The Gold Devourer didn’t take long to collapse the battleship’s ceiling, dropping inside to continue its absorption. The vessel’s hull had already been reduced to porous sand, riddled with gaping holes.

Sangda and the other extraterrestrials watched this bizarre spectacle with undisguised astonishment.

"That golden lion can turn metal into sand. And it’s impervious to attacks!" they concluded after a stunned silence.

"All forces, focus your attacks on that golden lion!" Sangda immediately barked orders to his alien troops.

Now trapped inside the crumbling warship, the Gold Devourer became an easy target for soldiers who hadn’t escaped in time. Weaponless, they resorted to punching and kicking the metallic beast.

Yet the creature remained utterly unfazed. Nearby, Mulai and the two half-beast corpse demons observed the chaos with detached amusement.

"This doesn’t add up," Sangda muttered, his brow furrowing. "If the Gold Devourer’s truly invulnerable, why would Ye Liuyun send it here?" His eyes narrowed in calculation.

By now, massive sections of the colossal battleship had disintegrated into sand, collapsing inward. Through the gaps, Sangda could clearly see his soldiers swarming the golden beast in futile assault.

The sandification wasn’t limited to weapons and armor—even the soldiers’ spatial rings were crumbling, spilling their precious contents across the disintegrating deck.

A sudden realization struck Sangda. "Attack its consciousness!" he roared to his troops.

Immediately, nearby aliens launched psychic assaults at the Gold Devourer. But before their mental probes could penetrate the beast’s mind, a streak of black light from Mulai struck them down. Simultaneously, the two half-beast corpse demons sprang into action, systematically eliminating alien warriors with strong spiritual energy.

They were executing Ye Liuyun’s orders precisely—neutralizing enemies with formidable psychic abilities first.

Truth be told, the Gold Devourer’s own spiritual defenses were formidable. Even if ordinary aliens breached its mental barriers, their consciousness would simply become nourishment for the beast’s growing psychic power.

"I knew it! All units, launch simultaneous psychic attacks against both the Gold Devourer and Mulai!" Sangda’s voice rang with triumph as he confirmed his strategy’s validity. His orders now expanded beyond the metallic beast to include its mysterious guardian.

At that moment, Ye Liuyun’s nine-headed demonic dragon suddenly surged forward with a thunderous roar. The sonic attack, infused with soul-shaking waves, blasted toward the alien soldiers.

Mulei’s spiritual power was stronger than the average soldier’s, allowing him to withstand the assault, but many others couldn’t endure it—some coughed up blood on the spot. Seizing the opportunity, the half-beast corpse demon puppets struck down several aliens who were less affected. After obliterating a few more enemies with his dark energy, Mulei immediately dashed toward Ye Liuyun, who promptly withdrew him into his spatial realm to recover.

Meanwhile, the two half-beast corpse demon puppets positioned themselves before the Gold-Devouring Beast’s consciousness sea, shielding it from incoming spiritual attacks. Some aliens recklessly unleashed their own souls, charging into the puppets’ consciousness—only to be instantly poisoned to death. A few even ventured into the Gold-Devouring Beast’s mind, only to become nourishment that strengthened its spiritual power.

Above, the falcons continued their relentless assault, cutting down soldiers in droves. The battlefield was a scene of utter carnage.

Soon enough, the Gold-Devouring Beast completed its task, reducing the colossal warship to nothing more than a heap of sand. Resources from the fallen aliens’ storage rings scattered across the void, but there was no time to collect them.

"Fall back!" Ye Liuyun recalled the Gold-Devouring Beast without hesitation, knowing when to quit while ahead. He then handed each half-beast corpse demon puppet a large-capacity Interspatial Ring, ordering them to gather the scattered resources.

Throughout the entire ordeal, Sanda stubbornly refused to deploy any elite alien warriors, allowing the majority of the two hundred thousand troops aboard that warship to be slaughtered by the falcons. Only a handful managed to escape to other vessels. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The four alien warships continued their full-speed retreat.

"Let them fight. As long as that golden-maned lion doesn’t reappear, they can’t touch us. If it does show itself again, send out a few spiritually powerful martial artists to eliminate it. Just make sure they remove all metal gear before engaging!" Sanda had already laid out his strategy.

Seeing no further movement from the aliens, Ye Liuyun ordered the half-beast corpse demons to collect all the enemy corpses before recalling the falcons. With his forces regrouped, he led them back to the satellite island.

Seeing them retreat, Sanda didn’t order pursuit. In that first clash, it had lost two million troops—though they were the weakest, the loss still stung.

"Ye Liuyun, I won’t forget this!" Sanda silently swore vengeance.

Ye Liuyun’s Skyhawks dominated the skies, forcing Sanda to endure the humiliation. Though the aliens had captured some Skyhawks, they hadn’t yet replicated them—lacking the necessary materials, their knockoffs were far less durable, preventing mass production.

Ye Liuyun’s goal had been to crush the enemy’s morale, not to engage in an all-out battle here.

Destroying two million aliens and vast amounts of equipment while seizing valuable resources—this was more than enough to satisfy him.

But Sanda’s quick thinking was alarming. It had already devised a countermeasure against the Gold-Devourer Beast, proving future battles would be a battle of wits. A single misstep, and Sanda could exploit the opening.

Returning to Satellite Island, Ye Liuyun recalled all his Skyhawks.

He suspected Sanda might bypass the island entirely, relying on the massive warships’ defenses to charge straight for the Holy Land.

If it were him, he wouldn’t stop at Satellite Island. If Sanda did linger, he could still adjust his defenses in time.

As predicted, Sanda ignored Satellite Island and headed straight for the Holy Land. Liu Kui deployed all his Swallow Darts in another interception attempt, but they failed to breach the alien warships’ defensive formations.

Ye Liuyun pondered, then used spatial power to get ahead of the aliens. After giving the Gold-Devourer Beast new instructions, he retrieved four colossal warships he had seized from fallen enemies. He fueled them with minimal energy and ordered soldiers to pilot them straight into Sanda’s fleet.

Meanwhile, Liu Kui swiftly mobilized troops via teleportation arrays, reinforcing the Holy Land’s defenses.

After several collisions, Ye Liuyun’s four warships maneuvered above the alien fleet, pressing down with all their might to force Sanda’s ships off course.

"Keep replenishing energy. Ignore their attacks—full speed to the Holy Land!" Sanda remained unshaken, ordering the fleet to push forward at maximum power.

It had already calculated everything. Once they reached the Holy Land, the tide would turn in their favor. Ye Liuyun’s meager forces wouldn’t stand a chance.

With ample energy reserves to last the journey, Sanda wasn’t worried.

But before long, an alien commander reported that one of their warships was turning to sand.

"Damn it, a trap! Ye Liuyun hid that golden-maned beast inside a ship—sacrificing one to drag us down!" Sanda instantly grasped the ploy.

At the same time, Ye Liuyun signaled Liu Kui to direct all Swallow Darts toward the disintegrating alien warship.