"Your Highness, this Ye, he’s trying to destroy your Golden Moon World!"
"He’s actually sent people to temper and harvest Mountain Range Cores and Earth Vein Essence Cores! Across the entire Golden Moon World, more than thirty?five great mountains and ten Earth Vein Essence Cores have already been taken.
Where the Mountain Range Cores and Earth Vein Essence Cores have been taken, disasters are unending—those places have almost become dead zones, Your Highness!" When Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan reported this intelligence to the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, his voice was literally trembling.
As a trusted aide, Yue Yuan knew very clearly what the Golden Moon World represented to the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor.
"Five months. Five months, and this bastard still hasn’t left!"
The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, clenched his steel teeth until they crackled. He had originally thought Ye Zhen would be like last time—plunder for two or three months and then leave.
But this time, not only has the plundering lasted a full five months, the people taken are several times what they were last time!
You can imagine what a miserable state the Golden Moon World will be in after this raid.
"Your Highness, shouldn’t we think of a way to send troops?" Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan was extremely anxious. "Your Highness, if that wretch still doesn’t leave, the Golden Moon World will be ruined by him!"
"Send troops?"
The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue’s gaze twitched slightly.
It’s already been plundered for five months—what meaning is there in sending troops now?
"Just... hold out a bit longer. He should be about to leave..."
"Yes!"
Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan could only accept the order helplessly.
In truth, the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, had his difficulties as well.
The troops to be drawn and sent to the Golden Moon World—if their Cultivation was too low, it wouldn’t work; if their numbers were too few, it wouldn’t work.
They had to all be elite main forces.
A move like that, given the current situation on the Human Demon Battlefield, was an extremely dangerous gamble.
Besides, with Ye Zhen having already plundered for five months, sending troops over now wouldn’t mean much.
On top of that, the journey would take two months; by the time his army arrived, Ye Zhen might very well have already left.
Of course, most importantly, if the army he sent really clashed head?on with Ye Zhen’s elite force in the Golden Moon World, and the losses were too great, it would be a serious problem.
Judging from the current situation, even if he dispatched seventy percent of the elites under his command, they could indeed win—but their casualties would still be over forty to fifty percent.
The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, simply could not afford such losses right now.
His current foundation lay in the Human Demon Battlefield.
Once he suffered a major defeat on the Human Demon Battlefield, his chances of contending for the position of Demon Emperor would drop to almost nothing.
Conversely, the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, was very much looking forward to something.
Looking forward to the Second Prince Zhui Ri, who was currently locked in a standoff with Ye Zhen.
If, in future, Second Prince Zhui Ri’s forces come up against this hidden power under Ye Zhen, Second Brother will definitely take a big loss, perhaps even suffer a major defeat, right?
With such a major defeat, Second Brother Zhui Ri would have no choice but to withdraw from the struggle for the Demon Emperor’s throne.
This was the fundamental reason why the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, was enduring so bitterly.
In his view, if he sent his forces to the Golden Moon World to support the encirclement and suppression of Ye Zhen, he’d essentially be weakening Ye Zhen’s strength.
Weakening Ye Zhen’s strength would be helping Second Brother Zhui Ri.
That would be feeding the enemy.
A shrewd man like the Fifth Prince Poyue would absolutely never do something that fed the enemy!
"Your Highness, are we just going to watch that bastard Ye rampage through the Golden Moon World, looting as he pleases?" Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan protested.
The Fifth Prince Poyue swept a glance over Yue Yuan. "Of course not!"
"We’ve at least got to extract some interest in return, don’t we?" The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, suddenly let out a soft laugh.
Hearing this, the previously dejected Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan immediately brightened. "Your Highness, tell me, what should we do?"
"Notify our people in the Golden Moon World to use Shadow Capture Jade Slips as much as possible to record Ye Zhen’s plundering in the Golden Moon World—especially the scenes of Ye Zhen directing those Soul Demons and Blood Skull Demon Clan. Those must be captured!
Remember, in the Great Zhou Dynasty, colluding with the Demon Clan is a monstrous crime that leads to extermination of one’s entire clan!" The Fifth Prince Poyue sneered.
The expectant Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan suddenly felt as though a bucket of cold water had been dumped over his head, his face full of disappointment.
"Your Highness, the people over in the Great Zhou aren’t stupid. The evidence of Ye Zhen colluding with the Demon Clan that we provide—how could they possibly believe it?" Yue Yuan couldn’t help but remind the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue.
At this, the Fifth Prince Poyue glared viciously at Yue Yuan. "Foolish!"
"If we were the ones to present such evidence publicly, naturally no one would believe it! But if it were to ’coincidentally’ fall into the hands of high?ranking officials and Nobles of the Great Zhou, especially those who bear grudges and hatred against that bastard Ye Zhen, tell me—would it have no effect?" the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, said.
The Left Commander of the Bodyguard froze, then instantly understood, and in great delight hurriedly said, "Your Highness, that’s brilliant! I’ll see to it at once!"
"Go."
With a smile of a cunning plan achieved still on his face, the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue’s heart was nonetheless clenched tight and aching.
No amount of scheming could compare to the tangible losses.
The current situation in the Golden Moon World was simply beyond estimation.
At this rate, the Golden Moon World wouldn’t just be set back a hundred years; falling back three to five hundred years was entirely possible!
Unfortunately, reality proved far harsher than the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, had anticipated!
"Six months, and he still hasn’t left..." The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, roared in a low voice, his finger joints clenched so hard they went white.
"Seven months!"
"Seven months! Ye Zhen, you damned heaven?cursed beast, are you planning to move the entire Golden Moon World away? Don’t you ever fall into my hands—if you do, I’ll tear you to pieces and scatter your corpse!"
The sight of the Golden Moon World ravaged beyond recognition was something the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, hardly dared look upon anymore.
No words could capture such misery!
Sometimes, the Fifth Prince Poyue suddenly wished that Second Brother Zhui Ri, who was currently dealing with Ye Zhen, would unleash divine might, break through the Blood River Fortress, and help him vent this vicious anger.
But that thought sprang only from his extreme hatred of Ye Zhen—once that anger eased, he immediately no longer wanted that outcome!
"Report, Your Highness!"
"Urgent report, joyful report, Your Highness!" Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan waved a Jade Scroll as he sprinted into the Commander Mansion of the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue.
"Has that bastard Ye Zhen pulled out?" Fifth Prince Poyue asked anxiously.
"He’s withdrawn. This time, he really has withdrawn!" Yue Yuan bobbed his head like a pecking chick, almost on the verge of weeping with joy.
Seven and a half months!
Seven and a half months of torment, with countless urgent reports every day, continual worry—he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep!
"Withdrawn, good—withdrawn, good!" The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, was so excited his fingers were trembling.
If outsiders were to see this scene, they’d probably drop their teeth in shock.
Just hearing that Ye Zhen had withdrawn his forces, the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, was actually this delighted—this would be simply inconceivable to the common folk of the Great Zhou, who saw the Demon Clan as worse than demons themselves.
And yet Ye Zhen could make the Demon Clan feel fear?
Rubbing his hands excitedly as he paced back and forth for a few breaths, the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue, hesitated, then asked in a trembling voice, "Since that bastard Ye Zhen has withdrawn... then... what are the losses?"
Asked this, the expression of Left Commander of the Bodyguard Yue Yuan turned somewhat dim, and then he spoke with considerable difficulty.
"Your Highness, according to current incomplete statistics, the number of captives seized by Ye Zhen should exceed five million! But over these seven and a half months, due to this thief’s plundering, plus the resistance and internal conflicts between the various nations of the Golden Moon Continent, as well as various natural disasters, the number of clansmen of the Golden Moon Continent who have died exceeds fifty million!
Basically, the elites of the Golden Moon World have been almost completely wiped out!" As he spoke these few sentences, Yue Yuan felt as though he couldn’t breathe.
The loss was far too great!
Among the elite portion of the population of the Golden Moon World, at least eighty percent had been lost!
"And what else?" The Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue’s voice was trembling as well.
"Both private and official wealth have been almost completely stripped away! One third of the discovered mines were violently exploited and destroyed by those Dao Realm experts!
Most fatal of all, over these seven and a half months, that thief Ye Zhen had his men temper and harvest more than sixty Mountain Range Essence Cores and nine Earth Vein Essence Cores!
He directly turned more than two million li of territory in the Golden Moon World into dead zones and barren wasteland!"
With a bang, the Seal in the Fifth Crown Prince of the Demon Emperor, Poyue’s hand was crushed to powder, his eyes all but spewing fire.
Bear in mind, the entire Golden Moon World was only about forty million li in size!

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