Chapter 3377
But the demon race’s ten-million-strong army refused to split up and simply kept chasing them. Even when they divided their forces to surround them, they sent armies numbering in the millions to flank them, leaving Ye Liuyun and the others unable to fight.
With no other choice, Ye Liuyun’s army was driven back by the demons for more than ten days in a row. The demons still showed no sign of withdrawing, as if they intended to drive them all the way back beyond the outpost star system they had occupied earlier.
After discussing it with Yu Xiaofeng, Ye Liuyun decided to have his two clones each lead a surprise attack with the female soldiers and the black-armored elites, while sending the puppets to hold the demons at the front for a little longer.
Thus, the next time they encountered the demons, the firepower war chariots and the puppets’ powerful crossbows no longer retreated. As usual, the demons sent a million troops from each side to flank them.
But this time, the armies flanking the demon forces on both wings were ambushed from the sides, and spirit-qi beasts appeared as well, attacking one of the demon armies along the way.
By the time the other armies on both sides closed in to surround them, they had already withdrawn swiftly, then moved on to ambush the demon army at the outermost edge.
At the same time, the puppets and firepower war chariots holding the front also began to retreat, ensuring that they never became trapped in the demon army’s encirclement.
The demons naturally tried to take advantage of the opportunity to launch a powerful assault, but their attacks were blocked by the Demon Lion’s Wind-Thunder Fan, the Vermilion Bird’s and Qiong Qi’s blazing flames, and Thunderclap’s lightning power.
After Ye Liuyun’s army withdrew, the surprise attacks by his two clones never stopped. Sometimes they ambushed the outermost legions of the demon army several times a day.
They would strike and leave immediately, never allowing themselves to be trapped, yet each attack still caused the demon army more than ten thousand casualties.
That number was nothing compared with an army of ten million. But the demons were also worried that if this continued for a long time, the accumulated losses would become substantial.
So they began launching surprise attacks as well. However, each time they sent out at least a million troops. That could no longer be called a surprise attack; it was an assault.
Ye Liuyun’s side could certainly detect an assault on such a large scale, so several of them were intercepted by the firepower war chariots they had deployed in advance. They even had the two clones coordinate attacks on both sides of the assaulting forces.
The demons also organized five elite units of thirty thousand men each. All of them were at the peak of the Ninth Stage of the Unity Realm, and they were specifically tasked with pursuing the surprise-attack forces led by the two clones.
However, they were not as fast as the forces led by the clones. Usually, after luring them away, the clones would attack several times before wiping them out. The two clones even joined forces once to destroy an elite unit of thirty thousand men all at once.
After several battles, the demons could no longer bear to send out Ninth-Stage Unity Realm soldiers. In fact, Ye Liuyun’s side had also suffered considerable losses.
Fewer than twelve thousand black-armored elites remained, and fewer than eight thousand female soldiers were left. Both sides were being worn down; it was just that Ye Liuyun’s side suffered fewer losses thanks to its superior equipment.
Afterward, Ye Liuyun had each of Jiang Yuanhai’s three armies send ten thousand soldiers at the peak of the Ninth Stage to form surprise-attack squads. Led by the two clones in rotation, they continued to ambush the demons, making them extremely frustrated. But the demons still never split up their main army.
All of their commanders in charge of forces numbering around one hundred thousand had received a strict order from the demon clan’s patriarch: the main army was not to split up. Even when sending troops out to attack, they had to dispatch legions of at least a million. No army of around one hundred thousand troops was allowed to fight alone.
Thus, the two sides remained deadlocked for a month without a single head-on battle.
The only thing happening was that the clones continued to lead small squads of soldiers in repeated surprise attacks. The demons tried sending out some elite troops, but after that, they simply stopped paying attention to them.
This left Ye Liuyun, Yu Xiaofeng, and the other commanders quite frustrated.
“We can’t keep wasting time like this!”
“Why don’t we launch a major surprise attack? Send the black-armored elites, the female soldiers, and that thirty-thousand-strong elite unit. We could even bring the ancient demons with us, wipe out one of the demon army’s hundred-thousand-strong forces in one blow, and then withdraw?”
Ye Liuyun proposed using the clones’ spatial worlds to transport the troops, then directly annihilating one of the demon army’s hundred-thousand-strong forces during the next surprise attack.
“We can give it a try. Bring those ten thousand puppets as well!”
Yu Xiaofeng had no objection. He merely asked Ye Liuyun to bring the puppets too, just in case.
They then redeployed their forces. While Ye Liuyun was out ambushing the demons, they also had to guard against a demon ambush. To ensure that the Death Legion could hold its position, they transferred Jiang Yuanhai’s army over to defend it.
Once everything was ready, Ye Liuyun and his two clones set out together. They took everyone into their spatial worlds, then concealed themselves in the void and waited for an opportunity.
The clones made two more attempts at surprise attacks to let the demon army’s guard down. Only then did the three of them suddenly strike, launching a fierce assault on the demon army’s outermost force and releasing everyone they had brought with them.
However, the demons had long since prepared for this. As soon as the ambush began, they once again sent the two armies nearest to that force rushing over as reinforcements.
But when they realized that this surprise attack was unusually fierce and intended to wipe out the hundred-thousand-strong army, several of their elite units immediately hurried over one after another.
Moreover, the demons had a ten-thousand-man unit specifically responsible for launching soul attacks, ready to hold the attackers off in case reinforcements could not arrive in time. At that moment, the entire unit immediately unleashed soul attacks against Ye Liuyun and the others.
At the same time, they sent out a million troops, who charged toward Ye Liuyun’s army at full speed.
“Those damn demons are using the same trick again!”
Ye Liuyun cursed under his breath. But this time, there were not many demons launching soul attacks, and none possessed soul power as formidable as Hun Yuan’s. Thus, he did not summon the Yin-soul Army, instead letting the soldiers he had brought with him face the danger themselves.
Of course, that did not mean he stood by without acting. He led the demonic beasts in blocking most of the soul attacks.
In particular, most of the soul attacks were aimed at him, his clones, Ye Tiandao, the demonic beasts, and the other commanders.
This was therefore the perfect opportunity for the demonic beasts to capture the demons’ souls. Even the weakest soul power among these beasts could now easily capture a demon soul. As for defense within the sea of consciousness, retaining a single soul source was enough.
After a battle of souls, the demons’ ten-thousand-man unit was completely wiped out. But more than three thousand soldiers on Ye Liuyun’s side had also fallen, including nearly six hundred female soldiers.
𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
This pained Ye Liuyun terribly. He immediately took all the Soul-Sealing Pearls from the demonic beasts, then he and his two clones took turns using the power of time. After freezing time, they launched soul attacks against the demon army, killing them one by one and capturing their souls.
The three of them could now maintain their time powers for more than half an hour. Thus, without having to use their full strength, they easily wiped out the entire demon army. The Soul-Sealing Pearls were also filled with the souls of the strongest demons in that army.
Only then did he restore the flow of time and send the puppets out to clean up the battlefield.