Having the genes of a demon king, I never intended to be a kept man.

The capital of the Great Qin Dynasty, the Imperial Palace!

"What?! They were all wiped out in a minute?!"

Long Hai sat on the throne, listening to the reports from below, his face extremely gloomy, the veins on his hands resting on the armrests bulging.

"General He Jin, I demand an explanation! Didn't you say that you dispatched the 'Falcon' elite force this time, a force whose average level is that of extraordinary warriors at the Myriad Manifestations Realm? How can you tell me that not a single one returned alive? And that they were all wiped out within a minute?!"

Standing before Long Hai at the foot of the palace steps was a handsome man dressed in the uniform of an imperial general, with a black shawl draped over his shoulders, and striking features.

He is none other than He Jin, one of the five great generals of the Qin Empire!

He Jin said solemnly, “Your Majesty, I also find this matter extremely strange. The Falcon Squad is one of the most elite units under my command, but after they infiltrated the Ye family's resource territory, from being attacked, sending a message back to me, to losing contact, the entire process took less than a minute! This means that the Ye family may have only taken half a minute, or even less, to eliminate them; they were completely wiped out…”

"Forty elite warriors, all averaging the strength of the Myriad Manifestations Realm, were wiped out by the Ye family in just half a minute?"

Long Hai was both amused and annoyed upon hearing this, his breathing becoming labored: "Could it be that the Ye family has arranged for a Heavenly Revelation Realm expert to guard such a small resource mine?!"

"I believe that the demonized young master of the Ye family must be secretly raising many, many top-tier superhuman warriors."

He Jin said, "These extraordinary warriors are probably all at least at the Asura Realm..."

"Every single one of them is at least at the Asura Realm?" Long Hai stared wide-eyed. "Do you think the Asura Realm is as common as cabbage? Even in the Imperial Palace of the Kyoto Empire, there wouldn't be more than fifty Asura Realm experts!"

“But Your Majesty,” He Jin said solemnly, “to eliminate forty Myriad Manifestation Realm experts in half a minute, even a peak Asura Realm transcendent wouldn’t be able to do that, would they?”

"..."

Long Hai fell silent, his brows furrowed.

In recent years, the rapid development of the Southern Territory has undoubtedly made him feel increasingly threatened!

The Ye family is now more powerful than ever before. Holding the position of Duke of the Southern Territory, the Ye family can be said to have absolute power in the Southern Territory.

Over the years, with the entire population engaged in land reclamation, the Ye family has gained control of crucial refining and synthesis technologies, making them incredibly wealthy.

As for military strength, the Ye family also maintains a group of mysterious top-tier superhuman warriors.

Long Hai has sent out countless groups of men to try to infiltrate the Ye family's territory and find out what's going on, but every time he sent them out, they never returned!

No matter how elite the soldiers were, they were wiped out wave after wave, and before each wave was wiped out, they couldn't send back a single piece of information! All the people sent out were like stones sinking into the sea, leaving no echo!

This also means that Long Hai currently has almost zero intelligence on the Ye family's army!

The Ye family's territory is like a dark, bottomless abyss, where all who attempt to explore it are utterly swallowed up...

Long Hai took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and said with great distress, "General He Jin, what do you think we should do now? How can we suppress the development of the Ye family? If this continues, the entire empire will probably live in the shadow of the Ye family!"

General He Jin thought for a moment and said, "The reason why the Ye family has been able to develop so rapidly in recent years is because they have mastered the alchemical technology that has changed the times and have made a lot of money."

"With money, they can purchase a large number of Qi-boosting pills, gene potions, amplification elixirs, and other cultivation resources from the Myriad Races Merchant Guild, as well as highly enhanced and enchanted weapons and equipment, to cultivate stronger warriors."

"They can even directly purchase powerful alien warriors from the Myriad Races Merchant Guild to serve as guest elders in the Ye family, protecting their clan!"

Long Hai raised an eyebrow: "You suspect that the Ye family used the money they earned to buy many powerful figures from various races to work for them?"

“I think it’s very likely!” He Jin said seriously, “I suspect that the warriors you sent out all died at the hands of the mercenaries they bought from the myriad races! Otherwise, even if the Ye family wanted to train warriors, their army could not have suddenly grown so fast in just a few years!”

"Moreover, I have recently heard some rumors that the Ye family seems to be short of money lately and owes the Spirit Demon Clan a lot of debt!"

"Think about it, they've been making a fortune lately, yet they still owe debts and need to sell off magic energy stone mines to keep the money flowing. This shows that they have indeed been supporting a lot of top experts in their families! You know, the cost of hiring a single Asura Realm or Awakening Realm mercenary retainer from one of the myriad races is astronomical!"

“That makes some sense…” Long Hai stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Hmm... Regarding what you said about the extraordinary technology that allows the Ye family to synthesize and refine low-quality materials into mid- to high-quality materials, the Empire has actually been working hard on it for the past few years, and the Imperial Academy of Extraordinary Sciences has recently made some progress."

Long Hai narrowed his eyes as he spoke: "You're right. The Ye family has indeed been making a fortune from this for the past few years, but as long as we also master this technology, they will no longer be able to monopolize it."

"That's wonderful news!" General He Jin said.

"By the way, Your Majesty!"

General He Jin suddenly remembered something important and said with a serious expression, "The press conference for Dark City has been scheduled for next Sunday! I think the mysterious master behind Dark City will definitely bring out many amazing extraordinary weapons for limited auction this time. Our human empire must be the first to reserve them before the other races!"