mountain. He had the demons tie white strips of cloth around their heads and arms to distinguish them, then sent them onto the battlefield for training.
In the end, before leaving the Sacred Demon Star System, Black Mountain selected another two hundred thousand demon elites from these armies, bringing the total force to five hundred thousand.